Question H
The center point of these ammendments is Question H. It is a petition
effected by a political activist group (that is, a group that tries to
organize citizens for political action) known by the acronym ACORN.
To find out more about ACORN, especially in Prince George's County,
you can use this
link
which automatically searches google for
'acorn prince george maryland'
I tend to prefer the status quo on this issue. However, I would like to
point out the strong points of both positions.
(Pro)
It has often been advocated that a representative form of government, as we
have, have different manners of electing the representatives in order to
balance conflicting interests and better serve the populace. It is for this
reason that our country (and most states) have bicameral legislatures
(meaning they have two groups of Representatives). Every seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives, the larger group, is elected every two years.
In the smaller Senate, elections are staggered, with approximately one-third
elected every two years, for a much longer six-year term. In the original
Constitution and first 100 or so years of our nation, Senators were actually
representatives of the State, not the people, and so they were a type of
'indirect' representative. They were meant to provide an alternative
viewpoint (which they no longer do) and greater stability (which they still
do) than the House of Representatives. Today, Senators tend to be older and
more experienced than Representatives. (Unfortunately, they also tend to
have more of the evils accompanying politicans, too.) Still, the stability
of the Senate across national elections has been very obvious in the last
12 years - it has been much closer to a 50/50 party average and does not
change as much as the House.
In many ways, Question H proposes something similar for our county council
or lawmaking body -- instead of an essentially per-district council, it
would add two "senatorial" seats which are elected differently (by all
voters in the county, not just by the voters in a particular district) and
have separate term limit (the term limit on a "district" council member is
separate from the term limit on a at-large or "senatorial" council member).
Thus, it looks highly recommendable proposal from this standpoint.
(Con)
Unfortunately, enlarging the County Council does not come without
consequences. These two new positions would mean more salaries to pay,
more campaigning, and more politicians -- none of which will serve any
purpose. Our national political principles
do not look on new political offices lightly. In our national Consitution,
we do not allow politicans to work in any paid position created during their
term in office, whether political or not. Current council members and their
friends should not be allowed to accede to these seats. Question F will do
nothing for this except prevent Mr. Hendershot from serving -- all 8 other
council members will be able to serve in these new positions.
(Pro)
Question H was brought about by petition -- an important civil right,
guaranteed in most Constitutions. In our national Consitution, its the
first ammmendment in the Bill of Rights. It takes a lot of work to get
together a petition, which, in this case, bears 20,000 signatures. This is
a substantial number of what appears to be concerned voters.
However, we shouldn't be vote for the ammendment just because it was a
popular petition - 20,000 people is still only a small percentage of the
County's electorate or voter pool. But we should give it some attention.
(Con)
Unfortunately, Question H is a potentially self-serving measure to "extend" term
limits -- a single individual could potentially serve 16 years - 8 as a
"district" council member and 8 as an at-large or "senatorial" council
member. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but this county voted with an
overwhelming majority in 2000 to keep term limits. It seems that some of
the same forces which tried to destroy term limits might be behind this
ammendment. I can't figure out if Question F would solve this issue or
not, but we must remember that Questions F and H are being voted on
separately - people may vote for or against F not realizing its connection
to Question H.
(Con)
The petition attempts to change the manner in which the head of the county
council is chosen. Currently, the council chooses its own leader.
Question H seeks to have the voters choose the leader by popular vote.
In recent times, it has become better known that popularity does not equate
with good leadership. Leadership is a skill and talent, which is best
received naturally and developed through practice. Since the leader of the
county council is much more a leader of that specific group, and not the
people (that's what the County Executive is for), he or she should be chosen
by the group he or she is leading. Popular vote will do little good for
electing such a leader. Note that Question G would maintain the current
method of choosing the head of the council, in the event that Question H
passes.
The other Questions
Unfortunately, the current council has attempted to thwart the petition by
adding Questions F, G, and I, all of which attempt to destroy the petition
and its usefulness. As a matter of fact, approval of Question I alone would
not only destroy the purpose of the petition, but would undermine the
organization and operation of the council itself. If Question H does not pass, F, G, and
I are superfluous and have no effect. Therefore, we need to vote on these
Questions with the assumption that Question H will pass, even if we vote
against Question H.
Question F
I'm still trying to figure this out. I think it has a one-time effect,
that, due to the circumstances, would merely prevent Hendershot from running
for an at-large position, and have no other effect.
Question G
This would nullify the one part of Question H which changes the way in which
the head of the county council is election
from election by the council members themselves
to election by popular vote.
In other words, if Question H passes and Question G does not, the head of
the county council will be the at-large member receiving the highest
percentage of the vote. If both Questions G and H pass, the head of the
county council will still be elected by the 11 members of the "new"
council. Currently, the head of the county council is elected by the
9 members of the council. In all cases, the head of the county council is
one of the council members.
Question I
Perhaps the most devilish of all the questions, Question I seeks to paralyze
the new at-large members that would be added by Question H by stripping away
all power from them. Sound ridiculous? It is. Worse, the wording on the
ballot '' is so vauge and ambiguous that you can't tell what you're voting
for or against. I urge you, regardless of what you believe regarding the
other Questions, to vote against Question I, because if Question H passes,
we will wind up electing people to useless, nonsense positions on the
council. They won't be able to vote on any matter that comes before the
council. Worse, we would wind up with a head of the council who cannot vote
-- a powerless leader. All this would do is frustrate the county council.
If Question H doesn't pass, Question I will have no effect.
My vote
As I write this two weeks before the election, I am unamibiguously
in favor of Question G. While I am not opposed to Question H, I do not
intend to support it, primarily because
- it is not clear what the exact nature and purpose of the ammendment is,
particularly the political action group which organized it (it would seem
they are taking this model from another jurisdiction in the country -- I
would like to know how it works there, and what the benefits / disadvantages
are)
- the additional ammendments on the ballot only confuse the matter and
make it difficult to get an honest evaluation from the electorate
- if Question H does not pass, we can re-consider it again and, in all
likelihood, our county's voters will have a better understanding of it and
be able to express their opinion. Probably more than half of all the voters
in this election will not have seen or heard about Question H and especially
Questions F, G, and I, until they go to the polls on November 2.
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