By the time Westminster’s election finally, mercifully arrived on Tuesday, it felt less like residents were being asked to vote for mayor and more like they were conducting a referendum on what future municipal campaigns will look and feel like in Carroll County.
Typically, nonpartisan races in the towns and cities of Carroll are pretty low-key, decided not by the dogma or divisiveness we see in national elections, but rather by local issues. Topics that are so important to everyone when electing a president — think immigration, abortion, gun control, trade deficits — are wholly irrelevant in municipal elections.
Which is nice, because it means less negative campaigning and fearmongering and generally means we don’t end up hating our neighbors because of some political sign in their yard.
At the local level, those issues over which elected officials can exert some sway are traditionally at the forefront. Water rates too high? Trash collection in bad shape? Not known as a very business friendly place? Come up with a plan to change that and you might just get elected.
A candidate’s history with a particular city or town and understanding of its people and what’s important are paramount. That candidate’s political affiliation? Essentially meaningless.
Until this year’s Westminster mayoral race, when Dennis Dillon’s campaign became all about the fact that he is a Republican and his opponent, Mona Becker, was ... not? She was apparently set to turn the county seat into the People’s Republic of Westminster, a socialist enclave where no business would dare open. Oh, and she also has a wife.
Those were the main takeaways one of his campaign mailings, a newsletter sent out to Republicans in the city. Whether he wrote the newsletter is in question given that his last name was misspelled and that some passages had been seen before, posted by others or sent to the Times as a letter to the editor.
The Republican Party took a major interest in this election, not stopping at encouragement and endorsement but soliciting throughout the state for people to come into Westminster and knock on doors in support of a candidate they’d never met in a city they couldn’t find on a map.
After the city of Westminster made a mistake in a voters guide mailed out to residents by printing a council candidate’s responses under Dillon’s name, Republican Dels. Haven Shoemaker and Reid Novotny wrote a letter questioning the integrity of the election, regardless of steps taken after the fact.
Westminster Mayor Joe Dominick, who wasn’t running for reelection, said it was all right out of the party playbook for national elections.
Through it all, social media was rife with arguments and mean-spirited comments both ways. A typical offering noted grave disappointment at seeing a certain candidate’s sign in the window of a well-liked local restaurant, with the poster writing they would never patronize that establishment again.
It all made for a most contentious campaign.
Bob Leatherwood, chairman of Carroll Republican Victory, said on election day, “after this is all over, I hope we can get along better.”
Nice sentiment and, on that, hopefully everyone can agree. But then he was quoted as saying maybe the scariest words of all this election season. “They should get used to it,” regarding making nonpartisan elections more partisan going forward.
Of course, he said that before Becker won in a landslide, with 1,020 votes to Dillon’s 591. Dan Hoff, who won a spot on the city’s council, called it a rejection of negativity. Plenty of Republicans, both inside and outside Westminster’s city limits, expressed disappointment with the campaign.
Maybe turning local elections into a red vs. blue feud isn’t the path toward victory?
Dillon was gracious after. He said he would not have any animosity and would offer his help to anyone who wants it. Westminster, like every municipality in Carroll, badly needs citizens to get involved. Perhaps Dillon will do just that and run again in the future, the next time on his accomplishments and understanding of the city rather than on his political affiliation.
As Don West, chairman of the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee, noted via email during the campaign: “The one thing I never hear from voters is the desire for MORE partisanship!”
Nope, never. Hopefully both parties will remember that come 2023.
Bob Blubaugh is the editor of the Carroll County Times. His column appears Sundays. Email him at bob.blubaugh@carrollcountytimes.com.