The eight remaining candidates for Carroll County commissioner have reveled in their similarities for much of the year, but in the eight weeks since a primary that saw their chief foils defeated, they have demonstrated subtle differences in personal style, background and priorities.
Some, such as Democrats Neil Ridgely and Betty L. Smith, deliver promises of reform in bold language. Others, such as Democrat Jeannie M. Nichols, show a zeal for detail.
The veterans, incumbent Republican Julia Walsh Gouge and Union Bridge Mayor Perry L. Jones Jr., also a Republican, portray themselves as masters of compromise. Republican Dean Minnich styles himself an expert listener. Independent Vince DePalmer and Green Party candidate George Murphy hope their ideas survive past their long-shot candidacies.
Since the primary defeats of incumbents Donald I. Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier, the candidates have seemed so tickled to be running with similar thinkers that they have not staged a contentious debate. They even banded together last month to sign a letter asking Dell and Frazier not to make any more significant policy decisions.
But they're not identical, they say repeatedly. The Democrats, in particular, must persuade voters to go a step further in their movement toward change when they go to the polls in two days.
"I'm running against great opponents, and I keep hearing that we sound a lot alike," Ridgely says. "But we're not the same."
Gouge, 62, was the only incumbent who survived the Republican primary. She began portraying herself as an alternative to Dell and Frazier several years ago. She voted against them on many major decisions, including several contentious rezonings and the plan to build a water treatment plant at Piney Run Park. These actions made her a hero to the reform-minded activists of South Carroll, and Gouge says she felt vindicated when she trounced Dell and Frazier on primary day.
Gouge, a former mayor of Hampstead, is seeking a fourth term as commissioner, and she points to her experience as an advantage over her opponents. Like most of the other candidates, she has said she will focus on slowing growth and forging better relations with state leaders. After a conflict-filled term, she says the cordial tone of recent debates makes her optimistic.
"This is a good group," she says.
GOP challengers
Longtime newspaper editor and columnist Minnich received more primary votes than Gouge. He is running on the notion that he will protect Carroll's quality of life from the stresses caused by rapid growth. But he has not offered a long list of guaranteed actions. He says he can't promise he'll let people create a new direction for the county and then tell them he has the answer to every problem.
Minnich, 60, says he entered the race because he sensed for the first time that wealthy and powerful landowners were exerting great influence on county policy-making. He had rarely seemed a firebrand as a columnist, but he went after Dell and Frazier for breaking what he saw as the basic promise of government: to ensure a certain quality of life for its constituents. Minnich has said the county can't go wrong with any combination of the remaining candidates.
"It's just a matter of selecting the people who can work together best," he says. "I've been a consensus builder my whole life, and I have to hope the voters recognize that."
Jones has also run as a moderate Republican promising to slow growth where needed and bring better working relations between commissioners and the staff in the County Office Building. He says he has always gotten along with everyone in Carroll politics, from Democratic mayors to conservative Republican commissioners.
Jones, 50, ran in 1998 as a Democrat and is one of the few blacks ever elected to public office in the county. Despite his Democratic roots, he has received criticism from some for accepting donations from leading conservatives and property rights activists. Jones says that although he is happy to receive votes from all sources, he doesn't want to be associated with far-right ideas.
"Our ideas couldn't be more opposite on growth," Jones says. "I hope that no one donates to me expecting a special favor down the line."
Democratic candidates
The Republicans, who have swept the last two commissioner elections, still hold a large numerical advantage over the Democrats, with about 10,000 more voters among the county's 85,000 total. But Democrats have said all year that they might be able to win at least one seat because change seems to be in the air.
"The primary was a new beginning, but I firmly believe that voters aren't done," Smith says. "Bipartisan government - that is what the county needs more than anything."
Smith, 53, has participated in county politics as a member of both parties. She ran for commissioner as a Republican in 1998, finishing eighth in the primary. The Uniontown resident eventually became vice chairwoman of the Republican State Central Committee but left the party last year after Carroll Republicans staged a gun raffle. Smith says she couldn't tell her children that auctioning off a gun so casually was morally acceptable.
She ran on a slow-growth agenda in 1998 and has extended that commitment this year, presenting herself as the candidate most determined to keep growth from overwhelming the county infrastructure.
Fellow Democrat Ridgely, 53, has also been a committed slow-growth activist for years, first as a county employee, then as town manager of Hampstead and finally as a leader of the Finksburg Area Planning Council. Ridgely has campaigned on the idea that he has the most concrete plans for addressing growth issues and the longest history of pushing for a more creative and open government.
Though Ridgely has made enemies among conservatives with his style and constant pushing of environmental issues, he has also emerged as a well-known commentator.
"This election has the potential to be a giant step forward," he said. "But it depends on the follow-through, and that's a concern. I think we really need someone, and I think I can be that person, to push these issues, or we could go right back to the same old way."
Nichols, 45, has run the most understated campaign among the Democrats, but the Sykesville councilwoman has also presented detailed criticisms of the status quo.
She has focused on plans for addressing Carroll's need for new water supplies. Nichols says Carroll must scrap plans for the Piney Run plant and start using wells in South Carroll while investigating the viability of Gillis Falls in Woodbine as a reservoir.
She often speaks of her experience on the Sykesville Town Council, which she describes as a model for building consensus. The county could learn something, she says, from the town's efforts to rehabilitate the Warfield site, a former part of the state mental health system, into an incubator space for new businesses. Such creative projects are necessary, she says, because the county can't keep paying its expenses by allowing new residential development.
"The county is going to be left in a very difficult position both financially and with infrastructure," she says. "It's going to take a lot of political willpower to address these problems - someone who can make decisions people may not like. I have a lot of ideas, and we'll have to use different ideas, because what we have doesn't work."
Green, independent
The election also includes two contenders outside the major parties, independent DePalmer and the Green Party's Murphy.
DePalmer, 67, is retired from the Air Force and the Social Security Administration, and has advocated Smart Growth in numerous letters to newspapers over the years. He ran, he says, because he was tired of watching the commissioners approve new residential growth.
The Manchester native says he is also concerned about water, arguing that the county may be years away from developing a reliable source. Farmland preservation must also be a greater priority, he says.
"There are a lot of new people in this county with new ideas," he says. "The politicians, if they're interested at all, need to keep that in mind."
Murphy, 53, won his biggest fight last month when the Maryland Court of Appeals ordered him restored to the ballot after county election officials had said he failed to submit enough valid signatures.
He will spend only about $500 on the campaign, he says, compared to the thousands of dollars other candidates have spent. But he says he hopes some of his ideas will resonate.
Murphy says the county must do more to preserve its historic cemeteries, protect its trout streams and encourage farmers to stay on their land. He suggests that the county help working farmers by offering property tax credits. He also says county laws too often allow new building despite a lack of water supplies for firefighting or adequate school space.
"I know urban problems, and I know them well," says the Sykesville resident, who worked with community groups along Liberty Road in Baltimore County before moving to Carroll. "I'd rather not have to refight those battles out here."