Question A on St. Mary's ballot

[dtmeyers]

Received the sample ballot... tried looking this up but doesn't someone have a summary of this:

Are you for or against St. Mary's County becoming a code county and being governed by the provisions of Article 11-F of the MD Constitution as proposed by the Commissioners of St. Mary's County?

 

[somd_mustangs]

good question.
I haven't figured out what this article really does yet, if it's good or bad for us to be a "code county"
(it seems to give the county commission(ers) a good deal more power in passing or repealing laws inside the county)

http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/43const/html/11far.html

not sure who all those folks on the local part of the ballot are either

 

[dtmeyers]

I read that a few times but still can't think of the good or bad implications

 

[Tomcat]

If I'm not mistaken almost anything the county commissioners do now has to be approved by Annapolis. If changed they would be the final say. Could be a good thing or could be bad. It would eliminate a kind of check and balance.

 

[traveller]

'code home rule' means that the commissioners can pass certain local laws without having to go to the state legislature. That's how chuck Co works.

It turns the commishs into both legislative and executive. Not a good thing IMHO. The next step up is 'charter government' like AA or PG with a separate council and a county executive.

I think the commissioner government works quite well.

 

[Streetgang]

On the "for" side, St Mary's is much more conservative than the state legislature. It would allow the people of St Mary's to decide their own destiny without the state mandating what the county gov't decide.
Not sure if I'm for or against the whole idea but that's another point of view.

 

[kstone803]

Glad someone asked. I read the sample ballot last night and asked myself the same question. I agree with the argument that it would allow us to be more conservative but I really don't trust any politicians, much less do I intend to give them more power than they already have. I'll have to really think about it.

 

[traveller]

For the most part, local laws get passed by acclamation if the local delegation supports it. So as long as a conservative county sends conservative reps to the statehouse, the local interests do get represented. It is rare that outside interests start monkeying in rural county affairs.

 

[Tomcat]

As I said before, right now there is at least a system of checks and balances. The commissioners we have right now (although I believe 1 or 2 are looking to become career politicians) might be OK but what about in the future.

 

[BigBull]

I would rather have local Republican commissioners making local decisions for St. Mary's as opposed to the Annapolis Demorats.

 

[Dave Taylor]

See "kstone803" above:

I really don't trust any politicians, much less do I intend to give them more power than they already have.

Vote no on this politically driven initiative.

 

[Tomcat]

I would rather have local Republican commissioners making local decisions for St. Mary's as opposed to the Annapolis Demorats.

If you look when they vote in Annapolis it's pretty much a no debate rubber stamp agreement type of thing. It gets read, no comments and voted on, done deal. If there was something you were opposed to it and let your representative know something may happen

 

[OEH]

This would mean that only 3 people would need to approve of a new law. That's not a good thing in my opinion. I'm voting no.

 

[Inigoes]

This would mean that only 3 people would need to approve of a new law. That's not a good thing in my opinion. I'm voting no.

+1

This just another push for the commissioners to get code home rule, changing county ordinances on a whim, instead of thinking the ordinances through before submitting them to Annapolis.

Being slow to change is the big draw for Saint Mary's

 

[dtmeyers]

Yeah I'm gonna vote no

 

[Inigoes]

Let's park a cheat sheet for all to right here

President: Donald J. Trump
US Senator: Kathy Szeliga

Representative in Congress
District 1: Andy Harris
District 2: Pat McDonough
District 3: Mark Plaster
District 4: George McDermott
District 5: Mark Arness
District 6: Amie Hoeber
District 7: Corrogan Vaughn
District 8: Dan Cox

Question "A" Saint Marys: No

 

[Tomcat]

Let's park a cheat sheet for all to right here

President: Donald J. Trump
US Senator: Kathy Szeliga

Representative in Congress
District 1: Andy Harris
District 2: Pat McDonough
District 3: Mark Plaster
District 4: George McDermott
District 5: Mark Arness
District 6: Amie Hoeber
District 7: Corrogan Vaughn
District 8: Dan Cox

Question "A" Saint Marys: No

 

[Inigoes]

Nothing official posted yet for question A

http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/36loc/sm/elect/general/sm2016.html

UPDATE:

Unofficially, the "No's" have it!

www.electionwareresults.com/webResults/summary-258.html​