Have you heard of George Owings III? He's a major contender to Gov. Martin O'Malley in the Sept. 14 Maryland Democratic primary. You'd never know it from media reports across the state. The public discourse about O'Malley's run for re-election and who is vying to unseat him overwhelmingly names only his Republican challenger, former Gov. Robert Ehrlich. That contest doesn't even happen until Nov. 2. First, he has to beat Owings and any other Democrat who decides to run against the governor.
Perhaps it is understandable that the media dismiss Owings. After all, even Susan Turnbull, the chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, has tried her best to marginalize Owings' candidacy. Can you believe what she wrote on theonlinestate.com blog of the party? "Despite the fact that I have been involved in the Maryland Democratic Party for more than 25 years, I don't really know George Owings. What I do know is that he was a loyal appointee of Bob Ehrlich. He may be a nice enough guy, but to be honest no one in the state or especially the Democratic Party is clamoring for a return to the Ehrlich administration."
Where have you been, Chairwoman Turnbull? George Owings served with honor and distinction for 17 years in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Calvert County. My goodness, he was even House majority whip for 10 years. Chairwoman Turnbull also said, "George Owings' conservative record on tobacco, choice, women, health care, guns and the environment have led to his close affiliation with the state GOP and Bob Ehrlich" and goes on to say that this year, "Democrats, be they conservative or liberal, are happy with Governor O'Malley." Well, guess all Democrats are getting their marching orders here. Since the head of the Democratic Party in Maryland is the governor, perhaps Ms. Turnbull felt she had no choice but to put down his opponent, be that person a Democratic or Republican.
But why would the media dismiss Owings so easily? He was appointed secretary of veterans affairs by Ehrlich and stayed in that position at the start of the O'Malley administration. He served in the U.S. Marines, went to Vietnam and received the Presidential Unit Citation and Bronze and Silver stars. This is a man of stature, leadership and accomplishment. Owings has important things to say, too. He is outraged at the top-heavy structure he sees in state government since O'Malley took office, and he would cut many of those jobs. He would "completely eliminate the office of lieutenant governor," pointing out that the office didn't exist until Blair Lee III became the state's first lieutenant governor under Gov. Marvin Mandel in 1970, and the state did "fine before then without the position." The job has meant little over the years, Owings contends, with probably the most telling time being when "Governor William Donald Schaefer was so upset with his lieutenant, Mickey Steinberg, that in his last year in office he gave Steinberg no responsibilities whatsoever."
Owings doesn't stop there. He says O'Malley is "feeding on the body of the state employees." He refers to the large salaries paid to the higher echelon of the current administration, while "the rank-and-file see furloughs, the loss of step increases and cost-of-living raises so that state employees make less today in real terms than they did four years ago." Meanwhile, O'Malley "upped the salaries of those closest to him when he first came into office and has an appetite for spending that is insatiable." He goes on, "O'Malley doesn't seem to realize that as governor we may steer the government but we don't run it, our valued employees do."
He has many more issues and answers as to how do to things better, but lest this sound like a campaign pitch for George Owings, which it isn't, I'll leave the follow-up on the candidate to others. My point is that this candidate and other serious candidates out there for various offices across this state get little to no attention. For goodness sake, give the underdogs a chance. Maybe they don't engage in glitzy, high-cost campaign machine politics and opt, instead, for grass-roots, low-budget efforts. This is bad? They spend much of their time reaching out to the community and civic organizations with in-person appearances. They work hard and spend long hours meeting and listening to the people.
Paying attention and reporting on candidates like George Owings will give the public a much fuller discussion of the issues than they'd ever get when just the incumbents, political insiders and their pet candidates are given the newspaper space, TV and radio talk and Internet exposure. Particularly this election year, when there is so much anti-incumbent fervor, readership and viewership should go up along with the underdog coverage.
Now, you should know I am a Democrat. Just as it is "not nice to fool Mother Nature," it is rarely a great idea to expose party machinations that reflect badly. I've taken the risk here, because it means a great deal to me to let people like George Owings and so many others know that what they are doing has value. I've been there; it's tough. They deserve respect and recognition. George Owings knows what it's like right now to be the underdog who's rarely acknowledged. At the Carroll County Central Committee Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner this week, he told audience members, "Thanks for having the courage to invite me." Thanks for your courage, George.
Gail Ewing of Potomac is a retired at-large Montgomery County Council member.
Her e-mail address is gewing73@comcast.net. SOURCE: Gazette
No comments:
Post a Comment