Web Analytics Made Easy - StatCounter

Pass Me That Bill, Would Ya’, Ken Stevens?

by

This post is dedicated to Senator Guy Guzzone (D-13) on his birthday! Happy Birthday, Guy and thanks for being another person who teaches us so much about politics! I heard a light rap at the door of the room at the Sheraton in downtown Columbia where Robert and I are staying until we find more permanent HoCo digs. “Mom-…Dad…it’s me, Rachel. I have to show you something.” came a muffled voice behind the heavy, semi-soundproof door. “Do not disturb, please—oh, Rachel!” I leapt out of bed, because even though I was further away from the door than Colleen I’m the … Read more

Learning From History With Shawn Gladden

by

As I looked around the room dedicated to Howard County history in the offices of the Howard County Historical Society (HCHS) offices in the Charles E. Miller Branch of the Howard County Library in Ellicott City, I thought of the quilt RoCo’s good friend, local immigration attorney and progressive activist Becca Niburg made for us using the campaign t-shirts of many of the Democrats who ran for local office in the 2018 Gubernatorial primary. Like that quilt, the HCHS displays wove a telling tapestry of the triumph and tragedy of the human experience, as the National History Day website named … Read more

Overseeing HoCo’s Elections, With Ann Balcerzak

by

The day I was set to meet Ann Blacerzak to talk about running smooth elections in Howard County, I realized that she and I had a date and a time we’d be meeting up, but we hadn’t picked a rendezvous spot. “Do you want to come to my house, Colleen?” she asked in a text message conversation on the topic. I’d told her that I was wary of places that were too loud for fear that the audio of our chats would be unintelligible on the recordings I made on both my iPhone and the digital voice recorder that Robert … Read more

Purple Passion With D9 Senator Katie Fry Hester

by

Katie Fry Hester (D-9) is advancing the purple cause in Annapolis as the Senator for Legislative District 9 in the Maryland General Assembly. Like the color itself, she seeks to blur the lines between ideological Republican Red and Democratic Blue, replacing them with what’s best for her constituents in 9. She said this at a fundraiser during 2018’s primary season, and I asked her to talk to me about how it’s going now that she’s been representing the Western Howard County and Southern Carroll County district for a couple months. The Color Purple That, as book lovers know, is the … Read more

The Real News With Natalie Ziegler

by

Often something someone says inspires me, and I want to explore it further in an article. That’s what happened when I was talking last week to Natalie Ziegler, who was a researcher and segment producer at CNN from 1986 to 1994 and ran to represent Howard County’s District 9A in the Maryland General Assembly in 2018. “We’re not going to change the polarization and divisiveness in this country until we change where people get their news, Robert,” she said to me as she took off her gray wool coat and hung it on the back of a chair at Glory … Read more

Read More RoCo Posts ...