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ELECTION 2010 MARYLAND MARYLAND SCHOOLS
Vote of confidence for two school boards
Montgomery, Pr. George’s are friendly to incumbents in nonpartisan primaries
by Michael Birnbaum Voters in Montgomery County em-
braced the status quo Tuesday in the Board of Education primary, handing wide margins of victory to incumbents and making it likely that the board will embrace a successor to retiring Superin- tendent Jerry D. Weast who does not radi- cally depart from his policies. In Prince George’s County, school board incumbents also prevailed, al- though not every seat had an incumbent running. That board will work to resolve its relationship with Superintendent Wil- liam R. Hite Jr.; critics of the school sys- tem have accused the current board of micromanaging. The top two vote-getters for each seat
in the two counties’ nonpartisan prima- ries will advance to the Nov. 2 general election. In Prince George’s County, all
nine seats on the school board will be up for election. In Montgomery County, four of seven seats are up for election. Montgomery voters handed defeat to three members of the Parents’ Coalition, a group that has been critical of Weast. Coalition members say that Weast has failed to be open or responsive to commu- nity opinion and that he has neglected gifted and special-needs students. But those criticisms apparently did not carry much weight with voters; coalition candi- dates Lyda Astrove, Agnes Jones-Trower and Louis M. Wilen finished last in the three races on Tuesday’s ballot. The top vote-getters were current board members who have differed with Weast primarily on style, not substance. Board members and education experts have said that the school system is un- likely to pick someone who would change Weast’s fundamental initiative, which was to focus the county schools on nar- rowing the achievement gap between black and Hispanic students and their white and Asian American peers. In doing so, Weast channeled resources from wealthier parts of the county to poorer, more diverse schools. Over the 11
years he has headed the school system, achievement gaps have narrowed by many measures. At-large board member Shirley Brand- man won 62 percent of the vote; she will face homemaker Lisa Lloyd on the No- vember ballot. Board member Judy Doc- ca (Gaithersburg) won 62 percent of the vote, and she will face security analyst Michael Ibañez in November. And board member Michael E. Durso (Northeastern County) will face homemaker Martha Schaerr. Only two candidates are running for the fourth seat up for election, so both of them — board President Patricia O’Neill (Bethesda-Chevy Chase) and Karen Smith — head straight to November’s bal- lot. In Prince George’s County, a crowded
field of candidates — 31 were on the ballot Tuesday — was winnowed to 18 who will appear on the ballot in November. The Prince George’s school board does not face a decision as crucial as picking a new superintendent, but it will have the chal- lenge of working within new parameters. Prince George’s did away with county- wide seats on the board this year, so each
member now will represent a geographi- cal district. The board also will have to define its relationship to the superin- tendent, who is responsible for the daily operations of the school system. Hite’s predecessor, John E. Deasy, left in 2008 in part because of a tense relationship with the board. Board Chairman Verjeana M. Jacobs
(At Large) was the top vote-getter in Dis- trict 5; she will face Sharon Theodore- Lewis. Board member Rosalind Johnson will face David H. Murray in District 1; board member Amber Waller will face Charles C. Coleman in District 3; board member Pat Fletcher will face Carolyn M. Boston in District 6; and board member Donna Hathaway Beck will face George E. Mitchell in District 9. In the races for the open seats, Patricia Eubanks will face Sandy J. Vaughns in District 4, and Henry P. Armwood Jr. will face Lykisha Perkins in District 7. Two seats did not have more than two candidates and were not on Tuesday’s ballot. Steven Morris will face Edward Burroughs III in District 8, and Mark Cook will face Peggy Higgins in District 2.
birnbaumm@washpost.com
KLMNO
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
RESULTS
The Associated Press uses zeroes to reflect vote totals for races in which all candidates moved on to the general election.
TOP STATE OFFICES 1,740 OF 1,829 PRECINCTS
U.S. Senate DEMOCRATS
KBarbara A. Mikulski* Christopher J. Garner A. Billy Bob Jaworski Blaine Taylor
Theresa C. Scaldaferri Sanquetta Taylor Lih Young
REPUBLICANS KEric Wargotz
Jim Rutledge
Joseph Alexander Neil H. Cohen
Stephens Dempsey Daniel W. McAndrew John B. Kimble
Samuel R. Graham Sr. Barry Steve Asbury Eddie Vendetti Gregory L. Kump
Governor DEMOCRATS
KMartin O’Malley
Ralph Jaffe /Freda Jaffe
REPUBLICANS KRobert L. Ehrlich Jr.
/Mary Kane
Brian Murphy /Mike Ryman
Comptroller DEMOCRATS
KPeter Franchot*
REPUBLICANS KWilliam Henry Campbell
Brendan Madigan Armand F. Girard
Attorney General DEMOCRATS
KDouglas F. Gansler*
K Winner * Incumbent Results are unofficial. Source: Associated Press
U.S. HOUSE District 1
DEMOCRATS K Frank M. Kratovil Jr.*
REPUBLICANS K Andy Harris
Rob Fisher District 2
K C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger* Raymond Atkins Jeff Morris
Christopher C. Boardman
REPUBLICANS K Marcelo Cardarelli
Jimmy Mathis
Francis Treadwell Troy Stouffer Josh Dowlut
District 3
K John Sarbanes* Michael Miller John Kibler Ryan Ludick John Rea
REPUBLICANS K Jim Wilhelm
Thomas E. "Pinkston" Harris Greg Bartosz
Thomas Defibaugh Sr. District 4 MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST After winning the Democratic primary, Rushern L. Baker III is virtually assured of becoming the next Prince George’s county executive. Challenging future awaits Baker in Pr. George’s baker from B1
backed Baker. Former county executive Parris N. Glendening (D), who was gover- nor of Maryland when Baker was in the General Assembly, recently praised him as able to “get the county back on track.” The county’s overwhelming Democrat- ic majority — 400,000 registered Demo- crats out of 515,000 registered voters — makes Tuesday’s primary the de facto general election. Very few Republicans are seeking county office this year, and none sought the party’s nomination for county executive. As Baker begins to take the reins of the
region’s third-largest jurisdiction and one of the most affluent majority-African American communities in the nation, he faces a host of challenges. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing
Baker, Curry said, will be to knit together a coalition within the county, where five of the nine members of the County Coun- cil will be newcomers and the often- fractious Annapolis delegation has con- tributed to political divisiveness. The council plays a main role in Prince George’s in setting funding for county government and schools. The county also has a voter-imposed cap on property taxes, which Baker has pledged to leave intact. Residents pay some of the highest taxes in the region, and most of the county’s revenue comes from residential property taxes. All the candidates in the county executive’s race said that the commercial tax base needs to be expanded by attracting new busi- nesses. Baker had substantial support from
elected officials going into Tuesday’s pri- mary, including five state senators, all of whom were renominated, several del-
egates and some council members. Although Baker made school reform a centerpiece of his campaign, he will have to find a way to use his bully pulpit be- cause school funding and governance are largely the province of the elected school board and the County Council, which holds the purse strings. Baker will be able to more directly in- fluence efforts to expand the commercial tax base and promote development at un- derutilized Metro stations because, tradi- tionally, the executive has been able to play a major role in such matters. And be- cause the police chief is a member of the executive’s Cabinet, Baker can try to ad-
dress the vexing crime rate, which is at a 34-year low but remains one of the re- gion’s highest.
But much will depend on Baker’s abili-
ty to bring together Prince George’s Dem- ocrats, who on Tuesday threw out two in- cumbent state senators, picked five new nominees for County Council — including Leslie Johnson, a lawyer married to Jack Johnson — and nominated a candidate for sheriff who formerly served as John- son’s police chief. The nominee for state’s attorney, Angela Alsobrooks, has ties to both Baker and Johnson. Baker’s record suggests that he has some of the personal tools he will need as
POSTMORTEM
Elections chief explains slow vote tally by Miranda S. Spivack
Prince George’s residents had to wait until almost 5 a.m. Wednesday to get the unofficial tallies in Tuesday’s primaries. County elections chief Alisha L. Alexan- der said it was a matter of good inten- tions gone awry. She said the office will revamp its plans for the Nov. 2 general election after Tuesday’s slow vote count, which tallied about 50 percent of the ballots by 2 a.m. It wasn’t a matter of turnout. Fewer vot- ers — about 20 percent — cast ballots Tuesday than in the 2006 primary, when more than 25 percent turned out. Alexander said she had decided to en-
courage election judges at larger pre- cincts to drive their data cards to the
he tries to bolster the county and improve its standing in the region. During Baker’s time in Annapolis, when he served as head of the county’s House delegation, he received high marks for building coalitions.
headquarters in Upper Marlboro rather than try to send results by computer mo- dem. About 150 precincts brought their data cards to the headquarters, where the staff was able to upload about three precincts an hour, starting about 8 p.m. “We had a steady stream of results, but it was slow,” Alexander said. She said she had made the change be- cause of the large numbers of candidates and concerns that there might be very close races whose results would be chal- lenged. In November, modems will be used across the county, and after the data are transmitted, election judges will drive the material to election board head- quarters, she said.
spivackm@washpost.com
One of his most notable accomplish- ments was helping the county avoid a state takeover of its public schools by en- gineering an alternative that ushered in an unelected school board, since replaced by an elected board. On Wednesday, after a news conference to formally declare victory, Baker visited Suitland High School and met with School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., teachers union representative Chris- tian Rhodes and Principal Mark Fossett. School system unions had backed Jack- son. Rhodes said he thought members of his union would be interested in “recon- vening and moving forward,” to work with Baker on retaining teachers, attract- ing teachers to low-performing schools and ensuring adequate funding from An- napolis. At a news conference earlier in the day,
Baker said voters had “bestowed upon me a great honor and a great responsibility and one I do not take lightly.” He said that he had been in contact with his four opponents — Jackson, Coun- ty Council member Samuel H. Dean, Del. Gerron S. Levi and businessman Henry C. Turner Jr. — and that he hoped to gain their support. Jackson issued a concession statement
early Wednesday. “Now that the campaign is over,” Jack- son said in the statement, “there is a need for unity, a need for finding common ground and for coming together for the good of the county.”
spivackm@washpost.com
MONTGOMERY, PRINCE GEORGE’S DEMOCRATS
K Donna Edwards* Herman Taylor
George McDermott Kwame Gyamfi
REPUBLICANS K Robert Broadus
District 5 K Steny H. Hoyer*
Andrew Charles Gall Sylvanus G. Bent
REPUBLICANS K Charles Lollar
Collins A. Bailey Chris Chaffee Chris Robins
District 6
DEMOCRATS K Andrew Duck
J. Casey Clark
REPUBLICANS K Roscoe G. Bartlett*
Joseph T. Krysztoforski Steve Taylor
Seth Edward Wilson Dennis B. Janda
District 7
BALTIMORE, BALTIMORE CITY, HOWARD DEMOCRATS
K Elijah Cummings* Charles U. Smith
REPUBLICANS K Frank Mirabile Jr.
Michael J. Vallerie Ray Bly
District 8
MONTGOMERY, PRINCE GEORGE’S DEMOCRATS
K Chris Van Hollen* Robert Long
REPUBLICANS Michael Lee Philips
Bruce Stern
Christine Thron Bill Thomas
K Winner * Incumbent Results are unofficial. Source: Associated Press
52,607 93 3,926 7
4,435 32 4,292 31 2,868 21 2,071 15
55,795 91 5,360 9
6,725 56 3,717 31 1,637 14
180 OF 180 PRECINCTS
43,206 83 4,926 9 2,244 4 1,722 3
0 0 180 OF 209 PRECINCTS
ANNE ARUNDEL, CALVERT, CHARLES, PRINCE GEORGE’S, ST. MARY’S DEMOCRATS
45,357 85 5,479 10 2,516 5
15,276 58 8,124 31 1,413 5 1,308 5
239 OF 240 PRECINCTS
ALLEGANY, BALTIMORE, CARROLL, FREDERICK, GARRETT, HARFORD, MONTGOMERY, WASHINGTON
20,643 66 10,815 34
47,075 70 10,711 16 4,622 7 3,700 5 1,307 2
266 OF 274 PRECINCTS 0 OF 0 PRECINCTS
ANNE ARUNDEL, BALTIMORE, CAROLINE, CECIL, DORCHESTER, HARFORD, KENT, QUEEN ANNE’S, SOMERSET, TALBOT, WICOMICO, WORCESTER
0 0%
44,162 67 21,489 33
199 OF 208 PRECINCTS
ANNE ARUNDEL, BALTIMORE, BALTIMORE CITY, HARFORD DEMOCRATS
38,707 74 6,858 13 3,537 7 3,281 6
9,673 46 5,533 26 2,459 12 2,401 11 996 5
256 OF 259 PRECINCTS
ANNE ARUNDEL, BALTIMORE, BALTIMORE CITY, HOWARD DEMOCRATS
50,454 83 5,015 8 2,770 5 1,319 2 1,231 2
8,414 36 6,554 28 6,196 27 2,088 9
154 OF 181 PRECINCTS 0 0 0 0
127,463 63 51,028 25 22,335 11
/Anthony G. Brown*
J.P. Cusick /Michael W. Lang Jr.
363,098 86 42,880 10 17,644 4
198,874 76 63,848 24
348,546 82% 32,603 8 14,134 3 9,726 2 7,189 2 6,377 2 6,201 1
89,238 39 70,231 31 13,291 6 12,898 6 8,862 4 8,068 4 7,666 3 6,185 3 5,604 2 4,764 2 2,774 1
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