I have got to say that I'm surprised that Thursday marked the first time in Ken Ulman's six-year tenure as County Executive that he has vetoed a bill. But veto he did, the land preservation "tiers" bill which has been discussed on these pages before. You can read more about it here.
So, I wrote before that vetoing the bill was the best thing Ulman could do to establish/ reinforce his environmentalist bonafides. I stand corrected. This actually is the second best thing he could do. The best thing he could do is to have the veto sustained, and then a new bill enacted which is stronger in terms of prohibiting more land from development.
I am going to take one of my typical wild-eyed guesses that before the Council votes on January 7, that this is the thing that happens! Although a new bill wouldn't be voted on, I guess, until February at the earliest.
So what Council member will Ulman get to vote his way to sustain the veto, assuming Courtney Watson does? The answer is, that it doesn't much matter. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 4-1 vote to sustain, with western Howard County Councilmember Greg Fox the lone dissenter.
Comments