The beginning of the 2010s saw a state and local election cycle at its beginning. County Executive Ulman, known as the guy from the "Choose Civility" county and acquiring a statewide profile in acknowledgement of his stewardship of Howard County, easily won a second term over Republican Trent Kittleman, second wife of Bob and stepmother to Allan, himself now a Maryland State Senator. And the entire, 4 Democrat, 1 Republican County Council-- consisting of Courtney Watson, Calvin Ball, Jen Terrasa, Mary Kay Sigaty, and Greg Fox-- was reelected. The first time an entire County Council had been re-elected in the county's history. Now, along with a re-elected County Executive, creating a seemingly unshakable base of Democratic power in Howard County.
I mentioned before that a question I would ask Ken Ulman, should this work go to longer form, would be if, in his opinion, the "Choose Civility" movement drive him, or did he drive the movement? I have another question, which I would happily pose to any one, and to you, the readers here, rhetorically, is this. Was the "Choose Civility" movement created, or take hold, in response to something.
I submit for your consideration the fact that starting late in the 00s but going through the 10s, the contrasts between Howard County's socioeconomic and demographic classes began to grow more stark. A Board of Education member began to refer to the order villages of Columbia disparagingly as "Inner City Columbia". The Village of River Hill, and the new High School that shared its name, had gained a reputation of being "yuppieville" in the middle of Howard County, which itself as a whole is considered by many to be a "yuppieville". And to River Hill's south, the Maple Lawn community, with it's new "village center" and three brand new schools, one at each level, was acquiring the same reputation. Where Columbia was Howard County's shining star, that distinction was being constricted now to these communities. So pockets of perceived Howard County affluence and relative poverty were forming, in locations of the county over than the previously-recognized, socially correct (even if not politically correct) places. And so I have to wonder if there wasn't an undercurrent of anger and dissatisfaction that was picked up by some locally, and their proposed response to this undercurrent became "Choose Civility".
The Ulman Administration boasted a very deep talent pool among the County Executive's assistants, and the second Ulman term didn't provide much letup. Especially as the County Executive was acquiring statewide ambitions. Much was done to promote the development of Howard County's tech industry, especially as the Federal Base Realignment Commission's (BRAC) finding were affecting nearby Fort Meade. Also in the 2010s, Howard Community College and Howard County General Hospital underwent a period of great growth. Ulman and his talented administration were serving the citizens of Howard County well, and created a great record of achievement to stand on.
Unfortunately, when leaders create a great record of achievement to stand on, people who are in opposition to these achievements get their nose out of joint. And that's where Howard's Republicans found themselves. Despite all indications to the contrary, Howard's Republicans, lead by Senator Kittleman and Councilman Fox, portrayed the administration as "The Gang Who Can't Shoot Straight". When the administration would work on Columbia, this group would complain, why are they ignoring Ellicott City? When they would work on Ellicott City, why not Elkridge? When Elkridge, why not North Laurel? When Laurel, why not West County? When West County, why not Columbia? And so forth. And of course, add to this the now- routine complaints of Democrats being too friendly to developers, not friendly enough to police, and other misdeeds, real or perceived. Such strategy serves only to raise doubt, cause suspicion, and divide people. Especially when the otherwise doesn't provide much in the way of tangible solutions.
So as the 2014 state and local election cycle came upon Howard County, County Executive Ulman announced a campaign for Governor and the race to succeed him boiled down to the Democratic Councilmember from District 1, Courtney Watson, against the Republican State Senator from District 9, Allan Kittleman.
Despite the good stewardship of the County government over the past 16 years by Democrats Robey and Ulman, the advantage in the election was Kittleman's, as he had been the guiding force behind local Republican campaigns for the prior 20 years, from his time as Chair of the local Republican Central Committee and the Howard County Council. And there was also a popular Republican gubernatorial candidate in Larry Hogan, and a countywide case of "Ulman fatigue", in no small measure because of the Kittleman campaign's ability to reproduce what Chuck Ecker's campaign did, and unify all the people who had an axe to grind over something having to do with the Ulman administration. (In the author's opinion, a good amount of sexism against Councilmember Watson also existed.) This all lead to a narrow Kittleman victory, and the re-election of four of the five Council members. The only newcomer was Democrat Jon Weinstein, replacing Watson in District 1.
But as has been written before, critcizing is one thing, governing is another. And Kittleman's administration became besieged with issues of social justice, diversity and inclusion, and personal safety almost from Day One. A proposed nominee to the Howard County Human Rights Commission had to withdraw due to this person's public use of the N-Word, and racist graphitti and racist social media posts became an almost regular occurrence. The Superintendent of the Howard County Public School System, Renee Foose, who came on board during the Ulman Administration, became embroiled in a number of conflicts with families, staff, and the public, and her management style raised the ire of many school and Central Office staff. And the Sheriff, James Fitzgerald, was investigated for racist comments said about his own deputies, former County Executive Ulman, and others.
In looking for a way to manage the downward spiral of the place that only several years before loudly declared to "Choose Civility", the Kittleman Administration created instead OneHoward, which was meant to be a series of community dialogues to discuss how we could all find common ground as a diverse community. It was not a terrible idea. The execution was an abject failure. There was one public meeting, at the Florence Bain Center in Columbia, which contained more questions about the state of human relations in Howard County than answers. Especially in light of the then-recent election of Donald Trump to the Presidency. It would up being a three-hour session, led by County Executive Kittleman, that brought a few hundred people together to not talk about what made Howard County a great place, but to talk instead about fears. And fears were not solved, addressed, or even acknowledged.
OneHoward was mortally wounded. It's final gasps came in the form of a "OneHoward pledge" which became a thing for local Republicans for about 10 minutes, and also a few private steering committee meetings and a website called "Humans of Howard County". None of the above had any lasting community impact or effect.
Then came early 2017 and Council Bill 9-2017.
In part in response to the OneHoward meeting, at which many attendees raised their concerns about immigration and the Federal Government, Councilmembers Ball and Terrasa wrote the aforementioned bill, which allowed county employees to not participate in any Federal immigration enforcement activity. And this legislation created a maelstrom in Howard County. for months, pro-CB9 (consisting of many local progressive groups, minority groups, and individuals) and anti-CB9 (consisting of local conservative activists, affluent members of minority communities, and "special experts" from outside Howard County) testified on the bill. In addition, debate over CB-9 raged over all the major social media platforms, and local media including local blogs and news outlets. Ultimately, the bill passed by a 3-2 vote, with Councilmembers Weinstein and Fox dissenting. County Executive Kittleman vetoed the legislation, and the veto was upheld by the same 3-2 margin, with the same Councilmembers voting the same way. And thus the die for the 2018 local elections was cast.
The 2018 election for County Executive featured County Executive Kittleman (himself now being looked at as a possible statewide candidate in 2022) running for re-election, challenged by Councilman Calvin Ball from District 2. As with many other state and local election cycles, national politics influenced local politics. And Councilman Ball ran a campaign that painted himself as, as one local blogger put it, Howard County's Barack Obama. The campaign's motif was one of Calvin Ball, proud African-American man, father, husband, and public servant, bringing Howard County together to face the challenges of the future and to stand against the intolerance of the Trump Administration. Ball wound up upending the incumbent County Executive by a wide margin. And the days of "Good Ol' Boy" Howard County were pretty much over.
But nature abhors a vacuum. And the space occupied by the old white patriarchy of sixty years prior was replaced by a new feeling of entitlement. That of the nouveau landed gentry in pockets of the county that had spent the last 15 years on a pedestal.
In the last part, the 20s bring a new fight against segregation, and a new fight for equity.
