A Twist
Buried in a story from today's Capital regarding the school board bill's approval by the Senate:
I have a feeling that John Leopold's enthusiasm for this bill isn't as high as it was yesterday...
Voted in favor of a bill that would ban all solicitation and sign waving in county and state right-of-way along roads. The vote split along the same lines as the school board bill. Originally the legislation would have just banned roadside solicitation, but Mr. DeGrange, D-Glen Burnie, amended the bill to prevent all sign distractions. "It takes everybody out, including political people," he said. "It's a safety issue."Which is fascinating, because that has never been something that has actually been discussed before. I have a feeling that like the now-dead robocall bill, that this does not pass the First Amendment smell test because, once again, political free speech is being infringed upon.
I have a feeling that John Leopold's enthusiasm for this bill isn't as high as it was yesterday...
Labels: Anne Arundel, General Assembly
posted by Brian Griffiths at 12:41 PM
8 Comments:
Sign waving allowed John Leopold to get elected. By doing so, he didn't have to go out and talk issues. Perhaps if republicans saw Phil Bissett's mailer 2 days before the primary, they would have rejected Leopold in September.
Sign waving is a way candidates that don’t have a lot of money can get name recognition. Of course Democrats realize this and know that Republicans use it to their advantage. I don’t know if Democrats are lazy or think it demeaning to stand at the side of the road and wave to the voters. It works because it does get a candidates name out. If DeGrange thinks this is a safety issue he is an idiot. If drivers are that distracted by someone waving on the side of the road they shouldn’t be driving, because obviously they must not have common sense. I’ll tell you a couple of things they need to ban, that are dangerous if they want to talk about safety issues. First is police pulling people over because of all the idiots who slow down to take a look at someone getting a ticket. Next they need to ban accidents because that really causes a distraction for the idiots driving on the roads.
It's really a way to avoid voters. You didn't see BS or Leopold in the community talking to voters. Intead, they smiled behind a sign. In the process, the slowed traffic on highways.
Not everybody who sign waves does it as a means to avoid voters. I know that Nic Kipke sign waved extensively, but only as we got closer to the primary and the general. He was also busting his tail going door-to-door for months.
The problem is that some people choose to sign wave on a daily basis, as you note Bud, as a means to avoid human contact. What's going to be interesting is to see, if this law passes, how in the world John Leopold will campaign for anything since he does not have a broad base of supporters.
Well I hardly think they do it to avoid voters. It is a way to get your name out there in a legal manner before you are allowed to get signs up. It is also a cheap way to campaign. It is also effective if you do it enough to get the voters to recognize your name. If it wasn’t effective Democrats would not be trying to outlaw it, and that is a fact.
It is what got Dwyer elected the first term. Now I know to be most effective you need a good balance, because one on one with the voters will better convince them one way or another. I would bet if Cadden had done a little of it she would have won and that is a very real possibility because of the close numbers. Also it might have made a difference with Shandrowky if he had done some himself.
Now if sign waving slows traffic there are a lot of people that should not be driving, that or people who are slowing down to give them the finger and want to make sure they see it.
Cadden really didn't need the name recogition. She's a familiar face because of all the communtity events she participated in over the years.
Shandrowsky took a principled stance against sign waving. At first, I disagreed with his theory, but over time I respected his reasoning. He too spent his time in the communtity, talking to voters directly and attending neighborhood events. I don't think you can blame his loss on the lack of sign waving. He campaigned for 5 months against a well funded opponent who campaigned for 3.5 years. That's hard to overcome especially in District 31.
I am not so sure it would have made a difference. District 31 may be a lost cause for democrats. The voter base is as closed minded as the liberals are in Montgomery County. Only Phil Jimeno would have survived this go round. And, he never believed in sign waving.
When you are around for almost 30 years like Jimeno most voters except new ones will know and recognize your name, so I would say it does not benefit a person in his position. Much the same as Leopold never really had to do much work in 31. Shandrowsky for whatever reason he decided not to do it I believe was a mistake. Regardless of him being in office before his name was not well known and the six hundred or so votes he lost by could possibly have been made up with minimal sign waving. Cadden despite her being a well known incumbent would have most assuredly picked up an additional twenty five voters new voters or possible independents. Remember in this day and age knowing a name of a candidate gives you access to a whole bunch of information if you are interested in finding out about that person.
People called Leopold crazy when he first sign waved and look where he is now, I also believe Leopold did a lot of door to door in the south where he was not so well known. I think you are discounting what sign waving brings you even though it will not win you an election like it did for Dwyer in 2002.
If you pick out the right locations to wave from, thousands upon thousands of people will see the name. We all know that many people besides voting party line will vote for a name they recognize.
I have to also add the some Democrats not liking O’Malley as I have heard but not confirmed on my own, kept some of the heavy Democrat precincts with a lower than normal turnout.
I agree with statement totally. I think that mininal sign waving could have brought Shandrowsky over the top, but if he had started 6 months earlier... I think it would have too. Shandrowsky stood by his beliefs though, and although he lost, you have to admire him for that.
Lord knows Bryan Simonaire has already two-faced the public.
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