Congressional Photo-Finish: Delaney Edges out Bongino

Happy Monday! 

Sorry it's been forever. I've been nursing my campaign phantom-limb. 

Anyways, the final tally for the District 6 Congressional race was reported over a week ago on November 7th (oops) and Candidate Dan Bongino announced his concession to Congressman John Delaney. Here's Bongino's concession announcement on his personal Facebook page. And here is John Delaney's acknowledgement of said concession on his Facebook page. SO cute. 

Since we all know I LOVE family pictures, here's Delaney with his precious brood:

With the playground and the summertime and
the smiling...I can't.

But the Bongino family is not to be outdone. They fire back with an Ellen-style selfie:

OMG look at that little head in the front. STOP. So cute

I think for next election cycle, each candidate and their family should have to go head-to-head in a game of Family Feud. I feel 100% certain that would be more telling of their character than any debate. Someone call Steve Harvey. 

I'm at a loss for what to write about next now that the elections are over and nobody is sworn in til January! What do you care about? Is there anything about elections that peeved you? Gimme some ideas! 

:)

Smear-Ads: Unnecessary Roughness or Politics-as-Usual?

Happy Friday!

So I have no idea what pictures to use so
here's a picture of a pixelated American flag.
It's still da best flag of them all. #goosebumps

I have the political hangover of the century but it hurts so good.

Now that elections are over we can begin to reflect and reminisce on all the good times we've had. OR we can talk about last night's episode of Scandal. I'm literally about to combust. No? Fine. 

If you won't allow me to discuss my girl Olivia Pope's love-life, let's start with this election cycle's last-ditch effort at smear-ads. More specifically, the ads exchanged between the candidates for delegate of District 1-B, Jason Buckel and Kevin Kelly. 

Kevin Kelly made serious waves at the end of his campaign when he published in the Cumberland Times a police report filed by Buckel's ex-wife from 2003 describing an altercation between herself and Jason Buckel. Buckel's ex-wife quickly redacted her statement the day after she filed it, saying she made the whole thing up. 

Side-Note: to avoid further circulating the ad, I am not going to share it here. #Sorrynotsorry. 

I can almost hear Kelly now, But he started it! And he would not be entirely wrong.  

Buckel definitely wasn't above running a negative campaign. I personally received two or three fliers listing Kelly's failings as Delegate for the past five-terms. Most notably (and hilariously) an ad featuring a close up of a cat alleging that the most impressive thing that Kelly has accomplished in his five-terms is making the state cat of Maryland the Calico. 

According to a statement that Buckel made on WCBC the night of the election, Kelly had been threatening to release the document starting when Buckel first announced his intent to run. Buckel prepared himself accordingly. His ex-wife recorded a statement explaining the claims she made were false. The robo-call was delivered to  registered republicans within Buckel and Kelly's district. 

So what's the difference between the two ads? Any at all? According to Commissioner Jake Shade's campaign manager Erin Giles, the difference is within validity and relevance: "Buckel focused his ads on Kelly's voting record and accomplishments (or lack thereof). Kelly chose to attack Buckel's personal life." 

April Baer, a Certified Victim Advocate through the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA) and Frostburg State University's Director of Student Wellness, was less concerned with the political move and more concerned with the broader message conveyed. Baer said:

 "The tone concerned me for the implications that it had toward victims of sexual violence and their personal security. When I read it, I was horrified. There was no context to the police report and my mind immediately went to the safety of the family. I thought 'If this is really happening, now what is gonna happen to the wife?' As an advocate for victims of sexual assault and violence, I'm afraid what this says to other victims about the security of their reports. I feel as though there was a way for Kelly to make this a conversation about domestic violence. He could have turned this into a platform and shared it as a genuine concern. Instead, he put it in the paper with no context and it was extremely alarming."  

Very Olivia Pope of you, Mrs. Baer. One for you, April. 

Giles, a senior Communications major at McDaniel College, noted the impact Kelly's choice had on the outcome of the race.

"According to early voting totals, Buckel was winning even before Kelly's huge smear ad, but Buckel crushed Kelly on Election Day," she said. 

Seeing as Buckel won the election 60-40, is this tactic really an effective tool in the current political field? Evidently not this time, but the practice is definitely not dead.

So, what do you think? Was Kelly's ad too far or just poorly executed? Comment below! :)

Red: The Blood of Angry Men; Republicans Romp in Allegany County

God bless the USA and chocolate-covered coffee beans. It happened. The election is almost over.

If you're seeing red, you're not alone. Unless you're seeing red because you're angry. Then I don't think we're talking about the same red. 

Anyway.

Before I start the local info, it would be remiss if I ignored the huge upset state-wide. Republican Lawrence Hogan Jr. (Or as I like to call him, Larry Jr. Or LJ. Depends on the day) beat Democrat Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown for the race for Governor. Just to put that into context, there has only been one other Republican governor in Maryland since 1969. Cray.

Here's Hogan's victory speech for you Larry Lovers out there:

And for my Anthony Enthusiasts, here's his concession speech:

That's enough of that. Back to our roots, people.

Here are the results for the Allegany County elections!

FYI: the names in red are the winners. 

City Council: 

Seth Bernard: 39.1%

Dave Kauffman: 32.4%

Dustin Freas: 25.3%

There was no clear front-runner during campaign season so this one was really up for grabs. The surprise to me is the clear distinction between the top two and the third. Even though there was a half-hearted effort of smear-tactics on Freas the week before elections, the early-voting was finished before that and the results showed Freas lost decidedly. 

County Commissioner:

Jake Shade (R): 26.4%

Creade Brodie Jr. (R).: 23.9%

Bill Valentine (R): 22.6%

Tom Striplin (D): 18.7%

If you recall, Shade, the overall vote winner, is the youngest candidate in  Maryland this cycle. Brodie and Valentine are the incumbents but the typical order-of-business is the overall vote-getter is the President of the Commissioners (which sounds so cool like where do I sign up for that). This will be fun to watch.  Keep in mind, however, that Shade is almost 1/3 the age of both of his co-commissioners so this will be a definite test of Brodie and Valentine's willingness to work with the new kid and a test of Shade's ability to lead and hold his own. There's about to be a what? GIRL FIGHT. Does anyone else remember that song? No? Just me? Awkward. Google it.

Back to business.

House of Delegates 1C:

Mike McKay (R): 56%

Nick Scarpelli (D): 43%

Holy moly. For most of the night, Scarpelli was winning. So much so that the Allegany County Election site (the one from which I've gotten all my data) stopped reporting on results when Scarpelli was still winning. McKay took it back with his help from Washington County friends and he ran away with it. I guess Scarpelli's constituents weren't as lively as he'd hoped. 

Too soon? Too soon. Sorry. Tough crowd.

House of Delegates 1B:

Jason Buckel (R): 59.4%

Kevin Kelly (D): 40.5%

Kelly has been in office for 24 years (which is literally longer than I've been alive) so Buckel had A LOT of ground to make up in his first run for public office. Plus, Kelly pulled out a smear-ad the weekend before election day. 

Side-note: I was listening to WCBC radio during the election results for like 5 hours and one of the men talking said that this is not Kelly's first rodeo with airing dirty laundry super soon before voting. The guy referred to it as Kelly's "October surprise" which sounds like a horrifying Halloween-themed porno. Just in case you were hoping for a visual, you're welcome.

Despite his success with the "October surprise," (I can't call it that. Seriously, ew.) Kelly's smear-ad seems to have backfired on him this time. But that's mere speculation at this point and I will refrain from continuing. 

The excitement is not over, however. 

The race for a seat in Congress for District 6 as of 12 pm, is still occurring. Dan Bongino (R) and John Delaney (D) are battling it out to the very last absentee and military ballot because the race is still too close to call. 

Ahhh I love democracy. 

Now I need to ride out this caffeine kick. It's gonna be a long day.

Happy November :)

Bonus Gem: Bill Valentine posted this picture of all the Republican winners (save Bongino) and they look so cute. Cue the last song from Grease: We'll always be together, (be together), we'll always be together.

#bestfriendsforlife #teamwhiteoxfordbuttonups5ever

Delegate 1-C: Fast fact time

Ahh! It's been too long!

I'm sure you're all dying to know who is running for the other local district (1-C) for state delegate. I'm here to help.

FYI there are 5 days til election day. Holy constituent that's soon.

I-Cers, you're in the bloody color. Lucky you.

First, let's look at the district lines. 1-C covers the rest of Allegany County and reaches over into Washington County. So if you're Cumberland, chances are you vote for one of these two. So pay attention.

In this corner, weighing in at 190 pounds, (okay fine, I don't know how much he weighs) we have Nicholas Scarpelli (D)!

He looks so House of Cards here.
Posh.

If that name sounds familiar, don't feel cray because you've probably heard it before.

Nick Scarpelli owns the Scarpelli Funeral Home; one is located in Cumberland and the other is between Cresaptown and Bel Air. I think it's great that he's running. I heard he's the life of the party. Just kidding. But really, if he's elected, I bet he'll kill it. Okay I'll stop.

Back to the serious stuff.

Here's Nick with part of the fam.
His son isn't pictured here but I didn't
want to be that big of a creeper.

This is Scarpelli's first run for state delegate.

According to his website, Scarpelli has is a fourth-generation Cumberland local. He graduated from Bishop Walsh High School and then went on to James Madison University. He received his Mortuary Science Degree from Catonsville Community College and his MBA from Frostburg State.

Scarpelli has one adult daughter and a son in high school with his wife, Tama. Tama is a fifth generation Cumberland native.

I bet he's dying to bring Allegany County back to life.

Okay now I'm really finished.

NEXT

If you're doing the math in your head from my last delegate post and you've figured out that 7 children are unaccounted for, you're not wrong, my friend.

SEE!
 I had to count three
times to verify child count.
Presh. 

Except I lied the last time. I miscounted babies (and young adults). He actually has eight children. SORRY. My bad.

Michael McKay is the republican candidate for district 1-C and he's not alone in his campaign. Like really, really, not even close to being alone.

McKay has more to his name than those whom have sprung from his loins. (Can men spring children from loins? I'll Google that later.) Mike McKay is currently an incumbent Allegany County Commissioner but he made the decision to vacate his position to go for delegate.

According to McKay's Facebook, (which is actually titled the McKay-Family Michael Facebook account, which is so cute I can't even handle it) he is an owner and operator at Allegany Management Services. Basically, he owns a few dry-cleaners throughout Cumberland. (Side-Note: I got two dresses dry-cleaned

there once and the girl was super nice but my dress was like, a size smaller when I got it home. I don't exactly know if that's possible for them to catalyze the shrinking process but I swear it happened. I'll save that rant for my review on Angie's List.)

As I've mentioned too many times already, McKay has eight children, the oldest is in college and the youngest is around 1 year old. His wife, Kim, is super nice. His oldest daughter was in my Sunday School class when we were kids and she's super nice too.

As per his education level, I don't really know. According to the Allegany County Government website, McKay studied business administration at UMD College Park but it isn't clear if he graduated. His Facebook says that he went to Rockville High. (Out-of-towner. Nice.) I don't think it really matters if ever graduated since he seems to have proven that he can indeed run a business without the piece of $20,000 paper but what do I know?

So there's that!

Let me know what you'd like to see now that you know everyone running for local office!

Do you know where you are supposed to vote? If not, comment below! I'll post a guide to voting!

Happy voting, ya'll!


BONUS ROUND:

I found this incredible gem on McKay's Facebook and I CANNOT pass up a winning selfie.
Just shows his commitment to trying to see things from a bipartisan perspective. (Get it? Because he's a Republican and their symbol is the elephant and the picture is a donkey and Democrats use the donkey? Do you get it? DO YOU?)

Point for you, McKay

#Overtheshouldersmolder

But Scarpelli is not to be outdone. Here's a glamour shot of Scarps. Is Scarps a thing? Can we make that a thing?

Maryland Gubernatorial Race: 2014

Hello!

So my next planned post is a profile on the Delegate candidates for District 1-C but someone brought to my attention that people are feeling a little unclear on what the candidates for Gubernor Governor want to do for Maryland.

Ask and you shall receive.

My friend Brad Kroner sent me the link to the audio from the second Hogan-Brown debate that was posted on October 13th!

(All together now: THAAAANKS BRAD)

When you're finished transcribing that, I also found this video of the Gubernatorial Debate from October 18th!

Would you like to know more about the state-wide races?

Let me know in the comments and I'll start to do some research! :)

Happy Voting!