Nastygrams

On December 24th, County Councilman  (and candidate for County Executive) Calvin Ball posted a photograph of himself with his family with the following message:

 From our family to yours . . . May this holiday season be full of love, laughter and hope.

This post received 2000 “Likes”, 119 comments,  and 6 shares.

On the same day, County Executive Allan Kittleman posted a photograph of himself with his family with this message:

From our family to yours, Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2018.

This post received 174 “Likes”, 19 comments, and 0 shares.

But those aren’t the numbers I’m interested in. The number I care about is 2.

Two posts on Dr. Ball’s virtual holiday card were overwhelming negative. Both from the same person, who apparently decided he needed to launch a political attack smack in the middle of holiday wishes. It’s fine that this man holds different opinions than an elected official. Attacking him, even using coarse language to do so, in a post meant to celebrate the season and community goodwill? Pretty lame, if you ask me.

I quickly checked to see if anyone had posted a similar attack on Mr. Kittleman’s holiday message. Nope. Surely there are plenty of folks out there who disagree strongly with the County Executive’s politcs or decisions he has made while in office. I guess no one made the choice to sully a well-meaning holiday wish with political nastiness. That’s good to know.

So this fellow who decided to choose this particular moment to go after Councilman Ball has a business right here in Howard County. It looks to have more than local customers, reaching out to a multi-state, regional audience. I wonder what those present and potential clients would think of  his ‘nastygrams’ on an elected official’s holiday card?

Hmm...

Blogger Susan Garber, in her recent post on Howard County predictions for 2018, advised local candidates to stay local and steer clear of partisan politics. On its face, that seems reasonable enough. But when posting a picture of yourself with your family is considered fair game for smear and invective? I’d say that horse has already left the barn.