An Honorable Man

Something that’s been going through my head since I saw the rundown of donations to the group trying to repeal Howard County’s sanctuary status: $5000.00 is a lot of money. Former Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman made a donation of $5000.00 to Citizens For A Strong And Safe Howard County (In Opposition of CB 63-2020). As my mother would have said, that’s not carfare. Or pin money. It’s more than money. It’s a statement. A leadership gift.

Now I’m quite clear that Mr. Kittleman and I don’t have the same politcal views. I have disagreed with him on many issues. But I have always felt that it matters a good deal to him to be an honorable man. He has worked quite hard to be the Republican that Democrats could engage in conversation. You know, “I don’t always agree with him, but he’s a nice guy.” 

But here we have a substantial donation to a group which is using methods that are far from honorable. Remember:

These  folks have been planting themselves around town and downright misleading people. 

“Are you for Sanctuary in Howard County? You should sign this to get it on the ballot!”

They’re not keen to let signers read the actual wording of the petition. That’s because they aren’t telling people that CB63 is law already and that the goal of their petition is actually to overturn it. A signature on the petition actually jeopardizes its status.

That’s lying, friends. Signatures on a petition which have been obtained through the use of falsehood are automatically invalid. The people and the party who have masterminded this scheme should be ashamed. They probably aren’t.

As much as I disagree with Mr. Kittleman’s politics, I have a hard time believing that he would approve of this kind of dishonest and manipulative behavior. It goes against everything he has said he stands for. It wasn’t that long ago that he wrote the following in a letter to the Baltimore Sun:

I know it may seem hard to believe after these last four years, but there are still plenty of Republicans who strongly believe in honesty, integrity and both personal and economic freedom.

The folks at Citizens For A Strong And Safe Howard County (In Opposition of CB 63-2020) have put Kittleman in a terrible position. They were willing to take a large sum of money from someone who prides himself on being an honorable man, and the way they have been spending it has been patently dishonorable. Frankly, I think he should ask for his money back. 

Who knows? Maybe he already has. At the very least it would be good to know that he doesn’t sanction this kind of unethical behavior. 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/howard/bs-md-kittleman-ball-hug-20181107-story.html

repealsanctuarycounty.com