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A Stunning Lack of Self-Awareness

 



The Banner asks an interesting question: What happened to Howard County Republicans? It’s a good question. I’m not entirely sure that they asked the right people. 

What Happened to Howard County Republicans? We Asked Them., Lillian Reed, Baltimore Banner

Why did they ask? Well…

No GOP candidates entered the race for county executive, Howard’s top elected position, or most other local offices such as state’s attorney, register of wills and sheriff. Out of more than a dozen people who pursued County Council seats this spring, just one had an R next to their name.

It’s a fascinating article largely because the responses from the Republicans interviewed are just plain all over the place. Either they honestly don’t know or they do know and they have no intention of going on the record with their answers. 

Among the responses are a good number of references to something they call divisiveness. Essentially this boils down to complaints that “the other folks are being mean to us.” Having seen the kind of organized meanness that HoCo Republicans have unleashed in previous elections, I can’t take this line of thinking seriously. Perhaps what they mean is that “the other folks have the upper hand and, gosh darn it, that’s not fair.”

Do as I say, not as I do. Alrighty, then.

I found these comments from Linda Furiate to be more astute than others and yet she walks right up to the truth and misses the point.

Columbia resident and longtime Republican Linda Furiate said Democrats dominate Howard County politics because they work together to support one another. There just aren't enough Republicans in Howard to do the same, she said.

It’s true that HoCo Dems work together to support one another. Yet during the primary season Republicans were criticizing this very thing and framing it as some kind of unscrupulous machine politics. 

Furiate also suspects that members of her party aren't running for office because they fear backlash from being associated with the Trump administration.

I wonder why they feel that way? Local Republicans have invested a lot of effort in accusing Dems of practicing “DC politics” that was irrelevant to local issues. And then DC politics reached right into Howard County and put a whole lot of people out of work. Which party made that happen?

To her, Trump and the Republican Party are not one and the same. Candidates should be elected not based on their party, but on their ideas, Furiate said.

What are their ideas? This article doesn’t tell us. The primary election cycle didn’t tell us. To the extent that Republicans participated it was to smear and denigrate Democrats. That almost feels…divisive.

"It doesn't matter if they're Democrat or Republican," she said. "Be open-minded."

It matters if you have values that support democracy, that you have a proven record of working for all residents in Howard County, that you openly repudiate hateful ideas and behavior. 

People who vote for Democrats in Howard County are voting for that. They are voting for those ideas. 

This article shows how Republicans are even willing to run as Democrats not because of any deep change of heart but because they think it will provide them with better product placement. This is probably the most cynical take of all, and not worthy of even one single vote. From either party.

Before I go I must take a moment to register my objection to the dredging up of the Mister Nice Guy photo which most of us know by now was a savvy photo opp. Must we endure a reference to it one more time in this article?

2018, when it became clear Kittleman had lost his reelection campaign to emocrat Calvin Ball, he traveled to his opponent's victory party in Columbia, and the two hugged.

"We all had the same goal back in the day, just different ways of getting there,"

Kittleman said.

Hogwash. 

We absolutely did not (and do not) have the same goals. This is a fairy tale that some people tell themselves but the lived history in Howard County does not bear this out. Being able to make nice in public is a valuable social skill but it is not to be confused with committed and insightful leadership.

What happened to Howard County Republicans? Apparently they don’t know.


Village Green/Town² Comments


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  1. Julia A. McCreadyOctober 15, 2026 at 4:35 AM

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