Signs of the Time by Craig Fuller

The elections are just a few weeks away bringing heightened campaign activity to Talbot County. With active local, state and federal races occurring, voters are treated to a wide array of signs to boost interest in one or more candidates.

Traveling along highway 50 in Trappe, two signs caught my attention. On one property owner’s land was a sign for Democrat candidate for Congress in Maryland’s 1st District, Jesse Colvin; and, next to it was an equally large sign for Republican candidate for Governor, the incumbent, Larry Hogan. Curious? Maybe not.

I sense support growing not for the candidate of one party or the other, but for individuals who bring leadership to their respective offices and a desire to find solutions by working together.

You should know that, like the property owner hosting these signs, I believe Governor Hogan and Congressional candidate Jesse Colvin possess these qualities and therefore will have my vote on Election Day!

Voting ought to require us to do a little research, made easier by extensive online descriptions of the candidates and the positions across a wide range of issues. What I was most taken about were the individual descriptions of Hogan and Colvin on their respective campaign websites. These descriptions are carefully crafted and approved to reflect the nature of the candidate…it’s how they want to be seen.

You can look at both sites yourself (the link is at the bottom of the column). But, here is an easy way to compare the two:

Notice how, when they introduce themselves, they choose words like “state/people,” “country/people.” They refer to “policies” and to “problems” and they speak to “leadership” and “courage.”

We would, I believe, be well served by these two individuals, Hogan and Colvin, working together to protect our precious environment, to fight the dreaded scourge of opioid addiction, to work on economic growth with job training and expanded employment opportunities, and to insure our citizens have the health care they need.

Just imagine how you and I and our communities would benefit by having our state and federal representatives putting party aside to focus on the nations’s needs, the state’s needs and the needs we have in Talbot County.

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore with his wife Karen.