Not racism, just politics. Negative ads tend to take data or soundbites completely out of context. Both sides do it. Good reason to mute the TV during commercials this time of year.

Well…..current America….racism is now more accepted. And if you call it out…you are woke

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Calvin Ball’s commercial has super irritating music but his message has been a lot more positive.

It’s going to be a really close election (if the signs around the county are any indication) and maybe Kittleman is pulling out all of the stops.

LOL. Everything you people don’t agree with is racism. Try singing another song. That one is worn out.

Edit: Cancel culture loves to down vote.

Either way, there will be tears.

The only reasonable comment here.

I saw most of their debate.

Ball > kittlemen but I don’t see any hidden racist whistle dog w kittlemen

The crime fear platform doesn’t really work in Howard county but neither does their anti abortion or election was stolen platform so I guess he went with crime

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I’ve been really disappointed by Kittleman’s campaign. He’s gone very negative and most of what he is saying is incredibly misleading.

Check out the link below. Crime was actually higher under Kittleman than it was under Ball. Kittleman is heavily pushing the fact they homicides are higher under Ball, but the homicide rate is incredibly low under both of them. Whether there are 6 homicides in the county of 11 there is an incredibly small number of homicides in a county of 330,000 people. It’s ridiculous for Kittleman to constantly harp on a homicide rate of 1 homicide per 33,000 residents. It’s nothing but pure fearmongering.

Kittleman’s claims regarding taxes are similarly misleading. He talks about taxes skyrocketing by 35% but what he doesn’t reveal is that he is talking about the firetax which went from .176% to .236% so basically 6 one hundredths of a percent which is equivalent to $25 per month on a $500,000 home.

Kittleman also loves to hit Ball on accepting developer donations. What he mentions less is that he accepted developer donations in the past and opposed public funding of campaigns when the county council considered the CEF. Kittleman only came to oppose developer donations when it became a convenient talking point and he knew there would be a groundswell of donations from wealthy residents in western Howard county who are desperate to get Ball out of office.

I agree - I don't think it's racism (coded or otherwise) in the advertisement. That said - the idea that Columbia is getting more dangerous does have serious racist undertones when you look at the comments section on Nextdoor or Facebook anytime a crime happens. I do think Kittleman is tapping into that sentiment and fear stoking - but that is what his base wants.

It's somewhat depressing that Balls' rebuttal add is effectively "I've increased the police force, Columbia isn't unsafe - and hey democrats - I spent money on education." Personally, I was hoping for more from Ball the last few years - but the answer isn't Kittleman who I think caused a lot of issues that we will probably be unraveling decades from now.

'He made the calculation: The biggest complaint a lot of people had about Kittleman was that he was basically giving the greenlight to anything developers wanted. By turning down the campaign contributions, any time the damage he did while Exec his supporters can just say "He's not accepting Developer money, so that's not true." That was worth more than developer money. Personally I'm not falling for it - but I can see how that would sway some people who aren't impressed by Calvin Ball and don't realize some of the issues they attribute to Ball are directly the result of Kittleman.

I agree it wasn't coded racism - but the people who believe Columbia is becoming less safe (who this ad plays to) are racist in general (judging by the Nextdoor and Facebook comments under articles). So - he might not be racist, but he's happy to court their vote.

That’s essentially the thrust of the Kittleman campaign. Blast Ball and deflect from everything Kittleman did while in office.

Some of Kittleman's instagram ads look racist to me.

Or and see if you can follow, when you call everything racist, you are simply and at the very minimum a fucking idiot.

Not only were we the safest, this is at least the fifth year running

More common? Maybe. More accepted? By whom?!

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EDIT: Everybody downvote me if you accept racism!

Reddit, you disgust me.

It’s annoying how every politician in HoCo falls back on anyone who is in any way associated with developers is evil. Developers are neither good or bad, every development project needs to be looked at individually on its merits. On top of that, MD has a huge housing shortage and we do need developers to build more homes. Ideally more diverse types of home such as apartments, townhomes etc, so middle class folks can afford them not just endless McMansions contributing to sprawl.

> tapping into that sentiment and fear stoking

If its a message that taps into “racist undertones” then its a dogwhistle

I mean, Columbia is literally a development project lol, so I am right there with you.

Columbia made it as a development because of mixed income housing, which strengthened the community for generations. I'd like to see a Rouse-like approach for the 21st century, rather than copying the copycats in the way we've seen so far

Signs around the county. My wife reached out to Calvin Ball about this and he replied that his signs are being systematically removed/destroyed all around the county.

So that sucks, too.

Yeah, I am a little uncomfortable with Kittleman’s tone.

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From Willie Horton to Ronald Reagan's Neshoba County "States' Rights speech to Nixon's "Southern Strategy," racism is so embedded in Republican campaigns that I guess it just passes for normal now.

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It really annoys me that Ball harps on the fact that Columbia was named one of the safest cities in America as a reason he should be re-elected as county executive. Not because it’s not true, it very well may be true. But because he’s running for county executive, not columbia executive. What about the rest of the county? Yeah maybe Columbia is the “safest” city, but I wouldn’t go near Main Event after dark. I wouldn’t get gas in certain areas after dark either. It may be safer than the rest of the country but that doesn’t mean it’s safe.

Also Ball has the support of the police chief, but does the police chief have the support of the police? How many officers retired earlier than they planned under Ball’s regime?

Pushing fearful “high crime” ads — even when crime is demonstrably not high — is standard GOP strategy. Especially when their candidate is running against a black opponent.

They’re not subtle.

Agree. Big, desaturated picture of a black man, and text: "crime is up!" (even though it's lower than 3 years ago)..? Yeah we who you're talking to here

So your argument that this well-known racist tactic isn't racist is: "nah-uh"..?

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“I'd like to see a Rouse-like approach for the 21st century, rather than copying the copycats in the way we've seen so far”

Me too! Columbia seems as though it was well thought out with regard to its infrastructure (roads, walkability, village centers, schools, etc.), coupled with the different housing options that made this county more socioeconomically diverse. The different housing options blend well too… the only outer Columbia example I can think of is Waverly Woods. It would be nice if the remainder of the county (EC, Elkridge, etc) could be retrofitted similar to Columbia.

“Ideally more diverse types of home such as apartments, townhomes etc, so middle class folks can afford them not just endless McMansions contributing to sprawl.”

Agree wholeheartedly with this, though I do wonder about the thought process and planning/consideration that goes into approval for each development, with regard to environmental impact, impacts to schools, transportation, etc. I mean, it seems this county has to redistrict every couple of years, and old EC flooded twice since I moved here (in 2016), which leads me to believe that the planning in these areas has been insufficient or inadequate. Given that Kittleman was the former CE and Ball was on the council, and from what I understand, voted for this development, it doesn’t make me super happy that they are the options for CE (though this crappy planning probably began before them).

People want to move and live here, and so we need housing options for every budget, but we also need to plan the space around that housing in a responsible manner in order to avoid becoming San Francisco or MoCo. If the county council has indeed been working on this in a thoughtful manner, it would be nice if they made this information more available in an easily digestible way to the public.

By whom? Check out twitter bro. See GOP politicians. See fucking Trump

No thanks, I can barely deal with reddit asshattery as it is. If I go on Twitter too I'm done for.

that's enough, children. don't make me turn this subreddit around.

Yes, sir. Sorry, dad.😔

"You people?" Just what exactly do you mean by that, "sir." 😆

/s

Well when you post your signs on public property and public right of way, they get removed. Saw the county doing their job the other day by cleaning up the trash on the side of 29; they had a bunch of election signs going right in the trash where they belong.