Thousands of Howard County voters sent a message to the county executive hopefuls ? by casting ballots for Democrat Harry Dunbar and his campaign to slow growth.
“Harry addressed the one issue of growth, but in no detail,” said Democratic Central Committee member and former chairman Tony McGuffin.
“Maybe people did use the vote to make a point.”
In the Democratic primary race, underdog Dunbar stole more than 20 percent of the unofficial vote count from primary winner Kenneth Ulman for Howard County executive in his first campaign, according to the Howard County Board of Elections on Wednesday.
“Despite the political establishment?s endorsement and the media?s support of my rival, despite being outspent over 100 to 1 ? as my opponents take money from developers and foreign interests ? over 5,000 Howard County citizens came out to support the slow growth campaign of which I was a candidate,” said Dunbar, who spread his “slow growth,” anti-developer message tirelessly at county functions.
“I think a lot of those votes were protest votes against Ken Ulman?s record on development,” said county executive candidate and Council Member Christopher Merdon, R-District 1, who accused Ulman of pushing a public forum for the redevelopment of Columbia?s Town Center into an urban area, before traffic and school impact studies were prepared.
“They had a clear choice between a slow-growth candidate and a pro-growth candidate, and a significant number of them voted for the slow growth candidate,” Merdon said.
However, Council Member Ulman, D-District 4, said Dunbar?s votes will not affect his campaign.
“It?s not surprising at all. If you look at primary elections, the lesser-known candidate always gets a chunk, especially when they are first on the ballot,” said Ulman.
Ulman said he will continue to tout his message of managed growth, including his work to save Columbia?s Merriweather Post Pavilion from being developed.
“We are going to make sure we continue this quality of life, by managing growth in a way that strengthens rather than erodes it,” Ulman said.
In the most recent campaign finance report, Dunbar had $364 on hand, while Ulman had $335,734.
