Young, Hagen lead in commissioners race

Originally posted in the Frederick News-Post, Wednesday, September. 15, 2010
by Meg Tully
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=109929

Frederick County Commissioners Kai Hagen and Blaine Young were leading the races in their party’s primaries as votes came in Tuesday night.

Frederick County Commissioners Kai Hagen and Blaine Young were leading the races in their party’s primaries as votes came in Tuesday night.

Commissioner David Gray, an incumbent Republican, also made it through the primary, but appeared to be in fifth place.

With 82.6 percent of precincts reporting, Hagen had 7,066, or 19.47 percent, of Democratic votes, and Young had 11,970 or 19.45 percent of the Republican vote.

Voter turnout was low, with 20.35 percent of registered voters heading to the polls with 57 of 69 precincts reporting.

Hagen said he was pleased with several other Democratic nominees. He had supported Linda Norris, Janice Wiles and Ellis Burruss throughout the campaign — all were in the top five of Democrats who will go through to the Nov. 2 general election.

Hagen was first, Norris was second with 18.95 percent of the vote, followed by Wiles with 15.64 percent and Burruss with 13.53 percent. The fifth slot was too close to call, with Michael Kurtianyk bringing in 4,207 votes and Jerry Trout with 4,078 votes.

Hagen also wanted Republican Bob White to get through, but he acknowledged it was tough for a relatively unknown candidate to make it through a crowded field of Republicans. White came in sixth; the top five nominees in the Republican field will go through to the general election.

Hagen said he is looking forward to the general election, and that winners of the primary don’t necessarily reflect who will win in November. He thinks voters will have a lot of different positions on which to base their decisions.

“There are two very different views of the county being represented by two very different types of candidates,” Hagen said.

In the Republican primary, Young said he washappy with the voters’ top five picks. Young had 19.45 percent, followed by Paul Smith with 12.36 percent, Kirby Delauter with 11.87 percent, Billy Shreve with 10.22 percent and David Gray with 8.07 percent.

“I’m flattered and humbled,” said Young, who was appointed to the commissioners seat in the spring. “My goal was to be in the top five.”

He thought a planned waste-to-energy trash incinerator played a bigger role in the Democratic primary than the Republican race. Young supports the incinerator; Hagen opposes it. In the Republican primary, he said voters were concerned about redefining the role of government, reducing spending and cutting out regulations.

He is calling for the party to unify before November’s general elections.

“We’ve got to unify as a party, come up with a central message and get the Republican ticket elected,” Young said.

Although Gray came in fifth, he said he expects he can do well in the general election. He is seeking his fifth term as commissioner and said he generally gets a lot of independent votes.

“I’m encouraged and I appreciate the support,” Gray said about the primary results.

Some of the successful nominees in the commissioners race are relatively new to politics.

Norris, a communications consultant who formerly worked as a recycling program manager forFrederick County, trailed just behind Hagen in the Democratic Party.

“I’m thrilled, because I’ve been trying to get my message out to people and not sure if I am,” Norris said. “I haven’t been one of the candidates that’s been able to go out there and raise a lot of money because I’m so new on the political scene.”

She said that a great challenge will be convincing people that government can do good.

“People are very upset about budgets and government, and that may even be responsible for low turnout,” Norris said.

In the Republican primary, former city Alderman Paul Smith relied on name recognition as a city official and community involvement to garner support. He and his wife have 12 children and participate in a variety of activities, he said.

“I think the two biggest issues are the economy and continuing to cut the budget,” Smith said. “We need jobs and when we get more jobs, property values will go up and increase demand forhomes.”

All election results are unofficial until certified by the Frederick County Board of Elections. The board sent out 496 Democratic absentee ballots in Frederick County and 538 Republican absentee ballots.