Election Post Script:
The scrumptious foods were laid out on tables adorned with decoration, the room was full of flowers awaiting the glorious victory of Tommy McKay but when a tv camera panned his headquarters on election night, there was no one inside while Hambone asked for folks to join him.  No one showed up which was just about the story at the polls when Senator Roy Dyson smoked McKay winning with 68% of the vote.  And the small bungalow in Great Mills used as a headquarters by Dyson was full of exuberant volunteers, none of them builders or developers, and instead of lavish trays of foods there were crock pots of homemade chili. On the edge of the property of Liberty Homes developer Guy Curley still stood the large sign featuring the face of McKay, as did the Empire Homes office on Rt. 235.  Just about every tract of land owned by local builders and developers was adorned by McKay campaign signs, virtually matching visits made to these same sites in the past two years looking for stormwater management violations.  During the past four years no citations for violations of the stormwater management laws were given out in St. Mary's County, making it easy to understand why McKay had such strong support from builders and developers.  Last minute ads by McKay linked Dyson to the Senator's proposal to bring commuter rail to Southern Maryland, a link he richly deserves for his efforts.  But McKay tried to make voters believe that somehow those using commuter rail would not be riding trains with laptops, newspapers, books, or be napping. Instead the McKay commercials attempted to paint the picture of criminals robbing stores and then jumping on commuter trains to flee back to the dangerous city.  McKay didn't succeed in fooling voters with his twisted view of the world.  The night before the election a crash halted traffic on the Solomon's bridge for nearly three hours, underscoring the need for a second span, a proposal made by Dyson for the past two legislative sessions but which was opposed by Ehrlich and McKay until two weeks before the election when they flip-flopped. Some local builders, who are important parts of our local economy in that they help the area grow, provide jobs and services for retail consumers, confuse the role they play in our society with a view that they know everything that is best for the rest of us.  They don't.  We are going to have growth, that is for sure.  But we need to manage it properly, to bring about new retail and office complexes with proper planning.  A case in point is the First Colony shopping center located at the intersection of Rt. 4 and Rt. 235.  This center was approved by the politicians and planners without a traffic signal installed on St. Andrews Church Road where the center's access road is located.  This traffic signal is now being installed four years later at a total cost to the taxpayers instead of being paid for by the developer.  There have been untold number of crashes and injuries at this site and anyone could have predicted that this would be the case.  But somehow, state and local highway planners, which are probably really just a bunch of chimpanzees with dart boards and bottles of Jack Daniels, decided that a traffic signal wasn't needed there.  All of the commercial development is allowed in St. Mary's without any impact fee, as this tax is placed strictly upon the residential property. There has been no effort on the part of the county commissioners to plan for an expanded bridge, participate in commuter rail planning or link Pegg Road with Rt. 5, build FDR Blvd or complete the Lexington Park redesign. With McKay and his shenanigans out of the way, the new St. Mary's Board is now in a position to hire a new county administrator, with the inside word that EDC Director Savich is the guy for the job, and get started working with Senator Dyson and Governor-Elect O'Malley.  They might as well get on board Dyson's train, because boys, the train is going to be leaving the station....the voters were given a clear choice for transportation solutions, this was Dyson's defining issue and the voters gave a big thumbs up to more bridge spans and commuter rail. People are tired of sitting behind the wheel and being stuck in traffic.  They are tired of the lawlessness on our highways and deputies who fail to enforce traffic laws. The voters spoke loud and clear and we have a soon to be ex-Governor now packing his bags and trying to figure out where he can get a job.  Maybe McKays will need two new stock boys.