Test for candidates mixes politics and the bay
By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer
Who would a blue crab vote for? Which candidates running for office in Chesapeake Bay country truly champion the estuary by backing policies that might turn the tide and save the bay?
Howard Ernst, author of "Chesapeake Bay Blues," a stark critique of bureaucratic efforts to preserve the bay, has an idea that just might catch on. He has set out to examine candidates from a crab's-eye view. He calls it the "Blue Crab Project."
"All candidates will pay lip service to saving the bay and some elected officials can even be counted on to occasionally vote the right way on bay issues," Mr. Ernst said. "But few elected officials can be counted on to actually champion the types of environment policies that could reverse the bay's decline.
"The idea is simple, if blue crabs could vote; they would support blue crab candidates."
Because of the Chesapeake's universal appeal, candidates wrap themselves in a bay flag, he said.
"They use the bay as a cheap date, a popular message that carries no political disadvantages," Mr. Ernst said. "There is a clear need for new ideas that enable the voting public to distinguish between bay heroes and bay zeroes."
That criteria excluding imcumbents has raised some concern with the methodology for determining who's true Blue.
Excluding incumbents might seem unfair to the same voters he hopes to assist said a full-time observer of local political issues.
"It would make more sense if incumbents were included," said Dan Nataf, director of the Center for the Study of Local Issues at Anne Arundel Community College.
He said there are some office holders who have an exceptional record on bay issues.
Mr. Ernst explained the blue crab movement is about seeking new political leadership for the bay. He also said incumbents have a voting record that enables the public to evaluate them, and outfits like the League of Conservation Voters issues an annual score card.
"And incumbents have an easier time earning free media attention than do challengers," he added.
Severn Riverkeeper Fred Kelly likes the Blue Crab idea.
"The approach is a good way of letting people know who in environmentally oriented as opposed to all of those candidates saying they want to protect the waterway," he said. "Most of them don't do diddley-squat and actually do just the opposite." Mr. Ernst first broached the Blue Crab idea earlier this month in Deale as District 33B House of Delegates candidate Mike Shay announced his candidacy.
Mr. Shay, who has spent years asserting pro-environmental stances in south county and elsewhere, was the first to earn the Blue Crab label.
"Howard Ernst recognizes that politics as usual is not finding the solutions to the bay's problems," Mr. Shay said. "Of all the recognition I have received, I think this is the most important because it is a recognition of the environment and community efforts to find solutions."
In late May, Mr. Ernst recognized District 33 Senate candidate Scott Hymes also as being worthy of the Blue Crab candidate moniker.
Mr. Hymes has spent years working with the Severn River Commission and the waterway's riverkeeper organization.
"People need to realize that when they elect for people who care about the environment, they are electing people who care about them," Mr. Hymes said. "There are too many people voting without realizing what they are voting for.
When they realize the Chesapeake Bay is more than just . . . something pretty to look at and see it is the economic engine of the State, they will insist on electing leaders who will protect it."
Mr. Ernst insists the Blue Crab program is not an endorsement, but rather an assessment.
"In an endorsement a person chooses sides in an electoral contest," he said. "The Blue Crab assessment simply evaluates the credential of candidates."
He said people might disagree with his assessment of a certain candidate, but he said he thinks that might help stimulate debate of the issues.
There could be a situation arise where two blue crab candidates, a Democrat and a Republican, could end up running against one another.
"I would consider that an ideal situation," Mr. Ernst said.
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