Anne Arundell was born into the English aristocracy, married well, and died at age 34. She had nine kids during her 21-year marriage, having gotten hitched at age 13. Her son, Charles Calvert, became Lord Baltimore and inherited the Maryland colony upon the death of his father, Cecil.

Although Anne never stepped foot in the county that now bears her name, she may be proud that recently it was the battleground for a fascinating local election. Two issues were particularly interesting to me: Question A/slots and the ouster of a sitting judge.

Regarding slots, most Marylanders became familiar with the “Question A” controversy due to ubiquitous commercials and campaigning. On one side was billionaire developer David Cordish; on the other was the Jockey Club and the “No Slots at the [Arundel Mills] Mall” crew.

Initially, when the state put the slots licenses up for bid, Cordish put his money where his mouth is and won the Arundel license fair and square. Afterwards, like clockwork, he had to fight off NIMBY yelps, expensive litigation, and dishonest commercials.

The No Slots people, funded in part by Charlestown casino interests, wanted you to believe that the Jockey Club had a birthright to the slots license and that, if Question A was passed, you’d be walking past slot machine degenerates at Bass Pro Shops or Medieval Times.

Fortunately, a significant percentage of Anne Arundel County voters saw the big picture and approved the measure by a resounding margin. (Who cares if the Baltimore Sun’s pre-election polls had it at a statistical tie? What fun is having a liberally biased paper if you can’t try to sway elections?) More jobs and revenue will result, my kids’ new school and probably yours will be built, and state coffers will benefit like they should have been for about six years now.

The ouster of a sitting judge in Anne Arundel County was even juicier. On one side were two sitting Circuit Court judges, including the Hon. Ronald Jarashow — an Annapolis plaintiffs’ attorney who was appointed by Gov. O’Malley in March.

On the other side was former Stadium Authority director Alison Asti, who essentially was forced out of that job by O’Malley for having ties to the Republican Party. (He tried the same thing with State Board of Education Superintendent Nancy Grasmick, but failed.)

After her ouster, Asti realized that O’Malley’s judicial appointments have been almost exclusively those with Democratic Party ties, including one who just happened to be the son of Senate President Mike Miller. Given fundamental concepts of separation of powers, and the importance of an independent judiciary, she, like many people, had a problem with that. So she did something about it and served up a cold plate of revenge to boot.

Admittedly, it didn’t hurt that her last name begins with an “A.”

Judge Jarashow, unfortunately, got caught in the crossfire. As you might expect, he’s not too happy about stepping down nine months after being appointed, and he’s not going quietly into that good night.

Some may argue, of course, that, “to the victor go the spoils” — O’Malley can appoint all Democrats if he so chooses. But one would hope a lesson was learned this November: Judicial appointments should produce an independent, merit-based, well-balanced bench; they shouldn’t be payoffs for the politically connected.

Otherwise, in a county once called Providence, citizens will occasionally exercise their right to keep the governor in check, and a woman scorned can win an election that’s akin to a thumb in the king’s eye.

A checks-and-balances jackpot, if you will.

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