A column by D&C writer Denise-Marie Santiago this morning about the disappointing administration of County Executive Maggie Brooks, nicely articulates what some of us around the newsroom have been thinking. Brooks could have used her considerable gifts to heal the partisan wounds inflicted by the Doyle administration. Instead, she's kept up the same divisive tactics as her predecessor: FAIR, the public defender debacle, the gay-marriage appeal, and the brewing brouhaha over the MCC presidency. Whether Brooks is acting on her own or, more likely, at the behest of Republican chair Steve Minarik, makes little difference. She could've used her household name, popularity, and charisma to break Minarik's stranglehold on this community. She hasn't. And it's a pity.