Thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders for tweeting this quote from President Eisenhower:
President Eisenhower’s quote needs only to be updated to insert “billionaires” in place of “millionaires.”
— John Hayden
Your photographer failed repeatedly to squeeze all eight candidates into a photo.
The four incumbent Democrats running for re-election to the Montgomery County Council acquitted themselves well in a debate Wednesday night. They all know Montgomery County government and key issues, but they don’t agree on everything.
Meanwhile, both Democratic at-large challengers, Vivian Malloy and Beth Daly, proved they’re able to engage with the incumbents.
The takeaway: Democratic voters face tough choices in the June 24 primary. A few other takeaways:
Development and transportation in Montgomery County were two hot-button issues in the debate. Everyone was concerned about traffic congestion, but no one had surefire solutions.
Vivian Malloy, who lives in Olney, spoke passionately for the poor, advocating more jobs and affordable housing. Beth Daly, who resides in North Montgomery, not far from the Frederick County line, spoke for protection of the Agricultural Preserve and argued that adequate infrastructure needs to be in place ahead or future development.
Incumbents Marc Elrich and George Leventhal seemed most knowledgeable and persuasive of the group. Elrich said every neighborhood is against density, and he advocated preserving existing affordable housing. Leventhal summed up the development conundrum with these words: “We have to prosper while minimizing our footprint.”
Among the participants, incumbent Nancy Floreen appeared to most appreciate the nuances of issues and the complexities of governing. Floreen smiled warmly throughout the debate, took little offense, and was reluctant to promise easy solutions. Leventhal was a bit testy at times, but very well-informed. Hans Reimer, the youngest of the incumbents, is finishing his first term. He spoke well, arguing strongly for improving Ride-On bus service for riders, and advocating a “more vital, exciting and dynamic Bethesda.”
Most of the eight candidates support building the Purple Line, which will connect Bethesda with Silver Spring and on into Prince George’s County. All six Democratic at-large candidates participated, plus one Green and one Republican.
Elrich also defended Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as more economical than other transit options. Leventhal, Daly and Reimer supported BRT as well.
Candidates views on development varied. The future of single-family housing in Montgomery generated the most heated exchange. Marc Elrich and Beth Daly took the cautious approach to development and density. Vivian Malloy and Robert Dyer advocated attracting big businesses for economic growth. Leventhal, Floreen and Reimer all agreed that single-family housing will remain viable in the county. “What’s really extinct is affordable housing,” Malloy said.
Dyer was the only Republican on hand for the debate, and Willard represented the Green Party. Neither Republicans nor Greens face a contested primary in June, so the spotlight was on the six Democrats.
Out of one million residents in Montgomery County, only a little more than 100 attended the debate. Turnout in June is likely to be light.
Those are my first impressions after the debate. If anyone has different views, please comment. Also see David Lublin’s post, “Verdict On The At-Large Debate” at TheSeventhState.com.
— John Hayden
Earthjustice photo
Earthjustice email newsletters are a pleasant way to keep up with environmental issues, which are often inherently unpleasant.
The Earthjustice online newsletter for May highlights five environmental issues with artistic photos and colorful videos. First of the five is the mysterious (or maybe not so mysterious) deaths of honeybees, and the last is fracking from a small town perspective. In between are two items on water pollution and one on air pollution.
Here’s a link to the Earthjustice online newsletter: http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/2011/pages/ebrief-2014-05.html . Be advised that each issue report comes with an appeal for financial contributions to Earthjustice. This post is for information purposes only and is not an endorsement of Earthjustice or any of its policy positions.
— John Hayden
We’ve got a two-part problem here:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and two dozen other senators are taking the lead on the debt part of the equation. Sen. Warren and others introduced yesterday the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, a bill that would allow borrowers to refinance student loans to a lower interest rate. This bill, if it passes, will not solve the student debt crisis, but it would be a start.
As long as the cost of going to college remains prohibitively high, we’re constantly creating more student debt.
Maryland’s three gubernatorial candidates have all addressed the issue, but feebly. Simply slowing the rate of increase in the cost of college is not exactly a solution. As long as college costs are high, the debt problem will keep getting worse.
Seems to me the real answer is something more radical. Like start reducing the cost of tuition, or providing much more means-based student aid.
You want a really radical idea? Free college tuition. It’s been done before. It should be tried again. We could start on a limited basis, for instance free tuition at Maryland community colleges for any student graduating in the top 25 percent of any high school class in Maryland. That’s just one possibility to illustrate the concept. The fundamental idea is, we’ve got to make college affordable again for middle-class and working-class students.
Otherwise, more and more students are going to pass on college because it’s just too expensive. That decision might limit them for the rest of their lives, and it will definitely inhibit the growth and competitiveness of the American economy. Not everyone needs to or wants to go to college. But everyone who has the ability and the desire to do college work should have the opportunity.
Just my opinions.
— John Hayden
A CONSTRUCTION CRANE TOWERS OVER A BUILDING IN PROGRESS IN THE HEART OF ROCKVILLE.
Back in the day, the symbol of change was the bulldozer. When the suburbs were being created in the 1950s and 1960s, one was never far from the sight or sound of bulldozers grading the land for construction of single-family houses on quarter-acre lots.
Fast-forward to 2014, and the symbol of change is more often the construction crane. Single-family houses — mostly for the high-end market — are still constructed in Montgomery County, but that’s no longer the most common form of construction. More often, you see multifamily housing. The garden-apartment style of multifamily has been replaced by four-story buildings, and the trend is to go higher and denser.
We seem to have general agreement in Montgomery County in favor of tall development, rather than sprawl development. “Smart Growth” is the catchphrase. The profiles of some communities — Bethesda, Silver Spring, and Rockville — have been redefined by high-rise construction. We’re not talking skyscrapers, but that time may come.
For a more in-depth look at change and economic development issues in Montgomery County, please see my post today in David Lublin’s TheSeventhState political blog under the title, “Contemplating Life Inside An Economic Engine.”
— John Hayden (BJohnHayden@icloud.com)
Once in a while, a sentence or paragraph in the daily news seems to capture the truth.
“America is a place where luxuries are cheap and necessities costly. A big-screen TV costs much less than it does in Europe, but health care will sink you.” — Joseph Cohen, Queens College, New York
Makes you wonder, why do so many Americans ridicule Europe, especially the European model of universal health care?
That paragraph is from a story in the April 27, 2014, edition of The Washington Post, under then byline of Carol Morello and Scott Clement. The headline is, “Less Dream, More Reality: America’s middle class is shrinking and is being squeezed by the pressures of diminishing opportunity, stagnant wages and rising expenses.”
The story follows a typical American family with two full-time wage earners and three children. They’re not exactly poor; they qualify as middle class. But as the story reports, they’re “masters at scrimping,” out of necessity.
As the headline says, it’s just a glimpse of reality. Makes me glad I still subscribe to a good daily newspaper.
— John Hayden
Montgomery County Green Democrats informed candidates of their endorsements on Saturday.
Following are the endorsements released by Green Democrats leader Joan Jacobs. All endorsements are for the Democratic Primary Election to be held June 24.
Heather Mizeur,
Brian Frosh,
For Senate, Karen Montgomery
For Delegate, Eric Luedtke
For Delegate, Aruna Miller and Bennett Rushkoff
For Senate, Hugh Hill
For Delegate, Hrant Jamgochian and Marc Korman
For Senate, Cheryl Kagan
For Delegate, Kumar Barve
For Delegate, Jeff Waldstreicher
For Delegate, Paul Bardack and Charlotte Crutchfield
For Delegate, Will Smith
Note: As you can see, the Green Democrats did not endorse for every office up for election in the General Assembly, and did not favor incumbents, as many endorsing organizations do. The Green Democrats did not make any General Assembly endorsement for District 39, where all four incumbents are running unopposed in the primary.
________________________________
_____________________________
Dist. 1, Roger Berliner
Dist. 3, Ryan Spiegel
Dist. 5, Tom Hucker
At Large, Marc Elrich
At Large, Beth Daly
Note: Whether it should be considered a rebuke to the present county government, or not, I cannot say. The Green Democrats did not endorse the incumbent county executive, and endorsed only 2 incumbent council members. The Green Democrats passed up the opportunity to endorse in District 2 and District 4, and endorsed only two at-large candidates for four at-large seats. The two incumbent council members endorsed are Marc Elrich and Roger Berliner.
In my opinion, when an organization endorses selectively, and does not automatically endorse incumbents, it may give the endorsements more weight.
— John Hayden
This week’s email brings a reminder from Maggie Thompson at the organization Higher Ed Not Debt about an issue that remains under the radar for much of the population:
“This week we hit a milestone—but it’s not a good one. It’s been two years since the amount of student debt held in this country hit $1 trillion dollars. Americans hold more student debt than credit card debt and auto loans combined.” — Maggie Thompson
Everyone knows about credit card debt and mortgage issues, but the significance of student debt is still emerging. Higher education student debt should be at the top of the list of issues addressed by Democratic candidates in this year’s elections. Recent graduates (and also students who studied for several years but didn’t graduate) are well aware of the problem, and they could use some help.
The burden of student debt might not be so bad, if more and better jobs were available for young adults. But the fact is, graduates face a stagnant job market and declining wages. How do you pay off student debt and start a family on Walmart wages?
Higher Ed Not Debt is organizing events across the country to put the spotlight on student debt. For more information see the Higher Ed Not Debt website.
— John Hayden
Golden Retrievers on the bus, via Planet Ivy. Are we there yet?
DOUG DUNCAN MEETING WITH GREEN DEMOCRATS, photo tweeted by Duncan after the meeting.
Only 11 weeks until the June primary election, and here’s a leading candidate for county executive, in a county of one million people, meeting with fewer than two dozen voters.
Fifteen Montgomery County voters, to be exact, were on hand Thursday night to talk issues with Doug Duncan, former and possibly future county executive. It gives you some sense of the involvement of the voters — or the disengagement of voters — in a local election in a nonpresidential election year. The venue, in this case. was a meeting of Montgomery County Green Democrats at a restaurant on Rockville Pike. Also on hand was one other candidate, Hrant Jamgochian, running for House of Delegates in District 16. All involved last night — both candidates and voters — are Democrats, far as I know.
We’re in the retail phase of this primary election season of 2014. Come one, come all, come anyone who’s interested. No need to worry about being trampled by the masses. You — yes, you — can take the measure of the candidates, if you wish, up close and personal. Got questions? Ask away. The politicians will answer, as best they can. Gatherings like this will be taking place all over Montgomery County, seven nights a week, right up until election day. Plus innumerable breakfast and lunch meetings as well. The point is, no voter can claim to lack for an opportunity to see and talk with candidates before making a decision and casting a ballot.
DOUG DUNCAN
It would be unfair, obviously, to evaluate any one candidate without also considering all the candidates running for the same office. Suffice it to say that Duncan seemed in fine fiddle Thursday night. The former Rockville mayor and former county executive obviously knows Montgomery County like the back of his hand. He handles all questions smoothly. The only question that ruffled his feathers even a little was a query about a proposal to allow suburban residents to keep chickens in their backyards. The issue has already been decided in the negative, and I doubt it will be revisited in the near future. For the record, Duncan indicated he has nothing against poultry, but he doesn’t think chickens — and especially not roosters — are a good idea in residential neighborhoods.
The other candidates running for county executive are Democrats Ike Leggett, the current executive, and Councilman Phil Andrews; and Republican Jim Shalleck.
Organizations of all kinds will sponsor forums to which they’ll invite all four executive candidates, so you can compare them side-by-side. Two forums I know of coming up before the end of the month are:
HRANT JAMGOCHIAN — Campaign slogan: “Hard to pronounce. Easy to support!”
The lone delegate candidate was invited to attend by Montgomery Green Democrats leader Joan Jacobs. He is Hrant Jamgochian, who also ran in the District 16 primary in 2010. In a Democratic field of 13 that year, Jamgochian finished fifth, with 2,964 votes. This year, only 11 Democrats are contending for the three delegate seats. One of the delegate seats is open, since Del. Susan Lee is running for the District 16 State Senate seat.
Again, it’s unfair to judge one candidate without considering all 11. But I think it’s fair to say that Jamgochian is a candidate with an unusual depth of experience and knowledge. He appears to have a very good shot at winning the open delegate seat in District 16 this year.
Doug Duncan’s website is DougDuncan.com
Hrant Jamgochian’s website is www.gojamgo.org
(Jacobs indicated that the Green Democrats hope to endorse candidates within a few weeks.)
— John Hayden
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 