We’ve posted about Councilmember Andrew Friedson’s “newsletter” before here at CleanSlateMoCo.com. Dubbed the “Friedson Flyer”, the Councilmember sends it out at least once a month, sometimes twice in a 30-day span. It is meant to inform residents and taxpayers about the good work his office has been doing and the happenings in and around his district (Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, etc) and sometimes the state of Maryland. Increasingly, he (and not just Friedson, but the other Councilmembers) uses it to push various national political topics as well… but in a subtle way.
While we called out CM Friedson’s misleading use of the words / terms “state aid, directed” to MoCo in discussing his newsletter topic(s) back then:
Framing this “securing” of state money by lawmakers like CM Friedson has done here is misleading. A lie of omission, in a sense. Any money clawed back from Annapolis by our politicians is a return of money that MoCo’s beleaguered taxpayers and over-taxed families already sent in.
Today, I thought it would interesting to focus instead on the words and terms used and not used by the Councilmember in his latest Friedson Flyer newsletters. Often, what goes unwritten is intentional. It reveals a bit about the priorities of the current Council President of populous MoCo, which has tons of local issues to deal with, including crime in Friedson’s own district.
“All told, shoplifters reportedly have hit local businesses 67 times from January to July, according to data from Montgomery County police. That figure is nearly double the number of incidents—34– reported during the same time frame in 2023.” reports Elia Griffin at MoCo360.media this past August.
In his latest Friedson flyer, dated 9/17/24, CM Friedson uses the word “America” or “American” one time. Yep, one time – and it is in the context of saying “Thanks to our vibrant Ethiopian American community for calling our County home”.
In this same newsletter, the Councilmember uses the term “taxpayer” or “tax” zero times. The term “heritage” is used seven times – but none of it references shared American heritage. It is all related to the heritage of other continents, nation’s or a class / group of peoples (Hispanic Heritage Month).
Finally, in the September 17th newsletter, I searched for the terms “crime”, “road”, “traffic” and “police” and got zero hits. Search for yourself, here.
Just to make sure I wasn’t mistaken, I pulled up the July 4th week edition of the “Friedson Flyer”. Remarkably, here, too you will not find a single reference to the terms “America” or “American”.
Fascinating!
