“If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
This quote, in some iteration, has been attributed to numerous politicians and leaders in the past. Former President Ronald Reagan. The late Congressman John Lewis.
What it really speaks to is: you, we, the community that you reside in – we are the solution to local problems or issues, not some far off politician in Berkeley, California or even the career 36 year political lifer from tiny Takoma Park, MD that now lords over a million plus residents in MoCo. And right now, not tomorrow or the day after, is the time to push for change and direct accountability from these local officials, school board types and appointed bureaucrats.
This quote also perfectly captures the local zeitgeist we cover weekly here at CleanSlateMoCo.com.
The very first post here was about bias evident in MCPS media review. And since, we have covered everything from housing to the illegitimacy of MCPS Board of Education, even the staggering amount of money MoCo Administrators and Department heads take home, for example. We were the first to cause a change when the local MoCo-based Maryland state senator “introduced legislation that will dismantle parental oversight when it comes to medical decisions of minors. In something that appears to be taken straight out of a California policy play book, the introduced bill establishes a new “age” for consent based on the premise that a minor has the same capacity to grant consent as an adult.” Luckily, this awful bill/idea failed to pass the MD General Assembly in 2023.
We’ve deep-dived an investigative series on the utterly regressive, 1950s prohibition-era throwback MoCo “Alcohol Beverage Services” monopoly and the excuses politicians like Elrich make to keep it shuffling along. We have written about the compromising of your rights, with the blocking of community members on Twitter by County Council and County Executive. And we have covered these same self-interested politicians use excuses and ideology, not sound economics or public policy, to prop up the MoCo “Green Bank” – this time via an energy tax they can cleverly apply to all the many federal government agency buildings / installs in the County. Call it the “MoCo privilege” of being able to milk the federal taxpayer for additional taxes to fund pet industries or pet projects. Very few jurisdictions across America can get away with such an energy tax scam. Very few counties in America are this utterly regressive with the “green policies” they claim to champion in some quixotic quest to “fix the global climate”.
CleanSlateMoCo.com has exposed the network of non-profits and “churches” and other exempt organizations that have clear personal and financial connections to our sitting County Councilmembers. These County Councilmembers then, brazenly, grant these connected “non profits” your tax dollars to further agendas. Much of these agendas have little to do with improving the quality of life for the average person in Montgomery County or Maryland. Indeed, many of these policies and incentives for the non-profits being funded via your tax dollars make life worse and more expensive for everyone else. Before, in an era of the Wheaton Gazette or some other local news print publication that actually cared about accountability, these kinds of connections would be exposed and highlighted. Unfortunately, much of what remains today in the local news space is definitely not objective, or the least bit investigative and it is mainly digital and on social media. They simply don’t care about real fact-checking or looking into where the tax money goes.
But while it is sad to see local “news” basically become local fluffers for the County’s one-party ruled government, it also offers opportunity. We aren’t “My MCM” (Montgomery Community Media) and we aren’t a bunch of paid shills for the County Council. We aren’t going to keep propping up the same institutions without asking actual questions or checking in on the various financial connections and crony deals.
Oh and by the way – we’re just getting started. This site is about giving you a place to have your voice heard in a county that notoriously despises a difference of opinion, much less encourages it. We are here to give you a platform when your elected officials refuse to let you be heard.
Here is to 200 posts and counting!
