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Read more: Glass is the Spoiler, but Who is the Winner?
Glass is the Spoiler, but Who is the Winner?
Let’s step back four years when the world was just as it is today only a shade less violent and bigoted. There were three serious candidates for the office of county executive on the Democratic primary ballot: Marc Elrich, David Blair, and Hans Riemer. Elrich “won” the plurality vote by 32 votes. At the time…
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Read more: Back-Door Deals and Glass Houses
Back-Door Deals and Glass Houses
In 1732, an eternal artifact of American culture appeared: Poor Richard’s Almanack by Richard Saunders, otherwise known as Benjamin Franklin. Franklin published the almanac in annual editions for the following 25 years. Among other things the almanac contains wit and wisdom that today’s readers, circumscribed by wireless gadgets and threatening robots, still find relevant. Some…
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Read more: Small Business Donates Big to Stop The Spend
Small Business Donates Big to Stop The Spend
How can you tell if someone is successful? Employees are successful when they show up, do their work well, and can be counted on. Physicians are successful when their patients recover. Attorneys are successful when they consistently deliver results for their clients. Politicians are successful when they improve the lives of the people they represent.…
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Read more: Stop the Spend – A Non-Partisan Initiative
Stop the Spend – A Non-Partisan Initiative
Stop the Spend is an initiative to constrain the growth of county spending to the rate of inflation. We are currently collecting signatures to have our initiative appear on the November ballot. A few weeks ago a group of us from Stop the Spend were out gathering signatures. One resident asked me, “Are you a…
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Read more: Tax the Rich and the Underserved Pay the Price
Tax the Rich and the Underserved Pay the Price
If you were standing on a cliff watching others jump to their deaths, would you follow? Common sense says no. Yet Montgomery County is poised to do exactly that, repeating policies that have already failed elsewhere. This year’s proposed 5.5% expansion of the county budget comes with a steep cost: a 6.3¢ per $100 increase…
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Read more: Is There Such a Thing as Good Public Debt?
Is There Such a Thing as Good Public Debt?
There is no such thing as a “bad” doughnut. Go to the beloved Donut King in Kensington and try to find one. In contrast, there is definitely a difference between good and bad public debt. In a recent meeting at Poolesville’s city hall, Council Member Will Jawando promoted the possibility of the county taking out…
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Read more: Anti-Developer Prejudice, Critical Thinking, and the Pre-K Crowd
Anti-Developer Prejudice, Critical Thinking, and the Pre-K Crowd
A few months ago we had a winter fair at our neighborhood elementary school that gave us a much needed excuse to get out of our snowbound homes. Those in attendance were elementary schoolers, pre-schoolers, their parents, and a few grandparents. Also in attendance were volunteers from a local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation organization. The…
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Read more: Underreported Concerns about the Crown-Damascus Boundary Study
Underreported Concerns about the Crown-Damascus Boundary Study
While Wootton folks have been making a lot of noise about the Crown part of the Crown Damascus boundary study, the Damascus part is equally concerning. The irregularities began in March 2024 when the Board of Education adopted a boundary study resolution combining the boundary studies for Crown High School and the Damascus expansion based…
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Read more: A Plea for Responsible County Finances
A Plea for Responsible County Finances
“We don’t have the money,” according to MoCo Exec Marc Elrich and Council President Natali Fani-González. They promise us they will talk about how to get more money, and they do not rule out increasing our taxes. In fact they warn us to expect taxes to be increased. Targeted tax increases. We all know who…
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Read more: MCPS: Maryland’s Largest Hate Factory
MCPS: Maryland’s Largest Hate Factory
Maps of the Middle East before World War I approximate an area called Palestine bisected by the Jordan River. The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica describes a Western Palestine and an Eastern Palestine. The River Jordan, it is true, marks a line of delimitation between Western and Eastern Palestine Today, Western Palestine is the…