Gazette columnist Blair Lee, one of MoCo's most ardent defenders, is crying foul on House Majority Leader Kumar Barve's call for an examination of disproportionate power outages in MoCo during the recent blizzards. In his letter to the Public Service Commission (PSC), Barve noted that Pepco suffered 78,000 outages in MoCo against just 7,700 in Prince George's County and asked the PSC to find out why. That rubbed Lee the wrong way, and he sent the following email to Barve.
From: Blair Lee
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 12:34 PM
To: 'Majority Leader Kumar Barve'
Cc: 'luiz.simmons@house.state.md.us'
Subject: RE: Barve calls for investigation of power outages in Montgomery County
Kumar
I am surprised at your selfish, parochial response to the power outage disparity between MoCo and P.G. Montgomery is a wealthy, privileged community with a progressive world view. Demanding Pepco service at the expense of our less-fortunate neighbors flies in the face of Montgomery’s core principal of adopting a statewide perspective when confronting state issues.
Historically, when others have a need (education funding, teacher pensions, tax increases) we have been the first to sacrifice for the greater good. That’s “The Montgomery Way.” Surely, wealthy Montgomery has the financial ability to pay for its own Pepco service upgrades with local taxpayer funds so more money is available to help our neighboring Prince Georges customers and ratepayers. I am confident that Prince Georges would do the same for us under reversed circumstances.
Finally, I expect that your near-sighted parochialism will hurt you in this year’s elections. Our voters don’t take kindly to politicians who put Montgomery’s self-interests ahead of the state’s other jurisdictions and residents. Perhaps you have forgotten that Montgomery’s mission is to help lift up Maryland’s less fortunate and less enlightened citizens no matter where they live. Again, that’s the “Montgomery Way” for which we are widely known, respected and admired by the rest of Maryland.
Blair Lee
Friday, February 26, 2010
Blair Lee Protests Barve Response to Power Outages
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2 comments:
Lee hit the nail on the head. Robin Ficker
To Mr. Lee:
I am baffled, totally, why you believe that House of Delegates Majority Leader Barve's letter to the Public Service Commission (PSC), what he was quoted as saying in “Maryland Politics Watch,” was what you called a “selfish, parochial response” “…who put Montgomery’s self-interests ahead of the state’s other jurisdictions and residents.” Nowhere, in his letter to the PSC, in his newsletter press release, nor anything I know of him saying, did Majority Leader Barve compare Montgomery County's power outages to power outages in Prince George's County in an unfavorable manner. To quote his letter to the PSC, "While there certainly were outages, no jurisdiction came close to the massive numbers that Montgomery County experienced." He went on to write that the problem, in Montgomery County, might have been due to a change in Montgomery County's tree pruning policies, as the County's regular pruning around utility lines has stopped. Further, “Maryland Politics Watch,” cited statistics from “The Washington Post:” PEPCO outages cited in the Washington Post as of 10 PM the Saturday night after the first storm included 78,000 in Montgomery County, 7,700 in Prince George’s County and 2,200 in the District. Baltimore Gas and Electric said about 11,000 customers in Prince George’s, Howard and Anne Arundel were without power at that time.” While Majority Leader’s press release wrote that Montgomery County experienced ten times the power outages of Prince George’s County, he certainly did not make this comparison derogatorily toward Prince George’s County.
Further, rather than being derogatory toward Prince George’s County, or any other neighboring jurisdiction, Majority Leader Barve spoke complimentarily of neighboring jurisdictions, including Prince George’s County, and was quoted, in “Maryland Politics Watch” as saying, “The storm did not stop at the county line,” said Del. Barve. “We need to look at what other counties (Prince George’s, Howard, and Anne Arundel – parentheses are mine) are doing and copy them because we cannot afford to put so many of Montgomery’s residents in harm’s way. Public safety issues of this magnitude must be immediately addressed.” Also, according to “Maryland Politics Watch,” Majority Leader Barve is quoted as saying, “The good news is that there are many jurisdictions with an excellent track record of protecting their electric infrastructure in adverse weather conditions.”
So, not only am I totally baffled by your vicious criticism of Majority Leader Barve’s letter to the Public Service Commission; his quotes, in “Maryland Politics Watch,” and his newsletter press release, but I also cannot help but wonder if your extreme criticisms of Majority Leader Barve, in this matter, are either personally and/or politically motivated rather than factually motivated, as the facts for your criticisms of him simply are not present.
John Cooper-Martin
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