Becky Wagner Sweats

In an amazing post on her blog, Council At-Large candidate Becky Wagner has lashed out at unnamed people spreading rumors about her. We reprint her comments below.

Green Hair

Posted by Becky Wagner on June 30th, 2010

As we move toward primary day on September 14th, the season of rumor, innuendo and whispering is in full bloom. When I hear gossip about me, I always use the “green hair” standard. If someone says I have green hair, and I do not, then I don’t give it another thought. If I do have green hair, then I consider if green hair is a good or bad thing!

In the past week I have heard that I am in the union camp, a developer’s candidate, too old, too conservative, too liberal, anti-union, too religious and only care for the vulnerable. WOW! Rumors like this are notorious in political campaigns, especially when candidates prefer to misrepresent an opponent’s character rather than debate the issues. All of us know it is impossible to be all things to all people, and some of us don’t pretend to be. The truth is that I believe we all have a responsibility to build a strong county, and that no one special interest trumps fairness. If you are reading this and know me, then you know that in the matter of these rumors, I don’t have green hair. But if you don’t know me, I encourage you to find out for yourself, the truth about who I am.

I am a progressive Democrat who is a leader on issues critical to our county. After starting the Montgomery County’s first shelter for homeless women, working for Senator Paul Sarbanes, leading Interfaith Works as we support 35,000 of our low income neighbors, co-chairing the Vote No effort which successfully stopped the Ficker Amendments in 2002, pulling together our Stop Slots forces and creating the Safety Net coalition to save services for the vulnerable, I’ll put my record for progressive, front-line work in this county up against anyone.

What you have in me is a leader with a commitment to bring everyone to the table, believing that all voices are worthy and have merit. I don’t believe in identity politics, so label away, but at your own peril. If we continue to try and divide our community I believe that our downward spiral is assured. Rather than speculation and innuendo, we need to be talking about growing our revenue base and funding core services. The hard stuff.