By Eric Luedtke.
Over the weekend, a couple of political acquaintances asked me why I haven’t blogged anything in response to the Post’s editorials attacking my colleagues and me. Truth is, I don’t really believe in responding to attacks like these. For the third time in as many weeks, the Post’s Lee Hockstader has used innuendo and hyperbole, schoolyard taunts and selective reporting to try to paint our involvement in elections as somehow nefarious. I could sit here and type a point-by-point response, but I doubt there’s much to gain. Hockstader will continue writing what he wants, true or not. The guy is, after all a pretty good rhetorician, managing in the same three editorials to say that our teachers should be paid well and that we make too much, to argue that public servants shouldn’t make their opinions known to the public, and a host of other logical contortions worthy of the best of classical sophists. In any case, I have better things to do than write a point by point; like digging through this bottomless pile of grading I just brought home with me. But one of Hockstader’s claims deserves a clear response: his insistence that Montgomery County’s teachers are thugs.
Here’s what we really are:
We are 12,000 people who have dedicated our professional lives to helping the children of our community achieve. We are the elementary school teachers who take your child’s hand on their first day of kindergarten, and the high school teachers who shake it as they walk across the stage at graduation. We are the special educators who meet the often profound needs of our students with disabilities, the ESOL teachers who guide children through an entirely new language, and the speech pathologists who help kids navigate one of the most important worlds they will encounter, the world of the spoken word. We are occupational and physical therapists who work with toddlers with special needs before they even reach school, so they’ll be ready to learn, and counselors who walk children through some of the most painful moments imaginable, so the vagaries of life don’t keep them from their education.
We inspire. We challenge. We lend an ear to listen, offer a helping hand, and, when necessary, give a shoulder to cry on.
Because we know that what we do is teamwork, not the work of individuals, we are strong believers in improving our profession. We’ve created a peer assistance and review program which offers support to new and under-performing teachers, a program which is now a national model. We’ve worked to embed professional development in everything we do, with staff developers at every school, because we expect ourselves to continuously improve. We’re fighting, as we speak, to develop new models of school leadership and collaborative planning that will lead to better results for our kids.
And because we know our students have wider needs, because we know our kids need more than what we can offer in our classrooms, we don’t let our work stop at the schoolhouse door. We are advocates. We fight to make sure every kid has the resources they need to learn. We work with civil rights and equity groups to fight the achievement gap, and with parents groups to ensure that families have a voice in our schools. We’ve struggled against a political culture and a mainstream media that think schools can be improved with sound bites, and offer simplistic one-word solutions like testing and vouchers and charters that don’t address the fundamental challenges of American education. And because our schools don’t exist in a vacuum, we work for better housing, health care, and nutrition programs.
But we haven’t done it alone. In this work, our 12,000 have been joined by hundreds of thousands of parents, students, and average Montgomery County residents who believe deeply in the work we do. They’ve supported us in myriad ways. Most profoundly, many have placed their trust in our ability to recommend strong pro-education candidates for office. And, because that is quite a responsibility to bear, we have created the most substantive, open, and democratic endorsement process I’ve ever heard of. Unlike, say, the Washington Post, we publicly release our endorsement criteria on our website and are posting our questionnaire as soon as it’s finalized. Our decision is made not by a small group of journalists who live outside the county and work in a downtown office, but by a democratically-elected body of hundreds of educators that meets monthly in Rockville.
Lee Hockstader seems to think that public servants don’t deserve the right and privilege of participation in a democratic society. We disagree. We will continue to speak out, continue to advocate for the children in our classrooms, for their parents, for our schools. We will continue to elect excellent leaders to public office, people for whom support for schools is a reality and not just a campaign slogan. Once elected, we will continue to hold them to account for their actions. And, when re-election time comes, we will support those who upheld their promises and unseat those who abandoned campaign pledges at the first shift in political winds.
Montgomery County’s children deserve the best, and whatever we have to do to give it to them, from the locker-lined hallways of our schools to the marble-lined hallways of Annapolis, we will do it.
Lee Hockstader can think what he wants. For my part, I count myself blessed to have as my colleagues and friends thousands of the best educators in America. And I am proud to be a member of and an activist for the Montgomery County Education Association.
Put that in an editorial, Lee.
Eric Luedtke is a social studies teacher at Loiederman Middle School, a board member of the Montgomery County Education Association, and co-chair of the MCEA Political and Legislative Services Committee.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
My Response to the Washington Post
Post Cherrypicks Teacher Salary Data
In its latest attempt to annihilate the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), the Washington Post may have done the unthinkable: cherrypick data from a lowly blog in order to manipulate its readers.
The Post ran editorials on February 5 and February 11 depicting MCEA as a “toxic influence” seeking to “squeeze enormous concessions” from MoCo taxpayers. Its new editorial focuses on former MCEA President Bonnie Cullison’s solicitation of contributions from elected officials in her unsuccessful run for national union office over a year ago. We will not contest the fact that MCEA is influential in county politics; indeed, your author labeled the union as “the 800-pound gorilla of MoCo politics” in his very first blog post. But the Post’s allegation that the union’s strength is harmful rests on the notion that it has extracted excessive contracts from the county government.
In its new editorial dated February 22, the Post writes the following:The intimate entanglement of interests between elected officials and the union is all about swapping favors, including some rather large ones that have put county taxpayers on the hook for many millions of dollars. Most officeholders, frightened of provoking the MCEA’s wrath, are loath to question any provision of the generous, and now unaffordable, contracts that the union has negotiated on behalf of teachers. In effect, local officeholders are so beholden to the union that they have forfeited their obligation to exercise independent oversight over contract negotiations.
We published extensive data on teacher salaries from the Washington Boards of Education six days before the latest anti-MCEA editorial. We published the average teacher salary quoted by the Post. In calculating growth rates for salaries, we picked 2004 as our base year. We compared MCPS salary growth to other suburban systems since 2004. We are not aware of comparative data pegged to 2004 having been previously published anywhere else. All of these items now appear in the Post editorial. Seeing as how computers with Post-registered IP addresses are consistently among our top viewers, it is a bit hard to believe that their replication of our methodology is a total coincidence.
One result is that the average salary for a Montgomery County teacher, $76,483, is the highest among suburban school systems in the Washington area, according to the Washington Area Boards of Education, a regional group. Another is that the salary of a typical Montgomery teacher -- one with 10 years of experience when the last contract went into effect in 2007 -- has jumped by 23 percent in the past three years, even as private-sector wages have stagnated. Since 2004, teacher salaries in Montgomery have increased at a significantly faster rate than in other suburban school systems -- the lone exception being Prince George's County, which started from a low base and has had to play catch-up.
Now here is the full spreadsheet on teacher salaries that we published. It tells a very different story than the Post is spreading to its readers.
For beginning teachers with bachelors degrees, MCPS teachers have seen an annual average salary increase of 3.1% since 2004, which ranked seventh among nine suburban school districts. For step nine teachers with masters degrees and all teachers combined, MCPS’s salary increase ranked second. For maximum teacher scale, MCPS’s salary increase ranked third. MCEA performed well, but its results are not out of line with the rest of the area. The Post also ignored the fact that the percentage of MCPS’s budget going to labor costs is identical to the area average and is below Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Loudoun, Manassas and Prince William. The totality of the evidence contradicts the Post’s central point that MCEA is abusing taxpayers by bullying politicians. And let’s not forget that MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast, who negotiated those salary increases, could not be bullied by King Kong!
We understand that the Post does not like unions and that it especially dislikes teacher unions. But the paper’s editorial writers have a responsibility to their readers to evaluate information fairly in arriving at their opinions. When the Post cherrypicks data assembled by a mere blog to manipulate its readers towards its preconceived conclusion, it is doing both its readers and its reputation a disservice.
Is it time to bring back the Boy King?
MoCo Budget Ugliness Never Ends
Have you ever encountered a cockroach that was almost as big as your foot? And upon stomping on the creature, the roach looked up at you and said, “Is that all you got?” This is how the County Council must feel about the budget. The County Executive’s office presented FY 2011 budget options to the County Council this morning, and crawling from the documents were some of the meanest, toughest and most revolting critters ever seen in Rockville.
The Executive’s fifteen page presentation contains some of the same sobering long-term numbers that cast an evil pall over Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine’s recent presentation to the Montgomery Delegation. Nothing has altered the Executive’s forecast of $500-700 million deficits stretching through FY 2016 and perhaps beyond. What is new is the massive deterioration of county finances in the coming fiscal year (2011), which begins on July 1. The Executive will soon be making his budget proposal and the council must decide which governmental limbs are to be chopped off by mid-May.
And there could be MANY limbs flying off the butcher’s table. Four items have swelled the FY 2011 budget gap:
Reduction in non-school state aid: $32 million
Reduction in fees, fines, permit and speed camera revenues: $42 million
Snow removal costs: $25 million
February revenue writedown: $55 million
The old deficit was a miserable $608 million. The new deficit will be an unimaginably apocalyptic $762 million. That’s about one-sixth of the county’s budget, folks.
So what can be done? The Executive has not formulated his proposal yet, but he has put some options on the table, including continuance of his $70 million mid-year savings plan, $42 million of capital budget cuts, deferral of retiree health paydowns, cancellation of any general wage adjustments and $100 million in further cuts to the non-schools part of the government. All of that cuts the deficit by more than half to a still-hefty $315 million.
But the Executive’s presentation causes us to read between the lines. In multiple budget options, the Executive exempts the schools because of the state’s Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirement. The county ran afoul of MOE last year and was slapped with a $23 million fine. What the Executive is saying is that even with an extreme set of measures, the state’s MOE requirement still saddles the county with a gigantic budget deficit. The General Assembly is now considering a variety of bills that would make MOE waivers easier to get or even provide for an automatic statewide waiver next year. Both MCEA and the PTAs oppose any weakening of MOE. And so all of this could lead to an ugly battle in Annapolis as well as Rockville.
Even the cockroaches would avert their beady eyes from that!
Kurtz on Post vs. MCEA
Long-time Gazette columnist and current Center Maryland columnist Josh Kurtz breaks down the Post’s war on MCEA today. Unlike your author, Kurtz is not a labor movement lifer. Kurtz notes the Post’s own turbulent labor history and concludes:
So really, the Post is just reverting to type here. And with another political season upon us, as it tries to reassert its power over Montgomery County elections, the newspaper’s strategy seems pretty clear: to tear down the institution it sees as its biggest rival for winning the hearts and minds of county voters.
Rushern Baker on the Spot, Part Two
Meet Eric S. Wargotz. He is a doctor from Queenstown, a passionate conservative and an elected Republican office holder in Queen Anne’s County. And if a group called “Republicans for Rushern” was ever established, Wargotz would likely be its President.
In the final days of his 2002 primary race for Prince George’s County Executive, then-Delegate Rushern Baker began tapping supporters for loans. Two loans came in from “E.S. Wargotz P.A.” of Queenstown, MD: one for $10,000 on 8/2/02, and another for $10,000 on 8/9/02. These were not the only funds connected to “Wargotz” of Queenstown collected by Baker. The Wargotz Group Inc. donated $1,000 to Baker on 7/30/01. E.S. Wargotz donated $1,000 to Baker on 4/16/02. And Cheryl-Ann M.L. Wargotz gave $200 to Baker on 9/16/05. The latter three contributors were all based at the same residential address in Queenstown. All are connected to Eric Wargotz.
Wargotz was elected as a County Commissioner in Queen Anne’s County in 2006. His biography describes him as, “a physician-businessman managing several medical businesses. He served as a Laboratory Medical Director for 17 years responsible for administering and managing a busy hospital department including operating and capital budgets, management team and employees totaling over 100 at times, and scrutinizing department and hospital activities to ensure proper utilization of resources. He currently serves as an independent consultant and contractor in that field.”
Wargotz’s contribution record suggests that he may have been politically moderate in 2002, the year in which most of his donations to Baker were made. In addition to Baker, Wargotz contributed $300 to the Queen Anne’s County Democratic Central Committee and $1,000 to Democratic governor candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, both in 2002, and gave $200 to Steny Hoyer in 1997. But Wargotz later took a turn to the right. Most of his recent contributions have gone to Republicans, including $1,000 to Senator Andy Harris (R-7) in 2004 and $6,655 to the Republican State Central Committee of Maryland between 2004 and 2009. However, Wargotz did not forget Rushern Baker as his wife, Cheryl-Ann, contributed $200 to Baker in 2005, a year in which Baker was gearing up for his second County Executive race.
These days, Wargotz is best known as a GOP challenger to U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski. His issue statement begins with this:What is Conservatism to me? What kind of Conservative am I?
Additionally, Wargotz knocked doors in Massachusetts for GOP upset Senate winner Scott Brown, telling Red Maryland, “The Brown race is a game breaker; it changes races such as Wargotz vs. Mikulski in Maryland.” Wargotz has a lot in common with Senator Andy Harris (R-7), another conservative doctor/politician with a lot of desire to move up. One difference is that Harris has not made a habit of contributing tens of thousands of dollars to Prince George’s County Democrats.
I am an ardent Fiscal Conservative. I stand for Low Taxes; Adherence to the Constitution; Less Government; Law & Order; Government Transparency & Accountability; Second Amendment rights; Cultural Diversity with No Bias (so-called "colorblindness); Strong Military & Protect our National Security: we must not appease terrorists. Traditional American Values - including Personal Responsibility, Love of Our Country. Energy independence is paramount as the lack of it is a threat to our National Secuirity, our way of life, our peace and prosperity. As Social Conservatives, we must respect God and preserve Life. I am a physician by profession and always will be; being conservative is how I live my life and represent the principles I promote; I am an independent-minded Republican.
I admire President Ronald Reagan for many things but particularly, his principled conservatism. We need that today. Yes, I am a Patriot.
Of course, all of this leads to an obvious question: why has an Eastern Shore Republican activist, county elected official and U.S. Senate candidate given $22,200 to Rushern Baker?
As curious as the Baker-Wargotz relationship may be, it is not the most interesting revelation from Baker’s campaign finance records. We’ll have more in Part Three.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Dems Hit Ehrlich on Spending
The Maryland Democrats have created the following video about spending increases under the Ehrlich administration. Sheesh - maybe Bob Ehrlich should challenge Martin O'Malley from the left.
Riemer Rally Wrap
Council at-large challenger Hans Riemer held his campaign kickoff rally on Saturday and many of our spies were in attendance. In addition, Riemer’s campaign posted multiple pictures from the event on Facebook. (It doesn’t pay for candidates to be shy!)
Here are a few comments from informants who were there, mixed in with a handful of photos.
Spy: It was amazing - there were over 200 people there, including many of the County's progressive/transit activists. Probably the largest contingent was from Silver Spring/Takoma Park, but I saw folks from Bethesda too. I think Hans’s candidacy is really going places...seems like there's really good momentum.
Delegate Kirill Reznik (D-39) speaks to a packed conference room.
Spy: He will be hard to beat. At least 200 people by my head-count. Lots of energy, lots of excitement.
Senator Jamie Raskin (D-20) takes the mike.
Spy: Massive crowd. Endorsements from two sitting, influential MoCo Councilmembers. Great speech from Hans that touched on all of his quality of life/policy reasons for wanting to be on the Council. Tons of energy and enthusiasm. Existing at-large members should be scared. One of them is not going to return.
Council Member Valerie Ervin and Riemer were rivals in 2006. Not anymore. And why is David Moon (left) looking so bored?
Spy: All in all, it definitely was smart from an organizing standpoint - classic David Moon, is what people there were saying. Having a slew of electeds up there saying they back him showed that he’s a serious candidate. The audience was his friends, so largely a young white activist crowd from D20. Packing 100 people in a small office created a feeling of excitement, or at least just of body heat. And it seemed like the crowd was pretty jazzed to work for him – a few dozen people took lawn signs home. He may actually be able to win this thing with only $150k!
Delegate Heather Mizeur (D-20), with the mike, hosted the event. Senator Jamie Raskin (center), Council Member Nancy Navarro (right), Council Member Valerie Ervin and Delegate Tom Hucker (D-20) also spoke. George Leventhal staffer Dan Reed (behind Raskin) and former Duchy Trachtenberg staffer Richard Hoye (upper right) were noticed by many.
Now we think some of these spies were still woozy from all their snow shoveling. Every incumbent at-large Council Member is running for re-election. Some have lots of money, some have lots of supporters and some have both! Hans Riemer has a lot of hard work ahead of him, but so far he is off to a good start.
Protecting Our Children from Gangs
By Speaker of the House Michael E. Busch.
Last year, Maryland residents were shaken by several horrific incidents of gang violence in schools across our State. As the father of two young daughters, ages 11 and 14, I was stunned to learn that gangs exist in every county in Maryland. During a briefing to the House Judiciary Committee, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy told the Committee that he knew for a fact that 25 members of the national gang MS-13 existed in one freshman class at a Montgomery County High School, but could not do anything to address it.
We have set up our schools as safe havens and yet, the State Department of Juvenile Services reports that children as young as 10 years old are being recruited to participate in gangs in Maryland.
Early in my tenure in the legislature, we established schools as Drug-Free Zones, doubling the criminal penalties for drug possession and distribution in and around schools. Last year, every school system in the State established a notification system for parents, teachers and students if anyone in the school community contracted the H1-N1 virus. And yet, there are prohibitions in the law that prevent schools and law enforcement from communicating about gang recruitment and other gang-related activities, short of a crime, that involve students.
Last week, I introduced the Safe Schools Act of 2010 to try and address some of these shortcomings. Working with stakeholders from across the State including the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association, the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland, the Governor’s Office and the Anne Arundel County Executive, Police and Sheriff, and others, we crafted the Safe Schools Act of 2010 to:
o Expand the number of reportable offenses. When a student is arrested for certain offenses, such as a crime of violence, this information must be reported to their school. Currently the law does not require reporting for some crimes that can be indicative of gang membership. The bill requires that arrests for malicious destruction of property and simple assault also be reported to school personnel;
o Require the State Board of Education to develop a model statewide policy for gang intervention, prevention, and suppression efforts in our schools, including teacher training and professional development programs;
o Require each middle and high school to have a designated school security officer on site and regular school security meetings that involve all stakeholders, including school administrators, prosecutors, community leaders, intervention/prevention representatives, and law enforcement;
o Require the development of criteria for intervention and prevention programs that are evidenced-based and outcome-oriented, as well as the coordination of community resources to maintain safe school environments.
Several advocacy groups have expressed concerns over labeling and criminalizing students, early in their lives. This legislation does not assess any criminal penalties against students but rather establishes mechanisms to prevent student involvement in gangs and encourage interventions into more positive activities. It is our responsibility, as parents, coaches, mentors, guardians and family members, to ensure that our children have the safest possible environment in which to learn each and every day. We cannot allow gangs to infiltrate these safe havens and attract our children to lives of criminal behavior.
How Legislation is Decided
Here's a little tidbit illustrating how legislation really gets decided in Annapolis!
The bit concerns Delegate Saqib Ali's (D-39) local bill preventing landlords of rental housing from running credit checks on applicants who receive assistance from the county for the purpose of screening them out. The bill set off a raging scrum inside the delegation when they considered it. One of our spies (who is not Ali!) sent us a blow-by-blow account:
The spy closed with:
Frick asked why we need it. Then Ali schools Frick, then Simmons schools Ali, then Kaiser schools Simmons, then Dumais schools Ali, then [MoCo legislative analyst] Sheila Sprague schools everyone (takes Ali's back), then Rice schools the committee counsel (Elisa Ford), then Kaiser schools Rice, then Reznik schools Ali, then Dumais offers amendment to amended bill, then Kaiser agrees, then Ali schools Dumais (total smack down), then Simmons schools Ali but gets totally schooled by Ali in response (OUCH), then Barkley moves the previous question to go to a vote on the Dumais amendment, then Ali schools Dumais by killing the amendment on a vote of 18 nos, then Ali schools all by passing the bill!It was wild -- and I've never seen ANYONE school Lou before this. SMUUUUUUUUU-ACK!
Never, never again will your author allow his apolitical family members to declare that politics is boring. Why watch this?
When you can have this?
Rushern Baker on the Spot, Part One
The Washington Post has put a deserved spotlight on Prince George’s County Executive candidate Rushern Baker’s fundraising practices. The object of the Post’s inquiry is a $206,000 contribution to Baker from his “County 1 Now” slate. State law permits slate accounts to make unlimited transfers to member candidates. Because the slate formed on 1/5/10, it has no duty to disclose its contributors until August. After initially promising to reveal the slate’s donors soon, Baker’s campaign angrily backed away from that commitment. Both the Post and County Executive candidate Gerron Levi show no sign of backing off the issue.
But the Post only has a small part of this story. Rushern Baker’s three races for County Executive present a fascinating case study of contributions, relationships, debt and campaign finance loopholes that is unusual in Maryland politics. In a new six-part series, MPW begins drawing back the curtains on Baker’s funding record in a way that has never been done before. Every Prince George’s County voter needs to see what the sunshine of disclosure reveals.
The first step to understanding Baker’s financial world is his record of accepting campaign loans. In our ten-year survey of Montgomery County candidate finances last fall, we identified 188 loans to MoCo candidate accounts worth $1.8 million. Of that amount, 175 loans worth $1.71 million, or 95% of the total, came from the candidates themselves. Eight more loans worth $80,310 came from family members of the candidates. Only five loans worth $11,777 came from unrelated individuals. None came from business entities.
That history illustrates a general rule in Maryland: the vast majority of campaign loans are made by the candidates themselves. Montgomery County and the rest of the state have seen many wealthy lawyers and businessmen in both parties drop five- or even six-digit checks on their own campaigns. Big loans from outside parties tend to raise eyebrows. One example was then-Mayor Martin O’Malley’s acceptance of a $500,000 loan from lawyer John Coale just days before the 2006 gubernatorial election. O’Malley defeated incumbent Governor Bob Ehrlich and paid back the loan along with $8,815.07 in interest in January 2007, but the transaction still drew scrutiny from the Post.
Rushern Baker’s loan record does not fit the general rule. We show every loan received by his campaign committee over the last decade below.
Baker’s campaign has accepted 24 loans worth $865,960 since 1999. Nineteen loans worth $580,812 – two-thirds of the total – came from outside individuals and businesses.
These loans are unusual in their own right. But their true revelatory value lies in tracing them to their originators and then back into Baker’s contribution stream. We will begin that exercise tomorrow.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Valerie Ervin's Statement of Support for Hans Riemer
Council Member Valerie Ervin gave the following statement of support for Council at-large candidate Hans Riemer at his campaign kickoff rally yesterday.
# # #
Four years ago Montgomery County had a healthy economy, a thriving business community, low unemployment, and a strong tax base. Today we are faced with the highest unemployment rate in a generation, a $600 million budget deficit, declining home values, and no relief on the horizon. Four years ago, Hans Riemer and I were opponents in the District 5 primary race for an open seat on the county council. In 2006 we didn’t have many differences of opinion on the important issues that faced our county. Today Hans and I agree more than ever that the county needs new leaders with new ideas, leaders who lead by example and who are not afraid to forge a new path.
I am here to lend my support to Hans Riemer for County Council at-large. He has demonstrated his commitment to this community by his work on smart growth and transit issues, on senior issues, and on organizing young people to participate in the electoral process. The Democratic Party must renew its commitment to prepare our nation for the future. Who are the leaders of tomorrow? Here in Montgomery County we are blessed by a large and growing group of fresh, innovative, smart and exciting voices on the horizon. Many of them have lent their names in support of Hans Riemer and some of them are here today, names like Oscar Ramirez, Shirley Rivadaneira, Karla Walker, Jackie Lichter, Dan Hoffman, Adam Yalowitz and others. Hans Riemer represents a new and growing base of young people, immigrants, transit and smart growth activists, environmentalists and many disenfranchised voters who have lost faith in the status quo.
I believe that we have an opportunity to organize and galvanize more people than ever around the most important issues facing the county in this election cycle than ever before. Issues like how will we strengthen our tax base, how do we attract jobs and promote transit oriented development, how do we do all these things and at the same time prevent sprawl and promote farming and agriculture? I know that Hans is up to the challenge. Hans's experience as the director of Rock the Vote, as the Youth Coordinator for the Obama campaign, his current work at AARP and his advocacy on transit issues sets him apart as a candidate who understands issues that transcend age, race and class.
So if you feel the same energy I do, the same urgency I do, the same passion I do, the same hopefulness I do, then you will join me in supporting Hans Riemer for County Council. I’m very excited about the future.
Senator Nancy King Discusses Education Funding
Senator Nancy King (D-39) is a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee and served two terms on the Montgomery County Board of Education, including two years as its President.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sun Updates MPW Steele Story
Sun reporter Paul West, who claims that blogs have "a very low bar of respectability," has updated a story we ran almost a month ago on questionable payments from Michael Steele's state campaign account. West did not receive adequate explanation from Steele's vendors, but at least he pursued the issue. However, our key question remains unanswered. § 1-101(y) of the Election Law Article states the following about campaign fund expenditures:
* Expenditures must be election related; that is, they must enhance the candidate's election chances, and one must be able to conclude that they would not have been incurred if there had been no candidacy.
* Expenditures, including loans, may not be for the personal use of the candidate or any other individual.
How can Steele's spending on Washington law firms be election related when he is not a candidate for state office?
MoCo Democrats Announce Annual Brunch
The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) has announced its annual brunch, scheduled for Sunday, February 28, 2010 at the Bethesda North Marriott. Following is their press release.
Democrats Stay Connected at the Annual County Brunch, Sunday, February 28
The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee invites all Democrats to 'Stay Connected' at the Annual County Brunch, 1-3 PM, Sunday, February 28, 2010, at the Bethesda North Marriot Hotel and Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, Rockville. The stay connected theme is to remind Democrats to do this to be victorious in the upcoming campaign season.
In addition to remarks by County, State and National elected officials, Democrats will hear from Tom Lindenfeld, President of LSG Strategies, a grassroots organizing and political telemarketing firm. Lindenfeld was a partner with David Axelrod's political media consulting firm. Earlier he was Director of the DNC’s Coordinated Campaigns for the 1996 Bill Clinton Presidential bid.
Tickets are $50 ($60 at the door) with sponsorship at $150 or $250 and may be purchased on-line at MCDCC.org or by calling 301-946-1000.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Young Democrats of Maryland Announce Convention Schedule
The Young Democrats of Maryland (YDM) are holding their annual statewide convention in Bethesda and Rockville next weekend. Following is their convention schedule.
Join the Young Democrats of Maryland for our annual statewide convention! This year, the event will be held over the course of two days. Join us Friday at 6:30pm for the Convention Kick-Off at Tommy Joe's in Bethesda (4714 Montgomery Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814-5385). Saturday's activities will be held at MCEA Headquarters in Rockville. Breakfast will begin at 8:30am and formal activities will end around 5pm.
Space is limited and we have an exciting program prepared, so register TODAY! Click here to register via PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8YG2KBFJSSWZC
Registration is $10, however, nobody will be turned away from Convention due to inability to pay. If you need the registration fee waived, please contact Erin Schurmann (eschurma@gmail.com) or your chapter president. See www.ydmaryland.org for listings.
Registration fees are waived for high schoolers, but please RSVP to Erin Schurmann with the subject "High School Attendee."
Young Democrats of Maryland 2010 Annual Convention Agenda
Friday February 26th
Tommy Joe's Restaurant
4714 Montgomery Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814-5385
6:30pm Food and fun begin!
7:00pm Speaker - Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown
7:30pm Speaker - Political consultant Liz Chadderdon
Saturday
MCEA Headquarters
12 Taft Court
Rockville, MD
8:00am to 9:00am Registration
8:30am to 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am to 9:30am Speaker - Terry McAuliffe
9:30am to 10:30am Platform and By-Law Discussion and Votes
10:30am to 11:30am Breakout Session
Fundraising Training - Rachael Rice
How to run effective field and Advanced VAN Training - Jaclyn Lichter and Mark Shenton
Environmental Panel - Joshua Saks & David Turnbull (Morning only)
National Security - The Truman Project (Afternoon only)
11:30am-11:45am Health Care Update
11:45am - 12:05pm Speaker - Comptroller Peter Franchot
12:05pm to 12:35pm Lunch
12:40pm to 1:00pm Speaker - Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller
1:00pm to 1:30pm Minority Caucus Elections, Chapter Updates
1:30pm to 2:30pm Breakout Session (see above for listings)
2:30pm to 3:00pm LGBT Caucus Elections, Chapter Updates
3:00pm to 3:20pm Chapter Presidents Meeting, Women's Caucus Elections
3:20pm to 3:30pm YDM Update
3:30 to 4:00pm Speaker - Attorney General Doug Gansler
4:00pm to 5:00pm Running for Office as Young Democrat with Baltimore City Councilmember Bill Cole, Delegate Craig Rice and Edmonston Mayor Adam Ortiz
5:00pm to 5:15pm Event Wrap Up
Saturday night, we will be having our post-convention festivities cosponsored by MCYD & PGCYD at the Black Finn, 4901 Fairmont Avenue in Bethesda, starting at 6pm. We look forward to seeing you there! RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=304280687583&ref=ts
If you are interested in booking a hotel room, below are the best rates in the Bethesda area that are also metro accessible. In addition, members of MCYD have offered sofas and beds for YDM members. Please contact Erin if you are interested.
Residence Inn $109/night for 2 queens and sofabed.
(301) 718-0200
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wasbr-residence-inn-bethesda-downtown/
Double Tree Hotel $99/night for 2 doubles.
301-652-2000
http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/WASBHDT-Doubletree-Hotel-Bethesda-Maryland/index.do
Hilton Garden Inn $100/night for 2 queens.
(301) 654-8111
http://www.bethesda.hgi.com/
For more information:
Phone: 443-474-4346
Email: eschurma@gmail.com
Heather Mizeur Thanks Red Maryland
Heather Mizeur (D-20) is one of the state's most progressive Delegates and a Democratic National Committee Member to boot. And yet, she is thanking conservative blog Red Maryland. Yes folks, you read that correctly!
Mizeur's gratitude originates with a Red Maryland post by Mark Newgent pointing out that she had an active ActBlue account that was currently available for fundraising. State legislators are prohibited by state law from raising money during the general session. Mizeur sent this comment to Red Maryland:I want to thank Mark Newgent on Red Maryland for noticing that my ActBlue page was still set up to accept contributions. Unfortunately, he made two bad assumptions – first, by assuming that I knew; and second, by assuming that I was fundraising during the legislative session.
Lord Almighty! Conservative blogger Mark Newgent has one of Montgomery County's most prominent progressives thanking him. What will the state's knuckle-dragging Neanderthals think of him now? We predict he will never live it down!
In fact, I didn’t know, and there has not been any fundraising during the session. I had ActBlue take down the page immediately, and here’s the rest of the story.
If it seems odd that mine was the only ActBlue account still active, it is. Their team habitually deactivates the accounts of elected General Assembly members while allowing non-elected candidates to keep raising. They’re not sure why mine remained active, but they took it down within minutes of realizing their mistake.
More importantly, there were no actual funds raised through ActBlue during the legislative session or – as it turns out – ever. We set up an ActBlue account in the summer of 2009, in anticipation of launching my new website. But we went back to the drawing board on the website, and we’ve never either directed anyone to our ActBlue page nor received a single contribution there. Not one.
On the other hand, about a dozen people have tried to contribute after the General Assembly session started – totaling more than $1,500 in late-arriving checks – and each donation was immediately returned.
It’s the essence of an open and transparent government: citizens point out an oversight, and it gets fixed. And then there’s accountability: the buck stops with me and I take responsibility for the oversight.
So here I am: a blue Democrat sending a thank you to Red Maryland.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The Alcohol Tax: Who’s Standing Up for the Disabled?
By Aaron Kaufman.
The Bill Bronrott, Verna Jones,(D-Baltimore) and Rich Madaleno alcohol tax bill (HB 832, SB 717) was introduced recently. The bill is named after the amazing disability activist Lorraine Sheehan who passed away recently. The House bill has 41 sponsors and the Senate bill has 8. These are wonderful numbers and reflect the widespread belief that the alcohol tax should be raised to support people with Developmental Disabilities and those recovering from addiction.
I believe that by declining to sponsor the legislation the following members of the Montgomery County Delegation put the desires of the alcohol lobby ahead of the vital needs of people with Developmental Disabilities:
Senators:
Kramer D-14
Garagiola D-15
King D-39
Delegates:
Kaiser D-14
Rice* D-15
Barve D-17
HellerD-19
Hixson D-20
Barkley D-39
The views of these delegation members are counter to those of the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Carroll County Times and Maryland Diamondback. (A person knows an idea is meritorious when college students are willing to pay more for their beer!) In addition, the alcohol tax increase is supported by 83% of Marylanders according to a recent Gonzales Research Poll. I want to extend particular kudos to Delegates Frick and Gilchrist for sponsoring the legislation because it is always difficult for freshman legislators to support legislation their committee chairman, in this case Delegate Sheila Hixson, is very much opposed to. I am especially disappointed in Delegate Kumar Barve’s decision not to sponsor the legislation. One would have hoped that he would have used his position as House Majority Leader to advocate for this legislation that benefits the most vulnerable in our society. In addition, he chairs the Ways and Means subcommittee on Revenue so one would expect that he would support a measure to bring additional revenue to the state’s depleted coffers.
Sadly, my friend Sheila Hixson remains opposed to the legislation. I hope she however will do the honorable thing and let the measure have an up or down vote this year. To do otherwise would be anti-democratic. I hope her Senate counterpart Ulysses Currie (D-25) will do the same. I urge all readers of MPW to contact their legislators to express support for this common sense legislation. HB 832/SB/717.
* Despite his opposition to the alcohol tax increase, Delegate Rice is developing a thoughtful alternative.
Prince George's Tries to Strongarm MoCo for Aid - Again
The Post has reported on yet another attempt by the Prince George’s County statehouse delegation to acquire more state aid at the expense of Montgomery County. Of course, Prince George’s attempted to do this to MoCo just a year ago. A few statistics are in order.
Our sources are the FY 2011 Overview of State Aid to Local Governments, the Tax Year 2008 Income Tax Summary Report, the FY 2009 Sales and Use Tax Report, the Washington Area Boards of Education FY 2010 report and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey.
Per Capita Income Tax Paid to the State, Tax Year 2008
Prince George’s: $600.60
Montgomery: $1,590.35
Note: 2008 population from the Census Bureau used for this calculation.
Per Capita Sales Tax Paid to the State, FY 2009
Prince George’s: $499.57
Montgomery: $538.80
Note: 2008 population from the Census Bureau used for this calculation.
Per Capita State Aid, FY 2011
Prince George’s: $1,305
Montgomery: $807
Per Pupil Direct Aid to Public Schools, FY 2011
Prince George’s: $7,324
Montgomery: $3,796
Percent of Public Schools Budget Paid by the State, FY 2010
Prince George’s: 50.7%
Montgomery: 20.5%
The truth is that Montgomery County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County and the Baltimore suburbs have been carrying Prince George’s County on their backs for years. And Prince George’s has rewarded the rest of the state’s investment with disastrous schools, a scandal-plagued police department, WSSC commissioners who are obsessed with minority contracting and not with repairing broken pipes and the abominable administration of County Executive Jack Johnson. But that is not enough – now they want more state aid. And you know what? They have a good shot at getting it for two reasons.
1. Wayne Curry
The former Prince George’s County Executive is publicly considering a challenge to Governor O’Malley. The Governor is eager to ward off Curry, and if that does not work, he would like to co-opt Curry’s support in Prince George’s County. That explains his remark to the Prince George’s Delegation: “The bottom line is we do want to work with you.” Translation: please don’t hurt me!
2. Political Hardball
Montgomery County’s politicians endorsed O’Malley en masse last fall while many Prince George’s politicians shrewdly withheld their support. Prince George’s Delegate Dereck Davis (D-25), the powerful House Economic Matters Committee Chairman who did not endorse O’Malley, explained his decision this way to MPW:...I have not endorsed anyone for Governor. Quite candidly, I think it is premature to endorse anyone until after the 2010 legislative session has been completed. Then, and only then, will I be able to make an informed decision about what’s best for the community I represent.
This is a very smart decision by Delegate Davis and a good part of the rest of his delegation. MoCo politicians gave away their support to O’Malley in return for nothing. Prince George’s politicians are using their leverage to extract concessions. Good for them.
The bottom line is that MoCo pays more than its fair share to the state and gets less in return. MoCo is facing a $690 million deficit at the moment, and that was before the blizzards. If the MoCo delegation gives in to Prince George’s attempts to get more aid at their expense, they should not bother to come home after the session. They should instead run for office in Prince George’s County, because after all, that would be their true constituency.
More Budget Bull from the GOP
A couple weeks ago, the Senate and House budget committee chairmen wrote to the GOP leadership in the General Assembly asking for their recommendations on how to cut the general fund by $2.5 billion. After all, Republican legislators had voted for such a cut in the Spending Affordability Committee and their leaders were complaining about short-term budget fixes in the Gazette. The House Republican leadership has replied, and has said...
Absolutely nothing.
We reprint the reply letter from House Minority Leader Tony O’Donnell (R-29C) and House Minority Whip Chris Shank (R-2B) to Speaker Mike Busch and Senate President Mike Miller below. In the letter, the two GOP leaders totally dodge all reference to specific cuts and say that they will present a proposal only if the Democrats do. Clearly, they would like to talk about cuts in general in the newspapers, but that did not mean that they wanted to talk about actual, real-live CUTS.
And so Busch and Miller repeated their invitation to the GOP to present their proposals for actual, real-live CUTS before the General Assembly budget committees on February 23rd. Let’s see if they show up.
Now we believe in helping the less fortunate, and in that spirit, we extend a helping hand to the hapless House minority. The Governor’s budget proposal is a good place to begin looking for the actual, real-live CUTS that perhaps a couple Republican legislators (and certainly a big part of their conservative base) may be interested in. Note that the FY 2011 general fund proposal is already $265 million less than FY 2010, so the Governor has given the GOP a head start.
$2.5 billion would equal:
More than half of all state aid to public schools and libraries
More than the state spends on foster care, medical assistance and property tax credits
More than double the public safety budget
More than double the amount the state spends on its university system
More than spending on the state police and the universities combined
So the question posed by the Democrats – and also the conservative Tea Party base – is really quite simple. Where would you cut?
We cannot let this post pass without mentioning Delegate Chris Shank (R-2B), co-author of the Republicans’ non-reply reply. Shank is challenging Senator Donald Munson (R-2) in the GOP primary from the right. Shank said in his announcement: Over the next year, I intend to lay out my views about moving this state forward with conservative policies of pro-economic growth, limited spending, and government reform. On these issues and many more, there will be a real choice between us, a real contrast for the voters to decide. Senator Munson will need to answer for his decisions to abandon our conservative values and instead choose political expediency time and again.
And so the Speaker and the Senate President gave Delegate Shank a golden opportunity to prove that he is a real conservative by laying out actual, real-live CUTS totaling $2.5 billion. And what should he do but cut and run instead!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Ehrlich's China Practice
As we have previously revealed, former Governor (and potential future candidate) Bob Ehrlich works for law firm Womble Carlyle and one of his practice areas is the firm's "China Practice." In the video below, the leader of the China Practice group explains what it does, but only in vague terms. Is Ehrlich helping U.S. companies create jobs in China? Is he helping Chinese companies compete with American companies here? We hope he will answer these questions if he runs for Governor again.
Riemer’s Rooters Revealed
County Council at-large candidate Hans Riemer has announced his campaign kickoff rally, which is scheduled for this Saturday at 1430 Fenwick Lane in Downtown Silver Spring at 3 PM. In the announcement, he released a list of 90 supporters including five elected officials and over one-third of the county’s Democratic Central Committee. We run the announcement below and follow with a comment.
You are Cordially Invited to the Hans Riemer for Montgomery Council (At-Large) Campaign Kickoff Rally
Our Take:
Saturday, February 20th at 3:00 pm
Location: 1430 Fenwick Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20910
(5 mins walk from Silver Spring metro)
Master of Ceremonies:
Delegate Heather Mizeur, Takoma Park, District 20
Featured Speakers:
Councilmember Valerie Ervin, Silver Spring, District 5
Councilmember Nancy Navarro, Colesville, District 4
Special Remarks By:
Senator Jamie Raskin, Takoma Park, District 20
Delegate Kirill Reznik, Germantown, District 39 
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Event Hosts (in formation):
Please Note: Organizational affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement from the organization.
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Hon. Darrell Anderson, Mayor, Washington Grove
Hon. Josh Wright, Takoma Park City Council
Timothy Hwang, Gaithersburg / Student Member of Board of Education
Hon. Elly Shaw-Belblidia, Germantown / Montgomery County Democratic Party leader
Hon. Shirley Rivadaneira, Germantown / Mongtomery County Democratic Party leader
Hon. Aruna Miller, Darnestown / Mongtomery County Democratic Party leader
Hon. Dan Adcock, Silver Spring / Montgomery County Democratic Party leader
Hon. Karla Walker, Silver Spring / Mongtomery County Democratic Party leader
Hon. Marc Korman, Bethesda / Mongtomery County Democratic Party leader
Hon. Beth Siniawsky, Takoma Park/ Montgomery County Democratic Party leader
Oscar Ramirez (Riemer Campaign Chair), Silver Spring / former-MCDCC member
Karen Czapanskiy (Riemer Campaign Treasurer), Takoma Park / former-MCDCC member
Casey Anderson, Silver Spring / Bike Advocate
Miti Figueredo, Silver Spring (Woodmoor) / Chief of Staff to Councilmember Nancy Navarro
Adam Yalowitz, Silver Spring / former Valerie Ervin Field Director
Alice Wilkerson, Silver Spring / Chief of Staff, Senator Jamie Raskin
Kevin Walling, Baltimore / LGBT Advocate
Patrick Metz, DC / former-Heather Mizeur Chief of Staff
Deborah Mizeur, Takoma Park
Jen Kramer, Germantown / Democratic Activist
Tufail Ahmad, Potomac / 2006 At-Large Council Candidate
Jayson Williams, Baltimore / Union Organizer
Jackie Lichter, Burtonsville / former SEIU Local 500 Political Director
Dan Hoffman, North Bethesda (White Flint) / Civic Activist
Carol Oberdorfer, Dickerson / Community & Agricultural Reserve Advocate
Dallas Lipp & Lori Plazinski, Gaithersburg / former Montgomery County for Obama leaders
Miriam Schoenbaum, Boyds / MARC & Transit Advocate
Lynn & Michael Novelli, Gaithersburg / former MD for Obama Director
Mike Hersh, Wheaton / Progressive Activist
Michael Benefiel, Kensington / Democratic Activist
Ralph Bennett, Silver Spring / former Chair, Housing Opportunities Commission
Roxanna Olivas, Bethesda / Hispanic Democratic & Small Business Advocate
Rebecca Jaramillo, Bethesda
Minh-ngoc Le, Chevy Chase / former MD Obama Organizer
Quon Kwan, Rockville / Transit & Bike Advocate
Ashwani Jain, Potomac / former Maryland Students for Obama Organizer
Neal Carter, Colesville / former President, Montgomery College Democrats
Lawrence Jacobs & Steve Snapp, Rockville / LGBT Activists
Marlana Valdez, Takoma Park / former Raskin Campaign Chair
David Guhl, Poolesville / Democratic Activist
Michael Buckley, Silver Spring / former Maryland Obama Delegate & Organizer
Cavan Wilk, Wheaton / Transit & Community Activist
Eric Robbins, Silver Spring / Community Activist & Blogger
Ken Silverman, Bethesda / former Nancy Navarro Field Director
Tom Manatos, Bethesda / Democratic Activist
Jonathan Sachs, Silver Spring / former UMD College Park Democrats President
Ethan Susseles, Bethesda / former Deputy Maryland High School Coordinator, Obama for America
Adam Scholl, Bethesda / former National High School Coordinator, Obama for America
Kathy Jentz, Silver Spring / Transit & Community Activist
Don, Tina & Jessie Slater, Silver Spring / Transit Advocates
Barbara & Eric Doran, Silver Spring; Maia Estes, former Obama Bethesda Leader
Jeff & Richelle Meer, Silver Spring
Jim Clarke, Rockville / Bike and Transit Advocate
Marian Fryer, Wheaton / Community Leader
John Carroll, Silver Spring / Transit Advocate
Paula Kowalczuk, Takoma Park / Democratic Activist
Eleanor Rice, Bethesda / Purple Line Advocate
Kenann & Corey Thompson, Takoma Park
Brett Heimov, Silver Spring (Woodmoor) / Democratic Activist
Wayne Phyillaier, Silver Spring / Bike Advocate & Blogger
Peter Gray, Silver Spring / Bike and Capital Crescent Trail Advocate
Carl Henn, Rockville / Transit Advocate
Jon & Julie Garcia, Bethesda (Burning Tree)
Sarah Lynch & Kris Wernsted / former Montgomery County for Obama Organizers
Jack Cochrane, Bethesda (Bells Mill) / Bike Advocate
Seth Grimes, Takoma Park / former Takoma Park Mayoral Candidate
Rosie Engman, Silver Spring
Michael Vaughan, Takoma Park / Democratic Organizer
Kathy Stevens, Silver Spring / Community Leader
Lew Winarsky, Silver Spring
Jonathan Prutow, White Flint / former Montgomery Obama Organizer
Pam Larson & Art Isaacs, Takoma Park / Community Activists
Cindy Terrell, Takoma Park / Progressive & Community Activist
Libi Sprow, Silver Spring.
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See you at the rally!
Hans Riemer
Montgomery County Democrat
P.S. Please email me at hans@hansriemer.com if you're interested in joining the supporters/host committee for the kickoff rally.
By Authority: Friends of Hans Riemer. Oscar Ramirez, Chair; Karen Czapanskiy, Treasurer.
Riemer’s list is exceptional for a challenger’s first release. Its composition reflects his strength among five key groups: smart growth and bicycle advocates, Silver Spring residents, young people, Obama supporters and progressives. Riemer is a natural favorite of all of these groups as he is an East Silver Spring resident, a board member of Action Committee for Transit and the former youth coordinator of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. One additional strength Riemer possesses that is not yet reflected in his list is his current employment by AARP and his role in opposing President George W. Bush’s social security privatization proposal. Those characteristics should play well in the county’s large and influential senior community.
The presence of County Council Member Valerie Ervin on Riemer’s list is especially notable. Ervin defeated Riemer by 24 points in the 2006 District 5 open seat primary. So why is she endorsing her former opponent right out of the gate? First, the two had few if any policy differences in 2006. Both ran as pro-job, smart growth candidates who embraced diversity and young people. Ervin’s institutional support and long record of community service gave her the victory. But from a policy perspective, the two are natural allies. Second, shortly after Ervin won the primary, she began reaching out to Riemer and his supporters (one of whom was your author) in an effort to generate a fresh start for her first term in office. Riemer’s supporters were won over by Ervin and especially her constituent service operation led by Chief of Staff Sonya Healy. Within a year, almost all of Riemer’s people became Ervin backers. So there is no lingering ill will from the last election. In fact, the table is set for cooperation between Ervin, Riemer and like-minded advocates. And just as with Nancy Navarro’s election in District 4 last year, if Riemer wins, Ervin will be seen as the power player who helped him get over the top. Navarro herself, who is also endorsing Riemer, will get a share of the credit too.
Finally, the list does not include one fact that deserves mention: Riemer’s campaign manager is former Navarro and Raskin manager David Moon. Moon is a cunning and methodical operative who finished first in our Young Guns poll last year and is thought by many to be the county’s best political consultant. Moon has strong connections to smart growth, environmental and progressive groups – all of whom will be part of Riemer’s coalition. Riemer outraised Ervin in 2006 and has more nationwide fundraising connections now because of his work for Obama, so his campaign will be professionally run and adequately financed.
Riemer is starting to suck up some of the oxygen from the other at-large challengers, but all four incumbents are running for re-election. The big question is which, if any, incumbents will see their voters peel away to Riemer. We’ll be watching.
On the Post’s War Against MCEA, Part Three
The Washington Post has twice depicted the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) as a “toxic influence” seeking to “squeeze enormous concessions” from MoCo taxpayers despite conclusive data to the contrary. Why is the Post targeting the teachers?
First, the Post has a long and virulent history of breaking its own unions that continues to the present day. Of the newspaper’s seven collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), four have expired. The Post’s agreement with its 435 mailroom workers expired on 5/18/03 and the company imposed its last offer in 2006. Any organization with such a history is bound to be permeated with hostility to labor from top to bottom.
Second, the Post is ideologically predisposed towards charter schools and vouchers, running three editorials in favor of them in less than two weeks. At the same time, the Post’s own reporters published an article on a new study by UCLA branding charter schools as “more racially isolated than traditional public schools in virtually every state and large metropolitan area in the country.” We do not express an opinion about the merits of charter schools or vouchers in this blog post, but the Post’s vigorous pursuit of them and its complaint that union leaders are “disturbingly inflexible” on them illuminates a long-running grievance by the Post against teachers unions.
Third, the Post editorial board’s allergy towards school unions is manifested by its close relationship with D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who rightly or wrongly is at war with her own teachers union. Last month, Rhee got in trouble for telling Fast Company magazine that some of the teachers she had recently laid off had “hit children” or “had sex with children,” comments which she subsequently softened. Post schools reporter Bill Turque went after Rhee for the details of those allegations, but Rhee ignored him and went directly to Post editorial writer Jo-Ann Armao instead. The resulting editorial called on Rhee to explain her comments but also condemned the union for allegedly “enabling some of these unfit teachers to stay in the classroom.” Turque then called out the editorial writer for rewarding Rhee’s efforts to avoid him, saying that the editorial board “has been steadfast, protective and, at times, adoring” of Rhee. Turque also said the Post’s editorials provided “a guaranteed soft landing spot for uncomfortable or inconvenient disclosures - kind of a print version of the Larry King Show.” Turque’s comments provoked such rage from Post editorial boss Fred Hiatt that Turque’s essay was first deleted and then watered down with no explanation to Post readers. This incident shows that the Post editorial board will scoop its own reporters and its news editors will alter its reporters’ content after it has been published in service of the newspaper’s jihad against education unions. In the case of the Post’s pursuit of MCEA, its editorial writers acted without any corroboration from the paper’s reporters – further evidence of the Post’s eagerness to condemn school unions.
Fourth, the Post’s editorial board displays a willful ignorance of how success is achieved in public schools that could be dispelled from reading their newspaper’s own reporting. The Post has repeatedly praised MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast for his tenure in MoCo’s schools. But Weast’s achievements have depended in part on his ability to build a partnership with MCEA and the other education unions. The MCPS peer review program for teachers was profiled by the Post last year and is an example of a reform that could not have been achieved without enlightened leadership by both labor and management. And former Post columnist Marc Fisher contrasted MCPS’s culture of cooperation favorably with the bludgeoning style of Post darling Michelle Rhee only a year ago. Without the genuine give-and-take relationship that has been carefully built by both Weast and the three school unions, the unions may not have voluntarily given up the cost-of-living increases contained in their contracts a year ago – a concession that has never been credited by the Post. The experience of MCPS shows that there is more to be gained by mutual labor-management respect than the crude union-bashing favored by the bosses of the Post.
Finally, the Post’s excessive rhetoric about MCEA suggests an emotional investment in blasting the union. Consider its language. “Toxic influence.” “Twisted system.” “Scare tactics.” “Political thuggery.” Such terminology is beneath the august standards established by the titans who built the Post into the area’s paper of record decades ago. The rhetoric is especially unworthy when it cannot be justified by the facts. If the Post continues down the road of wanton and baseless condemnation of the teachers union simply because it is a teachers union, it will not damage MCEA’s reputation nearly as much as it will damage its own.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Berliner on Lessons Learned from Snow Storm
Council Member Roger Berliner made the following comments about snow removal from the recent storm on the Kojo Nnamdi Show.
The Campus is the Wrong Place for a Hospital
By Gene Counihan.
As a former trustee of Montgomery College (1998 until September 2009) as well as a current member of the Governing Board of Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, I have followed with great interest and concern the Adventist HealthCare and Holy Cross Hospital proposals to develop a hospital in upper Montgomery County. Both institutions are longtime, responsible, and valued corporate members of our community. I am speaking out publicly now to express my conviction that locating any hospital on the Montgomery College Germantown campus property is not the right thing to do.
I come to that view independently of my affiliation with Shady Grove Hospital. I have tried to serve the interests of my fellow Montgomery County residents in many capacities over the past 45 years – 12 years as a delegate to the Maryland General Assembly, a longtime board member of Universities of Maryland at Shady Grove, founding member of the Committee for Montgomery, member and past president of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, president emeritus of Olney Theatre Center and chairman of the Montgomery Village Foundation – as well as the previously noted board service at Montgomery College and Shady Grove Hospital. My experience also includes 29 years with Montgomery County Public Schools and more than a decade in government relations with WMATA (Metro). I currently serve as Chairman of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.
All of these activities have given me a deep understanding of Montgomery County issues and how public policy is formed. I hope that they also show that I come to my views on this subject from a broad perspective and a sincere desire to promote neither the interests of Montgomery College nor of the Shady Grove Adventist Hospital but rather the interests of all who live in Montgomery County. My objections to locating a hospital on the Montgomery College Germantown property are summarized here:
1. The process that resulted in the agreement between the College and Holy Cross Hospital was initiated quietly, behind closed doors without the knowledge or participation of the College’s Board of Trustees or the community at large. The Montgomery College Foundation, the former President of the College, and the property’s developer (Foulger Pratt) privately worked out the tentative agreement with Holy Cross Hospital amongst themselves. Contrary to the way major public/private developments are undertaken in Montgomery County, other healthcare institutions, such as Adventist HealthCare, MedStar, amd Johns Hopkins, all of whom have a presence in the County, were not given the same opportunity to present competing bids and proposals for developing a hospital facility on College property in Germantown. There were no informational hearings for public comment, so no civic or other interested community members had the opportunity to express their opinions or have questions answered. The deal was simply announced after Holy Cross submitted a letter of intent to build a hospital on the campus to the Maryland Health Care Commission. This process was not in keeping with our tradition in Montgomery County of transparency and community involvement.
2. The site where the hospital is now proposed to be located (near the middle of the campus) was purchased with public funds to accommodate the future growth needs of the academic programs of the College, not for private development. The original site selected for a public/private partnership project was located on the edge of the campus along I-270. The present site should be retained to meet future college growth needs.
3. The argument that having a hospital in the center of the Germantown campus would benefit the College’s Nursing Program is weak. The College’s nursing program is located over 20 miles away on its Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus. The County and State recently invested millions of dollars in building a state-of-the-art Health Sciences Building to support health care and nursing programs on the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus.
4. The Germantown campus is not the right place for any new hospital. There is a nearly new Germantown Emergency Center located near the College campus. The center is operated by Adventist HealthCare as an adjunct to its Shady Grove Adventist Hospital emergency room. It doesn’t make sense to locate two emergency rooms almost next door to each other.
Gene Counihan, Montgomery Village, MD
Editor’s Note: Gene Counihan is a former member of the House of Delegates, a former President of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, is the former Maryland Government Relations Officer for WMATA and is the current Chair of WSSC.
Garagiola Proposes Commission on Transportation Funding
Senator Rob Garagiola (D-15) is reviving a good idea that did not make it through the General Assembly last year: a commission to examine transportation revenues. Yes, we know that commissions by themselves do not fix problems. But transportation funding is a BIG problem with a solution that many politicians just don't want to talk about: new revenues. Last year, the State of Oregon passed a $300 million per year transportation funding bill after its Governor crusaded for it on the basis of job creation and a commission built widespread support for it. Garagiola's bill, which has many Republican co-sponsors, is a step towards getting serious about transportation.
We reprint Garagiola's press release below.
On the Post’s War Against MCEA, Part Two
The Post has alleged in two editorials that the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) has abused its political power “to squeeze enormous concessions from the school system in past contract negotiations.” Let’s test that claim.
The Washington Area Boards of Education (WABE) releases annual reports comparing public school budget and performance statistics between suburban Washington school districts. If, as the Post alleges, MCEA is responsible for “skyrocketing payroll costs” and “extraordinary health and retirement benefits,” its members should be receiving monumental compensation increases relative to teachers in neighboring jurisdictions. Unfortunately for the Post’s editorial credibility, they don’t.
According to WABE’s report for FY 2010, MoCo teachers earn slightly more than teachers in other jurisdictions, but they work more scheduled days and more hours per day than in almost all the other districts.
MoCo teachers earn their salaries because of the county’s high cost of living and the relatively large class sizes they must face, especially in middle and high school.
MoCo teachers’ benefits are not out of line with other suburban school districts.
If MCEA members were grossly overpaid because of the union’s political power, they would be gobbling up a disproportionate amount of the MoCo public schools’ budget. In FY 2010, the MoCo public schools paid out 83.8% of its budget in labor costs. The average for suburban Washington school districts was exactly 83.8%. On this measure, MCEA is actually behind teachers in Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Loudoun, Manassas and Prince William.
Finally, MCEA’s salary increases have not been abnormally high compared to teacher pay hikes in the rest of the Washington area since FY 2004. MoCo teachers have done well but have lagged teachers in other counties (especially Prince George’s) in some classifications over the last six years. MCEA is not an outlier.
And so the Post’s central point – that MCEA is gouging taxpayers – fails on casual inspection. We do not understand why the Post’s editorial writers chose not to disclose the above facts to their readers. Post-registered computers are invariably among the top viewers of this blog and we have used WABE data before.
The Post is missing one additional point that is worth mentioning. Suppose MCEA’s contract was as excessive as it contends and the county decided to cut it. The county would be prevented from doing so by the state’s Maintenance of Effort law, which mandates that counties must at least equal their prior year’s local spending per pupil to be eligible for state aid. When MCEA and the other school unions gave up their cost-of-living increase a year ago, the state punished the county with a $23 million fine. The Post understands this law very well as it opposes the fine. So the Post’s rush to demonize county politicians for failing to insist on concessions when it knows that they are prohibited from doing so by the state is illogical at best and misleading at worst.
Perhaps there is an explanation for the Post’s selective use of facts when it comes to MCEA. We will conclude with that tomorrow.
