We'll be walking precincts across
the district
throughout the
summer.
We'd love to have you join us when we are in your area.

Reasons For My Candidacy

Montgomery County is an extraordinary place to live. Our citizens come from diverse backgrounds and bring high levels of energy, creativity and expertise to our community. Hundreds of citizens serve with little or no compensation on multiple boards and commissions, providing invaluable input and service. Community activism is, indeed, a powerful positive force in this region.

As with all counties, however, there are challenges that we must address promptly and directly. Among these are the lack of adequate health insurance for too many of our residents, worsening congestion on our roads, overcrowding of our schools, safety concerns at many levels, and a breakdown in our development planning processes, which has led to an erosion of the public trust. I am running for County Council because I believe our local government can do better and I will work tirelessly on behalf of our county residents to ensure their voices are heard.

The following issues will be the focal points of my campaign:

Approximately 100,000 residents of Montgomery County are uninsured for health care needs. Many more are under insured. More than 80% of the uninsured are workers who cannot afford health insurance premiums or work in jobs where health care coverage is not offered. This is not an issue solely defined by income or social status. Cost shifting has hurt businesses and individuals, raising premiums in Maryland by almost 37% from 2000 to 2004. Hospitals and other health care providers are struggling to pay for increasing numbers of patients who cannot pay. Fifty percent of all bankruptcies are due to an inability to pay medical costs, even for those who have insurance. A recent Harris poll commissioned by the Wall Street Journal shows that 75% of Americans support universal health care.

Montgomery County has been instrumental in bringing much needed reform and prescription drug relief with the NACO discount card and in increasing support for community clinics. We need to do more, such as providing a safety net for those without coverage. At the state level there has been an effort to pass legislation that calls for large employers to provide health insurance for their employees. However, both of these are stop-gap measures. We need to move more pro-actively to look at providing some type of universal health care for all Marylanders. As with all innovations, this may take some time, but I believe the time to start is now. There are a number of grass roots programs that are working to provide healthcare for all in Maryland in a statewide program. I support this process. Often budget cutting decisions made at the state level impact local healthcare budgets and resources. We in Montgomery County need to have a dialogue with the state so we can help the state find some effective means to provide healthcare for all in Maryland.

Parents, teachers, students and county residents are alarmed at increasing violence in our schools and neighborhoods. We, as a community, need to reduce bullying at the schools and on buses, as well as gang activity on our streets. We need:

• peer mediation and conflict resolution programs at all levels in schools
• programs for parents and concerned adults to help them be part of the solution
• expanded after-school programs, including tutoring, mentoring and team sports
• a process for ongoing evaluation of intervention programs to monitor effectiveness and to focus funds where they will have the greatest impact
• We must focus on prevention of violence, rather than ever increasing punitive measures.

Montgomery County has long had a nationally ranked educational system with Advanced school programs such as Montgomery Blairs' Science Magnet and Communication Arts, the International Baccalaureate at Richard Montgomery, the Global Environmental emphasis at Poolesville, and the Performance Arts at Blake High, (just to mention a few programs) receiving great acclaim.

Recent years have seen some major improvements as class sizes have decreased and full day kindergarten programs have increased, which has helped working parents. Some test scores have shown modest improvements. Scores shown by minorities still lag, while gifted minority students remain under represented in advanced and AP classes. Subjects found in a comprehensive elementary school curriculum several years ago are no longer emphasized as far too much time is spent teaching to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandated tests and our children are the losers, especially with limitations in subjects such as social studies and science.

Our schools are currently using more than 700 trailers (optimistically called learning cottages) across the county stacked all around various school yards. These trailers create poor learning environments for our students, are unsafe during emergency situations and are eyesores as well. Although the decreased class sizes and additional kindergartens can account for some additional classroom needs, there should be better solutions to improve the learning environments. We should be using building designs with options for attached modules that can be both environmentally sensitive and contiguous with the school buildings, so that students and teachers are not isolated in trailers that are impossible to adequately secure.

School budget requests have been increased to well over a billion dollars in recent years. Less than one-third of the county residents have students in the county schools, and as the population increases and ages there may well be less will to continue to use the property taxes to support the schools. We need to find the ability to better examine budgets, stabilize costs and determine economies to both maintain and improve this system. These efficiencies cannot come at the costs of our student's education, and the place to look for stabilization is not in the classrooms, nor in the numbers of school support staff but in the non-school based bureaucracy. We need to use new technologies to expand our ability to improve efficiencies. As a council member I will work to ensure that benefits and pensions for all school system employees remain compatible not only with others in the area, but also with the rest of the country, as Maryland ranks at the bottom of the national pension scale. I will work to enforce contracts once they are made. We can and must do better if we are to keep the best teachers and stabilize our educational system for the challenges of the future.

The recent Clarksburg controversy has caused a crisis of confidence between citizens and their elected and appointed officials. There is a quagmire of circular explanations surrounding this which has eroded the public trust. No one has accepted ownership of this mess. One of my top priorities as a Council member would be to work to restore public accountability and transparency. Specifically, I propose that:

• All documents handled by the Planning Board be dated, registered, scanned and saved in an indexed manner
• Most, if not all, documents be made viewable on-line
• Auditors monitor and review the document management process to ensure that no documents are left sitting in offices for months without access or retrieval capability
• Telephone and visitor logs be maintained to ensure a clear record of contacts within departments
• Further changes be considered following the completion of OLO (Office of Legislative Oversight) reviews and the oversight committee recommendations
• Building sites be monitored to determine compliance with specified restrictions and approved design modifications

It is critical that the directors of public boards and committees create a climate in which citizens are not made to feel that they are the problem when they ask for clarification of complex legal issues. Furthermore, we, as citizens, must be able to trust that Master Plan decisions, once made, will be enforced.

It is imperative that elected officials understand and continually remind themselves that taxpayer monies must be spent wisely. There are numerous legitimate uses for tax dollars which help build a stronger community for all of us, but we must eliminate inefficiencies. Just as individuals must live within their means, so must government. As an auditor, I am experienced in reviewing fine detail and will ensure that budget requests receive diligent review, including assessment of projected outcomes. As your County Council representative, I would seek to balance budgets and pledge not to exceed the charter limit except in the most extreme of circumstances.

As we look to the future, we should also reflect on our past. As a resident of Montgomery County for almost 30 years, I have seen this county change dramatically. The population has doubled, the roads have expanded, valued businesses have grown, new technologies have been welcomed. We have said 'Goodbye' to Garfinckels, Woodies, Peoples Drugs, and Hechinger Hardware stores and 'Hello' to Target, Nordstrom and Macys. Culturally, we have built the new Olney Theatre, added the Black Rock Center for the Arts, built Strathmore Concert Hall and a Convention Center. Silver Spring and Wheaton are being revitalized.

We are now approaching a tipping point. Which way will we go for the next 25 years? What will be the legacy we leave for the future? This election provides a clear choice between those who provide a vision of change with measured growth, directed by reason, versus those who would have growth with few restrictions.

These forces are colliding against the bulwark of the Agricultural Reserve which was created 25 years ago to provide a buffer of green and to preserve the agricultural communities of this county. I will ensure that the promises made will be kept and that the contracts with those who created this beautiful protected area will be enforced and not eroded. As noted at a recent hearing, an empty farm field is not wasted land-it is working land. The wetlands, streams and valleys in this area are also home to wildlife and secluded natural vistas that enhance our county. Green open spaces and conservation areas are critical to our quality of life.

I see this preserved treasure as similar to an iceberg which is in danger of being buffeted on many sides until it loses critical mass and falls into the sea. We can not allow those with other interests to make continued assaults on this land. We now have 90,000 acres of our county land in this zone of protection; we need to be certain that this will still be the case at the 50-year anniversary.

It is clear that continued expansion of the population of our county brings both benefits and challenges. We have seen our minority population increase to almost 40% of our total census. This brings incredible diversity and cultural richness to this region. Property values have soared, which benefits many. These price increases unfortunately also create a gap in the market and there is a real need for more affordable housing for large segments of our community. We must plan for much-needed workforce housing and MPDU's and not just add them as an afterthought. We need to rehabilitate older homes when possible, thereby saving land and enhancing communities. Mansionization should be discouraged. Green building design and energy-efficient design should be encouraged.

This building is threatened by development - Sharon hopes to have it preserved as it is an early example of Pellis work.

Transportation remains a problem three years after the anti-gridlock slate promised to alleviate congestion. This team has not adequately addressed our transportation needs and many local intersections are designated as 'failing.' I would support the following:

• Increases in incentive programs for vanpooling and telecommuting
• Development of telecommuting and communication centers in the upcounty
• Expansion of MARC transport schedules from Frederick County
• More Express Buses for Regional Park and Rides, including connections across county lines
• Development of the 270 Corridor Cities Transitway and consideration of strategic development of bus lanes in other areas
• Further study of options for Metro expansion

It is the duty of County elected officials to remain in frequent contact with their constituents and to produce a vision for change which fits the desires of the affected communities. We need to work with our business community to ensure that future development is carefully planned and moderately paced. We need to work with a wide range of community groups to ensure that residents' voices are heard throughout all stages of the planning process. It is possible that the next elected council and executive will oversee the final build-out of available land in Montgomery County. I will undertake this task with an understanding of its significance and the necessity for clear vision and wisdom. I care deeply about Montgomery County residents and will work every day to expand and maintain a sense of community here that will carry through to future generations.