Former Planning Board Member and Montgomery Women President Meredith Wellington has filed to run for the Democratic nomination for the open council seat in District 1.
Meredith Wellington Announcement by David Lublin on Scribd
Public Parking Prices Soar
Parking prices on the street at public garages in Montgomery County shot up again on July 1. This is just the latest in a series of major increases.
In Bethesda, street parking prices went up 12.5% from $2.00 to $2.25 per hour. Garage pricing jumped by 25%, rising from $0.80 to $1.00 per hour in regular garages, and from $1.00 to $1.25 per hour in popular garages.
Silver Spring parking is a relative bargain. Street parking prices remained unchanged at $1.00 per hour. Regular garages saw their prices increase a nickel or 7.7% from $0.65 to $0.70. However, pricing in popular garages jumped 53.8% from $0.65 to $1.00.
This marks the latest in a series of increases since 2009 that have raised parking prices well above the rate of inflation. The following graphs compare public parking inflation over the last ten years to the consumer price index (CPI) with all set to 100 for 2009.* Each year shows the price change on January 1, so this year’s bump is shown as 2018.
Bethesda has been especially hard hit. In 2009, prices were just $0.50 for long-term garage spaces, and $0.75 on the street. Since then, parking charges have jumped 100% in garages, 150% in popular garages, and 200% on the street. The CPI went up just 11%.
Despite starting in 2009 at the same base as in Bethesda, prices have increased less in Silver Spring. There have still been substantial price hikes, resulting in parking inflation of 33% on the street, 40% in garages, and 100% in popular garages. Still, it is now relatively cheaper to park in Silver Spring than Bethesda—a real benefit to both consumers and business there.
Montgomery citizens increasingly complain about property and income taxes. But fees like parking rates have often quietly been increased at even faster rates.
*Note: MoCo changed its method of parking charges in 2013. The categories of short term and long term were eliminated in favor of a new division into on-street, lots, and garages with popular garages having a surcharge. I’ve compared on-street parking to the previous short-term rate, and garage parking to the previous long-term rate, as this appears reasonable. If anything, it biases the estimates of on-street parking inflation down.
MoCo’s Dubious Minimum Wage Survey
By Adam Pagnucco.
The Executive Branch has released its long-awaited study of the impact of MoCo’s $15 minimum wage bill and it is taking fire. The primary objection from bill supporters is that much of the study, including the assumptions for its economic modeling, is based on an unscientific, self-selected sample of business owners who were asked to predict what they would do if the minimum wage were raised. A senior economic analyst with the Economic Policy Institute labeled it “absurd junk science” and wrote:
The closest analogy I can think of would be if the FDA was considering approval of a new drug and instead of reviewing any studies or trials, they instead simply asked the drug company “what percentage of patients do you think this drug will harm versus help?”
Your author agrees with these criticisms. Want to know why? Because your author was asked to fill out the minimum wage survey!
On May 12, the county sent me the email below asking for participation in the minimum wage survey. Note that the email says, “All responses will be anonymous, and the project team will be unable to link responses to specific businesses. Your responses will be used to inform our analysis around wage compression, job loss, and other relevant issues.”
Now, I am self-employed, but I do not own an incorporated business or employ other people. Just out of curiosity, I clicked on the Survey Monkey link right after receiving the email. Yes, the link worked and the survey was ready to accept responses. If I had filled it out (and I didn’t!), by its own admission above, the survey administrator would have had no way to filter out my responses or flag them as fraudulent.
Lord knows who else got the email and exactly who filled out the survey!
Your author does not express an opinion on the policy merits of the $15 minimum wage bill. That’s a topic for a future post. But the minimum wage business survey is a different matter. It was obviously subject to self-selection bias and even potential manipulation. The fact that it was administered in flagrant violation of all known scientific surveying techniques disqualifies it from being used as a tool to evaluate public policy.
How Not to Alienate White Voters
Trump loves to invoke white identity politics to rally his base. In recent days, we’ve seen him triple down on this approach to distract from the scandals and fecklessness of his administration. He began this most recent cycle with an attack on transgender people who serve honorably in our military.
Trump continued with his embrace of efforts to cut even legal immigration and the recent deportation of a Latino kid from Gaithersburg who won a college scholarship. Now, Trump and Sessions plan to fight affirmative action as an effort to end discrimination against whites.
Earlier installments in this series were called “Playing Trump’s Game” because Democrats unwittingly aid Trump’s efforts to rally white voters on racial lines when they play into his frames by portraying whites in negative terms as a group. (See Part I: Are Democrats Buying into Trump’s Narrative, Part II: White Privilege, Part III: Old, White Men, Part IV: Denigrating People’s Jobs, and Part V: Denigrating American History.)
Today’s final installment encourages Democrats to avoid “heads you win, tails I lose” narratives about whites that just communicate whites are bad in a way that plays straight into Trump’s efforts to consolidate white voters.
Gentrification
Much ink is spilled today expressing concern about the impact of whites moving into neighborhoods that are predominantly black or Latino. No doubt there are real effects as occurs whenever there is economic or racial change in neighborhood composition. On the other hand, when I was younger, whites were repeatedly chastised for leaving cities. People cannot help but notice that whites are excoriated for moving in and out of cities.
In contrast, progressives have nothing negative to say about similar movements by black or Latino populations. Just as whites fled DC, much of the African-American middle class decamped to Prince George’s. Now, many black families are moving into Charles or back into DC. Most people have nothing negative to say about either, which is of course as it should be, with criticism perceived (rightly) as racist.
Cultural Appropriation
To the extent people want to condemn the appropriation of intellectual property, as often occurred to black musicians in the 1960s, the idea of cultural appropriation is fine. However, stretching the concept to attack when people from one culture use or mix in something from another culture makes little sense, as cultures are not hothouses but constantly incorporate outside ideas.
The widely-lauded musical Hamilton seems a great example with Puerto Rican Lin-Manuel Miranda taking the history of the proverbial “dead white man” and mixing it with styles of music developed by blacks and Latinos to create an exciting, multiracial, and rich contribution to our common culture. And utterly appropriate, as we all get to claim the history of this country whether our ancestors were among the Founders or even here at the time.
No, not all experiments work out so well. I have serious reservations about the peanut butter chocolate chip bagel. But I’m not offended by it.
Finally, to the extent that claims of cultural appropriation demand that whites remain strictly outside observers of black, Latino, Asian etc. cultures, it flies in the face of simultaneous demands that whites need to learn much more about them. Regardless, separating cultures into neat racial boxes is an impossible task in our increasingly diverse society.
In The Atlantic, Jenni Avins provided a sensible guide to “The Dos and Dont’s of Cultural Appropriation” that applies the idea in a rational way. Her headline points are: 1. Blackface is Never Okay, 2. It’s Important to Pay Homage to Artistry and Ideas, and Acknowledge Their Origins, 3. Don’t Adopt Sacred Artifacts as Accessories, 4. Remember That Culture is Fluid, 5. Don’t Forget That Appropriation Is No Substitute for Diversity, 6. Engage with Other Cultures on More Than an Aesthetic Level, and 7. Treat a Cultural Exchange Like Any Other Creative Collaboration—Give Credit, and Consider Royalties.
Her approach makes cultural appropriation about mutual respect and appreciation rather than a means to catch white people out, which can only alienate people who actually have an interest in cultures other than their own—something to be encouraged and seen as natural in our highly diverse country rather than policed.
Returning to Why This Matters
As I explained in first post in this series:
Democrats don’t need to win back most white voters in order to win—even small gains among whites would have been enough to deprive Trump of his electoral college victory. Giving up on white voters is political folly. Increases in the rising black, Latino and Asian vote won’t be enough alone to win many of the states moving in the Democratic direction, at least in the medium term.
Additionally, geographic distribution renders capturing more white votes key to Democratic control of federal and state legislatures as well as the presidency. In Maryland, white votes will determine the outcome of legislative elections in most seats targeted by Republicans, such as those held by Sens. Kathy Klausmeier and Jim Mathias, and whether Democrats retain their ability to overturn gubernatorial vetoes in both houses of the legislature.
Steve Farber Retires
Politicians Rejoice as Bill Turque Leaves
By Adam Pagnucco.
The most feared person in MoCo politics is not an elected official. He’s not a union leader, a developer, a big contributor or even a blogger. He’s Washington Post reporter Bill Turque, who has covered the MoCo beat for over four years. Happily for politicians and unhappily for the rest of us, Turque has stepped down and it’s unclear what the Post will do next.
MoCo officials did not fully understand what they were getting when Turque began writing about the county. Among his many previous assignments, Turque covered former D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, a FAR tougher figure than any MoCo politician. Turque’s battle for information from the school system escalated to the point when his own bosses tried to censor him. Then there’s the story of when the Post allowed Rhee to use one of their conference rooms to hold a meeting. Rumor has it that Turque quietly walked in with a notepad. Rhee was about as pleased as a bride who sees a cockroach in her wedding cake and wedding gown!
Politicians in MoCo had it easy from the Post until Turque showed up. His two predecessors on the MoCo beat were Mike Laris, who wrote one or two articles a month, and Victor Zapana, who was fresh out of college. Neither knew a lot about the county. Turque, in contrast, was a long-time resident who quickly learned the history and the players. Before long, inconvenient stories began appearing in the paper. Politicians began longing for the days of scanty coverage!
How to pick the Best of Turque? There are so many articles to choose from. There’s the time when he outed a union-linked operative as the author of an anonymous attack website targeting former Council Member Valerie Ervin. Then there was the article in which he called out the County Council for violating its own law on Public Information Act disclosure in taking down email addresses from the county’s website. Council Member Marc Elrich, who has long said he turns away developer money, was caught by Turque taking money from an attorney who represents developers. Council Member George Leventhal has yet to recover from Turque’s posting a video of his berating budget director Jennifer Hughes from the dais which was cited in Bethesda Magazine’s coverage of his Executive campaign launch. And then there’s the Silver Spring Transit Center fiasco, the subject of countless Turque articles up to his flaying the county for getting fleeced by lawyers and experts. Years ago, a Leggett administration official complained to me about Turque’s relentless coverage of the transit center. Your author replied, “You can’t blame the wolf for liking the taste of meat!”
Perhaps no politician in the county will be happier to see Turque leave than David Trone. Turque wrote a story on Trone’s political contributions early in his candidacy for Congress including the now-infamous Trone quote “I sign my checks to buy access.” Trone’s campaign never got past that statement. But there was more, including coverage of the Trone Spy and a Trone company’s payment of a fine for making illegal campaign contributions. We think Trone should celebrate Turque’s retirement by instituting a blow-out sale at Total Wine. Spread the joy, Mr. Trone!
The key to understanding Turque is that he’s an old-school, all-business reporter. If you have real information, he’ll look at it. If you have BS, spin or rumor that repeatedly doesn’t pan out, he sniffs it out lickety-split. The worst thing one could ever do with Turque is tell him “there’s no story there.” To Turque, that is proof that there actually IS a story and it will make him dig harder. One more thing. Your author has spent countless hours eating sushi with Turque and to this day I have no idea who he voted for.
The future after Turque is hazy at best. The Post is searching for a successor. It’s possible that the Post will bring on another newbie like Zapana or perhaps have its MoCo beat reporter take on work outside the county as its solicitation suggests. Either of those possibilities would likely result in declines of coverage here. Add that to the demise of the Gazette and the Examiner and, other than Bethesda Magazine and a couple online outlets, we could have a news desert at a time of historic change in county politics.
Delaney Dominoes
By Adam Pagnucco.
From the perspective of political blogging (which we all know matters most!), Congressman John Delaney is the greatest Maryland politician of all time. That’s not because of anything he has done in Congress. (No one does anything in Congress these days!) It’s because his decision-making has affected the races for Governor, Congress District 6, County Executive, County Council and several State Senate and House of Delegates seats. This is an enormous bonanza for political junkies and will keep us VERY busy. We love you, John Delaney!
Here’s a quick and dirty take on how the Delaney Dominoes are falling.
Governor
None of the Democratic candidates for Governor fit Delaney’s ideological center-left positioning. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who can claim that his jurisdiction has not increased either property or income taxes in twenty-five years, might come closest. But the biggest impact of Delaney’s absence may be geographic. With the Congressman out and former Attorney General Doug Gansler not showing signs of serious activity, Senator Rich Madaleno might be the only MoCo candidate in the race. That’s a big deal. If Madaleno consolidates MoCo while three African American candidates run hard in the City and Prince George’s, this race becomes very unpredictable. (Disclosure: your author has done work for Madaleno.)
Congress District 6
Total Wine co-owner David Trone has been interviewing elected officials, activists, operatives and other local players for months as he figures out his options. Our hunch is that he will see Delaney’s congressional district as his best play and run there. He will join Delegates Bill Frick and Aruna Miller, Senator Roger Manno and former Democratic nominee Andrew Duck on the Democratic side. The Republicans should have a vigorous primary too as they have a real shot at the open seat.
County Executive
If Trone runs for Congress, that will leave three term-limited Council Members – Roger Berliner, Marc Elrich and George Leventhal – as the only Democrats running for Executive at this moment. But given the fact that most Democrats voted for term limits and anti-tax sentiment continues to linger, it’s hard to believe that a non-Council Member will not get in. Trone’s absence creates a void that could very well get filled.
County Council
County Council candidates will all sigh in relief if Trone runs for Congress. That’s because there have been rumors of a Trone Slate for months in which Trone would deposit his own money in a slate account to be drawn on by allied council candidates. With that possibility off the table, the at-large candidates are on their own. Since most are in public financing, it’s unlikely that very many of them will accumulate large financial advantages of 3-to-1 to 4-to-1 over their nearest rivals. That makes for very competitive races in District 1 and at-large.
State Legislative Districts
If Miller, Frick and Manno stay in the race for Congress until the end, that means there will be open seats in Districts 15, 16 and 19. In District 15, the recent custom has been for the incumbents to pick a new candidate to fill out their slate. (That is a big reason why Miller originally won her seat in 2010.) The question is whether any new candidate merits such a selection. A District 16 open seat race is like an Italian Sunday dinner: everyone shows up. An open seat in 2010 attracted thirteen candidates and an open seat in 2014 attracted eight candidates. There will be no rest for Delegates Ariana Kelly and Marc Korman! Manno’s Senate seat will draw the interest of at least one Delegate, thereby creating at least one House opening. There are already three non-incumbents who have filed for the District 19 House seats with more probably on the way.
Add the above to actual or possible races in Council District 3, Legislative District 17 (House and maybe Senate), Legislative District 18 (House and Senate), Legislative District 20 (maybe House) and Legislative District 39 (House) and that makes 2018 the most politically active year in MoCo in decades. Enjoy folks, and remember to thank John Delaney the next time you see him!
Washington Post Looking for Turque Successor
By Adam Pagnucco.
The Washington Post has posted an employment ad seeking a successor to recently departed MoCo beat reporter Bill Turque. We will have much more to say about Turque soon, but for now, we re-post the ad itself. (Andrew Metcalf, do you see this?)
*****
The Washington Post’s Metro desk is looking for a reporter to cover government and politics in Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest and perhaps most powerful jurisdiction.
This is a crucial role, as our digital and print readers crave local news. We are looking for a reporter who can provide strong and authoritative coverage of county government and elections, which are unfolding in a new era of term limits and public campaign financing. As the Metro desk continues to try to redefine local news coverage, we are looking for someone who can spot trends in Montgomery and tell readers across the nation why what’s happening in Montgomery has resonance for them. Similarly, the successful candidate will be able to explain how national issues have real-world consequences right here in Montgomery County.
Covering Montgomery County is a great opportunity to write about issues facing 21st-century suburbs, including immigration, the growing importance of mass transit and the challenges posed by aging neighborhoods and infrastructure. It’s also a great place for accountability reporting, with a budget of $5.4 billion and thousands of employees. In addition, there are nearly a million people who live in Montgomery County, and there are human stories to tell.
We are looking for a reporter who can be a collaborative part of our Maryland politics team by helping to cover the upcoming governor’s race and Congressional mid-terms.
If you are interested, please contact Debbi Wilgoren (debbi.wilgoren@washpost.com) Monica Norton (monica.norton@washpost.com), Mike Semel (mike.semel@washpost.com) or Tracy Grant (tracy.grant@washpost.com) no later than Aug. 11.
Blogs Were Right About “Ridiculous” Delaney Story
By Adam Pagnucco.
The John Delaney for President story was started by a blog. It was kept alive by blogs. And now the bloggers, irresponsible rascals that they are, have been proven right.
Ryan Miner of A Miner Detail kicked off the Delaney for President story on May 3. He had two pieces of information: a prediction by former Attorney General Doug Gansler that Delaney would be running for President and a claim by MSNBC host Chris Matthews that Delaney had opened an office in Iowa. That was enough to get The Daily Record’s Bryan Sears to investigate. Sears wrote:
Will McDonald, a spokesman for Delaney’s campaign, said Delaney is not considering a run for president or opening an office in Iowa.
“Congressman Delaney does not have an office in Iowa or any other place other than Maryland and Washington, D.C.,” McDonald said in an email. “As he has said before, the Congressman and his wife plan to make an announcement regarding a possible run for Maryland’s governor by the end of June.”
The Sun followed up:
Rumors have swirled recently that Delaney is also taking a look at a run for president in 2020 — talk that was amplified when MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Kathleen’s husband, said during his program last week the congressman was setting up an office in Iowa. A Delaney spokesman denied that his boss had office space in the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state.
On May 11, MCM asked Delaney directly if he was running for President. Delaney said, “It was as ridiculous then as it is now… I’m not running for President.”
So the story was dead, yeah? The problem was that the blogs wouldn’t let it die.
Right after Miner’s story, Seventh State noted that Delaney had three federal fundraisers scheduled in May and June. If Delaney were running for Governor, why was he still raising federal money? It did not seem necessary for a Congressional run as he could self-fund such a race. Miner followed up on May 8 with a statement from Delaney’s spokesman shooting down speculation about his wife running for office and emphasizing his consideration of a race for Governor. And on June 15, Seventh State noted even more federal fundraising by Delaney.
And now we have it: John Delaney ‘s Washington Post op-ed Why I’m Running for President.
Hail to the Great Big Mouths of Doug Gansler and Chris Matthews. Hail to Ryan Miner for being first and sticking with his scoop even though few other outlets bothered to link to his work. Hail to John Delaney for saying it was “ridiculous” that he was running for President and then confirming the rumor in his own words in the Washington Post. And above all, hail to irresponsible rogue blogs. Where would we be without them?
Has Montgomery County Lost Its Economic Strength?
By Dr. Tom Ferleman.
[Editor’s note: Seventh State is pleased to present guest blogs from candidates for office. The views here are those of the candidate and not of David Lublin or Adam Pagnucco.]
When I was growing up, Montgomery County was one of the wealthiest counties in the whole country. Many of us remember when Montgomery County’s transportation infrastructure was second to none. Our schools were always ranked number one. We were the envy of the nation. Today, we’re thrilled when we’re in the top ten on any list.
Even Councilmember Craig Rice admitted that the Council no longer holds the County in such high regard.
In March of 2015, it was reported that while stumping in Germantown for more funds for the education budget, Rice told an audience, “We did not want to acknowledge, for a very long time, the fact that we had poor people coming into Montgomery County and that Montgomery County was changing.”
As was reported by the Germantown Pulse on March 19, 2015: [Rice] contends that County leaders waited a long time before we changed the perception of Montgomery County as a being full of millionaires who could afford whatever they wanted. “That was never a reality. We just never acknowledged it.”
It’s as if the County Council doesn’t understand how government works. Montgomery County lags the region in recovering pre-recession job levels. Despite six consecutive years of positive job growth across the region, Montgomery County had 0.6 percent (2,964) fewer jobs in March 2016 compared to the same month in 2006, indicating that job losses sustained during the Great Recession have not been fully recovered. In contrast, the wider Washington, DC metro area added 191,718 new jobs over the decade. Three jurisdictions together accounted for 70 percent of the region’s job expansion: The District of Columbia (82,397), Loudoun County (32,081) and Fairfax County (19,550).
While average may be good enough for some Councilmembers, for me, it’s not a passing grade. We must take active measures to boost our competitive advantage in the region.
If elected to the County Council, I will work to develop the mechanisms to make it easier for businesses to operate in the County (i.e. lower taxes, easier permitting and licensing, less traffic congestion, and a favorable education pipeline). While growing jobs locally contributes to providing a better quality of life, it also creates an entrepreneurial culture that promotes economic development for everyone.
Dr. Tom Ferleman is a Republican candidate for Montgomery County Council in District 2.