{"id":8246,"date":"2017-07-14T09:34:29","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T13:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8246"},"modified":"2017-07-14T11:55:38","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T15:55:38","slug":"does-george-leventhal-have-the-temperament-to-be-county-executive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8246","title":{"rendered":"Does George Leventhal have the Temperament to be County Executive?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had planned to continue my Playing Trump’s Game series today but apparently 7S became the subject of controversy on WAMU. Tom Sherwood raised the issue of George Leventhal’s temperament on WAMU’s The Politics Hour last Friday. Councilmember George Leventhal (D-AL) reacted by blaming Seventh State<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Um, you know I gotta say that I think the issue of the Purple Line is a very important issue. There is at least one blogger who has written about an encounter with the unions who is very much opposed to the Purple Line. We don\u2019t have a lot of local journalism. I\u2019m grateful to the Politics Hour, so people rely on bloggers who may have an ax to grind. I think people have written things about me who disagree with me on issues who then try to characterize me in a way that makes me seem an undesirable candidate. And I think with that gentleman in particular, it\u2019s really that we just disagree on the merits of the Purple Line.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yep, George Leventhal and I disagreed about the Purple Line. Indeed, I disagreed with the entire county council, almost all of our state legislative delegation, and many good friends on this issue. None of these other people have claimed that I have an ax to grind against them. This a red herring–a classic effort to distract.<\/p>\n

Debate on policy questions is normal in a diverse, democratic society. My friend and co-blogger, Adam Pagnucco, disagrees with me on a bunch of issues. Seventh State has had blog posts that directly argue against my own point of view, including on the Purple Line compact<\/a> and a Planning Board appointment<\/a>. I even did a blog post giving George Leventhal’s point of view on the issue he mentioned in his WAMU comments<\/a> with no rebuttal.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Leventhal\u2019s problem is not his issue positions, which differ little from his colleagues on many issues, or even that he frequently butts heads with his colleagues or media critics. It\u2019s that he targets his own constituents and people who work for the County.<\/p>\n

Clips from Council meetings show this plainly:<\/p>\n