{"id":9431,"date":"2018-02-14T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=9431"},"modified":"2018-02-13T20:49:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T01:49:06","slug":"we-cant-tell-them-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=9431","title":{"rendered":"We Can\u2019t Tell Them Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

On Saturday, your author attended a forum for the two Senate candidates and eight House candidates running in District 18.\u00a0 (These are the sad things we do after football season is over!)\u00a0 What did we learn?<\/p>\n

Not a whole lot.<\/p>\n

You see, while MoCo has plenty of demographic, cultural and economic diversity, it has little political diversity \u2013 at least among those who run for office.\u00a0 Take the candidates on stage.\u00a0 Yes, there are demographic differences \u2013 two are African American men and five are women.\u00a0 Yes, there are differences in life and professional experience.\u00a0 They include a former teacher, a former doctor, a non-profit executive, two incumbent Delegates, a Town Council Member and more.\u00a0 But on issues?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see.\u00a0 They all support public education.\u00a0 They all want more transportation options, especially those involving transit, walking and biking.\u00a0 They all want more abundant and affordable health care coverage.\u00a0 They are all pro-environment.\u00a0 They are all pro-immigrant.\u00a0 They all oppose Trumpism.\u00a0 They all pledged to run positive campaigns.\u00a0 (Can you imagine if any of them did not??)\u00a0 They all\u2026 well, you get the idea.<\/p>\n

There is more political diversity in every barroom, every Thanksgiving dinner and every long line at the grocery store than at a MoCo candidate forum!<\/p>\n

The District 18 forum at Newport Mill Middle School.\u00a0 Photo by Council At-Large candidate Evan Glass.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be restrained in our expectations: no one \u201cwins\u201d these forums. \u00a0The candidates\u2019 objectives are to show that they are informed and competent, that they are in line with the values of folks in the room, and that they are not banana cakes. \u00a0Upon demonstrating minimum suitability, they then meet some activists who bring up micro-issues they have never heard of while they smile pleasantly and try to avoid checking their phones.<\/p>\n

How do candidates stand out?\u00a0 There are dozens and dozens of them on the ballot \u2013 thirty in the Council At-Large race alone.\u00a0 The volume of mail about to descend on the county could clear a tropical rain forest.\u00a0 Is bio and life experience enough?\u00a0 Will anyone ace all the endorsements (aside from the incumbents)?\u00a0 Will anyone be able to outspend the others?\u00a0 That may be unlikely for a race dominated by public financing, as the Council At-Large race is, in which many candidates will be raising similar amounts.\u00a0 Will any candidate dare to be different when political conformity is expected and few wish to deviate from the norm?<\/p>\n

As for issues, here are a few questions that will draw out differences between candidates.\u00a0 Moderators should keep them in mind for forums so that attendees will win the struggle to stay awake.<\/p>\n

Do you support rent control?<\/p>\n

Should the county and\/or state governments require project labor agreements on construction projects providing for union representation of all craft workers?<\/p>\n

Should the private sector be permitted to compete with the county\u2019s liquor monopoly?<\/p>\n

Should master plans require infrastructure to be built as a condition of allowing new development?<\/p>\n

Do you support tuition-free public college for everyone?<\/p>\n

Should the county build M-83, the Upcounty highway from Montgomery Village to Clarksburg?<\/p>\n

Should existing traffic lanes be set aside as dedicated lanes for bus rapid transit?<\/p>\n

Should a non-partisan commission draw Congressional and legislative district lines even if it means giving more seats to Republicans?\u00a0 (Just watch the incumbent state legislators squirm on this one!)<\/p>\n

Under what circumstances should taxes be raised?<\/p>\n

How did you serve the community before you started running for office?<\/p>\n

Please moderators \u2013 puh-leeeeeeeze<\/em> \u2013 try to draw out some differences between our candidates.\u00a0 Because heaven help us, for so many of them, we can\u2019t tell them apart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco. On Saturday, your author attended a forum for the two Senate candidates and eight House candidates running in District 18.\u00a0 (These are the sad things we do after football season is over!)\u00a0 What did we learn? Not a whole lot. You see, while MoCo has plenty of demographic, cultural and economic diversity, … Continue reading We Can\u2019t Tell Them Apart<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[151,57],"tags":[1545,2134,1489],"class_list":["post-9431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam-pagnucco","category-district-18","tag-adam-pagnucco","tag-candidate-forums","tag-district-18"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-2s7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9431"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9458,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9431\/revisions\/9458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}