Tell me why I shouldn’t vote for Ficker...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to the points raised above, it would be a wasted vote. Even with three candidates, he has no chance. Many people who would have voted for him in a two person race as a protest vote likely will vote for Floreen, either because they like her enough or as the lesser of two evils (in their minds).

Op here...
I wouldn’t totally count Ficker out — Floreen and Elrich night we’ll split the vote and leave room for Ficker to pull through.

Floreen just wants to rubber stamp development without regards to schools and is going to raise taxes
Elrich will definitely raise taxes and is just scary extreme

So torn on what to do here.

Elrich cannot raise taxes without the approval of all 9 Councilmembers.

+OP you seem pretty ignorant of how MoCo works and the candidates. Educate yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to the points raised above, it would be a wasted vote. Even with three candidates, he has no chance. Many people who would have voted for him in a two person race as a protest vote likely will vote for Floreen, either because they like her enough or as the lesser of two evils (in their minds).

Op here...
I wouldn’t totally count Ficker out — Floreen and Elrich night we’ll split the vote and leave room for Ficker to pull through.

Floreen just wants to rubber stamp development without regards to schools and is going to raise taxes
Elrich will definitely raise taxes and is just scary extreme

So torn on what to do here.

Elrich cannot raise taxes without the approval of all 9 Councilmembers.

Moco never met a tax it didn't like. Elrich and the councilmembers are probably on the same page, no checks and balances. Need to get a dissenting vote in there somehow.

[Anonymous]

I'm voting for Ficker.


You should, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
He says he won’t raise taxes for the next four years. That means services will be cut. What should get cut? Libraries? Fire Stations? Trash collection? The county funding structure is in big trouble. We have revenue write-downs all the time now. We can’t fund the schools any less because of the state maintenance of effort law. So that leaves cutting the rest of government services. 80% of the budget goes to personnel costs. Cut people, and services suffer.

The county budget has gone up around 100% in the past 10 years, but the population has increased much less (less than 20%). There's plenty of room to cut spending and still maintain essential services.

For example, the county council allocated money to a non-profit to provide civil legal defense to illegal immigrants. The non-profit said it didn't want it due to some strings attached -- can't be spent to defend convicted violent felons. So the Council allocates the money anyway, and hopes some other non-profit will later want it. Can you imagine running a business that way? Budgeting money even though the recipient won't accept the money? Why spend it at all then?

Plenty of other examples -- county starting their own small business loan program, even though we already have a great federal SBA loan program -- to help businesses who couldn't get such a loan. Maybe if they dont' qualify for an SBA loan, it's a bad business idea?

The county also wanted to get into the student loan business. Why? We have all this at the federal or state level.

And minimum wage increase to $15/hour -- that will cost the county about $30mln/yer in additional costs, while driving some jobs to neighboring Frederick county which doesn't have such a high minimum wage.

I vote Dem just about always, but I'm going Ficker on this one. The other two choices have both been on the Council so long they are term-limited out. No need for more of their nonsense. Ficker may be a bit wacky, but the Council can keep him in check if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm voting for Ficker.


You should, too.

No thanks. I don't love any of the candidates, but it's part of my belief system not to vote for people who assault and harass people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm voting for Ficker.


You should, too.

No thanks. I don't love any of the candidates, but it's part of my belief system not to vote for people who assault and harass people.

+1 No one should be throwing their vote away on Ficker. It just makes the voting population look stupid.

[Anonymous]

You should totally vote for Ficker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He says he won’t raise taxes for the next four years. That means services will be cut. What should get cut? Libraries? Fire Stations? Trash collection? The county funding structure is in big trouble. We have revenue write-downs all the time now. We can’t fund the schools any less because of the state maintenance of effort law. So that leaves cutting the rest of government services. 80% of the budget goes to personnel costs. Cut people, and services suffer.

The county budget has gone up around 100% in the past 10 years, but the population has increased much less (less than 20%). There's plenty of room to cut spending and still maintain essential services.

For example, the county council allocated money to a non-profit to provide civil legal defense to illegal immigrants. The non-profit said it didn't want it due to some strings attached -- can't be spent to defend convicted violent felons. So the Council allocates the money anyway, and hopes some other non-profit will later want it. Can you imagine running a business that way? Budgeting money even though the recipient won't accept the money? Why spend it at all then?

Plenty of other examples -- county starting their own small business loan program, even though we already have a great federal SBA loan program -- to help businesses who couldn't get such a loan. Maybe if they dont' qualify for an SBA loan, it's a bad business idea?

The county also wanted to get into the student loan business. Why? We have all this at the federal or state level.

And minimum wage increase to $15/hour -- that will cost the county about $30mln/yer in additional costs, while driving some jobs to neighboring Frederick county which doesn't have such a high minimum wage.

I vote Dem just about always, but I'm going Ficker on this one. The other two choices have both been on the Council so long they are term-limited out. No need for more of their nonsense. Ficker may be a bit wacky, but the Council can keep him in check if needed.

No. There is no room to cut the budget without cutting services. I do budget work for the county. The programs you are talking about are not particularly bright programs. But they are insignificant in the scope of the $5+ billion budget, half of which cannot be touched because it’s MCPS.

[Anonymous]

How much leverage do county executives have over MCPS redistricting decisions? A recent Bethesda magazine interview made me think that Floreen supports radical redistricting to even out FARMS rates in area schools. As a result, I crossed her out from my list, and am leaning towards Ficker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He says he won’t raise taxes for the next four years. That means services will be cut. What should get cut? Libraries? Fire Stations? Trash collection? The county funding structure is in big trouble. We have revenue write-downs all the time now. We can’t fund the schools any less because of the state maintenance of effort law. So that leaves cutting the rest of government services. 80% of the budget goes to personnel costs. Cut people, and services suffer.

The county budget has gone up around 100% in the past 10 years, but the population has increased much less (less than 20%). There's plenty of room to cut spending and still maintain essential services.

For example, the county council allocated money to a non-profit to provide civil legal defense to illegal immigrants. The non-profit said it didn't want it due to some strings attached -- can't be spent to defend convicted violent felons. So the Council allocates the money anyway, and hopes some other non-profit will later want it. Can you imagine running a business that way? Budgeting money even though the recipient won't accept the money? Why spend it at all then?

Plenty of other examples -- county starting their own small business loan program, even though we already have a great federal SBA loan program -- to help businesses who couldn't get such a loan. Maybe if they dont' qualify for an SBA loan, it's a bad business idea?




The county also wanted to get into the student loan business. Why? We have all this at the federal or state level.

And minimum wage increase to $15/hour -- that will cost the county about $30mln/yer in additional costs, while driving some jobs to neighboring Frederick county which doesn't have such a high minimum wage.

I vote Dem just about always, but I'm going Ficker on this one. The other two choices have both been on the Council so long they are term-limited out. No need for more of their nonsense. Ficker may be a bit wacky, but the Council can keep him in check if needed.

No. There is no room to cut the budget without cutting services. I do budget work for the county. The programs you are talking about are not particularly bright programs. But they are insignificant in the scope of the $5+ billion budget, half of which cannot be touched because it’s MCPS.

Of course you don't see any room to cut the budget. That's part of the problem. I would start with eliminating your job and go from there. The County govt (including MCPS) is bloated with "irreplaceable" overpaid civil servants. We need someone in there to shake things up. We are stuck with one-party rule and govt is out of control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He says he won’t raise taxes for the next four years. That means services will be cut. What should get cut? Libraries? Fire Stations? Trash collection? The county funding structure is in big trouble. We have revenue write-downs all the time now. We can’t fund the schools any less because of the state maintenance of effort law. So that leaves cutting the rest of government services. 80% of the budget goes to personnel costs. Cut people, and services suffer.

The county budget has gone up around 100% in the past 10 years, but the population has increased much less (less than 20%). There's plenty of room to cut spending and still maintain essential services.

For example, the county council allocated money to a non-profit to provide civil legal defense to illegal immigrants. The non-profit said it didn't want it due to some strings attached -- can't be spent to defend convicted violent felons. So the Council allocates the money anyway, and hopes some other non-profit will later want it. Can you imagine running a business that way? Budgeting money even though the recipient won't accept the money? Why spend it at all then?

Plenty of other examples -- county starting their own small business loan program, even though we already have a great federal SBA loan program -- to help businesses who couldn't get such a loan. Maybe if they dont' qualify for an SBA loan, it's a bad business idea?




The county also wanted to get into the student loan business. Why? We have all this at the federal or state level.

And minimum wage increase to $15/hour -- that will cost the county about $30mln/yer in additional costs, while driving some jobs to neighboring Frederick county which doesn't have such a high minimum wage.

I vote Dem just about always, but I'm going Ficker on this one. The other two choices have both been on the Council so long they are term-limited out. No need for more of their nonsense. Ficker may be a bit wacky, but the Council can keep him in check if needed.

No. There is no room to cut the budget without cutting services. I do budget work for the county. The programs you are talking about are not particularly bright programs. But they are insignificant in the scope of the $5+ billion budget, half of which cannot be touched because it’s MCPS.

Of course you don't see any room to cut the budget. That's part of the problem. I would start with eliminating your job and go from there. The County govt (including MCPS) is bloated with "irreplaceable" overpaid civil servants. We need someone in there to shake things up. We are stuck with one-party rule and govt is out of control.

I saved the county $17 million last go round. That’s a bit more than my over-bloated salary. Get rid of the people like me and you’ll have nothing but those politically driven programs like attorneys fees for undocumented workers.

But you have a point about salaries. We decimated services during the recession. But Ike Leggett gave us over a 14% raise over two years, when he was running for re-election last time. And still....services haven’t been restored to pre-recession levels. But you all voted for him, so...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much leverage do county executives have over MCPS redistricting decisions? A recent Bethesda magazine interview made me think that Floreen supports radical redistricting to even out FARMS rates in area schools. As a result, I crossed her out from my list, and am leaning towards Ficker.

Zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much leverage do county executives have over MCPS redistricting decisions? A recent Bethesda magazine interview made me think that Floreen supports radical redistricting to even out FARMS rates in area schools. As a result, I crossed her out from my list, and am leaning towards Ficker.

None, I believe.

Ficker is a nut. Erlich is a nut. I’m voting Floreen.

[Anonymous]

Ficker would be exactly what MoCo desperately needs, but I'm going to vote for Elrich instead, because I KNOW he'll be truly awful for County Exec, and will probably usher in all sorts of new taxes and fees and real estate tax hikes.

See, I HATE MoCo, mostly because it's filled with libs. And I'm moving soon anyway, so it won't effect me as much as the rest of you who've made this such a miserable place to begin with.

So enjoy Elrich. I hope he taxes you out the ass.

[Anonymous]

Here's a perfect example:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/county-planning-board-asks-council-for-additional-680000-for-development-of-bethesda-park-slave-history-museum/

$9 million to build the Josiah Henson slave history museum in North Bethesda. Is this really the best use of taxpayer money?

The county needs to get in the habit of reducing spending, not just increasing spending and taxes along with it. Ficker has always been against tax increases. There's a lot of fat that can be trimmed, and Ficker's definitely going to push for it.