Why are all the county executive candidates so SMARMY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait -- did I write that first post in my sleep last night? Of the new candidates I dislike Hucker the least. Riemer's entire track record is about cozying up to developers. Blair has nothing in his background to suggest that he can be successful as a politician (that's what the county executive is -- this is not the same as running a business). He has no experience in dealing with complex policy issues in a diverse county with a powerful legislative branch. I'm trying to learn more about Hucker. But, in the end, I'm probably going with Elrich -- the devil you know.

I partially agree. But a CE needs to be able to hire the right people to run the departments. And generally good business people can do that. Elrich micromanages. He thinks he knows more than everyone else, and he doesn't. And it has eroded the quality of service delivery. He does not trust (and often never listens) to his department heads.

Agree with this.

Also disappointed no woman is running (I voted for Rose last time) but part of the problem last time was there were too many candidates to build consensus around an alternative to Elrich. I think it’s pretty clear that Hucker and Reimer are mainly in this to raise their profile, they can’t possibly believe they are going to win, no? I don’t totally dislike Hucker- as a council member he tended to be responsive )we live in his district) but I don’t necessarily want his as CE either.

[Anonymous]

Vote for Blair.

That is all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving developers tax breaks to build housing is not going to bring businesses to MoCo. If it is profitable for them to build, they will build. The
reason they are EVIL in MoCo is because they line the Council's pockets in exchange for special favors. Favors that give them tax breaks but don't solve our housing crisis for example.

Fixing the schools and doing something about transportation (public transit, for those driving cars, and for those walking/biking) will.

You haven’t been paying attention to local politics much, have you. The boomers and gen Xers that own homes always fight attempts to build more housing, except when it goes up in the boonies.

You haven’t been paying attention to local land use decisions much, have you. Urbanists like to complain that NIMBYs block development, but NIMBYs’ track record on blocking development is very poor. Developers have been far more successful in getting Planning’s approval to limit housing production than NIMBYs have.

As for the council candidates, if you want more housing, then vote for the candidate most likely to bring us more jobs. Urbanism doesn’t work without strong job growth to anchor dense areas. The candidate most likely to grow employment is David Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving developers tax breaks to build housing is not going to bring businesses to MoCo. If it is profitable for them to build, they will build. The
reason they are EVIL in MoCo is because they line the Council's pockets in exchange for special favors. Favors that give them tax breaks but don't solve our housing crisis for example.

Fixing the schools and doing something about transportation (public transit, for those driving cars, and for those walking/biking) will.

You haven’t been paying attention to local politics much, have you. The boomers and gen Xers that own homes always fight attempts to build more housing, except when it goes up in the boonies.

You haven’t been paying attention to local land use decisions much, have you. Urbanists like to complain that NIMBYs block development, but NIMBYs’ track record on blocking development is very poor. Developers have been far more successful in getting Planning’s approval to limit housing production than NIMBYs have.

As for the council candidates, if you want more housing, then vote for the candidate most likely to bring us more jobs. Urbanism doesn’t work without strong job growth to anchor dense areas. The candidate most likely to grow employment is David Blair.

100% spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vote for Blair.

That is all.

Definitely voting for Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vote for Blair.

That is all.

Definitely voting for Blair.

Me, too, and I encourage those who are registered as republican or independent to change their registration to democrat for this primary election. You can change back right after. The July election is what will determine who our county leaders are in December.

I know it's hard; people have very strong political identifications. But please consider this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reimer is beholden to developers but at least he's smart and has a better grasp of the administrative stuff that may be boring but is what actually gets things done.

lol, Reimer smart. Reimer panders to developers, and, actually, whatever group he is speaking to at the moment. An accomplished liar who likes to point out Erlich's problems, but he has been on the Council for 12 years, he IS the problem!

Personally not a fan of any of the slimy, swarmy, white men running.

I’ve never understood why so many people view developers as evil in the DMV- MoCo and DC in particular. Want housing? Then you need people to build/sell/rent it. With local laws leaning so heavily in favor of tenants, most private citizens aren’t going to be willing to take on that role. I know multiple people that let homes sit empty rather than rent it out, usually after bad eviction exerpeiences.

I am not anti-development, but the problem is that they are allowing development without building additional schools. My kids schools are bursting at the seems-- my daughter literally worries about being crushed at SSIMS.

Didn't Elrich cut the renovation budgets for various schools?

I agree that none of the choices are compelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reimer is beholden to developers but at least he's smart and has a better grasp of the administrative stuff that may be boring but is what actually gets things done.

lol, Reimer smart. Reimer panders to developers, and, actually, whatever group he is speaking to at the moment. An accomplished liar who likes to point out Erlich's problems, but he has been on the Council for 12 years, he IS the problem!

Personally not a fan of any of the slimy, swarmy, white men running.

I’ve never understood why so many people view developers as evil in the DMV- MoCo and DC in particular. Want housing? Then you need people to build/sell/rent it. With local laws leaning so heavily in favor of tenants, most private citizens aren’t going to be willing to take on that role. I know multiple people that let homes sit empty rather than rent it out, usually after bad eviction exerpeiences.

I am not anti-development, but the problem is that they are allowing development without building additional schools. My kids schools are bursting at the seems-- my daughter literally worries about being crushed at SSIMS.

Didn't Elrich cut the renovation budgets for various schools?

I agree that none of the choices are compelling.

Riemer robbed the school construction for the Purple Line and then he took money from school construction and gave it to developers. Elrich says he wants infrastructure before housing but he somehow never gets around to the infrastructure. Vote for Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait -- did I write that first post in my sleep last night? Of the new candidates I dislike Hucker the least. Riemer's entire track record is about cozying up to developers. Blair has nothing in his background to suggest that he can be successful as a politician (that's what the county executive is -- this is not the same as running a business). He has no experience in dealing with complex policy issues in a diverse county with a powerful legislative branch. I'm trying to learn more about Hucker. But, in the end, I'm probably going with Elrich -- the devil you know.

County employee here, and this could not be more wrong. The County Exec needs to be more than a politician - this is Elrich's biggest failing as a CE. He has lots of political ideas, but he can't make the trains run on time, and that's his job now. Policy making is for the Council. The Executive has to run the government. It's an incredibly important distinction that Elrich still hasn't grasped. What's worse, is that he is actively dismissive of the people who do the actual work and know what is needed. He gave an interview calling them "we be's" as in "we be here before you and we be here after you."

It's a terrible attitude because these are voices that should be heavily considered. They aren't driven by politics, or influences by unions or donors. And they KNOW how things work on the ground. These are the people who actually administer all these programs and provide the services. Elrich runs around popping off at the mouth without any understanding of the nuts and bolts of the running of the government. He makes grand pronouncements without talking to anyone to find out what is doable.

Hucker is worse. He is just not intelligent and has very few opinions or ideas of his own. All his platforms are handed to him by special interests, and he'll jump on any bandwagon that passes, consistency be damned. Forget making the trains run on time - I'm not convinced that Hucker knows there are trains.

Reimer is beholden to developers but at least he's smart and has a better grasp of the administrative stuff that may be boring but is what actually gets things done.

Blair's a wild card, but seems to have common sense and isn't financed by special interests. Given the other options, I'll take my chances.

For me, its Blair - Reimer - Elrich - Hucker

You have some interesting points, but why you think Riemer is smart is not clear. I will not vote for Riemer or Hucker.

[Anonymous]

Blair was backed by Empower Montgomery and I assume he's backed by developers this time around, too. It would be nice to have a more unbiased CE so the need to maintain some green space in the county could be included in development plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair was backed by Empower Montgomery and I assume he's backed by developers this time around, too. It would be nice to have a more unbiased CE so the need to maintain some green space in the county could be included in development plans.

Don't you have enough green space up in the Ag Reserve?

There are also tons of parks all over the place. They aren't going anywhere.

[Anonymous]

I am now running for county exec. I am a high tech develop and a transportation expert.

I will eliminate traffic congestion with Free EV for everyone that can run on personal rapid transit system guide-ways.

These are about 1/4 the cost of dedicated lanes BRTs. The free EVs will be able to be driven off the guide-way in less dense areas of the county.

BRTs in London had to be removed from the streets because they killed twice as many pedestrians and cyclist as standard buses. Planning says traffic will slow 15% with BRTs than if nothing at all is done.

This will provide the best of transit and autos.

I have spent my career developing systems that make organizations more efficient enabling them to deliver more services with less money. This includes several Silicon Valley Government jurisdiction including Santa Clara County, Sam Mateo County and the City of Sunnyvale. Alos developed the Saudi Arabian Airforce logistic system, so I can optimize our County fleet vehicle operations.

I am currently contracting via UMD on a SHA smart crosswalk study to apply that technology for pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

I will implement smart city technology to allow citizen to drive government service directly. I will implement a SIm City like web portal where all citizen can see all proposed development, transportation and zoning changes in realistic simulation.

I will create 15 minute neighborhoods that stretch half the length of the county.

As the chief law enforcement office, I will put the white collar criminals in Jail. In 2011 I found over $200 million in mortgages issued by a phony company which preyed on immigrants. I found mortgages Deutch Bank stole from bankrupt GMAC. When I took the proof to the stat4e attorney he said he couldn't prosecute them because they had too much money to fight in court. In essence rich people don't get prosecuted in MoCo.

I will apply AI and quantum computing to optimize transportation design and realtime control.

You will no longer be forced to sit at a red light when no cross traffic is coming. My company was a finalist in the last RFP to redesign the County's Intelligent transportation System.

I'm a decent people person too. I was the winner of the Kiwanis growth award by having the highest membership growth in the tri-state region as president of the Germantown club. As coach of my daughter's AAU basket ball team, i had to retire because over half my team made the national team the following year. We blew teams 40 to 4 often.

I can make MoCo the nicest place to live in the nation.

I am the only democratic candidate that lives north of the beltway, except Blair who lives in a $6M house in Potomac.

Check me out pjames.us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Reimer is smarmy, but at least he’s interested in actually doing something about housing and development.

Riemer's interested in making sure developers make as much money as possible. Look at his record the past 12 years. When he entered office, we didn't have a housing crisis. Now we do, while developers post record profits. He is never looking out for voters, unless those voters happen to be developers.

Reimer is the worst. He met with a large group of neighbors a few years ago and just ignored our concerns. Height of elitism - thinks he knows best but tries to act like he blames “the man.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait -- did I write that first post in my sleep last night? Of the new candidates I dislike Hucker the least. Riemer's entire track record is about cozying up to developers. Blair has nothing in his background to suggest that he can be successful as a politician (that's what the county executive is -- this is not the same as running a business). He has no experience in dealing with complex policy issues in a diverse county with a powerful legislative branch. I'm trying to learn more about Hucker. But, in the end, I'm probably going with Elrich -- the devil you know.

County employee here, and this could not be more wrong. The County Exec needs to be more than a politician - this is Elrich's biggest failing as a CE. He has lots of political ideas, but he can't make the trains run on time, and that's his job now. Policy making is for the Council. The Executive has to run the government. It's an incredibly important distinction that Elrich still hasn't grasped. What's worse, is that he is actively dismissive of the people who do the actual work and know what is needed. He gave an interview calling them "we be's" as in "we be here before you and we be here after you."

It's a terrible attitude because these are voices that should be heavily considered. They aren't driven by politics, or influences by unions or donors. And they KNOW how things work on the ground. These are the people who actually administer all these programs and provide the services. Elrich runs around popping off at the mouth without any understanding of the nuts and bolts of the running of the government. He makes grand pronouncements without talking to anyone to find out what is doable.

Hucker is worse. He is just not intelligent and has very few opinions or ideas of his own. All his platforms are handed to him by special interests, and he'll jump on any bandwagon that passes, consistency be damned. Forget making the trains run on time - I'm not convinced that Hucker knows there are trains.

Reimer is beholden to developers but at least he's smart and has a better grasp of the administrative stuff that may be boring but is what actually gets things done.

Blair's a wild card, but seems to have common sense and isn't financed by special interests. Given the other options, I'll take my chances.

For me, its Blair - Reimer - Elrich - Hucker

Thank you for your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reimer is beholden to developers but at least he's smart and has a better grasp of the administrative stuff that may be boring but is what actually gets things done.

lol, Reimer smart. Reimer panders to developers, and, actually, whatever group he is speaking to at the moment. An accomplished liar who likes to point out Erlich's problems, but he has been on the Council for 12 years, he IS the problem!

Personally not a fan of any of the slimy, swarmy, white men running.

I’ve never understood why so many people view developers as evil in the DMV- MoCo and DC in particular. Want housing? Then you need people to build/sell/rent it. With local laws leaning so heavily in favor of tenants, most private citizens aren’t going to be willing to take on that role. I know multiple people that let homes sit empty rather than rent it out, usually after bad eviction exerpeiences.

I am not anti-development, but the problem is that they are allowing development without building additional schools. My kids schools are bursting at the seems-- my daughter literally worries about being crushed at SSIMS.

Didn't Elrich cut the renovation budgets for various schools?

I agree that none of the choices are compelling.

Riemer robbed the school construction for the Purple Line and then he took money from school construction and gave it to developers. Elrich says he wants infrastructure before housing but he somehow never gets around to the infrastructure. Vote for Blair.

I am voting for Blair but Riemer did not do these things on his own.