Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s a disaster. I told everyone he would be and look where we are. He was horrible on the council and nothing has changed. (Former Montgomery county employee who saw it all first hand)

Surprise an unqualified man beat a qualified woman.

Eh. Elrich was no more unqualified than Floreen. Or Krasnow.

Blair is who should've won but too many people in MoCo have been brainwashed in thinking that businesses and growth are the devil.

Business and growth aren't the devil. But the skillsets needed for public sector work are completely different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s a disaster. I told everyone he would be and look where we are. He was horrible on the council and nothing has changed. (Former Montgomery county employee who saw it all first hand)

Surprise an unqualified man beat a qualified woman.

Eh. Elrich was no more unqualified than Floreen. Or Krasnow.

Blair is who should've won but too many people in MoCo have been brainwashed in thinking that businesses and growth are the devil.

Anonymous wrote:

I've been around Montgomery County politics for many years, and let me tell you... it is no surprise to me that it took David Blair $5 million and TWO Washington Post endorsements to come within striking distance of Marc Elrich. The hard truth is that Elrich has a very potent base, a coalition of unions, NIMBYs of various stripes (pure NIMBYs but also well-meaning tree-huggers), environmentalists who don't align with "smart growth" advocates, CASA, and the far left. David Blair and Nancy Floreen were just the opponents Elrich and his base wanted - the friends of Big Development and Big Business. The only person who can defeat Elrich is the person who can crack this coalition.

Hans Riemer is already trying to do this with limited success. If there were an election now, he probably wouldn't win, but he might be able to pull enough away from Elrich to help someone else win. Riemer is taking socially progressive positions while attempting to divide the Left along anti-growth/pro-growth fault lines. He's become the de facto standard bearer for the left wing of the "Smart Growth" coalition (think, Greater Greater Washington, urbanists) and peeling off some of Elrich's supporters, especially younger supporters, on the grounds that he's anti-housing (and anti-affordable housing by extension). So, instead of being the traditional fighter for the little guy against Big Business and Big Developer, Elrich is now being characterized as the protector of single family homeowners against younger middle-income families who need more homes. This is a grand oversimplification of the truth, and Hans probably knows that, but it's pretty smart politics. That being said, he has a very off-putting personality and social media presence (though not as off-putting as Leventhal was) so I don't see him gaining more of a following beyond the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Meanwhile, David Blair has been signaling his intent to run, or at least, his dissatisfaction with the Elrich regime. https://capsmd.org/issues/more/stories-opinions/county-in-five-years-part-one

And Elrich will be 72 when he's up for re-election, which could also become an issue.
It will be very interesting to see how this house of cards will play out.

Nah, it's pretty accurate.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is based in Virginia. They're not very relevant to Montgomery County politics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s a disaster. I told everyone he would be and look where we are. He was horrible on the council and nothing has changed. (Former Montgomery county employee who saw it all first hand)

Surprise an unqualified man beat a qualified woman.

Eh. Elrich was no more unqualified than Floreen. Or Krasnow.

Whatever you think of his competence he’s not Trump because he is not trying to stoke division between people for personal gain. Trump sees the entire govt/country as just there to make himself feel more important and to squeeze money from for himself

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t manage.
Can’t get people to work for him.
Can’t hire properly.
Has a cult following among the staunch base.

And he’s wrecking the County.

I voted for him. Un-friggin-believable.

Why did you vote for him? He's awful. I was so pissed when he won. I don't understand MoCo voters.

I've been around Montgomery County politics for many years, and let me tell you... it is no surprise to me that it took David Blair $5 million and TWO Washington Post endorsements to come within striking distance of Marc Elrich. The hard truth is that Elrich has a very potent base, a coalition of unions, NIMBYs of various stripes (pure NIMBYs but also well-meaning tree-huggers), environmentalists who don't align with "smart growth" advocates, CASA, and the far left. David Blair and Nancy Floreen were just the opponents Elrich and his base wanted - the friends of Big Development and Big Business. The only person who can defeat Elrich is the person who can crack this coalition.

Hans Riemer is already trying to do this with limited success. If there were an election now, he probably wouldn't win, but he might be able to pull enough away from Elrich to help someone else win. Riemer is taking socially progressive positions while attempting to divide the Left along anti-growth/pro-growth fault lines. He's become the de facto standard bearer for the left wing of the "Smart Growth" coalition (think, Greater Greater Washington, urbanists) and peeling off some of Elrich's supporters, especially younger supporters, on the grounds that he's anti-housing (and anti-affordable housing by extension). So, instead of being the traditional fighter for the little guy against Big Business and Big Developer, Elrich is now being characterized as the protector of single family homeowners against younger middle-income families who need more homes. This is a grand oversimplification of the truth, and Hans probably knows that, but it's pretty smart politics. That being said, he has a very off-putting personality and social media presence (though not as off-putting as Leventhal was) so I don't see him gaining more of a following beyond the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Meanwhile, David Blair has been signaling his intent to run, or at least, his dissatisfaction with the Elrich regime. https://capsmd.org/issues/more/stories-opinions/county-in-five-years-part-one

And Elrich will be 72 when he's up for re-election, which could also become an issue.
It will be very interesting to see how this house of cards will play out.

Anonymous wrote:He’s a disaster. I told everyone he would be and look where we are. He was horrible on the council and nothing has changed. (Former Montgomery county employee who saw it all first hand)

Surprise an unqualified man beat a qualified woman.

He’s a disaster. I told everyone he would be and look where we are. He was horrible on the council and nothing has changed. (Former Montgomery county employee who saw it all first hand)

Flicker geez! Wtf happened to the GOP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t manage.
Can’t get people to work for him.
Can’t hire properly.
Has a cult following among the staunch base.

And he’s wrecking the County.

I voted for him. Un-friggin-believable.

Why did you vote for him? He's awful. I was so pissed when he won. I don't understand MoCo voters.

DP. Because he was better than the alternatives (Floreen and Ficker).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t manage.
Can’t get people to work for him.
Can’t hire properly.
Has a cult following among the staunch base.

And he’s wrecking the County.

I voted for him. Un-friggin-believable.

Why did you vote for him? He's awful. I was so pissed when he won. I don't understand MoCo voters.

Because I didn’t want a millionaire playing around with government as his new shiny toy. I was worried he’d damage it in much the same way Elrich is now damaging it. I thought Elrich would at least have the regular county people around to keep the trains running. But he doesn’t. He’s grafted Baltimore City incompetence into our system. And hey, I hope everyone enjoys a new Human Resources Director who has no HR experience. He’s a fleet management guy from Baltimore City. Although that won’t impact residents as much as the disastrous new police chief will.

I voted for Rose Krasnow in the primary.

I think Riemer is the leftist Trump.

Anonymous wrote:Can’t manage.
Can’t get people to work for him.
Can’t hire properly.
Has a cult following among the staunch base.

And he’s wrecking the County.

I voted for him. Un-friggin-believable.

Why did you vote for him? He's awful. I was so pissed when he won. I don't understand MoCo voters.

He's also fat and has a short temper.

Can’t manage.
Can’t get people to work for him.
Can’t hire properly.
Has a cult following among the staunch base.

And he’s wrecking the County.

I voted for him. Un-friggin-believable.