Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are Democrats excusing Hogan?

He's far from moderate - most of his policies won't pass here in Maryland so he has to dilute them a bit. It's not how he wants it - it's that his hands are tied.

When swastikas were painted on local elementary schools in Montgomery county, Hogan wouldn't comment.

He lost an ACLU law suit for censoring all negative comments on his public FB site.

He takes money from the Koch brothers

He refused to let Syrian refugees come to Maryland.

He called teacher's unions "thugs" and cut public school funding

He has refused to sign protections for the LGBT community

What about this guy appeals to Democrats.

His PR team is amazing but he's really just a Republican who doesn't care about the same things Democrats (and a lot of Marylanders care about).

Hhahha..

Montgomery County swastikas (which appear to be teen general vandalism, not hate.. they also painted a huge penis) is a county not state issue. Leggett handled it well.

Public school funding is actually up. This was about which pot it comes from and level of effort funding.

What LGBT protections are lacking in MD? We're the first state to legalize same-sex marriage by referendum, for example.

I vote dem almost all the time, but I'm voting for Hogan again. He's moderate, and he's doing good for MD. We have the Purple Line coming in; he's looking at relieving congestion on 270 and 495; BWI airport is now the busiest airport of the 3 in the area and has had a massive expansion; he lowered road tolls and dropped the monthly fee on EZpass; he used creative methods to increase tax revenues with no financial cost, by having schools start after Labor Day.

So Hogan can’t comment on issues that happen in Maryland because they are in Montgomery County? He’s governor of the whole state, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because he's a bit too socialist and wants to redistribute our money? And Hogan is a centrist so much closer to mainstream Democrats, especially the wealthy ones in MoCo.

I'm a wealthy MoCo democrat and I'll be voting for Jealous. I have kids in school, and Hogan has been terrible for public education (cue the Kirwan commission poster, who will scream that Jealous will take all our tax revenues and give it to poor kids in Baltimore, which is decidedly not the conclusion of the report.)

I am not that poster, but you left out the second part of your post. When you say, "PP said this, and it is decidedly not the conclusion of the report," you have to follow it up with, "What the report actually says is _________________." Otherwise, you have zero credibility, and no one should take you seriously.

So - what does the report actually say? How is the other PP wrong?

Is Montgomery County taking a rightward turn, or is it just the demographics of this forum?

MoCo elected Jamie Raskin, and Marc Elrich won the most votes out of the last three Council races, and Anthony Brown won MoCo pretty handily in 2014, and Trump won less than 20% of the vote.

And yet from perusing this particular forum, I get a sense that people are more fiscally moderate/conservative while socially liberal. A lot of Hogan/Floreen voters it seems.

FWIW, I have no dog in this fight, I live in Chevy Chase DC.
I just wonder out of curiosity if something in particular made this rightward turn, or if it is just this DCUM demographic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many voters -in fact I'd guess most beyond areas in TP and close in Silver Spring are more of the middle of the road Democrats. Even in Silver Spring people are more moderate they just keep it quiet since there are so many loud mouths on either extreme. Jealous is too far left and Hogan has been relatively harmless for a Republican. Its not different than the moderate Republicans in Virginia voting for a moderate Democrat for their Gov over a far right conservative.

I have neighbors that very supportive of the proposal and the sections on improving Baltimore schools by redirecting money that now goes back to MoCo. They are convinced that are either Amazon is coming to White Flint or that there will be a special Montgomery County tax collected only from Potomac and Bethesda residents to refund the rest of the schools. I'm not banking on either of those things happening. I have not seen one supporter of Kirwan give any plausible alternative to what has been discussed in Annapolis about changing the distribution of state funds for education. Heck even Ike Legget who is pretty liberal opposed the Kirwan plan.

The ONLY people up in arms about the school calendar change seem to be MCPS employees. I don't care whether school starts after or before labor day. Most everyone that I know is more angry about all the random one day and half day holidays/professional days/whatever. We could have a normal length spring break if MCPS wouldn't cling to all the constant mini days off.

Half days count as full instructional days, so that has nothing to do with spring break. And there is exactly one professional day this year, at the end of the first semester. The rest of it is all mandated state holidays and then the two Jewish holidays, neither of which fell on a weekend this year, unfortunately. Complain about that if you want but the survey results from last year seemed to indicate high absenteeism was likely so their decision is at least based in fact. Unlike Hogan's calendar mandate, which goes against literally every study about summer brain drain, costs families extra $$$ for child care, deprives FARMS kids of meals, and the list goes on. Fine, make school start after Labor Day OR finish by June 15, but not both. Nonsensical.

Other than that issue, I have no problems with Hogan. He's been fine. I won't mind when he gets reelected. But that one issue REALLY bugs me because it's a blot of idiocy and pandering and possibly trying to stick it to MCEA out of sheer pettiness, on an otherwise good record.

LOL at a "special Bethesda/Potomac only tax"

That's not happening. And make no mistake the Kirwin Commision WILL reccomended cutting state funding to Moco, Howard, and AA- to move it to Baltimore and PG. Then the shortfall from the state contribution is mandated to be made up at the local level. (Either by cuts to other programs, or taxes. Those are the facts. Check seventhstate for more specifics, not exactly a conservative blog...

EVEN MOCO DEMS ARE SMARTER THAN THAT

Anonymous wrote:Many voters -in fact I'd guess most beyond areas in TP and close in Silver Spring are more of the middle of the road Democrats. Even in Silver Spring people are more moderate they just keep it quiet since there are so many loud mouths on either extreme. Jealous is too far left and Hogan has been relatively harmless for a Republican. Its not different than the moderate Republicans in Virginia voting for a moderate Democrat for their Gov over a far right conservative.

I have neighbors that very supportive of the proposal and the sections on improving Baltimore schools by redirecting money that now goes back to MoCo. They are convinced that are either Amazon is coming to White Flint or that there will be a special Montgomery County tax collected only from Potomac and Bethesda residents to refund the rest of the schools. I'm not banking on either of those things happening. I have not seen one supporter of Kirwan give any plausible alternative to what has been discussed in Annapolis about changing the distribution of state funds for education. Heck even Ike Legget who is pretty liberal opposed the Kirwan plan.

The ONLY people up in arms about the school calendar change seem to be MCPS employees. I don't care whether school starts after or before labor day. Most everyone that I know is more angry about all the random one day and half day holidays/professional days/whatever. We could have a normal length spring break if MCPS wouldn't cling to all the constant mini days off.

Half days count as full instructional days, so that has nothing to do with spring break. And there is exactly one professional day this year, at the end of the first semester. The rest of it is all mandated state holidays and then the two Jewish holidays, neither of which fell on a weekend this year, unfortunately. Complain about that if you want but the survey results from last year seemed to indicate high absenteeism was likely so their decision is at least based in fact. Unlike Hogan's calendar mandate, which goes against literally every study about summer brain drain, costs families extra $$$ for child care, deprives FARMS kids of meals, and the list goes on. Fine, make school start after Labor Day OR finish by June 15, but not both. Nonsensical.

Other than that issue, I have no problems with Hogan. He's been fine. I won't mind when he gets reelected. But that one issue REALLY bugs me because it's a blot of idiocy and pandering and possibly trying to stick it to MCEA out of sheer pettiness, on an otherwise good record.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I am the opposite because everybody I know is voting for Hogan. I think jealous of proposals are not sound and far too extreme. One thing that I’ve noticed are the lawn signs. I barely see any jealous lawn signs but I see a lot for Hogan.

It's hard to vote for a redistributive Democrat named "Jealous."

Why, you been jealous?

Anonymous wrote: I am the opposite because everybody I know is voting for Hogan. I think jealous of proposals are not sound and far too extreme. One thing that I’ve noticed are the lawn signs. I barely see any jealous lawn signs but I see a lot for Hogan.

It's hard to vote for a redistributive Democrat named "Jealous."

Anonymous wrote:All the Dem's I talk to are voting for Jealous.

+ 1

Anonymous wrote:All the Dem's I talk to are voting for Jealous.

I'm a MoCo Democrat, and I'm voting for Gov. Larry Hogan!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are Democrats excusing Hogan?

He's far from moderate - most of his policies won't pass here in Maryland so he has to dilute them a bit. It's not how he wants it - it's that his hands are tied.

When swastikas were painted on local elementary schools in Montgomery county, Hogan wouldn't comment.

He lost an ACLU law suit for censoring all negative comments on his public FB site.

He takes money from the Koch brothers

He refused to let Syrian refugees come to Maryland.

He called teacher's unions "thugs" and cut public school funding

He has refused to sign protections for the LGBT community

What about this guy appeals to Democrats.

His PR team is amazing but he's really just a Republican who doesn't care about the same things Democrats (and a lot of Marylanders care about).

Hhahha..

Montgomery County swastikas (which appear to be teen general vandalism, not hate.. they also painted a huge penis) is a county not state issue. Leggett handled it well.

Public school funding is actually up. This was about which pot it comes from and level of effort funding.

What LGBT protections are lacking in MD? We're the first state to legalize same-sex marriage by referendum, for example.

I vote dem almost all the time, but I'm voting for Hogan again. He's moderate, and he's doing good for MD. We have the Purple Line coming in; he's looking at relieving congestion on 270 and 495; BWI airport is now the busiest airport of the 3 in the area and has had a massive expansion; he lowered road tolls and dropped the monthly fee on EZpass; he used creative methods to increase tax revenues with no financial cost, by having schools start after Labor Day.

This is BS. No financial cost?? I’m paying an extra $800+ for day camp because of the after Labor Day start date.

Many voters -in fact I'd guess most beyond areas in TP and close in Silver Spring are more of the middle of the road Democrats. Even in Silver Spring people are more moderate they just keep it quiet since there are so many loud mouths on either extreme. Jealous is too far left and Hogan has been relatively harmless for a Republican. Its not different than the moderate Republicans in Virginia voting for a moderate Democrat for their Gov over a far right conservative.

I have neighbors that very supportive of the proposal and the sections on improving Baltimore schools by redirecting money that now goes back to MoCo. They are convinced that are either Amazon is coming to White Flint or that there will be a special Montgomery County tax collected only from Potomac and Bethesda residents to refund the rest of the schools. I'm not banking on either of those things happening. I have not seen one supporter of Kirwan give any plausible alternative to what has been discussed in Annapolis about changing the distribution of state funds for education. Heck even Ike Legget who is pretty liberal opposed the Kirwan plan.

The ONLY people up in arms about the school calendar change seem to be MCPS employees. I don't care whether school starts after or before labor day. Most everyone that I know is more angry about all the random one day and half day holidays/professional days/whatever. We could have a normal length spring break if MCPS wouldn't cling to all the constant mini days off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because he's a bit too socialist and wants to redistribute our money? And Hogan is a centrist so much closer to mainstream Democrats, especially the wealthy ones in MoCo.

I'm a wealthy MoCo democrat and I'll be voting for Jealous. I have kids in school, and Hogan has been terrible for public education (cue the Kirwan commission poster, who will scream that Jealous will take all our tax revenues and give it to poor kids in Baltimore, which is decidedly not the conclusion of the report.)

In another thread asked about the Kirwan commission and the suggestion that Ben Jealous will adjust the current allocation in a way that hurts MoCo schools, but no one responded with specifics. Where would you suggest I look to understand why you feel okay that Jealous will not lower MoCo funding further and that Hogan is worse for MoCo public education? Thanks - you sound like you have read up on these issues.

http://dls.maryland.gov/pubs/prod/NoPblTabMtg/CmsnInnovEduc/2018-Preliminary-Report-of-the-Commission.pdf

Please read the Commission report. The report is openly about adjusting funding formulas to provide more funding to "at-risk" or high poverty jurisdictions and less to what it refers to as "wealthy" schools. The report only speaks about "districts" which suggests Montgomery County as a whole will be treated as one district, not as a county with extreme wealth and extreme poverty. Here are some choice quotes from the report:

1) "Provide more resources for at-risk students than for others." (a "Building Block" for its ideal education system)
2) It came as a surprise to many on the Commission that Maryland does not do well on measures of funding equity. Although Maryland has the highest weight in the country for low-income students in its funding formula, the State spends 4.9% less money (state and local) on poor school districts than on wealthy ones, making it the State with the fifteenth most regressive funding system in the nation. By contrast, Massachusetts spends 7.3% more money on students in low-income districts.
The Commission endorses the basic structure of the Thornton funding formulas with a base funding amount per pupil and weights applied to the base for at-risk students, which includes low-income students (as a proxy for students at risk of failing
academically), English language learners, and students with disabilities. However, until the “costing out” of the preliminary policy recommendations is completed, the Commission cannot make recommendations on the amount of the base funding in the
formula, or the weights to be applied to that base for at-risk students. For the purpose of costing out the preliminary recommendations, the Commission recommends that the special education weight be increased. The final recommendations will specify the weight, which should be a placeholder until an in-depth study is conducted by experts. Implementation of the new tenth grade standard and early warning system described above should ultimately reduce the number of students identified as needing special education services over time except for the most severely disabled, which is the case in top-performing countries. The Commission also recommends that a new weight for schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty should be added. An analysis of what this additional weight should be and whether the weight should be differentiated among levels of high poverty will be conducted and included in the Commission’s final report. Wraparound services for at-risk students and their families must be significantly increased so that all students have the opportunity for academic success. To the extent that existing providers cannot meet the needs of students, the new concentration of poverty factor should provide the funding to support these services. These services must include incorporating a service coordinator at each school with the proportion of students living in poverty above a certain level to coordinate services provided by public and private agencies and expanding the community schools strategy. The physical and mental health needs of students and their families must also be addressed as well as the need for expanded learning time such as after school and summer programs.

3) Additional aspects of the funding formulas for Maryland schools will be addressed in the final report after the costing out of the preliminary policy recommendations is completed. These include determining (1) the base per pupil amount and weights for at-risk student populations; (2) the method for calculating local wealth; (3) the equitable distribution of funds; (4) the possible inclusion of a geographic cost adjustment factor; (5) the proxy for estimating the number of low-income students; (6) the funding for prekindergarten; (7) the possible requirement for local school systems to fund their share of the at-risk funding formula; and (8) the impact on the local maintenance of effort requirement.

Pretty much for the same reasons others have said. Frankly, I can't afford Jealous as governor. Hogan is pretty centrist.

I guess it's the same way lots of people win reelection. Hogan is ok enough and Jealous hasn't given me a reason to risk a change and potentially make things worse. Incumbents usually have an edge for just that reason - they're a known quantity. Jealous has some nice ideas, but no feasible way to pay for them without taking more money out of MoCo. With the County Exec options we have, I just don't think we can afford that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because he's a bit too socialist and wants to redistribute our money? And Hogan is a centrist so much closer to mainstream Democrats, especially the wealthy ones in MoCo.

I'm a wealthy MoCo democrat and I'll be voting for Jealous. I have kids in school, and Hogan has been terrible for public education (cue the Kirwan commission poster, who will scream that Jealous will take all our tax revenues and give it to poor kids in Baltimore, which is decidedly not the conclusion of the report.)

In another thread asked about the Kirwan commission and the suggestion that Ben Jealous will adjust the current allocation in a way that hurts MoCo schools, but no one responded with specifics. Where would you suggest I look to understand why you feel okay that Jealous will not lower MoCo funding further and that Hogan is worse for MoCo public education? Thanks - you sound like you have read up on these issues.