Anonymous wrote:Single party rule is dangerous

Voting in a guy who has been on arrested for assault and disbarred is also dangerous.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’m early voting today and I’ll be voting for Ficker... just not convinced by Elrich or Floreen. Oh and I’m a card carrying Democrat.

Same here. At least it'll be a good check/balance on the Council.

Early voting in Chevy Chase was about 45 minutes long yesterday but that was the first day of voting. It's probably settled down a bit today.

Cool story, bro.

OP here. I’m early voting today and I’ll be voting for Ficker... just not convinced by Elrich or Floreen. Oh and I’m a card carrying Democrat.

County Exec cannot raise taxes without unanimous vote by the Council. After the hammering they took the last time around, that isn't going to happen for another decade, at least. Meanwhile, the schools, which you complain take so much of the budget (but keep your property values up) are in a downward spiral that nothing can save. The east and up county schools need more money for services and the west and down county schools are overcrowded the the point of no return and no end in sight.

Ficker is crazy, has been disbarred many times, and makes his living getting people off from DWIs. Because we need more drunk drivers on the road.

Floreen is funded by developers, because she's never met a project of theirs she doesn't want to support. Want the schools to continue their downward slide? Want no greenspace or parks? That's what you'll get with Floreen.

Elrich wants the infrastructure in place WITH the building of houses (not more homes now and figure out the rest later, which means never- hence school decline and ever worsening traffic). Elrich wants businesses to come to the county (which is what we need, not thousands of more people before we have figured out how to transport them, have space in schools, enough fire, police, libraries, etc). He wants it staged appropriately, with developers who are making millions helping to pay for some of that infrastructure. He wants to streamline/make it easier for business to come here, which will increase the money coming into the county on many levels.

Anonymous wrote:Single party rule is dangerous

It is. But there are ....well...not conservatives...but moderates on the council. The way Republicans acted 30 years ago. Mac Mathias and Connie Morella. People know only one party wins so there has been a shift of moderates over to the Democratic party. Not at-large members, of course, but some of the district members.

Single party rule is dangerous

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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.

+1

Then you don’t know the current Council very well. All they need is one no vote.

There's a ballot question this time around that shows how important raising taxes is to the Council. The Ficker Amendment from years ago requires all 9 to vote in favor of a tax increase to raise it. The ballot question, I assume added by the Council, requires only a _unanimous_ vote to raise it. I guess they were so worried a Council member would die in office and they'd be unable to raise taxes, that they need to change the law!

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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.

+1

Then you don’t know the current Council very well. All they need is one no vote.

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Anonymous wrote: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.

You sound very mature.

Also, it’s “affect,” not “effect.”

Exactly.

I just listened to the MoCo Show Podcast with Ficker. It's pretty interesting and he knows his Montgomery county stuff. It's informative!

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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.

+1

Anonymous wrote: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 wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

You sound very mature.

Also, it’s “affect,” not “effect.”

Anonymous wrote: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.

You sound very mature.