COUNTY COUNCIL

SPENDS $62 MILLION

ON PROPERTIES DESPITE

$500 MILLION

BUDGET SHORTFALL

Public Safety Employees Losing Pay,

Benefits, While Big-Spending Council

Acquires Properties for Shady Grove

"Smart Growth" Boondoggle

Unbelievable. Just weeks after I testified a second time against the council's effort to deny retirement benefits for disabled police officers - and told the council to save money by cancelling the so-called "Smart Growth Initiative" - what has happened?

The council - in league with executive Ike Leggett and their dear friends at the Washington Post editorial board - is still making police officers and firefighters scapegoats for their fiscal mismanagement. And, after a very public fake-out, have gone ahead with the Shady Grove dumb growth boondoggle to satisfy the needs of the developers and special interests who elected them.

In other words, the complete opposite of what I suggested in my testimony.

Please tell me where the council found $72 million dollars for 2 completely unnecessary land purchases? Who did they buy them from, and which politicians did the owners contribute campaign funds to?

The Post just attacked our career firefighters (I guess the Post needed a break from their attacks on our volunteer firefighters) and said that the union's concessions would only save $7 million. Let's do the math... $7 million vs. $72 million... uh, let's see...

We have the most irresponsible, incapable, and incompetent council in Montgomery County history, and this land purchase proves it.

You can't spend money you don't have.

How about that $900,000 the council gave to good friends at Centro Familia, which the Inspector General says is entirely unaccounted for?

No problem, said Councilmember George Leventhal in the Post.

Okay, almost 1 million dollars missing and no one on the council is doing anything about it? Do they realize how much money that is? Unaccounted for? Usually people go to jail when this kind of thing happens. The organization is now claiming the money is accounted for, but no evidence has been provided to the public so far. And the spokeswoman is no longer speaking to reporters.

And now we hear that the county economic development department gave $25,000 to a company run by the son of a Leggett appointee.

The council seems to have money for everything except public safety.

It's outrageous.