MONTGOMERY

COUNTY PARALYZED!

SNOWGATE 2010

WHY JACK JOHNSON

IS "THE MAN"

In Montgomery County, our county council and executive give the WSSC the kid glove treatment, turn the other way from questionable operating decisions, and sign off on big increases in residents' water bills.

In Prince Georges County, County Executive Jack Johnson tells it like it is: WSSC got their money from taxpayers over the years, but apparently made the wrong decisions about how to spend it.

Likewise, as Montgomery County stands paralyzed in the face of two snowstorms it did not prepare or budget for, its leaders have failed to take command of a dire situation.

As the latest storm enters day 2, I've neither heard nor seen a plow in this area.

One talking point has it that this was an unprecedented weather event. Hogwash. We had only 2 feet of snow and a high of 30" in Damascus and Burtonsville. Hardly a "snowpocalypse."

Yet neither the county nor the state can rise to the challenge. Rockville Pike had the road conditions of a side street at 11PM last night. There's simply no excuse.

But the excuses keep coming, and the local media flatly refuses to even question our government's paralysis.

How bad is it? How clear is the failure to clear roads and sidewalks in a timely fashion?

Well, it's so bad that the county emailed residents a list of frostbite symptoms during the night. I'm not making this up!

Translation: You're on your own comrade.

No Ride On, no Metrobus.

What's next, they're going to email us a field guide on gathering berries and acorns?

While residents in Montgomery wait for leadership in the dark cold air of night, over in "Gorgeous Prince Georges," Jack Johnson is taking action.

Mr. Johnson announced last evening that every road in his county was to be plowed by midnight last night.

Once again, Jack Johnson has provided something lacking here: leadership.

FUN FACT:

In the last 12 months, Maryland lost 35,700 jobs under Martin O'Malley's leadership.