GOVERNOR MOONBEAM

TO

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

COUNCIL:

"YOU CAN'T"

Adding to yesterday's report on the attempt by my Democratic opponents to "buy" the At-Large seats on the Montgomery County Council, using tens of thousands of dollars in union and out-of-county contributions - and hundreds of thousands more from developers and special interests:

As you know, these politicians are now indebted to those unions, developers and special interests. This means they will not be restructuring employee compensation, which accounts for 80% of county expenditures.

A similar case in California caused a near riot in the town of Bell. This town, like Montgomery County, was overpaying government employees with six-figure salaries, and councilmembers were enriching themselves personally (salaries) and politically (campaign contributions). And like Montgomery County, this information had not been shared with the public.

When it was finally exposed, the public - understandably - was not pleased, to say the least. Now, former governor - and current Attorney General - Jerry Brown is suing the city council, and demanding that employees return the loot to the city.

Brown had harsh words that could serve as a wake-up call for our Big Spenders, Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal, and new partner Hans Riemer, who are all "in the money" with massive union donations, received in exchange for promises they've made that are simply unsustainable:

"You can't just take the public's money and give it to yourself or give it to your friendly employees or members of the...council just because you want to. There's a standard and that standard is that the pay must be commensurate with the duty and the work."

These actions were "possible violations of various state laws and [a] waste and misuse of public funds."

- Jerry Brown

The use of public funds to win over county employees and employee unions is a common practice not only in Montgomery County, but across the ocean, as well.

Check out this bulletin from the Bournemouth Echo newspaper yesterday:

'A BBC Panorama investigation, screened last night, revealed that there are more than 9,000 public workers in the UK earning more than David Cameron’s £142,500-a-year.Dorset County Council leads the way for local authorities, with its five top officers on salaries of £119,000 upwards. Chief executive David Jenkins’s pay from April 1 was £164,306.

A county council spokesman said: “The council is the largest public sector employer in Dorset and has a budget running into hundreds of millions of pounds, so the chief executive role has huge responsibility. “We pay at the necessary level to attract and retain suitable candidates in a very competitive market.” [<-- Wait a minute! That is exactly what George Leventhal always says when he faces a question about the massive compensation packages he and his colleagues voted for!!]

At Bournemouth council, chief executive Pam Donnellan is paid £125,373, with John McBride at Poole council paid up to £124,951. Martin Baker, chief constable of Dorset Police, saw his pay rise to £133,068 this month. In the education sector, at least one headteacher in Dorset earns £120,000.'

Where's the outrage? Where is the press coverage and criticism? Why are these Big Spenders who have violated the public trust, and mismanaged the county's finances for their own political gain, receiving newspaper and Chamber of Commerce endorsements? What's going on here?

It is vital that you get out and vote on November 2nd, to ensure that council seats are won, not bought with massive special interest contributions and donations from outsiders who don't even live in the county. We must restore ethics to our electoral process and our county council. You - not the special interests - have the power to do that with your vote. Exercise it, and tell everyone you know to exercise their right, as well.