Friday, February 24, 2017

Email/call delegates NOW after unusual tactic keeps MoCo Council term limit-sabotage bill alive in Annapolis

Thanks to your calls and emails, and members of a committee who recognized the voting landscape has changed in Montgomery County, House Bill 348 (which would hand the Montgomery County Council a suite of tools to subvert the term limits passed by 70% of voters last November) was temporarily dead yesterday. But in an unusual move, the full delegation failed to respect the vote of their colleagues on the Economic Development Committee, and have kept HB 348 on their voting agenda for today.

Light up their phones and inboxes, and ask them to respect the will of the voters, and KILL BILL 348 by voting NO. The meeting starts at 10:00 AM, so the time to act is NOW.

Use this list of phone numbers and emails, or the email list below (just CC everybody on one message to get the job done):

craig.zucker@senate.state.md.us
anne.kaiser@house.state.md.us
eric.luedtke@house.state.md.us
pam.queen@house.state.md.us
brian.feldman@senate.state.md.us
kathleen.dumais@house.state.md.us
david.fraser.hidalgo@house.state.md.us
aruna.miller@house.state.md.us
susan.lee@senate.state.md.us
bill.frick@house.state.md.us
marc.korman@house.state.md.us
ariana.kelly@house.state.md.us
cheryl.kagan@senate.state.md.us
kumar.barve@house.state.md.us
jim.gilchrist@house.state.md.us
andrew.platt@house.state.md.us
richard.madaleno@senate.state.md.us
asolgut@gmail.com
jeff.waldstreicher@house.state.md.us
roger.manno@senate.state.md.us
bonnie.cullison@house.state.md.us
benjamin.kramer@house.state.md.us
marice@maricemorales.com
will.smith@senate.state.md.us
sheila.hixson@house.state.md.us
david.moon@house.state.md.us
jheanelle.wilkins@house.state.md.us
nancy.king@senate.state.md.us
charles.barkley@house.state.md.us
kirill.reznik@house.state.md.us
delegaterobinson@gmail.com

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I were Dyer's cat, I'd be deeply embarrassed, too.

Anonymous said...

"...temporarily dead yesterday."

"...on their voting agenda for today."

LOL

Anonymous said...

Why are staggered terms bad?

Anonymous said...

5:58 - Because turnout is higher in presidential elections. Dyer seems to think this is a bad thing.

Anonymous said...

Oh. Thanks. So it doesn't change the 2 term limit, it just changes just when we vote? Doesn't that make sense for continuity?

Anonymous said...

I believe the issue is that it would extend the terms of some current Council members, since their terms would not expire (and them be kicked out) in 2018, but rather 2020. I guess this is a one-time situation, but the bill at the very least should have it only apply after 2020 for example, so that those council members don't get a free ride.

Dyer: I checked your link to the agenda and it shows the committee noted it's "unfavorable". Doesn't the full session usually follow the committee's recommendation whenever it's county-level legislation? In other words, since this doesn't affect people in Anne Arundel or Wicomico counties, but their representatives vote on it also, don't those representatives just vote based on the commitee recommendation?

Robert Dyer said...

6:05: No, because people pay less attention to local issues when the presidential election is getting the most attention.

6:26: No, because first of all, we don't need continuity. Second, the bill would give the council multiple tools to subvert the intent of term limits - under the vague language of the bill, they could vote to extend their terms by 2 years, they could cut 2 years off of the term of a new Councilmember they didn't want to be on there, presidential year elections favor name recognition and machine candidates, seats less favorable to the MoCo cartel (District 2) could be moved to presidential years, and term-limited councilmembers ousted in 2022 would be able to run in 2024 instead of 2026. That would mean the first "new' council in 2022 would not even have 4 years to change the direction of the county before these clowns could buy their way back on.

6:44: Usually, but we can't take any chances. As far as the year they could extend or reduce term lengths, it would be 2022 due to the need to hold referendums in 2018 and 2020, as I understand it.

Anonymous said...

"MoCo is stupid, MoCo voters are stupid. I'm a lifelong MomsBasementer, vote for me!" saith Dyer.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting all those emails! I'll be contacting each and every single one of them to vote YES!

Virtually everything that dedicated Trump-lover Dyer supports must be bad for Montgomery County and the state of Maryland.

Anonymous said...

"presidential year elections favor name recognition and machine candidates"

Translation: Like my fellow extremists on the alt-right I prefer lower voter turnout (especially from minorities who I really hate) so that crazy wingnut candidates like myself and bff Robin Ficker can have a better chance of getting elected (i.e. 4% of the vote vs 2%).

Anonymous said...

1) That's backwards.
People pay more attention to local elections DURING presidential elections, and there is a better chance they will vote.
They pay LESS attention during state only elections, and often do not even go vote.

2) What do you mean no continuity? That's just plain silly. Of course things carry over from term to term.

3) Jeez. Do you really think they're plotting and planning all this nefarious action? That's pretty out there.

Robert Dyer said...

8:48: So why don't those same people vote in the off-year elections, if they have such a passionate interest in local politics? The numbers prove those presidential year voters are poorly-informed, and don't care about local issues one way or the other. At the same time, can you explain what the physical obstacle is that currently prevents them from going to their polling place to vote for County Council in an off-year election?

They are absolutely plotting this nefarious action, but hadn't planned on it being exposed. Let's see how they vote today, because the next target for term limits is Annapolis, if they disregard their constituents on this vote.

Anonymous said...

Well, first of all, don't put words in my mouth. And secondly, please don't be so aggressive with me for trying to discuss something here.
I'm just laying out facts.

Passionate interest is your opinion and your words.
Physical obstacle is our opinion and your words.

What numbers and what proof are you talking about?

More people turn out for elections when there is a presidential vote.
That means less people turn out for local only elections.
That's what happens. That's what they do.
The people voting during local only elections ARE usually more informed, which makes sense since they take the time to vote in off years.

What do you mean they didn't plan on it being exposed? Who all is involved in this? I'm not sure I understand what you think their end-game is?

Anonymous said...

"Poorly informed voters"

Another dog-whistle from Dyer the racist.

Robert Dyer said...

10:37: Your assumption that poorly-informed voters are "minorities" is what is racist.

9:25: None of your "facts" explain why we need to have staggered elections for the County Council. In fact, the push for them is coming from a few Council members, and their even fewer allies in Annapolis.

That handful of politicians trying to quietly ram this unwanted, un-asked-for legislation through are the ones who didn't expect this would be discovered in time. Their "end game?" To undermine the effect of term limits on the Montgomery County political cartel in at least 5 different dirty ways.

Anonymous said...

Again, stop putting words into my mouth. You try to apply intent in my words. And what's with putting quotes around my words to undermine my question? Can you not discuss without insult?

So, what is the end-game? What does undermining the effect of term limits get them? You indicate they have had a secretive plan. Nothing would have happened for a few years, so they have nefarious plans for 3-4 years from now?
I understand what you are saying about the legislation, I just don't understand what you think they are trying to accomplish or prevent.

Anonymous said...

Don't expect any answers, 6:51AM. He never responds to intelligent questions.