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| Kelvin Snowden, Jr., a Montgomery County DLC employee police say stole liquor from DLC trucks |
Police say Jean Auguste, 27, of Lanham, and Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control (DLC) employee Kelvin Eugene Snowden Junior, 31, of Gaithersburg, took the alcohol from box trucks parked at the Department of Liquor Control warehouse, which is located on Edison Park Drive in Gaithersburg. The alleged thefts occurred between Valentine's Day and May 28 of this year.
Montgomery County police responded to the last of what detectives say were 8 total thefts from the DLC warehouse site on May 28, and caught Auguste parked nearby in a Chevrolet Suburban, with cases of DLC liquor in the vehicle. The ensuing investigation led them to Snowden, who they say was the main thief who actually broke into the DLC to steal from the trucks. Snowden also allegedly sold stolen DLC liquor to Auguste on at least one occasion.
This is not the first time a DLC employee has been arrested for stealing liquor from the DLC. In 2014 and 2015, employees were caught stealing alcohol and were fired. Many have called for an end to the outdated Montgomery County government liquor monopoly, which has proved inept, internally corrupt, and expensive and tedious for bars and restaurants to purchase alcohol through.
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| Councilmember Hans Riemer was at the center of a previous DLC scandal |
Less than 48 hours after the polls had closed, Riemer then appeared in a formal, sit-down interview with NBC 4 in which he attempted to then use the information he had withheld to promote himself as a crusader against DLC corruption. It was clear that the NBC 4 investigation had occurred long before Election Day, and that Riemer had been in on the reporter's investigation all along. But with Riemer having direct oversight of the DLC, revealing the criminal activity in the department before Election Day could have damaged his chances of reelection.
Riemer had previously claimed it was time for the government to get out of the liquor business. But in 2015, he flip-flopped and suddenly endorsed maintaining - and strengthening - the government liquor monopoly. And here we are today, with the same Jurassic World government monopoly liquor system, and another DLC employee behind bars. "Helpless" Hans Riemer strikes again!
Source?
ReplyDeleteWaste, fraud and abuse just a few negatives of having govt control of all beer, wine and spirits. This has never happened in any neighboring jurisdiction at least that I've heard of. Will this person be fired and prosecuted? No, likely promoted.
ReplyDelete4:34: Montgomery County police PIO.
ReplyDeleteMost places are able to keep this hush hush.
ReplyDeleteDyer loves his mugshots of scary-looking black men.
ReplyDeleteBTW, whatever happened to "Justice Tuesdays"?
6:27 Let's try to stay on topic with the DLC corruption.
ReplyDelete"Let''s try to stay on topic"
ReplyDeleteFunniest comment of the year.
Just another excuse to trash Riemer.
ReplyDelete“Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind”
Anybody notice that the past two articles have specifically attacked two of Roberts opponents, Hans Remier and George Leventhal? The two incumbents who are running for re-election.
ReplyDeleteMr. Dyer, did you write this article as
ReplyDelete1) A journalist objectively covering the affairs of Montgomery County
OR
2) A candidate for Montgomery County Council, who will face Hans Riemer in the election next November?
Exclusive-Or. You can't be both. It's a huge conflict of interest. Just ask Neil Greenberg.
...er.
DeleteWhen has Dyer ever been 1) ??????????????
ReplyDelete"A candidate for Montgomery County Council, who will face Hans Riemer in the election next November?"
ReplyDeleteLol Dyer can't seriously be considering running for any public office. Just judging from his Dyer's comments, he's clearly a very bitter and unstable Trump-lover with a twisted sense of reality who would base his decisions on personal biases rather than actual facts.
I can't see how anyone in their right mind who reads this blog regularly could actually cast a vote for Dyer.
BB did another 4 hours and 27 minutes of work and wrote a much better article.
ReplyDelete7:32: BB has zero of the context and analysis that help the reader put this incident into perspective, because they are literally forbidden by their monied patrons to write anything critical of Hans Riemer and the Council.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete7:44: You can see how desperate for traffic the small and slightly-failing magazine is - they have to post links to their articles here to get any readers!
DeleteHow come you only have a mug shot for one of the suspects?
ReplyDeleteRobert Dyer is a childless single man who masturbates to anime and mugshots of black male suspects.
ReplyDeleteSimple, its all about pinning this on the source of the problem in Dyer's blog, Hans Reimer, while Bethesda Beat is choosing to blame it on the two suspects.
ReplyDeleteDyer vs Riemer - "Nerd Fight!"
ReplyDelete"Beerghazi? Are you serious? Relating Montgomery County liquor sales to a terrorist attack is myopic and offensive, what the hell is wrong with you Robert?
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the term "Beerghazi" was coined by a reader who was mocking Dyer's obsession with that minor story, used in snarky comments here, but nowhere else. Dyer is having delusions of grandeur again.
ReplyDeleteALL HAIL HANS RIEMER ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!
ReplyDeleteDyer fail as usual.... this posts are never good alone. You always have to go to the other sources. Ugh Robert you need to do better.....
ReplyDeleteTLDR with the comments, Bethesda Mag has the correct information regarding the incident, Dyer points to who is really at fault skipping the facts, the council.
ReplyDeleteDyer is the lone failure of his family.
DeleteHey, Dyer - why should anyone take your wild claims about your readership versus that of The Other Place, when you've never given any actual numbers?
ReplyDelete" literally forbidden by their monied patrons to write anything critical of Hans Riemer and the Council.
ReplyDelete12:05 PM"
A blatant lie. Complete fabrication to bolster your agenda of revenge.
2:05: So why haven't they written about Hans' role in Beerghazi, his tens of thousands of dollars in donations from Wall Street crooks and pioneers in outsourcing, his resume fabrications and exaggerations, his operative's illegal campaign mailing, and his vote to create a $400 million federal tax shelter for a donor who gave him $4000?
DeleteCan't wait for your answer!
Fake Robert Dyer @ 4:48 PM -
DeleteHans Riemer has neither served in Congress nor worked for the IRS. As a county official, he has zero ability to create a federal tax shelter.
You do understand how our federal system of government works, don't you, Mister Carpetbagger from Confederate Virginia?
What I don't understand is why Hans Riemer is the only one of Robert Dyer's bogeymen whom he will mention by name in his signed posts. Not George Leventhal, not Bethesda Magazine/Bethesda Beat, nor Steve Hull nor any of the reporters - he only names them in his unsigned comments.
ReplyDelete3:04pm Dyer signs all his comments
Delete3:14 - I sign approximately 37% of my comments.
Delete4:26: All of my comments are not only in my real name, but in my account with photo.
DeleteDon't listen to that greasy weirdo in the rented tux. I am the real Robert Dyer.
DeleteApparently, Dyer's troll can't beat Dyer, so he wants to become him.
DeleteIgnore fake "Woodmont" @ 5:28 PM. He is the fake sockpuppet of the fake "Robert Dyer".
DeleteI am the real Woodmont, the real sockpuppet of the real Robert Dyer.
Accept no substitutes!
Looks like these thieves stole some high-class hooch! Thanks for the update, BettyBeat!
ReplyDelete3:12: You reveal yourself again as a carpetbagger - no native resident has ever referred to Bethesda as "Betty." What did you think they would steal to resell - Coors Light?
DeleteI'd rather be a carpetbagger than a guy who is in his late 40s without a significant other...or rven else than a guy that lives with his momma. Do you have to ask permission to stay up late and watch TV?
Delete7:19: I'm not even in my late 40s, much less anything else you're fantasizing about. When we get the FBI in here to take down the MoCo cartel, I'm hoping they can find you a cell at Guantanamo Bay.
DeleteYou know what's great about Hans? He has a family and doesn't live with his mommy.
ReplyDelete6:51: As Barack Obama so correctly noted, "Any fool can have a child."
Delete7:54: It only applies to fools like you, who keep a photo of me on their nightstand, and wake up in the morning filled with hate for Robert Dyer. You're one of the most despicable, horrible people in Montgomery County, and voters are pleased to know in advance of the election that you work for Hans Riemer. What a rogue's gallery of human debris that guy uses to do his political dirty work. Sad!
DeleteRobbie, I hope you did not wet your pants after those big BOOMS, like you did last year.
ReplyDeleteIf Robert would be a human...someone that didn't get off from putting others down...people would probably be nice and ignore the fact that Robert is laughable. We should probably all just laugh Robert off as unfortunate. A poor soul really. But his nastiness makes it so hard to overlook what a loser dyer is.
Delete7:01: A nasty hobo talking about nastiness. Hysterical.
DeleteDyer is "without a significant other."
ReplyDeleteSo, you're saying I've got a shot?
6:30: The cemetery precincts came in strong for Riemer.
ReplyDeleteCreepy troll reaches many conclusions about my income, employment, personal life, living situation with no knowledge of any of these topics.
ReplyDelete"If you don't stop lying about me, I'm going to start telling the truth about you."
Mumble mumble mumble recording artist mumble mumble mumble administrative assistant mumble mumble mumble
Delete8:00: A legitimate resume., unlike yours. You haven't sniffed a promotion in years, much less exhibited any of the entrepreneurial gumption or initiative I have as a media pioneer in Montgomery County. You're just human debris in a dark room lashing out at those who actually create, accomplish, succeed.
Delete"You're just human debris in a dark room lashing out at those who actually create, accomplish, succeed."
ReplyDeleteDo you realize that this is exaclty how people who read your rants about Hans Riemer, Bethesda Magazine and "the MoCo Cartel" see YOU? At least try to develop some sense of self-awareness.
"Entreprenerial gumption"? How can an entity which generates no income, properly be called an "enterprise"? Is it actually licensed or registered in any way? Do you have a trademark on the name of this entity? Did you even do a trademark search, to make sure that no existing business is already using that name?
""When we get the FBI to take down the MoCo Cartel"
More silly idle threats from the paper tiger behind the keyboard. What is this "we" that you've been waiting for, for several years now? Do you even understand how our law enforcement system works? Do you understand that the FBI is a federal agency and does not take direction from local government bodies? If you actually have evidence that laws have been broken, why have you not already contacted the FBI, or Maryland or Montgomery County law enforcement agencies? Is it perhaps because you have NOTHING?
The tell when Dyer's troll loses a debate: he goes right into the same ludicrous bizarre personal attacks.
ReplyDelete9:22: It would be hard for the small and slightly-failing magazine to make that claim, when I operate the first and leading hyperlocal Bethesda news site. Hans Riemer, as the Washington Post stated when they withdrew their endorsement of him in 2014, has zero accomplishments in his political career, other than getting a lot of cemetery residents to vote for him. I have a list of actual accomplishments as a citizen activist that blows away Riemer's record in his $137,000 a year power position on the Council.
ReplyDeleteCreate. Accomplish. Succeed. It's something I've done, but that you and Hans can only dream about as you pound your keyboards in frustration.
I have numerous enterprises that have generated income. Once again you speak of things you have no clue about.
I've reported on many illegal activities by MoCo government. Now we need the FBI to actually go in and launch their investigation, so we can enjoy some perp walks at 100 Maryland Avenue and 8787 Georgia Avenue.
5:15: Hans Riemer indeed voted with his colleagues to create the tax shelter for Mitch Rales, into which he place about $400 million in wealth, according to the City Paper. In fact, Riemer's action is under investigation by a U.S. Senate committee.
ReplyDeleteRiemer allowed those critical revenue funds to be withheld from our troops, our police officers, our fire fighters, the children!!!!!! Disgraceful!
The Dyer is spot on about Riemer and Berliner. Hans just rides the coat tails of his wife, and has the "perfect family setup" , that bleeding heart Liberals fawn over for some illogical reason. Berliner is a first class Dick, throwing a carbon tax on Covanta after they spend millions to update their Dickerson plant. All these MoCo council members operate to transform MoCo in to their private Coffee plantation, promising the Mexis et al lots of scraps they can siphon off the upper middle class, which will be gone in time in this county. Their is one bridge across the Potomac and more and more are making the one way trip out. We're next
ReplyDeleteDyer, you are lying about the City Paper article. (Which is why you didn't bother to link to it here.) It makes no mention of Hans Riemer or anyone else on the Council.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/blog/13082597/congress-wants-to-know-if-two-d-c-area-museums-are-actually-museums
Neither Reimer nor anyone else on the Council has any role in Gemstone's tax exemption, because it involves FEDERAL tax law. Once again, you do not understand the distinction between federal, state and local government.
"Gemstone" s/b Glenstone.
DeleteThe best part is that Glenstone opened in 2006.
Delete"Create. Accomplish. Succeed. It's something I've done, but that you and Hans can only dream about as you pound your keyboards in frustration.
ReplyDelete"I have numerous enterprises that have generated income. Once again you speak of things you have no clue about."
So how come the only thing you put on your campaign statement, was "administrative assistant"?
5:20: Wrong. The museum could only be established via two separate votes by the Montgomery County Council - one to permit the sewer line it required, and the second to establish a massive tax break that made it viable.
ReplyDeleteRales then proceeded to stash $400 million in the museum accounts, where it is sheltered from federal taxes. The U.S. Senate Finance committee is indeed investigating this tax shelter, which Riemer voted for after receiving $4000 from Rales.
Facts.
5:25: I hadn't even launched my first blog, much less Suburban News Network, at the time I filled out that form.
5:37: Wrong. They didn't even have a toilet - much less a museum - until Hans Riemer voted for it; he was elected in 2010.
ReplyDeleteDyer, you are the world's most incompetent liar. The 2008 article (linked in the 2015 article), describes a tour of the museum that year.
ReplyDeleteA sewer line has nothing to do with a tax exemption.
ReplyDeleteAnd once again, the tax exemption relates to federal law. The County Council has no role.
But you did create this blog when you ran for office in 2006? I have read through it, and one of your first 3 blog posts is you submitting your bid for candidacy and it getting rejected. Or did I misread that?
ReplyDeleteHere is Roberts first posting, showing he created SSN at the same time as his campaign.
ReplyDelete"As I waited in slow-moving traffic to merge onto Rt. 50, the Amtrak Acela raced past. How appropriate as one of my top priorities, if elected, is to promote new rail projects all over the state. Starting with the Purple Line here."
ReplyDeleteReading that first article makes me wonder how did Robert become unhinged. That sort of writing was great other than the whole mixing of first and third person.
ReplyDeleteDecember 28, 2006:
ReplyDelete"The Washington Post continues to lose credibility. Recent weeks have found the Montgomery County Government placing huge ad buys in the Montgomery Extra published on Thursdays. The question is, does paying the Post massive amounts of our taxpayer dollars help ensure the continued puff-piece, lovefest coverage of the Montgomery County Government and its Democratic elected officials?
"Remember the Post's Ahab-like quest to defeat Hugo Chavez in Venezuela? The latest economic news from Venezuela is positive: consumer spending is up, as is use of consumer credit. Ownership society; the Post can't stand it."
This is a comment section to discuss the DLC issue, or issues related to that. Off-topic posts are subject to deletion. If you want to comment on an old article of mine on a different topic, go ahead and comment on that article where it belongs. You're wasting people's time scrolling down through this irrelevant stuff on other topics.
ReplyDeleteSuburban News Network wasn't created until there was more than one news site, which didn't happen until 2012 or 2013.
5:51: The sewer line allowed the tax exemption to be created. The museum is not open to the public, only to those approved by Rales to visit, during hours he determines. It's a tax shelter, not a real art gallery. In fact, Marc Fisher of the Post noted that at one point after the vote that approved the tax cut, the museum closed entirely for a while.
ReplyDelete"This is a comment section to discuss the DLC issue, or issues related to that. Off-topic posts are subject to deletion."
ReplyDeleteOn that basis, you should delete 80% of the text of your article, as it is not related to the topic that your article claims to be about.
6:40: BS. The article is entirely about the latest, and previous, DLC criminal activity. Are you defending the DLC? Defending Riemer's coverup of criminal activity until he was safely reelected? You're literally the only person defending this garbage - not surprising, since you are an operative for Riemer and the MoCo political cartel.
ReplyDeleteDyer @ 6:37 - Take it up with the Feds. The tax exemption pertains to federal tax law.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm pretty sure that it would be illegal to deny a sewer connection to an entity based solely on its tax exempt status.
So this is a campaign blog then since you did not discontinue this and make a bethesda row blog?
ReplyDeleteSaith Dyer: "The sewer line allowed the tax exemption to be created. In fact, Marc Fisher of the Post noted that at one point after the vote that approved the tax cut"
ReplyDeleteYou're lying once again. Marc Fisher did not report that the Council "voted to approve he tax cut". They voted to approve a sewer connection. Again, the tax-exempt status is strictly a federal issue.
"They didn't have a toilet - much less a museum - until Hans Riemer voted for it."
They most certainly had a toilet when the reporter from City Paper visited the museum in 2008. The facility used a septic tank prior to having the sewer line installed. The Washington Post's articles on the sewer line vote in 2013 mentioned this, several times. Do you not know what a septic tank is?
6:37: But the tax shelter was only possible through those two Council votes. No votes, no tax shelter. More ethical councilmembers would have considered that this was clearly a tax shelter, and not a real public museum, and withdrawn their support on progressive ideological grounds.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, many non-profits have been denied sewer in rural areas by the Council, which is what raised such red flags about the eagerness to provide sewer to Rales.
7:03: Nope, it's hyperlocal news from Bethesda. The only change was that topics from other areas of the County were moved to individual blogs that cover those specific regions,leaving only Bethesda news on this site.
7:38: Wrong. Fisher commented in the comment section of Bill Turque's article on the SECOND vote, which gave the needed tax cut that made the "museum" viable.
ReplyDeleteToday's expanded Glenstone facility wasn't even constructed in 2008. That's why they needed all these approvals. Crooked Hans eagerly provided them in exchange for $4000.
Saith Dyer: "Wrong. Fisher commented in the comment section of Bill Turque's article on the SECOND vote, which gave the needed tax cut that made the "museum" viable."
ReplyDeleteHow is it possible to "give a tax cut" to an entity that is already tax-exempt?
ALL HAIL HANS RIEMER ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!
ReplyDelete7:53: When the tax cut is for the County's transportation impact tax. You seem to forget that non-profits aren't exempt from all taxes.
ReplyDelete7:45: The expanded facility didn't exist in 2006, dumbass! It was introduced by Rales standing in an empty field at the site. That's why he needed the sewer, moron. Bigger museum, bigger tax shelter. $400 million big, and that's money that didn't go to our troops, teachers, police officers, children and more.
You claimed that the facility didn't exist at all, Birdbrain!
ReplyDelete5:29 Gemstone...lol...you old gamer you
ReplyDeleteDyer, you gotta learn what "literally" means.
ReplyDeleteDyer is using his hobby blog as a campaign platform. It's painfully obvious from the bias seen in his reporting. He needs to admit it or he'll keep taking crap from everyone on the comment section here.
ReplyDelete8:00AM Yes, non-profits are subject to UBTI, which is Unrelated Business Taxable Income. Nothing you have mentioned would be UBTI. I'll go toe to toe with you on this and you will not win.
ReplyDelete10:54: The Council created a new category to exempt the museum from a County transportation tax - what about that do you not understand, bozo?
DeleteYou are lying Robert. The museum is not exempt from the one-time transportation impact tax. They paid $72,000.
ReplyDeleteThey did not get an exemption. If they had, they would have owed nothing. The Council agreed unanimously that the tax code needed an additional category for cultural institutions.
ReplyDelete"There was no specific “museum” category in the county’s tax charts. So officials placed Glenstone under “Other Non-Residential,” a grab-bag of land uses that includes funeral parlors, dog kennels and sewage treatment plants.
They levied a tax of $6.15 per square foot for the new building. The Glenstone Foundation appealed the $445,419 tax bill in October, arguing that the museum should be categorized as a “social service provider” — exempting it from the impact tax — because it hosted small groups of Montgomery County Public School students during the school year. The appeal was denied, and the foundation paid the tax bill late last year.
That’s where the story might have ended. But Diane Schwartz Jones, director of the county Department of Permitting Services, which collects impact taxes, thought Glenstone’s payment seemed “hefty,” especially for a nonprofit entity that would benefit county school children and would not draw heavy traffic.
She suggested that County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) create an impact tax category — “cultural institution” — paralleling a category that had been included in the county’s recently rewritten zoning code. She set the rate at $1 per square foot, the same as for private schools. It cut Glenstone’s impact payment by more than 80 percent.
The council approved the change as an amendment to another bill related to the impact tax — this one eliminating the levy for ancillary buildings at existing institutions if they are not expected to draw additional traffic."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/tax-change-means-big-refund-for-raless-private-art-museum/2015/02/08/fe49d98c-ad27-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html
5:27: They did get an exemption, because the Council created a bull**** new category for their sugar daddy's tax shelter, er, museum, that exempted them from the massive tax bill they should have had to pay. A "social service provider?" Even the greatest museums in the world couldn't be termed as such, much less Glenstone.
ReplyDeleteThat vote and the sewer vote made the federal tax shelter for Rales possible, and he moved $400 million into the Glenstone account, where it was exempt from federal taxes.
Out of curiosity - what dog do you have in the Glenstone fight?
It's not an issue like gay marriage, where everyone has an opinion. The few citizens who were engaged on the issue were in opposition, and those in favor were the Council, Leggett and Rales. To be interested in this issue and want to fight about it, you must be one of those officials, Rales, or a staff member/PR person for one of them.
So who are you? Why are you so quick to challenge every point on Glenstone, when 99% of the public doesn't even know what Glenstone is?
"That vote and the sewer vote made the federal tax shelter for Rales possible, and he moved $400 million into the Glenstone account, where it was exempt from federal taxes."
ReplyDeleteNope. Glenstone had the federal tax-exempt status since it opened in 2006. It has nothing to do with the sewer line or the County's one-time impact tax.
Robert Dyer is effectively tax-exempt because he has only $50 in earned income for the past 11 years.
ReplyDeleteAnd since his late-night wanderings have a far greater impact on our County's transportation system than Glenstone, Dyer needs to pay a hefty transportation impact fee.
6:13: You seem to have a mental block regarding the expansion of the museum, which required the two Council votes, and thereby allowed even more money to be stashed in the Glenstone "museum." That has everything to do with the sewer line, and to the extent that the intention was to cheat MoCo residents out of $400000 worth of road improvements that Rales could well afford, the impact tax exemption.
ReplyDeleteWho are you? It's well known that Glenstone has an active PR campaign that includes "passionate defender" comments posted on articles about the museum. Again, who are you? Who do you represent? What dog do you have in the Glenstone discussion?
6:44: You have no financial information on me, and know zero about my income. But since your frequent trips to the loony bin "have a far greater impact on our County's transportation system, you should pay a hefty impact fee."
Notice the Rales defender can't tell us who he is, and what dog he has in the Glenstone fight. If you look at any article on Glenstone, you'll see many fake comments vigorously defending the museum from criticism. Unless the commenter here can identify himself, we're witnessing the same Astroturf phenomenon here.
ReplyDeleteWhy should that person identify themselves to you? If they show up on multiple reports, then those reports must be wrong or using selective facts infused with opinion.
ReplyDeleteThis comment of yours?:
"he intention was to cheat MoCo residents out of $400000 worth of road improvements"
OPINION.
No one will be jumping to hand you something for you to twist their words into an insulting threat.
11:11: There's a very clear reason he should identify himself: There are PR astroturf fake commenters on every Glenstone-related article. With the exception of the City Paper, those articles have been quite obsequious to Mr. Rales, so the fake commenters are often there to refute negative comments on the articles. They all are written in the same voice, with the same talking points.
ReplyDeleteSo to have any credibility, the commenter must convince us he's not that PR person.
Here's another great question to ponder relative to the impact tax question:
Can Rales afford to pay Montgomery County $400,000 impact tax to pay for road improvements? If so, why would he not generously do so, and instead seek an exemption as he did?
What's your beef with Rales? Sounds personal.
ReplyDeleteDyer @7:29 AM - I am not sure what a "PR astroturf fake commenter" mean in English, but I am going to guess I do not qualify. I am a retired computer scientist, a homeowner in Chevy Chase for 39-years. I am not now nor ever have been employed by Mitchell Rales, the Glenstone Foundation, or any subcontractor to them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did visit Glenstone with my Church group, several years ago. It was amazing. I hope to see it again when the $150 million in additions are completed.
On your repeated use of the word "exemption" for the one-time transportation impact tax, this is completely ignorant of you. They paid over $72,000. They did not pay zero.
As for this query: "Can Rales afford to pay Montgomery County $400,000 impact tax to pay for road improvements? If so, why would he not generously do so, and instead seek an exemption as he did?" I think you would be thrown out of the Republican Party for asking this question. The fact that Mitchell Rales is a wealthy man does not mean he should pay unnecessary taxes -- just ask Donald Trump.
Remember, the reclassification of Genstone for the impact tax was at the behest of the County 0fficial in charge of these assessments. As quoted earlier: "Diane Schwartz Jones, director of the county Department of Permitting Services, which collects impact taxes, thought Glenstone’s payment seemed “hefty,” especially for a nonprofit entity that would benefit county school children and would not draw heavy traffic.
She suggested that County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) create an impact tax category — “cultural institution” — paralleling a category that had been included in the county’s recently rewritten zoning code. She set the rate at $1 per square foot, the same as for private schools. It cut Glenstone’s impact payment by more than 80 percent.
The County Council agreed unanimously.
10:00: Actually, Rales demanded the County create the new category that would exempt Glenstone from the full amount it should have paid. Then, at that point, Schwartz-Jones - who works for Ike Leggett, who received at least $4000 from Mitch Rales in campaign contributions - pulled the new category out of thin air.
ReplyDeleteThe County Council, which received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from Rales, THEN agreed unanimously.
In fact, this situation was completely different from Donald Trump correctly using the existing tax laws to his advantage. Rales didn't find a loophole; he balked at paying what the current law required, and a group politicians he gave tens of thousands of dollars to then created a new tax rate just for him!
Try that with the IRS next April!
Glenstone has been exempt from federal taxes since it was established in 2006. The IRS has nothing to do with the controversy over Montgomery County's one-time transportation impact tax.
ReplyDeleteDyer at 10:10 AM - As soon as I saw that you began your response with the word "Actually" I knew what was going to follow would be some bizarre conspiracy theory.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was.
The fact of the matter was that the impact tax did not originally have categories that matched zoning laws. Therefor Glestone Museum by default fell into an impact tax category for a commercial enterprise, which reflected neither the underlying fact of the matter, nor any proper reflection of the amount of traffic the Museum would create.
The County rectified the matter by adding a category "cultural institution." In my opinion, this was right and proper to do. This category was not "pulled ...out of thin air" but rather matches zoning law.
What is not right and proper for you to do is to allege that Diane Schwartz Jones, director of the county Department of Permitting Services, corruptly acted with Ike Leggett to suggest such a change. In my opinion you defamed her.
This is all very funny, coming from the guy who whined endlessly about having to pay an extra quarter an hour to park in Bethesda.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why Dyer makes Riemer the epicenter of this conspiracy, given that Riemer recieved the smallest amount of contributions from Rales.
ReplyDelete10:58: Same dodge again. The new larger-scale Glenstone is a bigger tax shelter than the original 2006 entity, allowing $400 million and counting to be stashed away from the IRS. Yes, the IRS. Conversely, no one ever said the IRS had anything to do with MoCo impact taxes.
ReplyDelete11:00: Conspiracy theory? That's what actually happened. Facts. I notice you keep skipping over the part about Rales balking at paying the hefty impact tax, and demanding the creation of a new category. You make it sound the County thought of this on its own. Not true.
No, the category didn't match any zoning law; it was an entirely new category that, yes, was pulled out of thin air by the recipients of campaign cash from Rales. Schwartz Jones indeed works for Leggett, who was one of the recipients of that money. Schwartz Jones is currently playing a similar role on behalf of Ourisman Honda, again not in the public interest. The public interest in the Glenstone case was to acquire the $400,000 impact tax from a billionaire who could afford to pay that amount. His tax shelter stash in Glenstone alone was $400 million!
11:03: On the contrary, both cases are the result of County Council corruption, whether it be pay-to-play in this case, or the Bell, CA-style gouging of the parking tax increase.
11:21: Let me help you understand. Not only was Riemer one of the most talkative supporters of Rales during this particular debate, and also received $4000 from him, but Riemer is the only member of the Council to receive tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from Wall Street crooks, their K Street lobbyists, and other pioneers in outsourcing like Rales, such as Mitt Romney's Bain Capital that gave Riemer $500. In short, there is a troubling pattern of big money from Wall Street funding Hans Riemer.
Danaher isn't "Wall Street". Their headquarters are in our metro area, just a few miles from downtown Bethesda.
ReplyDeleteSupport our local businesses!
Stick with rating chalupas Robert
ReplyDelete