Another Trump supporter victimized by hate crime in Montgomery County (Photos)

Vandals have attacked another home of a supporter of President-Elect Donald Trump in Montgomery County. This time, a family of Trump supporters in Burtonsville was targeted.

Montgomery County police officers responded to a home in the 3000 block of Spencerville Road in Burtonsville yesterday morning, November 30, around 6:25 AM. They found that swastikas, and the words, "Trump" and "racist," had been spray-painted on all 3 cars in the home's driveway.

Police say the victims were known publicly to be Trump supporters, and believe that was the motivation for the attack. They are now investigating the incident as a "bias-based" crime of vandalism.

Anyone with information about this vandalism is asked to contact the 3rd District Investigative Section at 240-773-6870.  For those who wish to remain anonymous, Crime Solvers of Montgomery County is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of the suspect(s).  Tipsters can call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

Photos: Montgomery County Police Department

Trump supporter victim of hate crime in Montgomery County (Photo)

Montgomery County Police are investigating an incident of vandalism in Silver Spring they believe is "bias-based." On Sunday morning, a Donald Trump supporter in the Four Corners neighborhood in Silver Spring awoke to find a swastika had been spray painted on his front storm door, and his American flag had been stolen. Police responded to the home in the 200 block of Williamsburg Drive at 7:22 AM.

A preliminary investigation determined that this was the third time the Trump supporter's home had been targeted. The home was previously vandalized on October 16, police said, and a Trump-Pence sign was stolen from the front yard of the property in late October.

This incident shows the danger of jumping to conclusions, as the Montgomery County Council has, in regard to a handful of hate-based vandalism incidents since the election. With no evidence, and not a single suspect having been arrested and questioned, our County Council has alleged these incidents were inspired by Trump and/or perpetrated by his supporters.

The Council has now been wrong twice in the last week; the only physical hate violence in the County so far has been directed against a Trump supporter, during a student protest last Wednesday in Rockville. And now in Four Corners, the only case where we have a clear motive, all evidence again points to anti-Trump forces.

Fortunately, the police are not taking a political approach, and are examining all cases objectively in their investigations. In a statement, detectives said they believe the homeowner's support for Trump is the motivation for the thefts and vandalism in the Four Corners case.

Anyone with information about these thefts or the vandalism incidents is asked to contact the 3rd District Investigative Section at 240-773-6870.  For those who wish to remain anonymous, Crime Solvers of Montgomery County is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of the suspect(s).  Tipsters can call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

Photo courtesy Montgomery County Police

MoCo Councilmember says he doesn't feel "safe" after Trump victory

Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal (D - At-large) told a crowd in Silver Spring that he doesn't feel safe after the victory of Donald Trump in last Tuesday's presidential election contest. "I know a lot of us are not feeling very safe this week," Leventhal said, according to the Washington Post. "I know a lot of us are trying to understand what happened on Tuesday."

Leventhal did not elaborate on the specific reasons he does not feel safe. He is expected to run for County Executive in 2018, after being term-limited out of his current office.

Hillary Clinton stickers
left behind in her
abandoned
downtown Bethesda
call center

Term limits win big in MoCo as voters throw the bums out

Montgomery County voters delivered a powerful repudiation of the County Council at the ballot box yesterday, with a whopping 69% voting YES on Question B, in favor of term limits. At least four councilmembers, Roger Berliner, Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, and George Leventhal, will be barred from running again for their seats in 2018. Councilmembers Nancy Navarro, Hans Riemer, and Craig Rice will be able to run for a final term in 2018, but cannot run again in 2022. Navarro received a save from voters yesterday, who voted by 79% on Question C to allow her partial term in 2009 to not count as a full term.

Related: Full Montgomery County voting results

The vote was a major victory for neighborhoods across Montgomery County, whom the Council had thumbed their nose at violently in the last year. In Damascus, where councilmembers supported an urban-style low-income apartment building in a part of the small town that already has a disproportionate amount of low-income housing and a high crime rate, term limits won 88% of the vote in early voting.

Councilmembers had also unanimously approved construction of bus depots at the Carver Education Center and WINX property on Westmore Avenue in Rockville, only to be hit by a tidal wave of blowback from residents who found out they'd be awakened by 400 blaring truck horns as early as 4:00 AM each morning.

Lyttonsville residents and business owners found themselves being pushed out by potential urban-style high-density development. And, perhaps most controversial of all, the Westbard sector plan found the Council voting unanimously in favor of urban-style growth in a Bethesda neighborhood nearly two miles from the closest Metro station - despite vehement opposition by over 90% of their Westbard-area constituents.

Most ironically, the Floreen-led Council boldly voted unanimously again yesterday to approve the Westbard sectional map amendment, that will make their high-density Westbard plan formally the new zoning across 44 acres of currently low-rise suburbia, just feet from single-family homes. At the same time, voters were ending the careers of four of them at voting booths around the county. How sweet it is.

A 69% vote against the County political machine was a rare primal scream from the normally staid, obedient and docile MoCo electorate. How did it happen?

Give civic activist Robin Ficker his due. The attorney worked tirelessly to collect far more than the number of required signatures, and debated opponents in numerous forums to promote Question B. For all of the criticism directed at Ficker, he has now scored some of the largest political victories in County history with the property tax cap and term limits. 

One may have led to the other. The 9% tax increase, which supposedly raised $90 million for public schools without a radically-new strategy to justify it, ended up being 10% or larger for many homeowners. At the same time, the Council voted themselves a massive raise while claiming we were cash poor, personally enriching themselves at taxpayer expense. Politicians in Bell, California went to jail for the same circumstances.

Aggrieved communities coming together was the other factor. Neighborhoods targeted at the same time by the Council for the bus depot ended up supporting each other, instead of trying to push the depot to the other's neck of the woods. Lyttonsville supported Westbard in testimony and numerous events.

And yesterday, the citizen group Keep Damascus Rural endorsed term limits. In its announcement, its leader, Seth Gottesman, wrote:

Why should we in the up county care? Because our leaders count on specific communities not being able to significantly impact an election result. If other communities stand by or are uninformed while this sort of leadership occurs to another because it doesn't impact them directly, it will come to us as well and the culture of rejecting the desires of the community will continue and that affects everyone. When our leaders are held accountable, the culture can start to change and that takes all of us from all communities. We have to support each other.

Powerful stuff. Ironically, it was through a Council agent's compulsive trolling on my blog that it accidentally became public that the Council was indeed calculating the number of votes they would lose if they supported the Westbard plan. And that they had concluded those votes alone were not enough to cost them the 2018 election.

How wrong they were.

Montgomery County 2016 election results

Updated: 11:55 PM - Term limit support holding at 69% in latest results

Updated: 11:26 PM - Term limit support surges to 69% in latest results

Updated: 11:02 PM - Term limits support holding at 68% in latest results

Updated: 10:30 PM - Term limits support rises to 68% in latest results

Updated: 10:19 PM - Term limits support holds at 67% in latest results

With 264 of 267 precincts reporting, 69% of Montgomery County voters have voted FOR term limits on ballot Question B. Voters are also supporting the Question C that would allow Councilmember Nancy Navarro to run again in 2018 with 79% of the vote.

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 74% to 20%.

Chris Van Hollen (D) is leading for U.S. Senate with 75% of the vote.

Jamie Raskin (D) is blowing out Dan Cox for the 8th Congressional District House seat by 74% to 21%.

Jeanette Dixon, Rebecca Smondrowski and Shebra Evans continue the lead they established in early voting for the 3 Board of Education seats.

MoCo early voters split between incumbents, newcomers on embattled Board of Education

Early voters in Montgomery County were decidedly undecided about whether to clean house at the Board of Education. Montgomery County Public Schools have been in a steady decline, with a widening achievement gap, since 2010.

According to early voting results released by the Board of Elections, those voting through last Thursday chose challenger and popular former MCPS principal Jeanette Dixon over incumbent and board apologist Phil Kauffman by 54%-45%.

In contrast, early voters favored incumbent Rebecca Smondrowski over challenger Brandon Rippeon by a whopping 71% to 28%.

Newcomer Shebra Evans also won big with early voters, with 70% to Anjali Reed Phukan's 29%.

Montgomery County early voters went big for term limits

Early voting results have been released by the Montgomery County Board of Elections, and those voting early through last week were big fans of term limits. 64% voted "Yes" on Question B, in favor of term limits; only 36% were opposed. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the vote today goes.

Bethesda restaurateurs make final push for term limits ahead of Tuesday election (Photos)

Two of downtown Bethesda's most popular restaurants are endorsing term limits, encouraging customers and passersby to vote "YES" on Question B on Tuesday's Montgomery County ballot. The venerable Tastee Diner, and more recent arrival Gringos & Mariachis, are both displaying "Vote YES on Question B" signs. If successful, the question would limit the County Executive and County Council to a still-whopping three terms (12 years) in office.

Signs at Tastee Diner
(above and top)

Roberto Pietrobono, co-owner of Gringos and Olazzo, is supporting term limits in part because of the current County Council's refusal to end the County's government liquor monopoly. YES on Question B signs are also posted at the Silver Spring locations of Olazzo and Tastee Diner.

Sign at
Gringos & Mariachis

As the Tastee Diner in Silver Spring says, "It's Time" for term limits. Our incompetent and impotent County Council must go. Even if you have tuned out the presidential election, please go to the polls tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8 and vote YES on Question B, so we can "throw the bums out."

Some MoCo early voters report receiving ballots with circles for Democratic candidates already filled in

The record turnout for early voting in Montgomery County has been been the headline in local media this week, but a more troubling story hasn't been covered. Montgomery County Republican Central Committee Chairman Michael Higgs has received "multiple eyewitness reports" that some early voters were provided with paper ballots that had already been filled out, with only Democratic candidates selected.

"These pre-filled ballots did not merely have a stray mark or two, they were completely filled-out for the entire Democrat slate of candidates, with the bubbles neatly and completely filled-in," Higgs wrote to County Election Director Margaret Jurgensen. He is calling for an immediate investigation.

"Are we seeing a small slice of a larger campaign to stuff the ballot boxes? Is there a rogue individual in your midst attempting to unduly influence the election? Only a thorough and public investigation will help to ensure the voters that they are not being disenfranchised by nefarious actors attempting to steal the election," Higgs wrote.

Local blogger Adam Pagnucco had already reported on a different problem prior to this one - being given the ballot for a different Congressional district from the one he lives in when he voted early in Wheaton. The report of pre-filled ballots came just two days after Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh held a news conference about "fraud" in Maryland elections.

Hillary Clinton opens call center in downtown Bethesda (Photos)

The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign has opened a call center in the former Tako Grill space at 7756 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda. With less than a week to go before Election Day, volunteers were working the phones hard Wednesday evening. Also inside, a TV cameraman was milling about, filming the activity.

Cardin, Frosh shine spotlight on voter fraud in Maryland

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), speaking at a news conference in Prince George's County this week, put a spotlight on the issue of voter fraud in Maryland. "We've seen fraud committed in our state in prior elections," Cardin said.

Frosh cautioned voters to remain vigilant when going to the polls early, or on Election Day November 8. “If you encounter fraud or misconduct, let us know,” Frosh said. He advised voters to inform an election judge at the polling place, the State Board of Elections, and his office if they witness or experience any difficulties or illegal activity while voting. "We want all eligible voters to vote," Cardin said, "all eligible voters, regardless of who they vote for."

Raskin earns endorsement from Bethesda's legendary Tommy "The Matchmaker" Curtis (Photo)

Tommy "The Matchmaker" Curtis with
Sen. Jamie Raskin outside the
Jane Lawton Center in Chevy Chase

It's a great day in Bethesda when you receive an email from the legendary Tommy "The Matchmaker" Curtis. And that's exactly what happened when I opened my inbox yesterday afternoon.

Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin has just picked up the biggest Bethesda endorsement on the table. Longtime Bethesda resident Curtis, of Yacht Club of Bethesda fame, is back in town raising capital for two motion pictures he is producing. But one other item on his agenda was to endorse Raskin (D-Takoma Park), who's running in the highly-competitive race for Chris Van Hollen's 8th Congressional District seat.

Curtis said his decision was difficult. Another frontrunner in the race is Kathleen Matthews, who in her television days served as a producer for two local-Emmy-winning TV specials hosted by Curtis. Ultimately, he said he was swayed by Raskin's experience in contrast to Matthews and businessman David Trone. "He's ready to hit the ground running," Curtis said of Raskin.

The Raskin campaign, seeking any edge in what could be the most expensive Congressional election in history, was delighted to receive the endorsement of a local icon. "We love receiving the usual endorsements of Jamie's fellow elected officials," Raskin's campaign manager Marshall Cohen said, "but we welcome the support of key figures in the community, and who can be a bigger deal than [Curtis]?" 

Following the announcement, Curtis joked that, "my endorsement might indeed sway three or four single divorced residents out of the hundreds of thousands of singles that live in the congressional district." 

With the old Yacht Club space currently for lease, one could hope Curtis might reopen for business. But he's busy right now at his other pursuit - moviemaking. While most Bethesda residents over the age of 35 can recall Curtis' signature TV sign-off, "Goodnight from the Yacht Club of Bethesda," even they may not know about his Hollywood ventures. 

The Seduction starring Morgan Fairchild, Dreamscape featuring Dennis Quaid, and Hell Nite starring Linda Blair (The Exorcist) and Peter Barton (The Powers of Matthew Star), are among Curtis' co-production credits. He said one of the films he is in town to raise financial backing for is slated to film in Baltimore. Amazingly, the Yacht Club - which had a 17-year run starting in 1989 in what is today the DoubleTree Bethesda hotel - was actually launched well after his Hollywood production career began.

Curtis earned titles like the "Pied Piper of local singles," and "Washington institution" through the success of the nightclub, which was aimed at the over-30 professional single in the region. To Raskin's advantage, the matchmaker still has a strong local following. Five-hundred singles showed up at a Yacht Club reunion at the DoubleTree a couple of years ago. Now Raskin will hope they show up at the polling places. Curtis himself did, posing with Raskin during early voting for what has to be the money shot of 2016 in Bethesda.

Maybe Curtis is just the man who could turn around Bethesda's currently-declining nightlife, following the disastrous Montgomery County Council "nighttime economy initiative." At least nine nightspots closed their doors in the wake of the Councilman Hans Riemer-led "effort."

Photo courtesy Jamie Raskin for Congress campaign

Bethesda loses early voting site - and leaders aren't happy about it

Montgomery County's Board of Elections voted yesterday to strip Bethesda of its potential early voting site in 2016. Past sites Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center and the Jane Lawton Community Center are not on the final list of places Bethesda or Chevy Chase voters might cast early ballots in 2016.

The vote came up at last night's Western Montgomery County Citzens Advisory Board meeting in Bethesda. Board member Jordan Cooper recalled early voting turnout being light at the Lawton Center in 2014. Others on the board were concerned at the loss.

Ultimately, the board voted last night to send the Board of Elections a strong letter to "express dismay" at the decision. The WMCCAB is appointed by the County Executive and approved by the County Council, and represents residents, non-profits and businesses.