Ehrlich Outed on Purple Line
The big news is that Bob Ehrlich's former appointee to WMATA (the folks that run the Metro) wrote a letter to the Post that admits that Ehrlich's administration is stonewalling the Purple Line.
Without parsing the endorsement of every group here, I was surprised how many non-incumbents the Montgomery County Green Democrats backed in their just-released list. They supported Jamie Raskin over incumbent Ida Ruben in Silver Spring’s District 20 state Senate race, Dan Fox for State’s Atty, and all challengers lead by James Browing in the D20 delegate race. As you wonder what to think about how endorsements are made and what value they have, you might think about the disclaimer at the bottom of the Green Dem’s email – “Endorsements were based on feedback from the active membership of Montgomery Green Democrats.”
Thanks to those who remind us that civil discourse is the only way we can have a blog that people want to read and participate in, and incidentally the only way we have a functional democracy. I've gone out of my way not to censor, edit, or control the discussion on this site and I'd like your help to keep this site both civil and fully free. So let's keep it civil and substantive.
Link to Kos for US Senate polls.
The Ehrlich administration has been stringing this project out for all it's worth. It is leading a prolonged attempt to obfuscate, alter, study and delay the project so as not to face up to the fact that, without a tax increase, the project is underfunded. All money available is going to the intercounty connector and, indeed, even future federal money has been bonded for that project.
Without parsing the endorsement of every group here, I was surprised how many non-incumbents the Montgomery County Green Democrats backed in their just-released list. They supported Jamie Raskin over incumbent Ida Ruben in Silver Spring’s District 20 state Senate race, Dan Fox for State’s Atty, and all challengers lead by James Browing in the D20 delegate race. As you wonder what to think about how endorsements are made and what value they have, you might think about the disclaimer at the bottom of the Green Dem’s email – “Endorsements were based on feedback from the active membership of Montgomery Green Democrats.”
Thanks to those who remind us that civil discourse is the only way we can have a blog that people want to read and participate in, and incidentally the only way we have a functional democracy. I've gone out of my way not to censor, edit, or control the discussion on this site and I'd like your help to keep this site both civil and fully free. So let's keep it civil and substantive.
Link to Kos for US Senate polls.
posted by OnBackground at 2:03 PM
3 Comments:
We knew it was true re the Purple Line, but now we know that we know it.
Not just there. Improvements such as ADA compliant platforms on the MARC line - including one almost adjacent to Ehrlich's childhood Arbutus home at Halethorpe - have sat in the dock.
Why? I guess because transit is for the undesirable people. You know: environmentally conscious people, DC workers, low- to middle-income people who don't own big cars or can't afford the gas and insurance, City dwellers, Negroes.
I don't mean personal animus on Ehrlich's part, in fact I doubt it, but politics is about winning and losing and the largely Democratic constituencies noted above are the designated losers until Ehrlich loses.
Transportation Sec'y Robert Flanagan, who may be a decent person at the purely personal level, should change his name professionally to Flackin-again, as that's how he seems to earn his check. He has done a few things right - some of the route consolidation in the Baltimore bus lines was positive in that some transfers and downtown one-way street U-turns were eliminated in favor of continuous lines. But he is no advocate, he is not paid to be one.
Ouch! What do you really think, B? Seriously, though, you make good points.
Sorry, I get a little fired up about transit issues. Maybe I need to switch to decaf. If I was uncivil to Flanagan I apologize; his lack of fervor has underwhelmed me.
I have been picking up on Flanagan going through the motions for a while. Heard him on NPR with Steiner a while back, he doesn't like B-more's rail plan either, was very negative. Opportunities wasted.
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