Montgomery County, MD Green Party Blog

Broder opposes Democracy at the Federal level of U.S. Government.

That’s right, folks: The Washington Post Columnist David S. Broder opposes the principle of one-person-one-vote at the Federal level. If you do not believe me, then check out his column for yourself. It does not make for just interesting reading — it makes for incredible reading. He justifies his opposition to one-person-one-vote at the Federal level (Although, given the way he frames the issue, he almost certainly opposes one-person-one-vote at the state level as well.) on the grounds that the two party system might suffer. It is quite obvious that he is contemptuous of any voter who supports an independent/third-party candidate. This does beg the following question: Is he an elitist? Does he support the interests of the wealthy at the expense of the common people? Before reading this column, I would immediately have dismissed this question from my mind as being ridiculous; but now I can no longer do so. All of his rationalizations come straight out of the elite playbook: Say that you are opposing this in order to protect minorities (while at the same time opposing any allocation of any meaningful resources to assist said minorities that are discriminated against in the popular culture); Say that you are opposing this in order to protect the family farmer (while at the same time supporting corporate farmers at the expense of the small stakeholder); in short, say and do anything in order to maintain your political hegemony in this country — and indeed, throughout the world.

I never before would have argued that Broder is an elitist — but now I wonder.

There’s two kinds of fame in my world:

1. The 15 minutes of fame that accompanies things like the Nobel Peace Prize (I just saw Wangari Maathai speak at Busboys and Poets this past Friday. Her remarks included the significance of a environment being recognized by the Nobel committee, and it’s role in contributing to peace.) and
2. Being the lead story on Slashdot

Linda Schade and TruevoteMD achieved the second honor tonight. By the time you read this, they will have moved down the page, but the permanent link is at the end of my post. You will also find the characteristic Slashdot discussion of the issue dense with entries by computer savvy professionals on a topic they care about and have deep knowledge of.
Slashdot sez:

opencity writes
“The Washington Post reports on the two Diebold source disks that were anonymously sent to a Maryland election official this past week. Further investigation has lead individuals involved to believe the disks came from a security check demanded by the Maryland legislature sometime in 2003.”
From the article:
“Critics of electronic voting said the most recent incident in Maryland casts doubt on Lamone’s claim that Maryland has the nation’s most secure voting system. “There now may be numerous copies of the Diebold software floating around in unauthorized hands,” said Linda Schade, co-founder of TrueVoteMD, which has pressed for a system that provides a verifiable paper record of each vote.

Read the rest of the Slashdot story here.

As the primary season draws to a close in Maryland, there’s been a lot of talk about who should be included in debates and while it is a tough question with no easy answer (if you include everyone who files in the primary season than you’ll have a debate that isn’t substantive, but when you start to narrow the field it gets arbitrary), it gets tougher when a semi-public entity supported by taxes, in this case Maryland Public Television, is making the decision.

Allan Lichtman’s supporters put up a couple of videos of his recent arrest while trying to get into a debate between the two “leading” Senate candidates. Amidst all of the rhetoric, tension, and even action (between 1:20 and 2:20 is where things get energized and Lichtman gets arrested), the most interesting question isn’t really explored. You know this will be a question we get into in the general.

The real question is, who controls the public space, both literally and figuratively? What happens when public television staff decide who gets to be on tv? And what happens when security staffers keep Lichtman or really anyone out of a particular publicly funded and controlled (i.e. by your tax dollars) space, namely the MPT studio? Lichtman asks under what authority they are trying to drive him out and then, under what authority they are arresting him. He asks what laws were violated, what right they have to arrest him. And it’s a good question.

Who decides who can come on public property and what they can do there? And is it just the fact that they are government employees that the police can arrest someone? I don’t think so. Lichtman’s letter from jail and the presence of Kevin Zeese outside the studio (yes, he’s on camera), suggests we need to grapple with this. How far will some go with power if we don’t question them?

I write a blog and organize a generally progressive, collaborative Maryland politics and policy blog (that is looking for more progressive voices).

Weaning politicians from their developer patrons is one of the hardest things to do in local politics. Montgomery County Green Party activist, Diane Cameron, put together a coalition of 20 environmental organizations in an effort to get Montgomery County to upgrade Montgomery County’s stormwater permit to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act’s national Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

They got money for their efforts; but they did not get any commitment to bring the stormwater permit within the strictures of the law.

As developers pave over ever growing amounts of the county, more and more rainwater runs off directly into streams and rivers rather than soaking into the ground. This runoff washes constuction mud, lawn fertilizers, street dirt, and bacteria from pet waste into the streams. Plus, additional water flows during heavy rains wash away life; fish, insects and amphibians, further damaging river ecosystems. Ultimately the nutrient rich runoff contributes to the growing dead zones in the ChesapeakeBay each summer.

According to the Maryland Department of the Environment, 35 percent of the County’s streams declined in biological quality between 1994 and 2001. Two thirds of the county’s major streams are designated as “impaired” in whole or in part.The Stormwater Partners coalition lobbied for pollution caps along with source controls written into the county’s stormwater permits, which are up for renewal this summer, but could get no commitment from County Executive, Doug Duncan.

Instead they won a $1.3 million spending initiative to spur the use of rainwater gardens, green roofs, and other methods of “harvesting rainwater runoff from yards, roads and parking lots.

County Executive Duncan has announced a task force to look at zoning changes to further mitigate rainwater runoff, but what is really needed are standards written into the stormwater permit.

There is still time to express your opinion. Write or call Doug Duncan at 101 Monroe Street, Rockville, MD 20895, 240-777-2500, or email him at douglas.duncan@montgomerycountyme.gov

Got this via email. Bob DeGroot is a good man on a good mission. — adam

By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer

A statewide environmental group is suing the Department of Natural Resources, alleging that the agency withholds documents it must by law provide to the public.

Filed by Robert DeGroot, president of Maryland Alliance for Greenway Improvement and Conservation (MAGIC website), the suit says the DNR failed to respond fully to three requests the organization has filed under the Public Information Act since October 2003. The nonprofit organization, which monitors public forests, wants to know how much logging has been permitted in state-owned forests in recent years.

The DNR has the information, Mr. DeGroot said, and it provided the data to Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s. In the case filed April 13, MAGIC is asking the Montgomery County Circuit Court to order the agency to provide the requested information.

“What we have been trying to do is find out what they are doing to the forests, and that is what is making them so mad. We are putting it on the Web,” Mr. DeGroot, a Rockville resident, said yesterday. Examples of where MAGIC didn’t receive the requested data came in October and November 2003, when the group asked DNR for information about logging activity in Savage River State Forest. With 54,000 acres in Garrett County, it’s the largest state forest.

“DNR still has not provided plaintiff with the Savage River Forest data provided to Senator Pinsky,” the suit states. Also, according to the lawsuit, MAGIC requested information concerning timber sales and forest management plans for four state forests - Savage River, Potomac-Garrett, Green Ridge and Pocomoke. The DNR responded by providing part of the sought-after information for two of the four forests. DNR spokesman Stephan Abel said he couldn’t comment because the matter is the subject of litigation.

MAGIC’s struggle to get information from the DNR goes back to when Mr. DeGroot, a retired IBM executive, founded the group six years ago. In 2000, he tried to get the biographies for the volunteer forest advisory board members within the DNR, but the agency denied the request on grounds that such information was a “personnel” matter. Mr. DeGroot said the agency receives, for its own use, about $3 million a year from selling timber from public land.

The agency has close ties to the timber industry, and the public has a right to know who is advising it on public policy, he said. In late 2003, the group filed an administrative claim against DNR for failing to provide boundary information for Green Ridge State Forest. Less than a week before the case was to be heard by an administrative law judge, the agency capitulated.

The General Assembly passed the Public Information Act in 1970, giving the public access to most government documents. Maryland expanded the law with the Open Meetings Act in 1977.

Private citizens have just as much right as a reporter, lawyer or anyone else to examine public documents, which range from campaign finance reports to nursing home inspections or how the county and state spend taxpayers’ money. “Documents” include reports, photos and e-mails. The Attorney General’s Office provides a quick summary of the law on its Web site, www.oag.state.md.us/opengov, as well as a more detailed PIA handbook that may be purchased for $10 or downloaded for free. The Web site includes a sample request letter.