This article is based on the live tweets from Esther Wells with permission and some parts are paraphrased or incomplete based on that limitation. The forum took place tonight 12/21/2022.
District 14 Vacancy
Governor Elect Wes Moore selected Eric Luedtke to join his inner circle as his chief legislative affairs officer which created a vacancy in the seat District 14 in the House of Delegates that Luedtke has held since 2011.
This kicked off a bit of controversy as vacancies are selected by the MCDCC (Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee) and in many cases in the past, MCDCC members have appointed someone from their own membership. This didn’t happen for the first time in more than 10 years after attempts by MCDCC members to reform the system of appointees failed.
The list of applicants along with some basic background information can be seen here from Montgomery Perspective.
These appointments are very important as those appointed typically have a major leg up in subsequent elections for various reasons after being appointed without being voted in. What this means is that those appointed by MCDCC often times end up with a long career position based on that appointment.
MCDCC Appointment Timeline and Contact Information
Before we get to the forum itself, it’s important to share the means to provide input and the timeline.
According to the MCDCC D14 Vacancy press release, there are two remaining key dates in this process:
December 29, 2022, Thursday – 5 pm,
Deadline to Receive Letters of Support from D14 Democratic Voters via email to d14vacancy@mcdcc.org
January 3, 2023, Tuesday – 7:30 pm
MCDCC Special Meeting to interview applicants and vote on recommendation to the Governor.
In-person and via Zoom Meeting Register to attend in person or via Zoom Meeting at bit.ly/mcdcc-01-03
Esther Wells Live Tweets Forum
Esther Wells live tweeted a lot of the forum. You can see her original tweets here and we will organize them below with minor corrections as appropriate.
You can see the full video of the forum (including participants comments) here.
Opening Statements
Format: 1 min Opening statements, 5 questions (no audience questions) and 1 minute closing statements.
Nathan Feinberg: life long resident. Father of 3 kids. HS Math teacher. Housing, health care.
Jodi Finkelstein: life long resident. 25yrs advocate, former Non-profit Social work/community organizing Director. 2010 ran for Delegate. Pro choice.
Paul Geller: advocate for MCPS students, advocate in Annapolis. Focus on Education & environment, get greater casino revenue allocated to schools, create jobs, focus on Seniors so they can age in place.
Bernice Mireku-North: MCPS mom, focus on greater access to mental health for our youth. (sorry missed some).
Matt Post: former SMOB, life long resident. Track record to expand pre-K, activate young voters. Fight for D14 in Annapolis.
Hafizur Rahman: Immigrant, CPA, CGFM, law degree. (hard to understand what he said, sorry).
Raj Rajendran: MD resident last 12yrs. Homeowner, started small business in MoCo. No prior political experience. Prior IT experience. Focus on getting stuff done. Happy Holidays.
Paul Schwartz: Former Federal official, advocate at state level firearm safety act. Can tackle pharma pricing, codify commercial firearm purchase.
Tom Smith: Military Veteran. Courage to care. listen to neighbors. lead with empathy. Doug Terry: having mute issues.
Doug Terry: change candidate, address how we appt ppl to State legislative. No negative vibes on the committee. We must change b/c up to 25% of legislature gets appointed. Non-democratic process. D14 will represent w/o being elected. Once you’re there, you get re-elected. Dealing with racial problems in MoCo. passion for innovation to use gov’t much more effectively than we do now. Individuals cannot have huge impact
Q1: Teamwork between Senators & Delegates, how will you continue this? Please discuss how you can do teamwork.
Paul Schwartz: worked for DHS to integrate 26 agencies under one umbrella in early 2000s, last year helped get bill passed bi-partisan in legislature.
Tom Smith: Big shoes to fill. 24 hour response rate. Monthly townhalls alongside colleagues, invite other change makers CCM, CE, others. Feedback on which committee for economic matters.
Doug Terry: hard time coming unmute again. was skipped.
Bernice Mireku-North: Excellent question. Familiar with MoCo politics since 2006, knows Craig & Pam. Team member mentality. D14 is a good place to live. Not combative or island representative. Former prosecutor.. ran out of time.
Raj Rajendran: reputation at work that he gets things done by working with people all the time. I park my ego in the parking lot and get work done. Work with everyone to meet the goals. Started small business & non-profit. teamwork is important to be successful.
Hafizur Rahman: Originally was on mute and skipped. Finally unmuted. almost $1M/yr, so so sorry, I did not understand him.
Jodi Finkelstein: Team work makes the dream work. Worked on domestic violence by working on teams. Reproductive health issues being done in concert with D14.
Nathan Feinberg: as teacher teamwork is part of daily life. Classrooms are collaborative and teamwork with students is essential to education. Post college, volunteered on Obama’s campaign. Worked with diverse groups of people.
Paul Schwartz: (response began in Spanish) education advocate last decade to raise additional funds for students. Hit the ground running, understands Annapolis & D14.
Matt Post: legendary D14. Record on school Board, positioned to bring young people out, endorsed by Jannette Dixon. Work hard to bring young ppl perspectives.
Q2: Top 3 focus areas
Paul Geller: education, environment, economy & seniors. gambling revenues for education. Increase allocation to 45% to schools. Provide job training. Seniors involved in volunteer op.
Jodi Finkelstein: work with MD Gen Assembly for reproductive rights. D14 capital projects Burtonsville park & ride. Damascus library, bring more jobs.
Raj Rajendran: MoCo needs to lead jobs front, ex. technology corridor. Affordable housing, equitable and sustainable housing. Thrive 2050. Divisions in society b/c Trump. Bring healing to people. Education & safety.
Matt Post: Schools are overcrowded & understaffed. Blueprint Ed address SpEd, universal meal program. Teaching shortage solved by growing our own. gun violence. ban guns around polling places. Hold gun manufacturers accountable. Gun carriers required to have insurance. bring voice of young people.
Nathan Feinberg: affordable housing, education & protecting our environment. teachers can’t afford to live in MoCo. Fund the blueprint, fund & expand trade programs. Protect our parks & green spaces. Ensure our children can afford to live here.
Hafizur Rahman: small business, PG Co & counties in VA are ahead of us. More fed’l funding for MD. Infrastructure. (hard to comprehend, sorry).
Paul Schwartz: Healthcare, Inflation Reduction Act. pricing of pharma. R&D costs are applied only to domestic sales. Cap on insulin price for medicare only. Long term care insurance needed at an earlier age when it’s more affordable. ST cost to revenue, keep ppl out of nursing homes. Safety (out of time).
Doug Terry: crisis w/teachers across America. In-depth study to get to root issue. too many deaths on highways. Require a refresh course to maintain your Driver’s License. many issues but out of time. Assure voters that he will work hard, many years as a reporter, use his experience on Capitol Hill.
Tom Smith: Frontline workers are overworked & underpaid. Left job in Congress. Foster dad of 3 MCPS kids. Focus on recruitment & retention. Knocked on 6k doors & heard from immigrant communities. Bring change makers together to hear issues and tackle them together for lasting change.
Bernice Mireku-North: Public safety: Co-Chair reimage public safety task force. Alternatives to incarceration. Pedestrian safety. improve lighting on roads. Schooling our kids through funding MD blueprint. Farm to school program expansion to bring fresh food to student. Health kids.
Q3: What are your priorities to get funds to D14?
Bernice Mireku-North: small business owner and knows struggles of Small Business (SB) owners. Will support breweries to get resources. D14 is very diverse. Bernice is use to being in diverse rooms as an immigrant family. Welcomes hearing from all voices.
Tom Smith: Unequivocal support of SB. Transportation has to be part of the convo. Wife is a Vet. increase families quality of life. Need more walkability in D14 to increase quality of life & fight climate change.
Paul Geller: As Delegate, fix 198 once & for all. Completed course in Howard Co on starting & growing business. MD Innovation ctr in MoCo, any business can participate to make businesses grow.
Paul Schwartz: wants to help SB in D14. ran for CC, heard real issues SB are facing. Having a set turnaround time for approving permits Damascus residents stated SB suffers b/c transportation isn’t there. we lose jobs to VA is a MD issue. Build community to help SB survive.
Raj Rajendran: SB is the life blood of communities. Take time to speak with SB to get idea of issues to then go & solve prbs. See how everyone benefits
Matt Post: We need economic opportunities. make it easier for businesses big & small to start & thrive here. State procurement process. Schools do better job to get skills to contribute to community. Fund agriculture programs. Incentivize schools to require financial literacy More State money for D14 for development.
Doug Terry: Agreed with Tom Smith. Not everyone wants to go to college, what are we doing for those students. Highway safety & driving. Sidewalks, developers didn’t want to put them in. Slow down traffic. We need to do more and do better.
Nathan Feinberg: Absolute support to allow breweries & farms to sell food. Keep agricultural areas & preserve. Educate ppl to go into those fields. We need electricians, mechanics. College is great, but not for everyone. We need smarter regulations. More regulations to stop monopolies. Set aside space for SB. Protect existing environment. Rahman: SB incentives for solar power. SB need funding. SB died during covid. need funding, it’s important. MD has high traffic jam in country. (couldn’t understand full response).
Jodi Finkelstein: Lone Oak, sandy Spring will have Olney Winery. All happened b/c of D14 team track record. Continue to help SB on State level. D14 has done phenomenal job of helping breweries.
Q4: What are your plans to recharge east D14 that has suffered stagnation last 40 yrs?
Raj Rajendran: talk to people to find out their concerns on the plan before starting. Do everything you can to make SB work. SB gives jobs, which leads to more housing. Jobs give more revenue, which funds schools. Look at root cause, evaluate proposed solutions, get consensus, talk to people, then make plan and execute.
Jodi Finkelstein: D14 team did a wonderful job on revitalization of Burtonsville crossing. Montgomery College latest campus. Workforce & Work source development.
Tom Smith: family lives in Burtonsville. Schools have diverse immigrant community. Healthcare for immigrant comm. expand reimbursement of Medicaid. hard to find providers. Focus on Pre-K for children in need. Invest in our kids.
Nathan Feinberg: barriers for east county, kids in MCPS. New Hampshire ave transportation is intermittent. Access & transit. Briggs Chaney has been ignored & left behind. Access to childcare, healthcare. Pre-K for 3 & 4year olds. Funds for training for all.
Matt Post: bring back construction funds for East county schools. Support needs of residents in east county. High density for renters. More protections for renters. Pass eviction policies to prevent evictions w/in 60 days of end of lease. Target relief and pilot program for teachers so they can live around schools they serve. Expand MD mortgage programs to help first time homeowners down payment.
Doug Terry: I have no clear answer to this question. One idea is to have an innovation fund to have contest to move on new ideas for the future. First, fund a good idea in a competitive way to develop areas. Evictions are a problem. We need to prevent evictions. Homelessness is a problem but not at critical level yet.
Hafizur Rahman: we don’t have sufficient statistic to understand. 5.6% residents are under poverty line. Work structurally to bring education to east county. He wrote a book, sorry couldn’t understand.
Bernice Mireku-North: as a Business owner working and living in D14. Transportation is an issue. We need create & affordable transportation. Need to get to Loan Oak w/o a car. Transportation to east county College campus. let’s have a summit. Bring all stakeholders together. That’s why I’m running.
Paul Schwartz: invest in SB by attracting them by transportation access. Create jobs to help the economy. Idea of County Chamber of Commerce to drive SB investments to areas that need it. Marketing plan to attract bus. to D14.
Paul Geller: Enjoys going to East county citizen advisory meetings over the years. Advocate for schools. As Delegate, will stop by D14 regularly to hear what residents have to say. Advocating for exceeding MOE for MCPS to respond to teachers complaints for overcrowded schools.
Q5: Outline how you will provide equity & inclusion of fiscal appropriations & accountability
Paul Schwartz: Getting input from all stakeholders and then use that info to decide how to utilize money we are allocated from Treasury.
Hafizur Rahman: (unmute issues) we don’t know spending pattern. Spending needs to be monitored and a better accountability process is needed. Without this, no system can work. Hope is that legislatures will get data monitoring.
Nathan Feinberg: Equity & inclusion begins w/ reaching out to D14 residents. If you only rely on those who are active in politics you cannot achieve equity. Reach out to PTA and others. Not just those w/privilege. We need to represent ppl of district (homeowners & renters) and not be self serving.
Tom Smith: make sure everyone has a seat at head of the table. Townhalls similar to recent one offered 4 days ago. Cadence is monthly townhalls. Invite Mink/Leudke to show up, CE and other Congressional members to be able to answer all questions.
Paul Geller: E&I will be foundation of everything he will do. That’s what he’s done for the last decade. Be there for whole community. Member of Black & Brown Coalition as he attends meetings and advocates. proud member of NAACP. You learn a lot from listening. (speaks Spanish in response).
Bernice Mireku-North: Part of who I am as Civic Activist. Ensure ppl who couldn’t attend townhalls got a chance to have their voice heard as she walked door to door. Critical to have E&I by talking to ppl where they are. Fiscal appropriations & Accountability is important as Delegate. Every dollar accounted for.
Raj Rajendran: All sections of all residents should benefit under E&I by setting criteria for projects. Projects meet time budget and costs. fight for your share, plan and set proper criteria are key goals.
Matt Post: all policies should be a racial equity issue. over half EL learners don’t graduate. Every MDer should have a fair shot. Record on School Board, EL learners need mental health support. Will go door to door of lowest voter turnout to engage families to close horrible gaps.
Jodi Finkelstein: Social workers find ways to ensure E&I for all. This is not an easy question. It takes a village, It takes a definition and then ensuring everyone understands what it means before implementing. States have E&I office that looks at Bills/policies to see how best will this work, equality & equality.
Doug Terry: Asked to repeat question. Lost audio as mic got disconnected. Not sure what’s happening here. Moved on since he’s having tech problems.
Closing Statements
Tom Smith: Listen/Learn/Lead. Work tirelessly for D14, will host townhalls to include community, non-profits & elected leaders. Vote for me.
Matt Post: in a few weeks, we will have All Dems at State level. Understand what it takes to negotiate & wants your support for progressive change.
Jodi Finkelstein: community advocate, leadership roles in MoCo. Compassionate voice for all. Support for women’s right, children when you support me.
Paul Geller: Worked long & hard behind the scenes for MCPS funding. D14 schools are important and make sure all schools are supported, our seniors supported. please support me.
Doug Terry: asked to pass and come back.
Hafizur Rahman: we need to work together to solve problems. sorry, couldn’t understand.
Bernice Mireku-North: vote for me. I am a child of immigrant parents. Diverse area that I can thrive to promote public safety. Equal access for resources for all. Legal & community advocate. Please support me.
Doug Terry: apologize for tech problems. Echo Post comment to deal with racial problems. Think radically but act moderately. we live in a rich state. We need to move beyond the age of the car. make room for cyclist and those who walk. urge committee to name three people to let new Governor decide.
Raj Rajendran Vote for me because I’m looking for Office to serve & work my butt off. I have a cushy Federal job, but want to work hard. Get D14 back up and running. I know how to fight for money, build consensus, execute projects.
Paul Schwartz: I’ve dedicated my entire life to public service. Priorities are safety by dealing with hate crimes & gun safety. Vision zero needs to get moving by making investments. Senior migrations to tax friendly states.
Nathan Feinberg: Much work to be done. ref recent violence at Shell. respect residents of all backgrounds. Build more housing in an equitable way, protect the environment. Ensure our children can live here when they grow up. Or will they be displaced.
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