Basic Information
Republican Party – running for Montgomery County Council District 6
Email info@voteforviet.com
Website www.VoteForViet.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/VoteForViet
Twitter www.twitter.com/VoteForViet
Questions & Responses (All Candidates)
1 – What lessons learned do you have since the start of the pandemic?
- Screen time did not equal quality learning. In fact, our children are having to cope with historic learning deficits as they navigate normal challenges that come with school.
- We’re a community that is willing to cooperate and work hard together. From neighborhood “safaris” with stuffed animals in the window to picking up groceries for our immunocompromised coworkers, we’ve shown that we’re dedicated to helping each other and becoming stronger together.
- The term “essential” applies to so many building blocks of our society that we need to recognize and appreciate fully.
2 – If you could go back and do one thing differently from what was done in the last two years in Montgomery County what would you change?
- I would have provided our small businesses with more cover. We effectively took some very talented small business owners out of the equation of Montgomery County’s economic development by telling them to operate as if they had the same tools and resources of bigger companies and the same accommodations as our residents that were able to work from home.
- I would have emphasized a few key building blocks to focus on for education versus treating the curriculum one to one with virtual learning and pushed to have schools reopened sooner.
3 – What do you think are the 3 biggest and most pressing issues facing our county in the next 4 years? Why?
- Housing options – we lack housing options generally and have done little to address affordable housing specifically. If we don’t properly plan to address this, we risk losing our status as a bedroom community that is self-sufficient, becoming a County that must import its labor because it can’t provide adequate housing. We can’t grow our economy if we can’t support housing needs from the ground up.
- Local crime numbers continue to climb. Neighborhood anecdotes, statistics, and the evening local news reports paint the same picture. If we can’t address these issues before they grow, we risk losing the initiative and seeing them worsen.
- Our economy has stagnated compared to DC & VA. A strong economy is the rising water that raises all other ships. Our new business growth rate is a fraction of our local competitor. We’ve let this trend enmesh itself in our County for far too long – the course must be righted. We have a wealth of resources and talent, our failure to be competitive in the market is a reflection on poor leadership and cultural complacency.
4 – What specifically do you plan to do in the 3 most pressing areas from Question 3?
- Addressing the shortcomings of Thrive 2050 is a start. I am excellent at synthesizing information from consulting groups and organizing cohesive plans of action. We need to first and foremost make sure that Thrive is an instructive, useful tool with specific guidelines. It must accommodate the diverse natures of our neighborhoods, uphold environmental standards, protect threatened ethnic groups, and above all else, shift from “attainable” housing to “affordable housing” so that regardless of background, seniors can downsize their home and remain in their communities, first time buyers are able to settle into our neighborhoods, and renters are not priced out of their homes.
- We must be proactive versus reactive. We need to support our police and establish recurring touchpoints to address concerns more quickly once they are identified. We must recognize that we are partnering with the police for the long haul and stop treating everything as a finite game. We are not here to win for any political ideology – we are here to build safer communities, period. That means working together with law enforcement and encouraging neighborhood civic groups to actively communicate and engage with each other. The better we know each other and members of the police, the better we protect our neighborhoods.
- Our leaders believe our economic success stems from big companies like biotech, but they have it backwards. Those companies didn’t make MoCo successful, MoCo represented a business rich environment in which they could thrive. It is an opportunity for success we must extend to our small business community. We have ZTAs and SLAs formulated to help bigger businesses, these tools must be accessible to our small business community as well. I intend to streamline operations, reduce the burden on administration and utilize MoCo’s tax revenue to stimulate an environment replete with new business opportunities that will make us market-competitive and encourage investment in our vibrant community.
5 – Would you consider supporting changes to electoral process such as open primaries or non-partisan elections in Montgomery County to allow 155,000+ registered Unaffiliated/Independents in Montgomery County to vote locally when it counts?
- I believe open primaries make a lot of sense, especially for counties that traditionally fall under one political make up. They allow more people to have a voice and can re-engage an increasingly despondent group of independents who represent the largest growing party in Montgomery County.
Questions & Responses (County Council)
1 – What is your plan to attract and KEEP businesses in Montgomery County? How can we get more businesses across the county and especially where its lacking in the Up County and East County and compete with Northern Virginia?
- Small business owners are good at assessing the geographical viability for their establishments. The ability to attract and keep businesses starts with something simple and not particularly novel. Change the culture and open the lines of communication!
- We are not seen as business friendly compared to NoVA and that reputation does not change overnight. We must demonstrate that we are “open door” with our local business groups, city leaders, and the various Chambers of Commerce. Having had the pleasure of speaking with organizations across the board, the message is clear: there is currently a dearth of communication. “X doesn’t talk to us” is a refrain I heard over and over – from the top down. It’s truly shocking. And this is felt, and reflected, in our small business communities. They feel ignored by our leadership. And why wouldn’t they if leadership is ignoring each other? There are groups forming around our County with the same goals, who feel isolated and adrift. I will bring these groups together and establish a robust network of economic leaders for business owners to leverage.
- Businesses locate themselves to grow in environments where they have the resources to thrive. We have done this before with the BioTech industry. We have ZTAs tailored for their growth and development. These are the tools for success we must extend to all businesses, particularly our talented small business community. There is no “one solution fits all.” In my District (6) we have a wealth of minority-owned businesses, many of which are operated by primarily Spanish speaking management who are unaware of bilingual resources available through the County. We also need to make sure we reasonably staff these resources to accommodate out local entrepreneurs.
- I intend to streamline government operations while implementing tech solutions where best utilized to lower the administrative burden and decrease overall turnaround times. One initiative to put those skills to good use would be refreshing our government website’s user interface (UI) to be more intuitive and user friendly. Accountability would also better be enforced with the transparency that comes with supplementing our systems with blockchain accounting. An informed public is an empowered one.
- Permits should not take months to process. I intend to examine and refresh best practices and hold us accountable to new and improved service-level agreements (SLAs).
2 – How will you hold developers accountable for past, present, and future infrastructure commitments (schools, transit, roads, etc.)?
- Standards must be written into the policy that guides developers’ actions. Initiatives like Thrive 2050 are opportunities for us to put in such safeguards. The County has a history of setting goals that are untethered from metrics, making it difficult to hold anyone accountable for results – or lack thereof. Infrastructure commitments must be tied to metrics that meaningfully consider community input. These forums for community input must be in the communities they seek to serve, during hours that maximize participation. Developers are not the bad guys; they run businesses and have their priorities just like everyone else. They are as good as anybody at knowing the rules and making sure they meet their interests within those parameters. When the Council pens these commitments, they are in essence setting the rules. There is also the issue about establishing clear lines of communication and building relationships. When we are mindful in crafting the rules, everybody gets to enjoy the game.
3 – What do you plan to do about the increase in incidents of carjackings and homicides in the county and decline of applicants and morale in the police force?
- We must provide the police with the resources they need. The decline in applicants is unfortunately a pattern we see affecting many other sectors, too, as in the education and education-adjacent mass exodus. We need to listen to those who serve our community and provide them the funding for initiatives that make their jobs easier and our communities healthier. Morale can also be boosted with a greater focus on community engagement. When people know members of law enforcement, channels for information gathering develop, and trust and respect for those that serve our community grows.
4 – What do you see as your biggest advantage or positive that you bring to the table over your competitors?
- I’ve made my mark as a Senior Consultant from a “Big 4” firm. I’ve managed infrastructure, legal, auditing, and IT contracts within my portfolio – some in excess of a billion dollars. My experience working on large government projects, from the Federal level down to local government programs, has prepared me for the scale and scope of holding office.
- I also do not intend to be a career politician; I did not “work my way up” in the system of departments that now find themselves mired in scandal and dysfunction. I therefore have no conflicts of interest or problems with taking on all the responsibility and accountability that comes with a seat on the Council. I am not incentivized by my career path to “play it safe,” and I’m invested in my community and acting for the good of MoCo.
See the rest of our candidate responses:
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