r/maryland

Is there a place where we can look over all the candidates and their political beliefs? It's hard to look up each of these people individually. I vote progressive so whoever is willing to tax the rich, help the immigrant, universal healthcare, childcare, education, etc.

I was reading another thread and people kept calling it a 'fee' and not a 'tax', so I looked into it. The distinction is that a tax goes to the government, a fee in this case goes to an Out of State non profit that pays its CEO $1,000,000 / year with a $6 million in employees wages a year.

It turns out that J Andrew Doyle , its CEO is actually the CEO of the largest Paint Lobby group in the United States located in DC, and all the key members also work for the ' American Coatings Association ' (the About Us page is locked but they all have it on their linkedin.

So a wealthy DC lobby group locks their website staff page, opens a new non profit with the false pretense of recycling paint (they only say they dump it in concrete mixes or throw in the landfill but provide no percentage numbers) and pay themselves with your 'FEE'

Their website's staff page is locked but here's proof

Jeffrey Wasikowski is the attorney for American Coatings Association (the lobby) and makes $400k from the non profit ?

You can look them all up on Linkedin, they all work for both the lobby group and the non-profit getting double income

You can't side with a DC Lobby Group that works for the paint industry thinking that you're doing something for the environment

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Marjaneh Zarrehparvar (President/Coo)	$302,933	$0	$37,535
J Andrew Doyle (Ceo (Aca President And Ceo))	$227,658	$682,972	$41,523
Jeffrey Wasikowski (Vp And General Counsel/ Secretary)	$192,552	$82,522	$55,710
Paul Fresina (Director, Special Projects)	$187,500	$0	$31,383
Fred Gabriel (Director Of Operations)	$185,750	$0	$54,499
Melissa Gibbons (Associate General Counsel)	$182,237	$32,159	$19,454
Nichole Dorr (Director State Projects)	$153,660	$0	$42,352
Heidi Mc Auliffe (Vp Of Government Affairs)	$135,383	$135,384	$57,475Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other

When I speak with others who live in the county, they're unsatisfied with the current political leadership and state of affairs. Corruption, cronyism, and grifting are running rampant in our county. We feel as though we pay high taxes (from both an income and property tax perspective), with nothing to show for it as far as amenities and our streets/highways are filled with litter and unkempt grass.

Aisha Braveboy appointed multiple people with a history of misconduct to various positions within the county (see Darryl Barnes, Shawn Joseph, Leslie Johnson, Samuel Moki).

The council also played "musical chairs" in the last few months, appointing and shuffling people to various positions.

At-Large --> Calvin Hawkins moved to work for Aisha's administration, Wala was appointed to At-Large.

District 4 --> Ingrid Watson, married to State Sen. Ron Watson (who supports data centers), was appointed to the PG Economic Development Commission, with no prior experience. Ingrid has been the subject of scrutiny because she did not actually live in District 4. The council appointed Tim Adams, former ineffective Bowie Mayor.

District 6 --> Wala moved to the At-Large position in January (now wants to run for Congress). Aisha recommended her unqualified scheduling assistant, Danielle Hunter.

Ed Burroughs III is under scrutiny for hiring his dad, among other things. Wanika Fisher is trying to run for State's Attorney with no prosecutorial experience.

What is the solution to getting these people out of office?

People are screaming "vote them out" with no viable alternatives. Honestly, it feels like we're in an echo chamber.

People don't want to volunteer for the campaigns of better candidates, they don't want to donate money to the campaigns of others (money wins campaigns, sending out mailers, billboards, and commercials are all expensive), and they want to sit on the internet and complain.

When it's time to vote, they either don't vote or vote for the incumbents. Is it laziness? How can we strategically right the ship politically in our county and bring back ethical leaders who actually want to help their constituents? What strategy did Mamdani use in NYC to beat the system and how can we implement it here?

`Under the settlement, the companies “do not admit any violation of any law or regulation, and expressly deny that they have violated any provision of the State of Maryland’s water pollution control laws.”'

I'm sick of seeing these settlements - they should go to court, set legal precedent and reem these companies out for this. Settlement amounts to buying the right to stink up the place, cheap. I know all the arguments - long, drawn out legal process, expenses, etc, etc - but frankly I don't think a settlement ever results in justice. A trial would give us real accountability and transparency into the how and why the companies decided to do it, and would set legal precedent for the future. I wonder how much profit the developers made off of this - a lot more than $4 million I'll bet.