By Marc Korman.
There are numerous candidates running or rumored to be running for the District 16 open Delegate seat. The first challenger out of the gate with a kick-off was small business owner, law student, and Montgomery County Young Democrats President Scott Goldberg.
Goldberg’s kick-off was held at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center on a rainy Sunday afternoon. About thirty-five people of varying ages attended. Also present was Delegate Roger Manno, who introduced Goldberg to the audience. Goldberg and Manno worked together in 2006, when the new candidate was a volunteer knocking on doors and talking up Manno’s healthcare policies.
Goldberg stated some of the challenges facing not just District 16 or Maryland, but really the whole country. He said that over the past ten years we have chosen to send young people to war instead of college, drilled for oil instead of developed solar, put more demands on the poor and less on the rich, furloughed workers, put our students in trailers even in successful school districts like Montgomery County, and passed slots. Goldberg’s message was that we “expect more.”
By “expect more,” Goldberg indicated he meant we could not be satisfied with the status quo. One example he cited in particular really drove him towards running. Last session, an effort was made to increase the drop out age in Maryland public schools. One Republican State Senator said we could not necessarily afford to increase the drop out age, because it meant more kids in the school system and increased education costs.
Goldberg then ticked off several policy ideas he wanted to implement if elected:
1. Clean Energy – The candidate proposed deploying solar panels on schools, tapping geothermal energy, and retrofitting state owned buildings. The goal is to actually have the state generate power to sell back to the electric companies.
2. Rainy Day Fund – Goldberg said he wanted to save more, shifting from the shortsighted view of spending and save enough so that future downturns would not have the same budgetary effect as this one.
3. Marriage Equality – He called for full marriage equality, saying the benefits of marriage should not be denied based on sexual orientation.
4. Transportation – Goldberg said he supported the Purple Line, more bike paths, and encouraging gyms with showers in office buildings so more people could ride to work. Essentially, he wanted to get people out of their cars.
Scott Goldberg will be taking this message door to door between now and September 14th. He will have lots of company in the Democratic Primary.
Full disclosure, I am a Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee member from District 16. I have not endorsed Scott Goldberg or any other challenger. Goldberg and I did attend the same law school and have worked together in the Montgomery County Young Democrats.