MCGEO and the unions representing the police and the career fire fighters have joined forces to launch an independent expenditure campaign with three goals: decry budget cuts, push back against the school system and help three candidates in the Council At-Large race.
The independent effort, called Protect Your Montgomery, includes both a website and one mailer (so far) that we reprint below.
Here’s what they say about the school system:
The budget and service cuts didn’t have to be so deep, so harsh, or so concentrated on just a fewessential County services.
The County’s School Board Bureaucracy got 57% of the $4.3 billion County budget. The School Board budget protected 2,626 Education bureaucrats who earn more than $100,000
a year. The School Board did cut some classroom teachers, but School Superintendant Jerry Weast, with an annual compensation package worth $489,763 last year, refused to participate in any austerity— rejecting even a symbolic “furlough” to cut into his own income.The Education Bureaucracy is highly skilled at protecting itsprerogatives, leaving it up to you, your neighbors and your communities to absorb the harshest cuts in this budget.
And here’s what they say about the three at-large candidates they are supporting:
Some candidates for office in the County agree with our concerns, while others have turned their backs on us.
There are three At-Large seats on the County Council. In 2010, incumbents George Leventhal and Marc Elrich have proven themselves to be Champions of Public Service. We believe that Hans Riemer, because of his background and experience, also qualifies as a Champion of Public Service.
Ironically, Leventhal, Elrich and Riemer have also been endorsed by MCEA.