By Adam Pagnucco.
Suppose you sign up to receive “news and information” from county government. Afterwards, the ensuing emails and texts contain opinions from the county executive. Is that OK?
This issue is arising in the context of debate about the More Housing N.O.W. (New Options for Workers) package proposed by Council Members Andrew Friedson and Natali Fani-Gonzalez in January. County Executive Marc Elrich opposes parts of it and is not shy about discussing that in public. One tool he has used for doing so is the county’s update system, which sends out regular texts and emails to those who receive it. The sign up screen shown below states, “Sign up for the information and updates about COVID-19 and County news from Montgomery County, MD Public Information Office.”
On Friday, Elrich included criticism of the housing package in his regular message to residents. That provoked the complaint below by Takoma Torch founder (and anti-Elrich Super PAC treasurer) Eric Saul to the inspector general. Saul’s sentiment is shared by other housing supporters. Following Saul’s complaint, I’ll provide my take on the issue.
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Dear Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi, Esq.,
I am writing to point out County Executive Marc Elrich’s repeated and increasingly unhinged misuse of the Montgomery Update text system to broadcast his personal political opinions—specifically about pro-housing policies. As far as I understand, Montgomery Update is supposed to provide useful, nonpartisan information to county residents—things like new laws, public events, and maybe the occasional “don’t panic, the Purple Line is still planning to open one day.” What it’s not supposed to be is Marc Elrich’s personal journal where he works through his complicated relationship with mixed-use development.
But lately, that’s exactly what it’s become. My phone buzzes with a Montgomery Update and I think, “Oh, maybe it’s about a new farmers’ market or road construction.” Nope. It’s Marc Elrich, furiously typing out a manifesto about why high-density housing is an existential threat to the suburban way of life. Kids hear the alert and ask their parents, “Ooh, is it about the Fourth of July parade?” No, honey—it’s Marc again, warning us about the looming menace of townhouses.
And this isn’t some one-time slip-up. Marc has done this multiple times. He’s treating the Montgomery Update system like a group chat with his therapist. On September 15, 2022, Marc texted the entire county to complain about Thrive Montgomery 2050. On February 7, 2025, he texted us to whine about Governor Wes Moore’s proposed housing bill. On Feb 14, 2025, instead of buying cheap chocolates in a heart-shaped box for his valentine, he instead texted us all to basically say “Roses are red, I’m vetoing the council’s developer impact tax bill.”
If this keeps up, it’s only a matter of time before we get messages like, “Montgomery Update: My neighbor planted a non-native tree. Should I say something?” Or “Montgomery Update: Does anyone else think the last election was unfair to me?” Honestly, I’m preparing myself for the day I get a text that just says, “Montgomery Update: U up?”
Let’s be clear—this is a county-wide system. There are over a million people in Montgomery County. It’s supposed to tell us about things that matter – like changes in public transportation or a new trash collection schedule. Instead, Marc Elrich is using it to take us all hostage for his long-winded TED Talk on why triplexes are an affront to humanity. It’s like signing up for community alerts and getting surprise chapters from Marc’s unpublished autobiography, “My Life in Zoning.”
And seriously—what’s the goal here? Am I supposed to feel motivated? Inspired? Educated? What does he think is going to happen? That I’m going to be sitting at home, see a text about ADUs, and suddenly have a spiritual awakening about land use policy? “Oh my God—he’s right! We must preserve the character of single-family neighborhoods!” Marc, I’m just trying to get an update about leaf collection. I don’t need to be roped into a hostage situation about urban density.
It’s not just inappropriate—it’s borderline psychological warfare. When I get a Montgomery Update, I should be learning about county business. Instead, I’m getting roped into Marc Elrich’s personal existential crisis. I’m half expecting the next message to be something like, “Montgomery Update: Where can I go to eat my feelings now that evil developers destroyed the Tastee Diner?”
And honestly, why housing policy? Of all the issues to hijack the county update system for—why this? Why not something fun? Like, “Montgomery Update: The new Trader Joe’s is opening!” That’s useful! That’s good news! But no—Marc wakes up and decides that today’s the day we all need to confront the moral implications of zoning reform.
Marc Elrich has every right to have opinions about housing policy. He can write an op-ed, give a speech, or stand on the street corner yelling at clouds like a normal person. But the Montgomery Update system is not his personal platform. It’s for county news, not some free text list for Marc’s campaign for County Council. If I wanted to be force-fed his personal opinions about housing, I’d follow him on Twitter.
I am asking the Office of the Inspector General to investigate this misuse of county resources and take appropriate steps to ensure that the Montgomery Update system is used strictly for official public communications – not for Marc’s partisan rants. The residents of Montgomery County deserve to feel confident that when they receive a Montgomery Update, it’s because there’s useful, relevant information to share—not because Marc Elrich woke up at 3:00 a.m. with a burning desire to explain why four-story apartment buildings are basically the downfall of society.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I trust you’ll handle this with the seriousness it deserves—because honestly, if I get one more surprise manifesto on housing policy when I’m just trying to learn about important county updates, I’m going to unsubscribe and then have USPS forward all my junk mail to Marc’s office.
Sincerely,
Eric Saul
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My take is different from Saul’s. Elected officials have a right to express their opinions on policy issues. After all, one of the primary aspects of their jobs as elected officials is to decide policy issues. I don’t have a problem with their using their official communications apparatus to do this. However, they shouldn’t use such mechanisms to weigh in on purely political issues, like candidate elections. If they wish to do that, they should use campaign materials financed by political contributions. Elrich got close to this line last year when he used the county’s update system to whine about the passage of reduced term limits, which prohibited him from running for a third term. His allegation that supporters were “smart enough to lie and misrepresent the truth” seems not to qualify as county “news and information.”
And so here is a question. Should there be a way for county residents to get information on issues like building and road closures, recreation and library programs, job fairs, public health data and the like without mixing in opinions from elected officials? Or is this distinction not worth it?
What do you think, readers?