By Adam Pagnucco.
County executive candidate Mithun Banerjee, who has sued the Montgomery County Renters Alliance and Montgomery Community Media (MCM) for failing to invite him to their recent candidate forum, has amended his complaint to provide more details on his allegations. And he specifically took aim at the compensation paid to renters alliance Executive Director Matt Losak, a sum that is subsidized by county taxpayers.
First, a recap. MCM and the renters recently co-sponsored a forum for county executive candidates on housing. Council Members Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass and Will Jawando were invited to participate but Banerjee and another candidate, Celeste Iroha (who has since dropped out), were not. Banerjee was later told that only candidates who had raised a certain amount of money and/or had “achieved public financing status” were eligible to participate. The problem was that as of the invite date, neither Glass nor Jawando – who are both enrolled in public financing – had been certified by the state.
In his suit, Banerjee alleged that his exclusion was not only unfair but it violated the two groups’ 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, which bars them from “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” Banerjee alleged that his exclusion was “because I am a Landlord, Asian American, Immigrant, Minority & Person of Color to my personal opinion.” The renters alliance frequently advocates on issues relevant to landlords as well as tenants, such as rent control and good cause eviction.
In addition to his suit against MCM and the renters alliance, Banerjee is suing the renters’ board members as individuals. He describes them as “powerful” people and notes that they include a sitting state Delegate (Vaughn Stewart), a county Democratic central committee member, a former municipal council member, a county employee and more. He further notes that the renters alliance receives county money, something I have previously reported. (Incidentally, so does MCM.) In a mass email to media organizations and elected officials, Banerjee claimed the following about the renters alliance and their executive director, Losak.
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Most important for the Public to know that Montgomery County Renters Alliance Inc received Public Funds for almost $200,000 from Montgomery County, Maryland under Contract but Mr. Matthew (Matt) Losak received approximately $173,000 as a Compensation which is higher Compensation than the Lieutenant Governor of State of Maryland pay of approximately $165,000 & higher than Montgomery County Council Pay of approximately $167,000.
Why is this 501.C.3 Organization funded by Taxpayers Money when Mr. Matthew (Matt) Losak was drawing a Compensation of approximately $173,000 & not significant financial help was provided to the Tenants of Montgomery County, Maryland based on the IRS 990 Form attached as Exhibit?
Moreover the Board Members of Montgomery County Renters Alliance, Inc includes Powerful People from State of Maryland, including State Lawmaker very close to the Governor of the State of Maryland & Speaker of the Maryland State House, Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee Member, Two Attorneys, Montgomery County Employee & Union Leader, Former Gaithersburg City Council Member & Member from Montgomery County Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board, Former Candidate for County Council, Business Leaders & Community Leaders who knowingly & intentionally violated IRS 501.C.3 Rules & Guidelines even after I shared the IRS 501.C.3 Guidelines with them requesting for a corrective action, through their Resident Agent of Montgomery County Renters Alliance Inc., Mr. Matthew (Matt) Losak.
Moreover, Montgomery County Renters Alliance Inc received Funds from Montgomery County under Contract & is Legally Considered as an Agent &/or Vendor of Montgomery County, Maryland where Current County Executive Mr. Marc Elrich endorsed Mr. Willam (Will) Jawando.
Why a Montgomery County Contracted 501.C.3 Organization will held a County Executive Forum to promote only 3 Establishment County Council Candidates Running for County Executive Race against Plaintiff, Mr. Mithun Banerjee’s Candidacy?
I requested all communications under Maryland Freedom of Information Act between Montgomery County Employees including Employees working with County Council Members, Montgomery County Council Member & Montgomery County Renters Alliance Inc & Montgomery Community Media.
The County Council Attorney didn’t send me a denial to send me the documents but the County Attorney Ms. Diane P. Kilcoyne denied to provide me the Documents by Denying my Waiver for Costs for Public Interest.
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As an exhibit to his amended complaint, Banerjee attached the renters alliance’s 2023 Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service. The report lists Losak’s compensation at $162,240 with an additional $10,583 coming from “other compensation from the organization and related organizations.” Two years before, the renters were paying Losak compensation of $137,040, so his receipts have grown by 26% since then.
In their responses to Banerjee, MCM claimed that it “does not select the participants or influence the content presented during the forum” and assigned responsibility to the renters, while Losak called the suit “frivolous.” We shall see how the circuit court chooses to deal with Banerjee’s allegations.
All of this raises a point of public policy worth considering. The county regularly gives non-competitive contracts to the renters alliance intended to “Provide for tenant education services about their rights under current laws, regulations, and available avenues of assistance.” This year’s contract gives them $259,194. The executive director’s last reported compensation (from two years ago) accounts for two-thirds of that amount. An indeterminate amount of his time is spent on lobbying state and county governments on legislation like rent control and good cause eviction. He has even gone so far as to threaten to “remove” and “replace” elected officials who oppose rent control, which is inconsistent with IRS policy forbidding 501(c)(3) nonprofits from advocating for or against candidates.
Is subsidizing an organization like this an appropriate use of taxpayer funds? Or is it time for county elected officials to make sure that taxpayer money is spent on services and not on lobbying?
Banerjee’s amended complaint can be downloaded below.