Is there a race in District 20?

Updated Monday, Sept. 13: This will be a very quick update while I gather my thoughts. Beautiful weekend despite the rain; the Folk Festival got better as the day wore on, I think. (easy for me to say, I didn't get there till after 3 p.m. I will be posting some pictures, video and maybe even a faux NPR piece complete with sound effects. But first I need to get out as much election information as I can.)

To wit, I'm glad I  -- and my suffering kids -- walked back home to Poplar Avenue from the Festival, or I wouldn't have run into well-known Green activist-puppeteer-parental adviser to the Piney Branch Young Activist Club (YA) Nadine Bloch. She was handing out information on the Board of Education candidates, about whom it might be said: "Never has so little been known by so many of so few." Nadine's concise little leaflet listed three candidates endorsed by local folks -- specifically Young Activist supporters. The incumbents don't support replacing the polystyrene lunch trays at PBES with plastic ones that can be washed. Nadine also said that Progressive Neighbors, which has endorsed the incumbos, did not follow its own endorsement policy. The YA Facebook page and website has more and I'll get more up later. Prog Neighbors is here My apologies to Mike Tabor for not getting that link up sooner, but I was busy with the Stoughton/Hixson piece. Mike had some good observations about Sheila Hixson which I may be able to relate later today (can't overpromise). I also should send him an email about Nadine's charge along w/ some other info I promised him -- not relating to the primary.

As for the post below, I'll try to add some campaign finance stats and other stuff over on the Politics page. Please check back during the day or become a "follower" so you get regular updates. If you don't whom to vote for, this may be the web site for you. (You can always "un-follow" later if it becomes too much for you.)

[If anyone can tell me how to conclusively eliminate the text background above, lemme know. Blogger isn't that great.]

Lastly, the whole foofaraw over the Voice Q&A's may be a foofaraw with no real foof. Eric told me he didn't even know Sheila Hixson hadn't turned in her answers to the Voice's questions until he started to post them online. The guy had too much to get done by deadline. In any case, the Q&A's that were submitted to the Voice have now been posted on that publication's web site. Of the six candidates, Robert Estrada and Hixson didn't return theirs, which raises the question of why Hixson campaign manager Michael Vaughan would tell me he was going to send it on. Perhaps Vaughan found out later that Voice editor Eric Bond had finally said Hixson never turned hers in. [added Monday: Or maybe Vaughan didn't know himself it hadn't been turned in. Who knows? It is odd, though.]

Chris Stoughton's Q&A is posted at the Voice link above (along w/ Board of Ed questions and answers) and at the Takoma20912 Politics page.

No, say the pundits. The "team" -- Del. Tom Hucker, Sen. Jamie Raskin, and Delegates Heather Mizeur  and Sheila Hixson -- is a sure bet to return to Annapolis and do great things for the District, according to the Conventional Wisdom. Here's Maryland Politics Watch's take on the race, after publishing a summary of the latest campaign finance reports: "All the incumbents will be reelected. Period."


The CW is probably right, but that doesn't mean there is not, technically speaking at least, a race. Nor does it mean voters should be left in the dark about the people running.


But that's pretty much what the local media have done, paying scant attention to the challengers. Yes, the Post and the Gazette have printed their voters' guides (I'd link to the Post's but I can't find it on their web site), but locally, one candidate in particular has been frustrated by the lack of attention, perceiving that the deck is stacked heavily against him.

That candidate would be Chris Stoughton, a 33-year-old policy analyst who arrived late to the race but has been doing everything he can to get his name and ideas to the electorate. In a few short months, he has knocked on 7,000 doors to argue that he should be given a chance to represent the voters of one of the most liberal districts in the state.


In doing so, however, he's stepping on a few toes, including those of Hixson, who began serving in Annapolis two years before Stoughton was even born.


More on Stoughton's campaign pitch in a moment [updated Mon: or not]. But first, an object lesson in how difficult it is to break into politics, especially when you are going up against well-funded, well-known, well-organized incumbents. 


Full disclosure here: Stoughton knocked on my door over the weekend and we spoke in my living room for about half an hour. I was impressed with what he had to say and took one of his signs, which is now in my front yard. At first, I thought I'd give Hixson a pass at the polls, but now I'm not so sure. I plan to vote for Stoughton but don't know which of the three incumbents to leave by the wayside. Maybe I'll do what Hucker was (reportedly) suggesting last time and just vote for one person -- Stoughton -- thus maximizing the power of that one vote. [Update: Hucker says in an e-mail, "I'm not sure who you're talking to, but I didn't tell anyone to bullet vote in 2006, and I haven't ever.  I might still have old lit urging people to vote for three; in any case I know that was part of the verbal rap we trained our volunteers to use at the polls in 2006." ]


But enough about me. Let's turn to ...


The mystery of the missing Q&A's


That would stand for Questions and Answers, the most common device for figuring out whom to vote for -- aside from asking your spouse or that one kooky neighbor who actually follows this stuff.  In the case of District 20, readers of the Takoma Voice would be forgiven for wondering if there's even a race in District 20.


That's because the Voice's September "Election Issue" contained not one word about District 20. That's right, ni siquiera una palabra acerca de la carrera de Distrito 20. Excuse my Spanish, I'm using Google Translate.


Why? Eric Bond, the perpetually overworked and underpaid Takoma Voice editor and publisher, says he didn't have time to get the Q&A's in the paper. But he also hasn't posted them online, where they could be read by potential voters. He told me on Tuesday he would post them by that night. But still, nothing. I offered to post them myself, but he hasn't shared them. he didn't even know Sheila Hixson hadn't turned in her answers to the Voice's questions until he started to post them online, as reported above


Stoughton has. Here is his Q&A, which he says he hustled to finish before the Voice's deadline.   


It's not hard to be sympathetic to Bond, whose newspaper always seems on the verge of folding. A couple of Takoma Park citizens, Voice columnist Howard Kohn and activist and former mayoral candidate Seth Grimes, put together a group called Friends of the Voice last year to help Bond with various debts. The list of contributors to the Voice's continued existence reads like a Who's Who of movers and shakers in Takoma Park --Kohn is on the list, naturally, as is Grimes. But there's also Takoma Park City Council member Dan Robinson (Ward 3), Josh Wright (Ward 1), Reuben Snipper (Ward 5), and Mayor Bruce Williams (along with former mayors Kathy Porter and Ed Sharp). 


Other Voice funders include At-Large County Council members and Takoma residents George Leventhal and Marc Elrich, District 5 council member Valerie Ervin, and, at the state level, District 20 lawmakers Raskin, Hucker and Mizeur (but not Hixson).


We have asked Hixson's campaign twice now for her Voice Q&A but have received no response from Michael Vaughan. Here's hoping we'll get something by email, or that Bond will either post the remaining questions and answers or at least get them to someone who will post them. The election -- there really is one -- is just a few days away.
http://takomapark.patch.com/articles/qa-six-questions-for-chris-stoughton

Update, 6:30 pm Friday: Got some answers to our own questions (as distinguished from Patch's questions and answers and the Voice's, which don't exist) from Hixson spokesman Michael Vaughan. They are posted below. In addition, the Patch web sites have posted "Six questions for Sheila Hixson.""Six questions for Sheila Hixson" Nothing on Stoughton, though. [Updated Monday: Stoughton's is up there  Readers can navigate to the Patch sites for themselves to find Elrich and whoever else they got to turn around a Q&A in less than a week.]

Still true: Still haven't gotten the Voice Q&A from Vaughan but it doesn't appear likely I will anytime soon: Takoma Voice editor Eric Bond told me that "Sheila did not return a questionnaire, so she is not represented. "If she gets one to me, I will make sure to post it.")  The Voice Q&A's are posted at at http://www.takoma.com/tpssnews/2010/09

Takoma20912 Q&A with Hixson campaign

Takoma 20912: Under "endorsements," you list the Takoma/Silver Spring Voice. I saw no endorsement in the latest edition of the paper. Where did that information come from?

Vaughan: That was my fault. I sent my web guy a list of recent endorsments and put the Takoma Voice instead of the Gazette. It has since been corrected.  

Takoma 20912: Second, as I understand it both Del. Hixson and Chris Stoughton filled out Q&A forms for the Voice; they didn't make it into the print edition but might be posted online. Could I get a copy of Del. Hixson's?

Vaughan: I will send that to you later today.  

Takoma20912: Del. Hixson has said she is not in favor of an increase in the tax on beer or liquor. Does she intend to maintain that stance if re-elected, especially given the state's budget woes?

Vaughan: Delegate Hixson is intimately  aware of the financial conditions in the State of Maryland although in relative terms Maryland is in much better shape than most other states. She has said repeatedly on the campaign trail that "everything is on the table" when we look at the  possible  revenue streams for the state.  You may infer from that statement that everything is on the table.       

Takoma20912: Fourth, does the fact that she has received thousands in campaign contributions from the liquor and/or beer industry have any influence on her position on an increase in alcohol taxes?

Vaughan: Delegate Hixson has received money from many individuals and organizations over her career.  She has never traded vote for money and she never will. She has been extremely accessible and everybody get's a fair hearing. 

I would refer you to the recent email sent out by Senator Raskin on behalf of the District 20 team on how he regards Delegate Hixson and her importance to getting a progressive agenda moving forward in Annapolis. You can see a copy of the letter here. www.sheilahixson.org/senatorRaskinLetter/. 

Takoma20912: Fifth, what is her position on mail delivery of wine (an issue championed by Jamie Raskin)?

Vaughan: Delegate Hixson has not made up her mind finally on this issue but she is always open to reviewing her positions. As I said above "everything is on the table".   There will be a complete review of Maryland Tax policy (which would include the issue of wine by mail order) when the new session starts in January.

This post will be amended and emended till it becomes distended--editor

Progressive Neighbors Debate: County Council At-Large Candidates

This was just posted today by Progressive Neighbors. Thanks to Terrill North, who moderated, for sending me the link. The group's YouTube channel is here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ProgressiveNeighbors.

Double the Lyons, double the fun

Lyons is the tallest guy (with the silver tie)

The Gazette seems to be having trouble adjusting to its new Wheaton-Takoma-Burtonsville-Silver Spring edition, which purports to cover all those areas. The newsstand edition I pulled out of a plastic bag at the Ben & Jerry's in downtown Silver Spring yesterday has not one, but two columns by Post-Newsweek CEO Chuck Lyons, who's been writing a column on a regular basis since he was the publisher of the Gazette during most of the '90s.

Lyons must have just attended the reunion of his high school graduating class of 1964, because he wrote about the early 1960s in an "edited commentary [that] was presented at a high school reunion in Owosso, Mich., this past weekend."

As he has done frequently throughout the years, Lyons steered clear of the local scene, opting instead for a trip down memory lane, exploring the somewhat overworked theme of young people growing up in the America of the early '60s. 

"We were optimistic. Our president, John F. Kennedy, said we were going to land a man on the moon. His wife, Jacquelyn [sic; it's Jacqueline], labeled our era the American Camelot, likening it to the legendary King Arthur's Court, defined as a place or time of idyllic happiness."

He looks back on those years with fondness and a humor that will be most appreciated by his classmates, but also probably by anyone who went to high school. Then again, Lyons is talking about high school in Owosso, Mich., which as he describes it was idyllic. Jobs were plentiful, patriotism and school spirit were the order of the day. It was "safe."
"The best moment was running out from underneath the cement bleachers of Willman Stadium onto the field before the game and jumping into a circle of blue and gold while the band played, "Go You Owosso," on a frosty Friday night in November. That was Americana," he writes.

Not sure if I'd say Americana, which suggests papers, documents, that type of thing. "America" would probably suffice. 

In any case, taking forever to get to the point, the Gazette liked Lyons' column so much they printed it twice -- on pages A-13 and A-15, where it takes up most of the space above the fold. 

I can understand that they can't find anything to write about in the area covered by the regional edition, which includes well over 100,000 people. But the column wasn't that good. 

If I ever get around to writing about my days at the Gazette, back in the '80s under Davis Lee Kennedy, Jim Hazel, Koko Wittenburg and then Jack Murphy, I'll discuss the way the paper gets put together. It can't be too much different than when I was there. They're still making the same mistakes. 


In the meantime, enjoy the tunes on my You Tube page,  entitled "Rock, Sir," in tribute to Mr. Kennedy, mentioned above (and shown below). The Dilk is now the editor/publisher of the Current newspapers, which are quite good and successful. DLK can be seen here uncropped, with D.C.  councilman Jack Evans and his wife at the CAG gala. (I'm guessing Creative Arts Guild but I don't know. just checked: It was the Citizens Association of Georgetown 2009 Gala)

Free Bird

             

Perhaps that's a sign that I really am "inside-the-Beltway," that I've been here so damn long that Admiral Stockdale's immortal words seem appropriate (although for a while, I had let my mistyped "Why I am here?" remain online. Embarrassing, very embarrassing).

Living here for an extended period, it's hard for your life not to become imbued with politics. Every issue is boiled down in the Washington Post to GOP v Democrats (I'm the latter, btw -- not a member of any organized party, etc.).

But I felt I should try to explain why I'm doing this blog, which will, I hope, become part of the soon-to-launch TBD.com operation launched by Allbritton Communications, which owns Politico (the story on the front page of the site right now [update 8/2: don't know what it is now] is "Speaker defends troubled majority," by David Rogers. Yes, David Rogers, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, who just sold his house on Philadelphia Avenue -- or did he? [Doesn't look like it; despite information provided to me by someone who is usually reliable -- hint: sometimes I call her "my wife" -- I have been told by Ward 1 councilmember Josh Wright, one of the few to have read this blog thus far, that Rogers "actually lives across the street from me and I do notthink he owns a house on Philly." OK, so Rogers lives on Maple and may or may not be trying to sell his house. Hey, when doing this blog thing you gotta break the ice with an error. That's a rule. I'm not perfect, never said I was. OK, enough groveling.]

[The rest of this is irrelevant, but I stuck the link to Vanishing Point in there, so I'm not going to delete all of it.]

Should we check it out and publicize that information, since we're a blog and there are no limitations, because we want to feel like Barry Newman in Vanishing Point, hurtling toward the edge while being counseled by a blind DJ?

Nah. Too much work. And Rogers, just to finish the aside, is what you would imagine a reporter should be -- a little disheveled, his shirt partially untucked, a tie hanging from his neck, knotted  below an unbuttoned top button.

Yeah, and sometimes he chews gum!

But enough about Rogers; I'm not asking him to the prom, I'm here to supposedly fill people in on some Takoma Park news.

First I have to include this snippet I sent to Jeff Sonderman of the TBD operation. I think he may be delaying approval of my entry into the "community" because, really, I ain't got a blog yet. I'm hoping this little entry will remedy that. 

How much copy do you need to officially call yourself a blog? I think the latest standard adopted by the Society of Internet Bloggers is either 1 word, 1 image or 1 video. An audio file really doesn't count because, uh, that's really 90s, y'know? I mean, that's just plain weird.(Then again, there's Mel Gibson's telephonic antics...But they're already established, those Radar people). To start things off, you need to slap a pic or a vid or the word "Beauty" on the web, and you can call yourself a Grade A certified American blogger.

Anyway, this is what I sent Sonderman, in response to TBD's request for information about my yet-to-be-born blog:

Category for blog: Community ["News" wasn't available on the list of a dozen or so categories.] [Added Aug. 5: Here are the categories I was given to choose from: 

• Crime
• Politics
• Education
• Transportation
• Weather
• Entertainment
• Dining
• Lifestyle
• Sports
• Business
• Community
• Technology
• Environment
• Government
• Development

Name: Steve Davies [the name I told them I wanted to use for my posts. It's my real name, so I figured it would be easy to remember]

Logo: Simple, boring. I like it. They'll use this for ID purposes, not me – unless I want to. Can't say, exactly.

Very short description: Covering news -- government operations, business, people, politics and environment -- in the People's Republic of Takoma Park, Md., and the Takoma neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Description subject to change without notice by the blogger.

Then I went keystroke-happy, writing...[it's been edited somewhat from the original.]

I promise to provide a merely slightly varnished -- perhaps even jaded -- version of happenings in Takoma Park, a city of about 18,000 located (completely) in Montgomery County that borders Washington, D.C. to the northeast and Prince George's County to the west (oooh, lemme check that, OK?).

A city known for community activism and involvement, which has been called the Berkeley of the East but also, perhaps more appropriately, the People's Republic of Takoma Park, a city that had the courage to pass a resolution stating that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be impeached and to resolve that cage-free chickens are better than factory-farmed ones. Takoma Park, which had  an extensive recycling program well before most other cities, which provides its residents free compost created from leaves picked up at the curb. We also have a corn silo -- organic corn only, please -- on city property to service the members of a cooperative who have corn-burning stoves.

Some may ask incredulously, What is there to write about? A better question is, where to start? It may be the oldest cliche in the book, but Takoma Park is a microcosm of so many other urban/suburban areas, demographically split between homeowners and renters, extremely liberal (beyond the mainstream on that score), struggling to make ends meet as the recession drags on, dealing with crime and immigration issues, trying to "re-green" itself after having long ago lost its reputation for being a pacesetter in that area. Incredibly diverse and progressive, but also strangely conservative. The local historic preservation group has always been influential, but it's taking years for them to finish renovating their new home at Takoma Junction [added 8/2 – Look for another 21-person task force to be appointed to address the issues at that maddening intersection of Carroll, Old Carroll, Ethan Allen, Sycamore, and Grant, with the Co-op, the Park (often referred to by other appellations), the gas station, the fire station, the vet's, the dry cleaner, the framers, the bike shop, the Laundromat, the auto shop, Jet Postal and the Falafel truck. Nah, not much happening there. Oh, and – the city-owned lot next to the co-op – what to do about that? Develop? Sell? Turn it into a water park? I vote, only half-jokingly, for a Water Tower that would provide water to thousands and make money for Takoma Park. Let the collected rainwater flow through a specially designed conveyance/filtration system, using rocks to slowly leach the water of any dangerous toxins. A  carbon filtration system would complete the process, leading ineluctably to the moment when Mayor Bruce Williams grabs the first bottle of TakomaWater off the assembly line and quaffs it as flash bulbs pop and the assembled crowd applauds.]

A younger generation has moved in and probably doesn't fully understand how things work in Takoma Park. (Come to think of it, people who have lived here for decades have no clue). Ignorance of city affairs is widespread. The homeowners -- most of them white, but we'll get to stats later -- are likely as not working for a federal government agency or a liberal nonprofit, trying to save the world from various scourges. But when you're fighting Climate Change, poverty, a broken educational system and crooked politicians, you don't have a lot of time for the mundane matters of city government. The fact that change seems to come slowly, in odd fits and starts, may be one reason most people avoid city affairs.

There is a strong minority of involved people, however, who have been active in the community for years, and can be counted on to voice opinions on one topic or another. But it still can be work to follow the goings-on in Takoma Park.  Despite the presence of two newspapers, the Takoma Voice and the (erstwhile) Takoma Gazette (now the Wheaton-Silver Spring-Burtonsville-Takoma Park Gazette), many important stories remain untold. It's my humble hope that I can shed some light on things here by providing people with information -- something to INFORM you about local affairs. I certainly will not be shy about voicing my own opinions, but they'll be pretty easy to recognize and distinguish from the cold, hard facts. Links to documents and video footage will be used to illuminate.

The city web site is often inscrutable (it's undergoing a makeover at some point, according to a survey posted a while back); the Ward boundaries are not well publicized or explained, and so are generally unknown. The city boundary itself also can be malleable. What exactly is in Takoma Park? I'm told, in fact, that no one actually knows which political entity has jurisdiction of certain areas along the city line with Prince George's. I hope to bring you more on that if this thing, this blog, lasts.

To allude pointlessly to one of my favorite movies, Takoma Park is a little like Lumberton, the small town in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. Obviously, it's unique because of its history, its proximity to Washington, D.C., and the incredibly talented -- and eccentric -- people who choose to live here.

But as in Lumberton, there is much in Takoma Park that remains below the surface. Maybe we'll unearth some of it here.