Regulations allow lobbying to exist Re: “Dodd-Frank’s winners: Revolving-door regulators,” July 24
On July 24, a story ran about Dodd-Frank where Amy Friend illustrates pigs feeding at the troughs, even the very ones they’ve built. This story addresses the same issue at a macro level. The American public loves to rail against lobbying while hailing the regulations that enable it. There’s no coincidence lobbying escalated over the past decade when regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Obamacare and Dodd-Frank passed. During the dot-com boom, the tech industry focused more of its investment in products and personnel. After the Microsoft antitrust trials, they now spend on lobbying. Tax dollars leave states to the federal government, and the states have to grovel to get those dollars back. State legislators even have lobbying representation!
These circumstances call for states to do more while the federal government does less with respect to taxing and regulating. This also has a role in solving our debt crisis because states can’t print money. They have to balance their budgets. This way, conservative locales could have the regulations and taxing they want while liberal locales could respectively have the same, and we could all happily coexist with less lobbying-related gridlock in Washington.
Brian Wrenn
Washington
Welcome to the MontCo ‘Twilight Zone’
Re: “Leggett, Leventhal lead Montgomery contingent to El Salvador,” July 23
Could anything better highlight the gross government misconduct, corruption and general lack of respect for Montgomery County taxpayers than County Executive Ike Leggett’s upcoming 66-person junket to El Salvador? After county and state budget sessions which raised my taxes, tolls and other fees, decreased services, cut government workers, teachers, firemen and police and did little to eliminate the growing county/state structural budget deficits, how dare our politicians waste more taxpayer funds.
Why visit El Salvador? While Salvadorans make up a disproportionate amount of the county’s Hispanic population, including the largest segment of illegal immigrants, MS-13 gang members and prison inmates, there is not much in common between both “sister regions.” The Montgomery County median family annual income is about $92,000, El Salvador less than $8,000, so expanded business development is not a plausible explanation. Pressure from Casa de Maryland to further legitimize its role in bringing in increased numbers of Hispanic, especially Salvadoran, illegal immigrants to the county is behind this. So are two former Casa board members who are part of the delegation — state Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez, D-Montgomery, born in El Salvador, and County Councilman George Leventhal, D-at large.
Despite protests of no taxpayer funds involved, Montgomery County staff managed by Bruce Adams, director of the Office of Community Partnerships, invested much time and effort in planning this “working vacation.” Adams is yet another former County Council member and now a highly paid retread on Leggett’s team like former Councilman Mike Subin. Seems Adams went to El Salvador in 2010, then returned to establish a bank in the county with a nonprofit Salvadoran organization to help transmit money back to El Salvador. Adams calls it a “complete win-win-win.” I call it aiding and abetting dollar transfers from Salvadoran illegal immigrant workers and MS-13 gang members who could not legally use traditional banks for such activities.
My favorite excuse for this boondoggle goes to Karla Silvestre, Latino liaison in the OCP. Silvestre actually wants to learn why people continue to leave El Salvador. Unlike most county citizens, it has not dawned on Silvestre that offering illegal immigrants free day-laborer job centers, banking privileges, free nonemergency health care, dental care, prescription drugs, free K-12 education, in-state tuition, limited law enforcement and taxpayer-funded welcoming groups like Casa actually is incentive to leave their homeland for Maryland.
What is needed is not a taxpayer-funded vacation to El Salvador, but instead inspector general investigations of the Office of Community Partnerships and Casa de Maryland.
Brad Botwin, director,
HelpSaveMaryland.com
Rockville
Young people can vote to help their education
As a rising senior at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, the quality of my education is an issue that is particularly important to me.
During my time as a student, I have witnessed administrative problems as well as harsh and arbitrary punishments for students who do not have outlined rights within the school system. [Republican 37th District House of Delegates candidate] Brian Schoeneman has a clear vision for reforming the School Board and disciplinary process.
As a member of the House of Delegates, Schoeneman will take action to address these issues by implementing School Board reform initiatives and enforcing a Student/Parent Bill of Rights. His ideas for School Board reform entail a better representation for the students as well as the school. Many times, due to the lack of administrative accountability, the School Board will merely represent the school administration. Schoeneman will work toward creating a voice for the students’ and the schools’ needs.
In order to create better schools and stronger communities, we need to ensure that we choose our local politicians wisely. Your ballot in the upcoming November election could bring about the most immediate and profound changes because participation on the local level is the most effective way to do so.
On a final note, I highly encourage other high school students to become more engaged in local politics and to become actively involved in the decisions that can affect our quality of life in Fairfax County.
Eunice Kwon
Fairfax
