Our small- and medium-sized businesses have been ignored and systematically destroyed as the council has prioritized big-box companies in the last 10 years. For this reason, I will make supporting small- and medium-sized businesses the cornerstone of the economic recovery in the county. They create local jobs, improve our local supply chains and as such, we should prioritize helping and supporting them. I will improve the investment environment in the county be streamlining regulations/permits, and creating tax incentives for new businesses to open shop in the county. The economy is a priority, just like the other issues we’re dealing with such as education, security, and lack of accountability in the council, which are not mutually exclusive of each other. If we fix the economy, then we’ll have the financial wherewithal to tackle other pertinent issues facing our county.

Teachers are the backbone of our communities and as such, they need all the support from the council to be able to have a say on all policies directed at our school’s curriculum, budget, and related policies. The county’s Board of Education (BOE) is beholden to teacher unions that have an agenda that is not for the best interest of the county. As such, I will work on revising these contracts and eventually support to nullify them so that the BOE is free to make independent policy decisions along the teachers it represents.  I will also make it a priority to support the inclusion of parents in the review and development of existing and new curriculum. When elected, I plan to revise and eliminate all inappropriate sexual education from the curriculum for K-12. Our children need to learn how to read and write to be competitive in the job market instead of going to drag-queen story time events or worry about if they should change their gender.

The quality of life in the county depends on how safe do residents feel in their neighborhoods, so, my priority will be to support an increase in the budget for the police department and keep Special Resource Officers in schools. With the rise of criminality in the county as a whole, it is imperative that the focus in the council be to increase the financial support to our police so that they can have the tools to quell criminal activity at all levels. Crime statistics are through the roof. When elected, I plan to increase the ratio of police offers per 1000 residents to at least 5.0/1000 residents from the national average of 2.4/1000 persons. By doing this, crime will be addressed head on.

Public offices and officers should focus their efforts in addressing the concerns and priorities of the residents they represent. Unfortunately, the council has not done this and the result has been the council losing the trust of the general public. For this reason, I will support checks and balances for the council and for all public offices and officers in the county through the revision of current procedures and creation of new ones.

As one of the wealthiest counties in Maryland, there is no reason for our county not to have the financial resources to address all the problems it currently has. The problem is that the financial resources are allocated inefficiently and I will work to change this, supporting the prioritization of economically feasible and responsible spending. The County Council has had carte blanche in spending for the last 10 years and the results are in. Do you know why your property taxes keep increasing every year? It’s not because of inflation, it’s because the council has mismanaged the county finances and need to squeeze residents and businesses to make up for the incompetence of managing both the economy and finances. The County Council is also planning to bring the New Green Deal and the Build Back Better plans to the county, which I will stop when elected. These plans don’t take into account the cost-benefit analysis, which ultimately will mean exponential increases in income, property, and business taxes across the board.