As someone who has been involved with Montgomery County Public Schools matters since 1984, I find that friends (and sometimes my friends’ children) ask me my opinion in Board of Education elections. In this blogpost, I say who I am voting for and why. (Remember, District candidates must live in their District, but all County voters can vote in all the contests.)
At the end of the blogpost, I have a few observations on other State and County contests.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
AT-LARGE AND DISTRICT 5
Karla Silvestre Brenda Wolff
I plan to vote for Karla Silvestre for re-election to the At-Large seat and Brenda Wolff for reelection to the Fifth District seat. The last few years have presented unprecedented challenges, and while I suspect that no one has been in agreement 100% of the time with the decisions made by the Board and MCPS, I think they have done a good job under very trying circumstances. And the fact that Ms. Silvestre and Ms. Wolff have chosen to run for re-election is a credit to their commitment to our community. From my perspective as Co-Chair for Maryland Advocacy for Metro DC PFLAG, their commitment and performance on LGBTQ+ matters have been exemplary. See my previous posts here and here.
Ms. Silvestre’s opponent in the November 8 election, Mike Erickson, has been reluctant to say anything substantive about where he stands until a few days ago. Indeed, as I discussed in a September 22 blog post, he completely ignored the Metro DC PFLAG questionnaire. That certainly made me suspicious of what his views might be. Finally, on October 17, Bethesda Beat finally got him to respond to substantive questions, and many of his answers were disturbing to say the least. So supporting Ms. Silvestre for reelection is an easy call.
Ms. Wolff, who currently serves as Board President, has been a steady leader in these turbulent times. Her opponent, Valerie Coll, also gave excellent answers to the Metro DC PFLAG questionnaire, recently retired after decades as a classroom teacher, was impressive in the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, and is well-respected by people I respect. I suspect she would make a good member of the Board. But Ms. Wolff’s experience will be very important going forward, particularly given the passing of long-time Board member Patricia O’Neill last year. So I am supporting Ms. Wolff.
DISTRICT 1
The District 1 contest is the only one that does not have an incumbent. I plan to vote for Grace Rivera Oven, who has a long history of positive community activism in Montgomery County, and gave full-throated support to the great progress made regarding LGBTQ+ matters in recent years. See my previous post here. Her opponent, Esther Wells, on the other hand, gave vague answers. I had hoped that the League of Women Voters Forum would include a question that would challenge some disturbing matters regarding Ms. Wells’ views, but time did not permit the asking of a probing question. I paste below the question that I hoped would have been asked.
For the last 15 years, MCPS has successfully implemented health education and other policies, supported by every mainstream American medical and mental health professional association, that support and embrace students whose sexual orientation is not “straight” or whose gender identity is not “cisgender." Legal challenges to such policies were rejected by the courts in January 2008 and August 2022 .
This progress was summarized in the Metro DC PFLAG questionnaire sent to you last spring, to which all of you responded. (Mr. Erickson, who is not here this evening, did not respond.)
Four of you made clear your full-throated support of this progress. One candidate gave answers that, for the most part, were not responsive and notes on her campaign website that she serves “as the Chairman & President Trustee of the Board of a multi-million dollar non-profit in Gaithersburg, MD.” The website of that organization states that the non-profit "opposes all forms of sexual immorality, including . . . homosexuality."
Here is our question: Would you continue on the course taken by MCPS with respect to LGBTQ+ matters? Or do you believe that homosexuality is immoral and, if elected, would you seek to reverse or weaken MCPS's affirming policies or urge inclusion of doctrines regarding "reparative" or "conversion" therapy, which have been rejected by every mainstream American medical and mental health professional association with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity? [1]
A recent piece published by Progressive Maryland further shows why Ms. Wells would not be a useful addition to the Board.
DISTRICT 3
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Scott Joftus, a former teacher and education consultant, was elected last year by the other Board members to fill out Pat O’Neill’s term, and he is running to keep the seat. His challenger, Julie Yang, is a former teacher and counselor in MCPS. Both gave very good answers to the LGBTQ+ questionnaire. Each would bring strengths to the Board. Mr. Joftus appears to have very good ideas and experience in administering school systems, background which certainly would be valuable. Ms. Yang’s work in the MCPS system and her obvious enthusiasm would bring new energy to the Board. I still have not decided who to vote for. Both are good choices, but for different reasons.
OTHER CONTESTS
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No one who knows me will be surprised that I intend to vote for everyone on the Democratic ticket. I do have comments on two of the contests.
The Republican candidate for Montgomery County Executive, Reardon Sullivan, seeks to make the case that Marc Elrich has been an ineffectual Executive, and that he (Sullivan) would do a better job. I think Mr. Elrich has done a good, if not perfect, job in these extremely difficult times. I had no problem at all voting for him in the primary, and will enthusiastically support vote for him on November 8. Mr. Sullivan has urged Democrats who voted for David Blair in the primary to vote for him. Decades ago, when Republican leaders in Montgomery County were moderate liberals (Jim Gleason, Gilbert Gude, Connie Morella), this might be an attractive argument for many Democrats. Mr. Blair (himself a former Republican), however, has endorsed Mr.Elrich. This is not at all surprising, since Mr. Sullivan is not out of the old Gleason/Gude/Morella mold. Instead, he appears to be rooted in the extreme right-wing, having launched his Facebook advertising campaign with citations to analyses from a Family Research Council propaganda arm. See my previous post here.
The Washington Post, having endorsed Democratic Gubernatorial and Attorney General nominees Wes Moore and Anthony Brown over their very right-wing (a charitable characterization) Republican opponents. But the Post also endorsed for State Comptroller the Republican candidate, former State Senator and current Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, over the extremely well-qualified Democratic candidate, Delegate Brooke Lierman. The Post’s principal rationale was that Mr. Glassman, unlike the Republican candidates for Governor and Attorney General, is not an extreme election-denier, and that “one-party government” is never a good idea. There are several reasons for why this endorsement lacks merit. For example, while in the State Senate, Mr. Glassman voted against the Civil Marriage Protection Act, codifying marriage equality; against the Fairness for All Marylanders Act, which protects transgender people; and against a fairer minimum wage. So he is not what I would consider a moderate Republican – a species which, sadly, is close to extinct. Brooke Lierman is a quality choice. To elect a Republican for the sake of bi-partisanship because he is not crazy like other Republican nominees is too low a bar. We should and can do better. So I am voting for Brooke Lierman for Comptroller, along with the rest of the Democratic ticket.
[1] (Note: Since 2018, it has been unlawful in Maryland for licensed health care practitioners to "practice" reparative or conversion therapy on minors. One of the issues raised years ago regarding the health education curriculum was that it should have included the doctrine that, through conversion therapy, "gays could become ex-gays." MCPS rejected this argument, for the reasons that led Maryland and many other jurisdictions to ban licensed health care practitioners from practicing the discredited notion on minors.)
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