One week after the Sierra Club endorsed David T. Blair, a businessman, in the Democratic primary to Montgomery County executive, an ad-hoc group of environmentalists including some Sierra Club veterans has formed to support the man Blair is trying oust, Marc B. Elrich.
Environmentalists for Marc released a statement this week praising Elrich (D), for his activism and leadership in environmental issues. [that] goes back decades.
The group cites Elrich’s opposition of the Intercounty Connector highway, early advocacy for the Purple Line and his opposition to opening the countys Incinerator more then 20 years ago. His efforts to close it down now and ban the cosmetic use pesticides as well as his efforts in preserving the urban tree canopy and protecting forests and wetlands. Elrich’s comprehensive climate plan, which the county government is following under his administration, was also praised by the members.
This is why many environmental activists are angry and dismayed by the endorsement by Sierra Clubs of a proroad candidate over the long-time, pro-transit, environmental champion, as stated in the groups statement.
It is signed by 75 Montgomery County residents affiliated with local conservation, civic, and environmental groups, including former leaders of Sierra Club.
Local Sierra Club leaders endorsed Blair last week and said they were impressed with his policy prescriptions. These include seeking to triple the solar generation in the county, expanding Smart Growth policies mainly by building more homes near Metro stations, making Ride-On permanent, and other proposals to reduce carbon emissions in the County. They also criticized Elrich’s objections to certain Metro station plans. They were criticized for calling them giveaways to developers.
These criticisms were met with resistance from Anne Ambler who was the former chairperson of the Montgomery County Sierra Club chapter for four years and is a lifetime Sierra Club member.
She said that she was shocked at the ill-placed endorsement. Marc has done a remarkable job in an extremely difficult environment. Marc has done a remarkable job in a very difficult situation. Marc was able to make progress in addressing climate change. He was able to secure financing for an enormous electric charging station and started shifting our RideOn fleet towards clean renewable energy. He was instrumental in establishing energy efficiency standards for all county buildings.
Elrich thanked the remarkable activists, some of whom I have known for decades, for their endorsement.
He said that together we have worked and will continue working to protect the environment and work towards protecting our planet for future generations.
The endorsement of Blair by the Sierra Club has been questioned because the David and Mikel Blair Family Foundation lists it as one of its grantees. Although the IRS website does not contain any records about the foundation, a spokesperson for Blair claimed that the foundation donated $2,000 in 2017 to the national organization. David Sears is the political chair for the Sierra Clubs Montgomery group and said that the donation was not a factor during the clubs’ deliberations.
Sears stated that the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter has never received financial support from the Blair Foundation in a statement to Maryland Matters. The County Executive endorsement process was conducted without the knowledge of either the Montgomery County Group or the Maryland Chapter. This did not affect the endorsement process.
(Disclosure: Maryland Matters received $10,000 from the Blair Family Foundation in 2020.
Peter James, a tech worker, and Councilmember Hans Riemer are the other Democrats running to be county executive.
On Thursday night, the Sierra Clubs Montgomery group released further information about its decision not to endorse Blair.
The Sierra Club Montgomery County Group endorses David Blair, because we believe he’s the best.
The group stated that the candidate who will achieve our environmental goals most effectively is David Blair. David Blair understands the urgency to address climate change and is running an election dedicated to it.
action.
Blair’s business background was also praised by the club, suggesting that it makes him uniquely qualified to achieve his climate goals.
Although we don’t normally praise business experience, we believe Mr. Blair’s track record of executive management is exactly what the County requires, according to the statement.
The Sierra Club also criticized Elrich and expressed admiration of Riemers record in clean energy and Smart Growth.
The Sierra Club was however blindsided by Mr. Riemer in 2021. He led the effort to revive the stalled Governors Highway plan at the region Transportation Planning Board.
More on the endorsement front
In a related development the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors announced that it has endorsed Blair for the county executive Democratic primary and Montgomery County Republican chair Reardon Sullivan for the GOP primary county executive.
According to the Realtors group, David believes that the region’s housing shortage is a serious problem. He is aware of the fact that rising costs and low homeownership rates are hurting our local economy and is ready to act to reverse these troubling trends.
The endorsements of the Realtor group were also given in the Democratic primaries to county council.
- District 1: Councilmember Andrew Friedson
- District 2: Marilyn Balcombe
- District 3: Councilmember Sidney Katz
- District 4: Amy Ginsburg
- District 5: Brian Anleu
- District 6: Natali Fani-Gonzalez
- District 7: Dawn Luedtke
- At Large: Councilmember Gabriel Albornoz and Councilmember Evan Glass, Scott Goldberg and Councilmember Tom Hucker
In other Montgomery County endorsement news: The Montgomery County Education Association has withdrawn its endorsement of Brandy Brooks (a candidate in the Democratic primary to the at-large council seats). Brooks’ campaign was suspended for two weeks last month by the Montgomery County Education Association after being accused of creating hostile working conditions. Brooks also lost the endorsement of the local Democratic Socialists Of America chapter.
On Thursday, the teachers’ union announced that it would add Albornoz to its endorsement list for the at-large race. Glass, William O. Jawando and Laurie-Anne Sayles, former Gaithersburg City Councilmember, were the others.
Poll: Voters were not following Dem gubernatorial primary early April
A public opinion survey was conducted last month and found that Democratic voters did not focus on the July 19 gubernatorial race, nor did they know much information about the candidates.
John B., former Obama education secretary, conducted the survey. King Jr. (D), found that even though some voters may be favored candidates, they are still weighing all options and could end casting ballots for someone else. Nearly 40% were undecided.
The survey was conducted by Change Research between April 2-5, a firm that was hired by For The People MD (a PAC supporting King). 886 Democrats participated in the poll. They reported that they had at least a 50-50 chance to cast a vote in the primary.
In a memo dated April 9, Stephen Clermont, a pollster, wrote that voters have not engaged in this race with more than three months remaining. Only 23% of respondents have given much thought to the primary, compared with 42% who only gave some thought to it and 35% that have given little or none thought.
Clermont stated that 62% of Democrats with an initial preference for voting said they were open to voting in favor of a different candidate.
With 20% of the vote, Comptroller Peter Franchot was the frontrunner. He was followed by Wes Moore, former nonprofit executive, at 13%, and Rushern L. Baker III, former Prince Georges County Executive, at 10%. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, at 7%, former state attorney general Doug Gansler, at 5%, and King, at 3%.
The pollsters provided the candidates with their current and previous titles and asked voters based on their identifier which candidates they would be willing and able to consider.
Nearly half (49%) stated they would consider Franchot, 48% indicated they would consider Perez, 31% stated they would consider King, 27% said they would consider Baker and Gansler, 26% said that they would consider Moore.
According to the memo, the margin of error for this poll is 3.7 percentage points.
The campaign hopes to use this survey to convince potential donors King has a strong upside, despite being in the lowest position in most current surveys.
Clermont wrote that even though there have not been any paid communications, his support for John King Jr. grows when voters are informed about him and his commitment to education.
