Gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown and blogger True Montgomery at the Bethesda Metro
Typically True Montgomery begins her day like this: coffee. Take the boy to school. A 60-minute haul to her client’s office in Alexandria. More coffee and then work.
I didn’t suspect that I would have Anthony Brown getting all in my face because he was defensive about his track record.
But this morning, True Montgomery ran into what can only be described as a bee’s nest (they really weren’t worthy of being called hornets).
I noticed the Secret Service detail and the campaign posters. Then, I was met by an Asian woman who wanted me to vote for a candidate whose last name was Lee. Nope, I said. I don’t vote.
“But it’s your civic duuu-tttty,” she said. Then she made the assumption I hailed from Prince George’s County. Let’s see…..suit, backpack, sneakers….coffee cup….mobile phone with earphones, hair with that suburban mom flip thing going on….yeah..that just screamed PG County.
Maryland Governor wannabe Anthony Brown and his minions were pressing the campaign flesh at Bethesda Metro Station around 8 a.m., taking pictures with women who were sure that one digital photo hastily captured on their iPhone would translate into access in the governor’s mansion one day.
Right.
Brown’s handler was shuttling people over to the person he described as “the next governor of Maryland.” He encouraged photos. He pushed the handshakes. A baby infected with Ebola would have been able to get a kiss if one had been around, I’m sure.
So we asked, “Is he just shaking hands, or talking issues?”
The handler was about the answer when Brown jumped in, “I can answer my own questions. He’s not my handler.” Ok…if that’s what you want to believe.
True Montgomery asked what he planned to do to fix social services in the state. It’s broken and in need of an overhaul.
He blinked. “What specifically?”
“Homelessness. Hunger. The underclass who aren’t able to get ahead because the very agencies set up to help them, don’t.”
“Oh! Affordable housing! Have you seen my website?”
“Yes. I have.”
“So?”
“Yes…but those are promises. Every politician has a website. I am asking you point blank….what are you going to do?”
Then I launched into the numbers. The amount that nonprofits are sucking in cash but not providing services. What they pay their staffs.
The fact that agencies like Montgomery County’s HHS could care less about whether people get services or not, and nonprofits are not allowed or are unwilling to provide services for more than a handful people.
Dead stare. More blinking. He wasn’t expecting numbers
“Or do you plan to be just like the rest? You want my vote, but you don’t want to actually work for it. You come here once every four years to ‘meet’ people but then you’re gone. You never come back. You’re inaccessible. You’re a ‘governor’.”
“What do you think we do in Annapolis?” he asked me.
Easy answer. “Nothing.”
I pointed to my good friend Carlita – who spent last winter living in a van parked in the parking lot of the Germantown Wal-mart with her three young children. “Your administration has done NOTHING to help families like that.”
Brown’s eyes glazed over and he saw red. He literally got nose-to-nose with True Montgomery and launched into a speech about how he was a first generation American…his parents were immigrants…he adopted a poor infant…he works hard…he was committed to Maryland.
It was all about him. Him. Him. Him.
Sorry Tony. Wrong answers. If you were all about the people, you’d be in Langley Park, not in Bethesda. You’d drop in the Income Supports office on the 2nd floor at the county’s HHS building in Rockville where struggling families were, and not headed to Bethesda Row.
Sorry, Tony, that “this-is-where-I’m-from” speech just didn’t click.
Then he did what they all do. He rolled his eyes and turned away and shook hands with a white woman who wasn’t threatening nor challenging him. She whipped out her phone and wanted a picture. The handler was glad to oblige. Back in safe territory.
This made True Montgomery think about Tavis Smiley’s article last week, suggesting that minorities had no good reason to vote other than to save Democrats from certain loss.
Whenever I hear the argument that voting is my civic duty, I counter with the fact that is a street that travels both ways.
If I thought voting would change anything, I’d be camping outside the polls waiting for them to open. But it doesn’t. Changes absolutely nothing.
Politicians like Brown are allowed to stand there and not be challenged on anything by the very people they are asking for their votes. When they emerge from their bunkers and ask for votes – that is tantamount to a job interview. They want a job. When you lie in your job interview…you should not be hired. Period.
They should have the balls to stand there, be prepared and answer real questions. Instead, they take pictures and smile. I don’t recall doing that in my last job interview. I had seven people all screaming questions at me at the same time. Not an Instagram moment.
What I tell my 12-year-old son is that my vote is THE most important thing I own. It demonstrates my full confidence and faith in the people and the process.
And I don’t have that. So I won’t use something so vitally important – a right that people died to obtain for me – until I am certain the people on the receiving end are worthy of it.
True Montgomery’s vote will stay in her pocket until someone worthy comes along. Sadly, chances of that are slim to none.
True Montgomery 