Details on meetings of Progressive Prince George's, Progressive Montgomery and the Howard County "Citizens' Election Fund" project coming up in the next two weeks. The activist calendar at your fingertips.

Progressive Maryland’s Weekly Memo – Post-Labor Day edition (Sept. 5-11)

Yeah, the political calendar accelerates now. Term limits issues and campaign finance dominate local ballots, though a US Senator and all eight of the state’s House members will be on offer. Progressive Prince George’s has a chapter meeting this week (Thursday), Progressive Montgomery next week (Thursday, Sept. 15) and Howard County’s proposed “Citizens’ Election Fund” aims to take big money out of local elections. More about these below.

Election issues to watch: In Montgomery, there may be a term limits measure on the ballot. That is still in dispute, though it looks likely despite some apparent official foot-dragging.

In Prince George’s, where term limits have been in effect for decades, an apparent attempt to circumvent them and allow county council members who would otherwise be term-limited to run for new at-large seats is raising considerable controversy. The at-large seats will be a ballot question for the Nov. 8 election.

Howard County activists, including Progressive Maryland, are pushing what the Howard County Times called a “new publicly funded campaign system that matches small campaign donations using public funds and aims to limit the influence of special interest money.” The need to cut the big money plaguing even local elections is great, Progressive Maryland Executive Director Larry Stafford told the paper: "We need to incentivize campaigns to seek out smaller contributions instead of only focusing on those who give very large checks to campaigns; that increases accountability. Much more accountable to the people. That matters in terms of our policy."

Progressive Maryland Action: Prince George’s County

Thursday, September 8 -- Progressive Prince George's membership meeting regarding the Zoning Re-write.  The Planning Staff will be present to answer all our questions about the Zoning Rewrite.  Module 3 of the Zoning Re-Write will have just come out; therefore this will be an opportunity for us to directly question to them as why they think it is legitimate to limit our rights to appeal.  This meeting will be especially important for those people who want to understand the reasons why the community is so concerned about what the Planning Staff has so far released -- and to find out what is being done to make certain the new zoning law puts residents' needs over developers' greed.

6:30 - 8:00 pm; 8400 Corporate Drive, Landover 20785  RSVP here

 Monday, September 12 -- Walmart Hearing Regarding Special Exception for Capital Plaza Store.  Show your support at the Capital Plaza Walmart Appeal Hearing before the Prince George's District Council in the County Administration Building.  The MD Planning Board approved Walmart's original Detailed Site Plan.  This decision was appealed on the grounds that Walmart should have filed their plan as a Special Exception.  The District Council will hear the appeal on September 12 and cast their vote to grant the special exception or uphold the Planning Board's decision.  A show of community support for the Special Exception can have an influence on the decision.  Please attend wearing a red shirt so that a large group can have an impressive impact. Walmart should not be allowed to wreck a neighborhood in pursuit of profit. 10 a.m., County Administration Building, 14742 Governor Oden Bowie Dr., Upper Marlboro

Note -- it is recommended to park at the Equestrian Center/Show Place Arena and catch a shuttle bus to the County Administration Building as parking at the CAB is metered.

 Progressive Maryland Action: Howard County

Tuesday, September 13 -- Vote Yes! on the "Citizens' Election Fund" Campaign Kickoff! Join us as we officially kick off the Yes! On Citizens Election Fund campaign to gear up for a win on Election Day!
Confirmed Special Guests: Congressman John Sarbanes <> County Council Member Jen Terrasa <> County Council Member Jon Weinstein
6 - 9p.m. <> Ale House Columbia <> 6480 Dobbin Center Way
Columbia  MD 21045 RSVP here.

Progressive Maryland Action: Montgomery County Outside the electoral arena, Progressive Maryland held canvasses in Silver Spring and Bethesda at the start of Montgomery County Restaurant week where we collected over 200 signatures to our petition calling on the Council to include tipped workers in the wage increase to $15 – bringing the total number of signers to over 500. 
The next Montgomery County chapter meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept 15th at 6:30 p.m. RSVP here  

 A BENEFIT EVENT FOR VICTIMS OF THE DEADLY BUILDING EXPLOSION IN THE LONG BRANCH NEIGHBORHOOD OF SILVER SPRING Saturday, Sept 10: Montgomery County Chamber Music Society BENEFIT CONCERT at 4:00 p.m. at Living Faith Lutheran Church, 1605 Veirs Mill Road at Broadwood Drive Rockville, Md 20851 100% of all concert donations will be given to and distributed by Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington (ACSGW) to those impacted by this tragedy. If you are unable to attend the concert, please donate online at www.acsgw.org.  Program info at www.mccms.info or contact [email protected]

READING THE PM BLOGS – readers and fans of the PM BlogSpace can get a copy of the Weekly Memo delivered directly to their email inbox. It includes an update on the week ahead as well as links to the blogs that have appeared in recent weeks. Never miss a blog post. Sign up at http://www.progressivemaryland.org/blog_signup

 FOR EXAMPLE: we recently published these:

September 2, 2016 Progressive Maryland BlogSpace Weekend Reader

Environmental racism in energy siting, worker justice in chicken industry hell (hello, Eastern Shore!), reaction to Gov. Hogan's imperial decree about school schedules, and good news about wind power -- good reads you may have missed, for your Labor Day weekend leisure moments...

September 1, 2016 Hogan's school schedule move latest in a campaign to divide state and build a base

Gov. Larry Hogan's apparently crowd-pleasing decree to start schools after Labor Day is part of a parlay of moves to build a base for his reelection bid at the cost of the state's social cohesiveness

 August 31, 2016 Rascovar: Hogan’s rhetoric has Trump tendencies

Our take on Larry Hogan is the genial "I'm not Trump" face floating over an uber-Ehrlich refugee administration where every agency is busy rolling back progressive law and regulation. In a guest post by permission from our friends at MarylandReporter.org, veteran political analyst Barry Rascovar argues that Hogan's a lot more Trump-like than not, if you watch his words instead of his smile.

 August 30, 2016 Police Brutality: Call It What It Is

"...the next time we criticize the police for their actions let's not feel the need to hug them first and call them heroes, let's just talk about the policies that need to change and the culture that needs to change with it."

 August 29, 2016 The PM Weekly Memo for Aug. 29 – Sept 4 important PM events in Prince George's (zoning rewrite) , Montgomery (Fight for 15) and Howard (election finance reform)  counties.

 Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace since June 2015 are all available with descriptions and links here.