Bill Cook - Democratic Candidate for District 1 County Council

The Activist - Montgomery County, Maryland & Beyond

Links to stuff from the interview:

• Lessig talk on money in politics
• Exclusion of Bernie Supporters from Local News Broadcast

On Reckless Development & Money In Politics

• Has favored developers
• Has not favored residents
• Has created a lot of problems
• • Overcrowded Schools
  • Broken Water Mains
  • Dwindling Affordable Housing
  • Have not been collecting impact taxes
• Why? - many candidates are funded by real estate developers

On Support / Work for Bernie Sanders

On Money in Politics

• Money is the root of problems in our politics; until that is fixed, we can’t solve a lot of problems
• Favors public financing statewide and more transparency in reporting requirements on donation sources
• There should be more scrutiny of here candidate funding comes from
• Several of the top candidates in District 1 are getting money from developers
• It is unclear where the money is coming from even for candidates taking public financing - need more transparency in reporting donations

D1 Issues:

• Overcrowded schools - projected 160% over capacity by 2020
• Poolesville is dilapidated, yet was taken of construction list (because it is not over capacity)

Schools:

• The number 1 magnet in MoCo relative to other counties
• If we lose that, we lose our draw and justification for higher taxes

Priorities

• Reforming our land use decisions
• Observe our rules for impact taxes; no more exemptions
• Raise the impact taxes for new development
• Make sure our council reps aren’t beholden to special interests / developers
• • Will yield better advocates on residents appointed to the planning board
• Path to incorporating towns should be easier to provide better representation for citizens
• School construction should be a priority in the county’s budget
• Support and encourage public transportation
• • Via dedicated funding / subsidies
  • BRT
  • More amenities on buses (e.g. wifi)
• Roads
• • Explore tech solutions and re-engineering to improve efficiency
• Income Equity
• • Need to do more to raise wages
  • Improve working conditions / worker rights
  • Using project labor agreements for county work
  • 15 is good, but is not a livable wage (17 / 18 is closer to livable in MoCo
  • Supporting unions - making them available to workers

Revenue:

• Explore taxing things that have negative effects (e.g. soda)

On Activism and Change

On Election Reforms

• Same Day Registrations
• Ranked Choice Voting
• Open Primaries

Climate

• Move aggressively to get off of fossil fuels
• Close Dickerson power plant / incinerator
• Yes on divestment of fossil fuel companies
• Zero Waste
• • Limit trash output
  • Allow unlimited recycling