You Decide

It always good to know where candidates stand on the issues and what may drive their decision-making processes regarding their future voting records should they be elected. Concerned voters may cast their ballots based on a candidate’s existing voting record, what that candidate says about the issues, the candidate’s personality and their sources of funding (campaign finance). Most of these indicators are highly subjective and left up to one’s own political leanings. One is not: A candidate’s sources of funding.

Setting the record straight: Developers have just as much a right to vote and give money to the candidates of their choice as any other citizen. Developers serve a much needed purpose in our city and Montgomery County, as they build the homes we live in and the stores and offices we frequent. But keep in mind that development is a for-profit business and as such, like any good business, much is done to try to maximize profits. If they don’t, they go out of business.

Land use legislation enacted by local governments not only impacts our quality of life, but can benefit or hinder the development industry and its bottom line. This comes in the form of legislation regarding zoning, master plans, annexations, taxes and transportation infrastructure (and who pays for it). Arguably, it’s one of the biggest roles local government plays. Keep in mind, we’re talking about big bucks. In Montgomery County, development industry revenues are worth tens of billions of dollars. It’s no surprise that in the past decade, two of every three dollars contributed to a Montgomery County campaign, came from the development industry.

In addition to making political donations, what’s a developer to do? If you’ve been a developer for long, you know how the game is played. Even so, you hire $500 land use/zoning attorneys and turn to the services of companies such as Rodgers Consulting. These “investments” (political contributions and consultants fees) will, for a lot of money, help you increase your chances of getting that zoning change or annexation you’re looking for or better yet, help you and your industry “Control Elections and Influence Legislation [and] Regulation.” Those aren’t my words, but guidance from Germantown-based Rodgers Consulting Inc. in a 2004 International Builders Show presentation, “Where's the Land?”

It’s essential that our elected officials make land use decisions based on their merit, not on whether they have received contributions from the development industry. The real bottom line is not whether developers give money to the candidates of their choice. It is whether those candidates accept special interest money, which may raise concerns about potential impropriety. Whether you believe in densification and urbanization or you prefer slower smarter growth, knowing that your elected officials vote with their conscience, and not their campaign coffers, is critical in keeping citizens first in decisions, which affect our lives today and long into the future.

The author is the former executive director of the now-defunct political action committee Neighbors for a Better Montgomery. He ran for mayor in 2007.