To the Editor:
What a surprise to learn how the widely distributed "Apple Ballot" is created. The apple ballot doesn't represent those candidates that are best for Montgomery County education, and fiscal responsibility is distinctly not a top priority. The process entails recommendations from a small group, whose first criteria on their list is how the individual has voted on contracts for the teachers’ union, Montgomery County Education Association. It does not, as the MCEA or their PAC (political action committee) would have you believe, necessarily consist of candidates "who teachers recommend," or even those candidates who have supported education in our county. Further, the political action coalition publicizing these "picks" then goes back to those selected for "contributions" to fund the publicity. Some of the candidates named are dedicated, qualified and honorable, while many exceptional individuals who have dedicated countless time and resources to supporting our county and the education process are being shortchanged by this illusion. Many county residents are also being shortchanged if this leverage is successful in repressing constructive compromises for our teachers and our finances. Next year, this organization will present a new three-year contract for approval to our newly elected officials.
This shiny apple, mailed, advertised and hand distributed to families across the county, appears to be simply a plum in heavy disguise, at a potentially high price to county taxpayers. When people get the apple ballot in the next few weeks they should keep in mind that it is not necessarily showing candidates that are best for our county or the education of our children.
Suzanne Weiss
Potomac