Clean air, education, and honest government foiled, while politicians collect the spoils

Whatever happened to good government in Maryland? Was there ever a time when we had honest, ethical, democratically-oriented citizens representing us in Annapolis and Rockville? When did our government become a lobbying front for big business? And who's to blame?

Well, the last question is easy. In a democracy, we're to blame—we get the government we choose. We need to run for office, or get our friends and neighbors to run, and support them with our time, energy, talent, and money. And I mean real money$20 here and there will not enable a grassroots candidate to compete with the bottomless pit of money available to incumbents who have, over the years, been bought on the installment plan by high-end corporate donors.

If we want a better government, a more responsive and ethical one, we need to invest more of our time and money. Developers, polluters, multinational corporations, and their law firms certainly invest plenty of money and resources in candidates who serve their special interests.

Some corporate contributions are well camouflaged, but many local level ones are documented at www.neighborspac.org, and at www.opensecrets.org for congressional and presidential candidates.

Take a look at Del. Carol Petzold (D-Dist. 19), a charming and personable delegate who represents a large part of Silver Spring. She's got seniority and gets elected again and again by a well-educated liberal constituency.

Petzold, however, is an example of a good public servant gone bad when it comes to environmental issues. She voted consistently to support the Inter-County Connector against the wishes and interests of many of her constituents and all environmentalists. (Many wonder why there's not an obvious conflict of interest issue here, since her husband's firm, Oyster, Imus and Petzold, holds the surveying contract for parts of the project.)

This year she served the coal industry in western Maryland by blocking a bill to promote renewable energy in Maryland. Had she not intervened, we could have joined 14 states that have renewable energy quotasin our case, a modest 7.5 percent of our energy would have come from renewable sources like wind, the Sun, and biomass. (Not overnight, either-by 2013.)

So why would Petzold, with many of her constituents among the 8,000 people who signed petitions in support of the renewable energy bill, want to represent the interests of dirty energy polluters? In the words of Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, "she completely and utterly ignored the wind and clean energy community in crafting her legislation, and in the end, gave it all away to some of the worst energy polluters in the region."

At first glance, it looks like only two of her campaign contributions came from the fossil fuel industry: one from Constellation Energy's PAC and one from a law firm that represents large energy users in Public Service Commission proceedings.

But she was also a member of the Maryland House Democratic Unity Committee, chaired by Casper Taylor, the powerful former delegate from Allegheny County. He apparently founded the "slate" to support conservative Democrats who voted his way on coal as well as slots, development, alcohol, sports, banking, automobile, construction and restaurant interests. (Ironically, the renewables bill would have brought revenue to Western Maryland farmers through wind turbines, but the farmers probably couldn't ante up the kind of money the coal industry did.)

Taylor's slate supported, in addition to Petzold, influential Delegates Michael Busch (D-Dist. 30), who chaired the House Economic Matters Committee; John Hurson (D-Dist. 18), chairman of the House Environmental Matters Committee; and our own Gareth Murray (D-Dist. 20). Taylor disbursed thousands of dollars contributed by Allegheny Coal, Buffalo Coal, Duke Energy, the Maryland Coal Association, PEPCO, Tri-Star Mining, and Willison Oilall corporations or industry groups that vigorously opposed even a modest state investment in clean, efficient, sustainable and affordable energy!

Why? Ask Petzold why she and others for a few measly dollars routinely sell out their constituents and do the bidding of polluters and corporate interests.

The same thing happens at the local level. Consider the Development Impact Tax, proposed to the County Council by Tom Perez (D-Dist. 5) and Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3). The tax would have made de-velopers pay a portion of the cost of school construction needed to keep pace with new housing. Currently, working people pay those costs $7 million this year, though the Board of Education says it will need nearly $18.5 million. The Perez plan won the backing of the school board, the teachers' union, the Cities of Gaithersburg and Rockville, and other civic groups as well as, initially, a majority of the council..

Yet the Development Impact Tax was defeated 5-4. (Technically, it was "postponed," but it was postponed long enough for developers to spend or hide the $10 - $20 million they would have to pay, and in the meantime keep lobbying for amendments to water down the law.)

Many Takoma Park neighbors of Councilmember George Leventhal (D-At-Large) thought he might break rank with the pro-sprawl "End Gridlock" slate and support the bill, and there was optimism about his colleague Mike Knapp (D-Dist. 2). But land-use lawyers, building association lobbyists, and Chamber of Commerce reps kept a close eye on these freshman legislators, and seemed to intimidate them by their presence at the crucial council meeting when the vote was decided.

Let's ask future candidates to sign a pledge that they will not accept money from big-business PACs. Candidates are, after all, seeking a mandate to represent us voters, not the highest bidderwho may or may not be a resident of the district or even an actual person. Corporate money and influence not only skews the democratic process of the legislature, but elections to the legislature.

Former Councilmember Blair Ewing (D-At Large), for example, raised approximately $130,000, normally enough to win reelection. But developers and other big-business interests contributed more than a quarter of a million dollars to defeat him. And the "End Gridlock" slate, County Executive Doug Duncan's hand-picked posse of pro-sprawl candidates committed to the ICC, raised some $3 million altogether. Even with such a lopsided funding disparity, Ewing was less than half a percent out of the top four chosen in the Democratic Primary to appear on the general ballot.

The formula for good government may be complex, but it clearly includes more money coming from ordinary citizens to support public-interest candidates. It includes time, energy, elbow grease, and shoe leather devoted to the campaigns of independent underdogs. And it includes disclosure: candidates who raise most of their money from corporate front groups must be challenged to look us all in the eye and admit that they will put our interests second; that they're going to work mainly as paid lobbyists for their donors.