Candidate Calls for Financial Disclosures
Moore: 'Transparency is still at issue.'
At its meeting last night, the Rockville Board of Supervisors of Elections discussed the issues raised by my Oct. 3 letter, and voted to recommend the change to Rockville's Code I had suggested. I thank the Board for its prompt attention to my letter and I am satisfied that the appropriate steps are being taken to fix Rockville's elections law.
My concern in raising this issue was the certainty of our laws and the transparency of our elections.
Transparency is still at issue here. Once this fix is made, unlimited contributions will be allowed from candidates' spouses during the 2011 election without any corresponding disclosure of their financial conflicts. Changes are in the pipeline to require more extensive disclosure, but not in time for this election.
I am therefore calling for all candidates running for Rockville's Mayor and City Council this year to disclose their spouse's financial conflicts through filling out the standard Rockville "Statement of Financial Interests" form required of all candidates.
I care deeply about keeping our elections honest and accountable. I strongly believe that if we allow unlimited contributions from spouses, we should also require full disclosure of their financial conflicts.
The author is a candidate for Rockville City Council.
Online addict
1:55 pm on Friday, October 7, 2011
Sounds to me like the "violations" you highlight were based on a poorly written rule, that in theory did not really limit spouses contributions. Now, you want spouses to fill out a conflict form, even though it is not required. Sounds like you are wasting a lot of time on trivial matters. I thought Rockville was a large city, aren't there other more pressing issues?
Christina Ginsberg
5:46 pm on Friday, October 7, 2011
I was at the Board of Supervisors of Elections meeting on Thursday October 6, and what I heard was a discussion about how to fix a typo. I can't reconcile that with what Mr. Moore thought he heard, since he came in after that agenda item had been dealt with.
Futhermore, anyone who reads Councilwoman Newton's 2009 finance reports with an open mind would have come away impressed with how scrupulously Mr. Newton (a financial professional) documented every penny he spent in support of his wife. That to me was the very essence of the integrity I've come to expect of Councilwoman Newton and her husband.
When Mr. Moore is done worrying about hypothetical scenarios of campaign fraud between husbands and wives, perhaps the discussion should turn to examining the actual campaign finance reports the City released today, which showed again that some of the same candidates as in 2007 and 2009 are still taking large donations from developers and developer lawyers.
Sincerely,
Christina Y. Ginsberg
Will
6:39 am on Saturday, October 8, 2011
This really seems like a trivial issue that was not worthy of being reported. People who are married do not have hers and his money even though some pretend they do.
If Mr. Moore would like to do something meaningful about Rockville elections he would work on requiring identification to vote. As it stands you just have to say a name and address. This really opens up the election to fraud.
Joe
11:52 pm on Saturday, October 8, 2011
I don't understand why we have to rely on Mr. Moore for his view on what the Board voted to do last Thursday. Where is a City press release, or some coverage from the local press?
It becomes even more ludicrous if, as Ms Ginsberg states, Mr. Moore wasn;t in the room when the issue was discussed. Just as perplexing is the fact it was reported the Board was going into executive session, yet it sounds like the public could sit in. I have a question...who's in charge here?