Prince George's Public Safety Unions Endorse Franklin and Toles - Is this a Joke? (middle-class)

[DCBornAndRaised]

All of the five public safety unions in Prince George's County have endorsed Mel Franklin and Karen Toles for County Council At-Large seats. How can this be? Mel Franklin had a traffic accident in November 2016 where he was charged with 1) driving while impaired by alcohol, 2) driving while under the influence of alcohol, 3) negligent driving and 4) failure to control speed on the highway to avoid a collision. Plus, he was picked up walking a mile or so away from the crash. He wrecked the county issued car. In 2012 he damaged another county vehicle in a distracted driving crash. Two months before that he damaged a county SUV in a crash he didn't report to the police. For the 2016 incident he received "Probation Before Judgment". Karen Toles, in 2012, was charged with reckless driving as she was driving more than 100 MPH on the Capital Beltway. She was also charged with an unsafe lane change. What am I missing here? Franklin and Toles are the least deserving of an endorsement by any entity having anything to do with "public safety." Help me understand! This is the best we can do?

[Jalux]

Well the answer is easy: it's not about making the community better so much as it is about influence. The public safety unions are special interest groups, and for any number of reasons (e.g. viability, perception of degree of influence, 'pile-on' effect of seeing other unions supporting the candidates) they are backing candidates that you correctly call out as being irresponsible.

Special interest groups are a bane to our community. It is why PGC continues to encounter slow growth in relation to its neighboring counties. It is why many schools are older than the incumbents in office. It is why the vast middle-class continue to be underserved in matters of commerce. It is why MD-210 continues to be a congested death trap.

Candidates that are funded by special interest groups don't have to care about the community, much less the individual voter. Money talks, and these candidates know that they can be absolutely terrible at their jobs but as long as they have money to spam your face, you will still vote for them. Candidates thus spend all their time catering to their special interest overlords. This is exactly why the aforementioned items continue to persist, and the citizenry feel powerless. We should make known candidates that refuse special interest money and vote for them.

The only candidate I am aware of running for office that refuses special interest money is Sean Chao, who is running for House of Delegates (D26). If anyone knows of others, please share.

[lookingbutnotlost]

What a joke. Mel Franklin is a disaster.

[Jalux]

Originally Posted by lookingbutnotlost

What a joke. Mel Franklin is a disaster.

Yes, he is, but he is also running for yet another in a long series of multiple terms. Let that sink in for a moment. Despite knowing his shortcomings and failings to PGC, he still manages to win. We can thank special interest money for that.

We keep electing people we know that are bad for us, and somehow (1) expect that things will get better; and (2) fail to elect others into office to depose bad incumbents.