HoCo Watchdogs Newsletter
Issue # 5
Welcome to the fifth issue of the HoCo Watchdogs newsletter! This newsletter provides a concise list of articles, videos & social media posts for you to stay well informed about important Howard County, Maryland issues such as public school policies, land use & development, and county governance.
Staying informed is a community effort! If you have content to recommend for a future HoCo Watchdogs newsletter, please send the title & link to hocowatchdogs@protonmail.com .
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Articles / Blog Posts
authored by HoCo Watchdogs, 03/24/2022
A deep dive into the local election campaign contributions of Downtown Columbia’s “Master Developer”, The Howard Hughes Corporation, and a discussion about concerns related to their campaign finance activities.
authored by Bennett Leckrone, 04/04/2022
A discussion of the new Maryland congressional district map that Maryland Governor, Larry Hogan, signed into law earlier this week.
authored by Lisa Markovitz, 03/01/2022
A discussion about the upcoming decisions that Howard County leaders face with their “HoCo By Design” 10-year development plan regarding how to best balance new commercial & new residental space across the county.
1. authored by Gene Harrington, 03/02/2022
2. authored by J. H. Snider, 03/23/2022
Two unique and very interesting perspectives on why Maryland House Majority Leader Erik Luedtke’s proposed bill to dramatically expand the voting rights for Student Members of the Board of Education may not be in the best interest of the public.
published by Hiruy Hadgu, 02/02/2022
For the fourth consecutive year, the Howard County Legislative Record Tracker evaluates and reports the voting record of Howard County Council Members and the County Executive on legislation deemed to impact our quality of life across four dimensions or issues: the budget, school quality, affordable housing, and accountability.
Other News & Local Events
No Developer Money / No Dark Money Campaign Pledge
“I pledge not to accept developer or dark money during the 2022 election cycle.”
Special interest political donations have been corrupting both major political parties and decision-making processes in Howard County politics for far too long. All candidates running for public office in Howard County are encouraged to sign this pledge and commit to not accepting political campaign donations from past & present Howard County real estate development companies, their affiliated principal, legal, public relations & political partners and any other anonymous/dark money sources.
So far, the following local political candidates have signed the No Developer Money / No Dark Money Campaign Pledge:
In partnership with Our Revolution Howard County (ORHoCo), the Progressive Democrats of Howard County (PDHC) are presenting this two part series on how to find and decipher what’s in a campaign finance report. By law, candidates running for elected office are required to submit campaign finance reports disclosing who is donating to them and how much. In the first of this two part series Nicole Dvorak will walk participants through the process of finding the reports and understanding what’s in them.
Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrce2qqTMuG9KKoytzdyav5C5eawQ58EGk
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
HoCo Watchdogs Newsletter Archives
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