(10/2022) As the first County Executive of Frederick County, I am keenly interested and vested in ensuring Frederick County remains a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. I am proud of the accomplishments of the past 8 years delivering outstanding schools, safe communities, historic job growth and a thriving economy even with a pandemic. The county is in strong financial condition with an inherited structural deficit replaced by fully funded reserves and a coveted AAA bond ratings from all three rating agencies. And, we have reduced taxes.

The County has adopted the Livable Frederick Master Plan to provide a road map for future economic growth, transportation, health, recreation, and more. The Seniors First initiative has been fully implemented to support our growing senior population to live their best life. And, we have successfully implemented an aggressive agriculture preservation program along with agriculture innovation grants to ensure that Frederick County retains its unique and valued agricultural heritage for future generations.

The upcoming election will determine if Frederick County continues in a positive direction with a bright future for all. I am truly concerned that Michael Hough, a candidate for County Executive, will be just like Blaine Young and will undo the good work of recent years, dismantling county agencies and services, undermining public education, and tossing Livable Frederick aside to pave over hundreds of acres of agricultural land for residential housing. After all it was Michael Hough who helped pay off Blaine Young’s campaign overspending after he lost the election in 2014 and Hough’s fundraisers are a who’s who of residential developers. Hough has also said he will sell Citizens and Montevue once again violating our promise to our seniors.

Hough is working hard to re-frame himself as a moderate, but actions speak louder than words. Hough wants you to forget that he currently works for U.S. Senator Alex Mooney of West Virginia who is among the most far-right Republicans in Congress. Hough has been one of the most partisan members of the state legislature. Why is Hough actively avoiding saying he supports Dan Cox, the Republican’s nomination for Governor? It appears Hough is running away from his right-wing credentials.

Hough talks a lot about Montgomery County, the place where he grew up and where he moved to Frederick County from. Hough alludes to wanting to avoid what he calls "Montgomery County crime". Does this mean he thinks Sheriff Jenkins is doing a bad job managing crime in Frederick County? Doesn’t Hough know that most violent crimes are actually down in Frederick County? Under my administration, the county has supported our Sheriff Deputies with salary improvements and have increased funding to the Sheriff’s Office by over 35%.

Hough says he wants to ban multi-family and high density housing. He shows photos of high-rise buildings in urban cities not located in Frederick County. No one has proposed these kinds of high rise buildings and they are not even allowed in the City of Frederick where there are height restrictions to protect the views of the clustered spires. While it is questionable as to whether it is even legal and in compliance with federal fair housing laws to ban multi-family housing, this rhetoric seems like a dog whistle for not wanting "certain people" who live in multi-family housing. Really? We have multi-family housing in the county that meets a need for seniors who want to downsize and for young adults starting out who don’t want to live with their parents or who are working people who simply don’t want the yard work. Does Hough oppose the multi-family housing at Homewood or at Worman’s Mill? Does Hough want our seniors and our young people to relocate somewhere else? Shouldn’t apartments and condos be allowed in certain more urban areas?

So, let’s acknowledge the facts about residential growth. Over the past 8 years, virtually all the housing growth in the county is a result of what was approved by the last Board of County Commissioners, who approved over 20,000 houses between 2012 and 2014. Some of these housing projects have not even started yet. During my administration, only two senior only projects have been added to this huge pipeline of housing. We have stopped approving more housing and have instead focused on providing needed schools, roads, fire stations and public safety staffing to keep up with the demand for service. Hough actively supported the last BOCC and their massive residential growth decisions – all made without thought for needed infrastructure, services and impacts on taxpayers. Actions speak louder than words.

Hough says he will support education. But, actions speak louder than words. He has a solid record as a state senator of not supporting public education. Under my administration, the county has advanced three new and very much needed elementary schools in the County using $105 million specifically allocated in the state Built to Learn Act for Frederick County. Michael Hough voted against this bill. He actually voted against state funding for school construction that has been allocated for the new Brunswick Elementary Schools, the new Landsdale Elementary School in Monrovia, and the replacement Valley Elementary School in Jefferson. Actions speak louder than words with Hough voting against school construction money specifically designated for Frederick County.

Hough claims he wants to "freeze" property taxes but yet again actions speak louder than words. During his years as a state senator, Hough never proposed to freeze state property taxes, never introduced legislation to hold the state property tax to the constant yield tax rate, and actually voted for a state general fund budget this year that increased over 15% as compared to the prior year.

By contrast, the current county council has voted to pass an expanded senior tax credit, a tax credit for veterans, and adopted a targeted income tax reduction of 7% for households filing joint returns with a taxable income of $100,000 or less to support our working families. Michael Hough actually voted against the state legislation that allowed counties to provide targeted income tax relief. His actions, speak louder than words. The only person in the race for County Executive who has actually voted to reduce taxes is Jessica Fitzwater.

If you want good schools and the best teachers in our classrooms, there is only one person to vote for and that is Jessica Fitzwater. If you want balanced, rational growth in the county that does not outpace infrastructure and support for a diversity of jobs and a thriving economy, there is only one person to vote for and that is Jessica Fitzwater. If you want a Livable Frederick, support for agriculture preservation and agriculture economic vitality, there is only one persons to vote for and that’s Jessica Fitzwater.

Actions speak louder than words.