Transcripts For WRC Viewpoint 20140713 : vimarsana.com

Minority party. Which our base will be out voting. We think a big republican vote, a split democratic party, the perfect storm we need to win. And how much do independents make up in the county, and are they key to a victory . . Very important. They have a key. Theres about 125,000 registered republicans. Approximately 345,000 democrats, and maybe 160,000, 170,000 independents. They ary crucie yre crucial fo. You mentioned a contentious democratic ballot. I thought he would win, but whatever you have an incouple bn bent challenged by two challengers, they divide up the vote. But they got 6,000 or 7,000 more than leggett combined. So more people voted against ike leggett than for him in the primary. . We should mention for our viewers, he was the guest last week. Thank you for coming in. Weve got you back to back. Does it make it easier to run against an incumbent . Yes, because we can point to things that we think the public is against. We can point to his record, and we can say that for eight years hes been there, and if theres things that we want done that havent been done they cant blame us. We can only blame him. So the incumbent has to deal with his eightyear record. What would you say is the biggest difference or two differences between you and ike leggett . My main priority is public safety. I moved to Montgomery County 25 years ago. While i was a d. A. In the bronx i prosecuted the son of sam killer for three murders in the wro bronx. I have seen evil close up, what it does to a family and a city. I think Montgomery County is too complacent. I dont want to see a nbc helicopter over any of our schools or reporters chasing bereaved parents when their child is killed. I want to see a uniformed officer at every single school. They have a Police Presence at just high schools. I want to see them at every one of our schools. Every child is precious. Second, we have over 10,000 students being taught in trailers, which is outrageous. I want to get all of our children out of trailers into classrooms. The those are my two main priorities. In terms of my other priorities, i want to do away with the bag tax, recruit business, have more business in the community, to raise revenue. I want to get us out of the liquor business. Before we get on to that and taxes, lets go back to education. One is having a fouryear institution. Yes. In Montgomery County, a college institution. And youre talking about one with high standards. I want to see a World Class University in this county. Montgomery county is bigger than sex states, and we dont have a university with dormitories, Athletic Facilities where our best and brightest and the best and brightest around the world can come to be educated of the i want to look into building a fouryear university in our county. Thats a priority. How do you go about doing that . Because you rarely hear about that, a World Class University develop from the ground up overnight. You see a lot of online schools now around the country. . We can go to the private sector. I would love to meet with mr. Marriott and say mr. Marriott, wouldnt it be wonderful to have marriott university, a World Class University with your name on it . Can you go to the private sector or the public sector. We have Montgomery College which is a great school, shady grove institutions of learning. Maybe as the incubator to build our university around. But i want to look into that. We should have a fouryear university and we dont. Were one of the richest counties in the world. I want to look into that. Montgomery Community College has a growing population. It could certainly be there. Yes. Its a great institution. We have more to get to, well be right back on viewpoint. So stay with us. And welcome back to viewpoint, again, our guest this morning, jim shalleck. Hes the republican candidate for county executive. Youve brought up taxes. You want to do away with the bag tax. Absolutely. Everywhere i campaign, people detest the bag tax. They really are offended by it. And Small Businesses are very offended by it because it takes a lot of their effort, the paper work to deal with the paperwork and receipts and everything. But people are offended that if they want to buy something they have to pay an extra nickle to get a bag. Its something i want to do away with thats very unpopular. It sends a bad message to the rest of the community and other communities how hungry we are to take nickels from people. The energy tax, too . Reduced, greatly. Phil andrews agreed with that. We really have to do, not do away with it, but lower it. We have income tax, sales tax, bag tax, flush tax. Speed cameras are a tax. We have so many taxes burdening the people that weve got to cut back. Whats your position on speed cameras . We see them popping up in every jurisdiction of our area. I would like to see big signs maybe 100 feet before you get to them, big sign, not small signs. If you still speed, then yousev. But i want to give more warnings in advance of the camera so people know if you slow down youre not going to get the ticket. Are they just moneymakers or a deterrent. I think theyre more of a moneymaker. They speed up again. Obviously people do slow down for that period of time. But its generating money, and i think thats the main purpose. So if were cutting taxes or doing away with some, where do you make it up on the revenue side . The first thing i would do, and i always repeat this, but i wont here. We are the only county in the united states, only one. Some states do it, were the only county that owns and controls the liquor stores, liquor warehouses and distribution assets of liquor. Im morally opposed to that, and i want to privatize that. They say if you own a liquor for or drycle cleaner or funeral parlor, youre set for life. Sell them off to private industry. We can make about 50 million on the initial privatization. Each year we charge fees, and the revenues will come in like crazy. I want to get out of that business. We can get a lot of money in. And then we have to recruit business to the county. Recruit businesses, give them tax incentives to move here. If they need a road built, im going to build it. Bring in a company with 200, 300 employees, that expands your tax base and you dont have to go into our pockets anymore. Those are important ways to raise revenues without raising taxes. What is the big selling point as you would go out if you were county executive to bring in new business . The county has a lot to offer. It does. Its a great county. I love living here. One, its got a world class education system. Second to none in the united states. Fabulous schools. My children went to public school. Great education. We have proximity to d. C. , transportation. Airports are here. And were one of the richest counties in the united states. And we have a demographic, that if you move in your Business People are going to buy and purchase. We have the individuals here with the money to buy your product. So we have all the ingredients that would attract a business, but what doesnt attract business is our taxes and our regulations and our rules and incumbrances on business. Virginia clocks us in terms of new business. They have less corporate tax, less regulations. And people, you know, business is going to go where they make the most money. And if youre going to take, drain them with taxes, theyre going to go to virginia. So we got to make it business friendly. We dont have a reputation of being business friendly. I will. We have to take another break, and our guest this morning, jim shalleck, he is the republican candidate for county executive in Montgomery County. Well be right back on viewpoint, so stick around. And welcome back to viewpoint of the again, our guest this sunday morning is jim shalleck. He is the republican candidate for county executive. In Montgomery County. You have run four times in the county before. Countywide races, one for circuit judge three times before, for states attorney there. What makes this difference and how many times as a republican can you run and not get dejected . Well, its in my blood, you know. I love politics. Im grateful to be the Republican Party candidate. I was john mccains Campaign Chairman during the primary. I was chairman of the local Republican Party. Its in my blood. I love it. And to me, the only way we can have a dialog in this county is to elect republicans. I think a twoparty system is great. I have great running mates. So we, you know, the only time you lose in politics is if you dont run, is my view. And weve got our ideas out there, and we hope to attract democrats and independents. Do you think the one thing stifles the debate, but county council, too. Its been years. Absolutely. Even in kansas where its all republican, i would say the same thing. One party rule is not healthy. Theres no dialog. Theres no friction of ideas. No giveandtake. Its all oneparty doctrine. They dont take on each other. If i could mention the Silver Spring transit center. If you had republicans on the council over the last four years, this may not have got ton where it was. There might have been questions and friction and dialog. Youve actually called for an investigation. Ive called for a federal criminal grand jury investigation. Not to say anybody did anything wrong criminally, but to get answers. Tens of millions of dollars overspent, years overdue and the buses cant even ride on the concrete thats been laid. Were there keck backs . Were contributors given sweetheart contracts to get on the job . Was inferior product purchased against what we paid them. Was there wrongdoing . Because this is a debacle. And my view, were not going to get answers from all the democrats in rockville. Theyre all democrats. Theres no friction. Nobodys pointing fingers. We need an investigation just to get the answers. Do you suspect there was wrongdoing . I suspect inferior product was purchased, yes. Because the reports say that the buses cant withstand the, you know, the concrete thats laid cant withstand the weight of the buses. So obviously something was put in there that shouldnt have been put in there. And was it a mistake . We dont know, but it deserves an inquiry, i think. Lets talk about transportation in a broader sense, certainly. A top topic in so many minds around our region, not just in Montgomery County, but inside and outside the beltway, traffic can be a nightmare morning, noon and night. What are your plans for that . This is a cardriven society. We spend a fortune on purple lines and silver line. But Montgomery County is in their car. Theyve got to be at work at different tiles. My priority would be helping ease the Traffic Congestion with maybe widening roads. Ive often wondering why we dont have a better strategy. Coming down 270 in the morning, the rush hour lanes are bumper to bumper. But going north theyre empty. Why dont we take some of the empty lanes and use them during the rush hour time. How about staggering Work Schedules . Thats an excellent idea. Move businesses to 8 00 to 4 00, 10 00 to 6 00. But if we have to spend money on public transit, i think buses are the most effective way to add more buses and bus lanes. But everybodys in their car because they cant wait for a train. They cant wait for a bus. They got to be at work. And they work in different places. And each family has two cars. So my priorities are leaving the car traffic. Youve seen the changes in the county, how its become more diverse. Do you welcome that change . And what does that add to the county . . Oh, thats wonderful. I came from the Lower East Side of new york. Talk about diversity. Diversitys great. My family fled russia. And so we know what diversity means. And its great. Its great. And what i would like to see is a more diverse government. You know, more hispanic and black police officers, firefighters, teachers, judges, to reflect the face of the community. I think its great. And one of the things that saddens me about being a republican, you know, many of the Minority Community dont like republicans. You know, we have a bad image. And that really bothers me, because the people i know in our local party are wonderful people, godfearing, philanthropic, but our image is bad. That really bothers me. One of the biggest hurdles we have as candidates is the word republican because of the image we have from the National Party and the media. And its unfortunate because our local party is a caring, compassionate party. Jim shalleck. Well be right back with the republican candidate for county executive in Montgomery County, stay with us. And welcome back to viewpoint. Again, our guest this sunday morning is the republican candidate for county executive in Montgomery County, jim shalleck. Let me ask you mr. Shalleck. One of your ideas is to bring in a pro sports team. Were talking about maybe arena football, Minor League Baseball . Correct. Theres a group trying to form an Arena Football Team to bring into the county. That would be great. Id like to pursue Minor League Baseball. We dont have real professionals. We have some minor professional sports, like the big train and we have some great athletes, but we dont have an event where you can go and take your kid on a saturday or sunday to arena football or Minor League Baseball. And that would bring in reven and be great for us. It would provide a venue where you can see your child graduate high school in Montgomery County. Now if you want to see your child graduate in a high school in Montgomery County, you got to go down to the dar hall. I want to bring big ideas. Bring a pro sports team, a university, things that we should look into. The cost is a factor of the we dont want to overkill ourselves with spending. But we are the jewel of counties in the united states. The people that run this government and ambassadors and senators. They live here. And, you know, we dont have what i envision for a world class county, and thats what i want to. And, again, that involve, involving the private sector. Yes. The private sector has been ignored in my view. I want to reach out to the private sector and bring in private sector and encourage them, like the developers. Help us with affordable housing. Theyre getting 3,000 a month for a studio apartment in bethesda, thats fine. But i want you to contribute to our other needs. Affordable health, housing. Youre going to make a lot of money in a shalleck administration, youre going to make a lot of money, but we want some pay back for this great county. And thats my view of this. I want the private sector to be a partner, not an enemy. And unfortunately so many of my democratic friends hear the word business, thats like a dirty word. And i just have the opposite view. You also want to cut spending. Yes. Talk about ways would you do that. And one of them is salaries and benefits. We have a 5 billion budget. Thats with a b. And over 70 of our budget goes to salaries and benefits. The school board gets 2 2,500,000. When youre spending that much on salary and benefits you cant do the things that im talking about. University, things like that. So weve got to take a close look at salary and benefits. But in addition to that, weve got to cut nonessential services. How many cars does the county have in how many banquets and conferences do they go to . Not police and fire. Because, you know, i want to put a cop at every school, and thats going to cost money. But thats a priority. I dont care what that costs. I think were too complacent. And to me, at the end of the day, if im county executive and one of my assistants says jim, all the kids that we bussed to school, 120,000 plus, theyre back home, thats a good day. That will be a good day for me as county executive. Youve had a long career in legal world as d. A. Prosecutor in new york and working for the Justice Department here. How does that prepare you should you become county executive in at that role . It makes high priority Law Enforcement and public safety, because ive seen god forbid it happens here but ive seen what terrorists and murderers can do in a city. The mother and father dont care about the purple lean and bag tax. For the rest of their lives theyre ruined. And i never want to see that happen to any of our children. I never want to see one of your networks helicopters over our schools. We talked about differences between you and ike leggett. What would you say are one or two things that you admire about the job hes done over the past seven or eight years . Hes a wonderful man, man of integrity. I have no issues with him personally. I think he spends too much, i dont think hes proactive to bringing business. We spend too much, tax too much. The people voted down the ambulance fee years ago, a few years later he pushed it through against what the voters wanted to get an ambulance fee. So i think hes, hes gone too far with the fees and taxes, and its hurting us, and i dont think hes got the businessfriendly attitude that i do. Were going to have to end it here. Jim shalleck. Thank you for coming in. Good to see you on viewpoint. Now back to news 4 today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Uncle craig, whats the deal . Oh. You cant record that many shows at once. Why . You cant save every single cartoon. Why . You know you cant pause the tv here and play it in another room. Why . Its time for fios quantum tv. Store up to 200 hours in hd. Record up to 12 shows at once. Pause and play live tv, room to room. Plus, watch live tv on the go with the fios mobile app. Redefining what tv can be. Taking a stand, the large demonstration on capitol hill today thats expected to draw thousands of protesters. Plus a virginia teen believed to be in danger. This morning, the amber alert issued to help find him. Good morning. And welcome to news 4 today. Im richard jordan. Im chris tin bright. That amber alert issued from danville, virginia. First here . D. C. We have much more humidity on this sunday. Storm team 4 meteorologist amelia segal joins us with the first forecast. Hey, amelia. Good morning, guys. The weather today having a low to moderate impact on your day. It wille