Make a plan to vote

(4/2024) Stories help us make sense of our world, especially when deluged by input from every direction. Alice went to Wonderland under duress and confusion. She only wanted to find solutions. How do I make sense of this place, how do I get home? She was offered random information — "Drink Me!", and random threats — "Off with her head!"

Life usually feels pretty normal compared to Alice’s. Maybe not this year.

We want to make the best decision with our vote. An election comes down to a job application. In this primary election, my starting point is identifying the best solution finder. It’s great to have leadership in budgeting for public safety, interstate highways, et. al. True leadership includes seeing how to connect people to solutions using what is already in place. Managing people in our society by enacting laws about what books are available and who can’t control their own body, is not leadership.

The Board of Education is the elected body mandated to establish educational and safety guidelines for our schools, staff and students. Across our country, debates about these guidelines have gotten to a fever pitch. One of the widest ranging issues of our modern school system is safety for our at-risk kids. Classroom safety for special education students, their neurotypical peers, and their teachers, along with addressing plain old-fashioned bullying, are all on the minds of voters. We constituents have the job of paying attention to the elected body we put in charge.

Bullying is a feature of the human condition, but that doesn’t mean we have to tolerate it. We don’t want our kids at the receiving end of a bully’s cruel words. We don’t have to tolerate it from would-be members of our Board of Education who would ban books or deny our children the ability to be themselves.

Our legislative bodies at the Federal level are routinely hamstrung by a small group that clings to messages shared with a selective group of constituents. Bullies are doing their best to deny full body autonomy to women, and shame anyone they pronounce "different".

In the Primary Election on May 14, I support these candidates:

Board of Education: Jerry Alexandratos Ph.D.

Full disclosure, I have known Jerry for twenty years, and we are cofounding board members of Kitsune, Inc 501(c)3. Jerry, a Frederick resident for over 30 years, shared the following

"I've been in schools for a long time, not only as a student, but also as a parent of a special needs child. He is now a nonbinary adult, a graduate of Frederick County Public Schools, and in college in Portland, Oregon. My stepson inspired me to help start a nonprofit in Frederick called Kitsune, to help other people with developmental disabilities. I have seen how FCPS helped my son, also how they did not, and how they can be improved. Schools need more special education teachers, allocated based upon need and not just school size, as well as more mental health counselors. We need them to protect kids from bullying, not exclude them based upon irrational fears about gender or orientation.

As a scientist, I would like to help bring a more scientific and data-driven approach to the education curriculum to help all students, such as improving early childhood reading methods using more up to date textbooks and training. I think teachers need more support in general, especially by reducing the student to teacher ratio so teachers can spend more time with each student."

For more information about Jerry, visit his campaign website at jerryalexandratos.com

There are six Primary Election openings for BOE. On my list are Jerry Alexandratos, Allison Medrano, Justin L. Smith, Angie Vigliotti, Chad Wilson, Cecelia Reidler. They all are committed to watching out for our kids in all their glorious individuality.

Congressional District 6: Del. Lesley Lopez

Leadership is about understanding the scope of a problem. Offering a solution I can implement myself is leadership that empowers me, a constituent. Lesley listens, following up with solutions. Lesley spent time at a meeting for Kitsune, our nonprofit focused on independent living for adults with developmental disabilities. We have an idea for a resource database—the one we wish we had when we were raising our kids. Lesley understood the purpose and scope of our project. Within 48 hours she connected me with two coders who have now, in a month and a half, built our database platform. It is functional and expected to be online for the public to use by the time I write my Good Day Neighbor column for May. Not a penny of tax payer money was spent.

Lesley cosponsored bill HB 328 Simplifying hospital financial assistance.

As President of the Women's Caucus, Lesley helped lead on advocating for HB 376, ending copayments for breast cancer screenings and mammograms in Maryland.

For more information about Lesley, visit her campaign website at lopezformaryland.com.

US Senate: David Trone

David Trone found a transportation solution for Maryland in securing a combined $268,615,000 to complete work on U.S. 15, I-68 Viaduct, U.S. 220 and U.S. 219 North, completing the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) through Trone's "Finish the ADHS Act" included in the IIJA.

During Rep. Trone’s tenure, the House passed the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act. Eight of the thirty bills in this legislative package were led or co-led by Trone. Along with the mental health bills, were Community funded projects in Frederick County, The City of Frederick and throughout Western Maryland.

My vote in the primary goes to candidates who understand that solutions impact people differently, requiring flexibility, not a one-size-fits-all decree. As members of our county, state, and national communities, we have common needs that true solution finders can address.

We are individuals with different needs, but we are one in this nation of free will, free thought, and the right to vote. Our elected officials need to know where constituents stand, regardless your choice winning. For more information about David visit his website at davidtrone.com.

2024 is the year of the vote. Please make yours count.