The Gazette endorses Marc Korman in District 16

Gazette.Net

​In District 16, which comprises some of Potomac, Bethesda and Chevy Chase, our choices for the three House seats are the Democratic incumbents William Frick and Ariana Kelly, plus Democratic newcomer Marc Korman, all of Bethesda.

​The three bring different focuses that benefit the district’s residents. Frick, for example, has worked to ensure that the state is getting enough bang for its buck in its numerous tax credit programs. A lawyer, he also says he’s passionate about protecting consumers from identity theft and scams.

Kelly is strong on women’s and family issues. She helped pass laws that require every hospital emergency room in the state — not just one in each county — to have at least a protocol for providing rape kits for victims of sexual assault. Other bills of hers that passed require small businesses to provide their workers with job-protected maternity and paternity leave and mandate that insurance companies cover autism treatment.

We did not endorse Korman in the Democratic primary, but he would serve the district well. He says he would focus on education by supporting changes in how the state allocates school construction dollars, so Montgomery gets what it needs to handle its mushrooming school enrollment. He also considers transportation a priority and says he would push for both stricter oversight and a dedicated funding source for Metrorail, which many District 16 residents rely on daily.

​The three Republican candidates — John Andrews, Lynda del Castillo and Rose Li — bring some good ideas to the table, emphasizing the need to trim wasteful spending. However, all three Republicans — again, all from Bethesda — favor putting state transportation money into roads rather than mass transit; Andrews, in fact, wants to “kill the Purple Line.” In their candidate questionnaires for The Gazette, both del Castillo and Li blast what they call the “bag tax,” perhaps unaware that the nickel that shoppers pay for bags is a Montgomery County, not a state, fee.