Before the September Primary Election, developers and corporate special interest groups pledged to spend whatever it would take to defeat candidates in Montgomery County who oppose the ICC.
Apparently County Executive Douglas Duncan wasn't satisfied with the findings of several major ICC studies that involved millions of dollars and years of studying. These official studies revealed the ICC would relieve congestion by an average of only 4%. New roads generate development that in turn generates more traffic. The State highway Administration concluded in the 1997 DEIS Study that "None of the ICC alternatives will have a substantial impact on the levels of congestion experienced by motorists on the Capital Beltway, I-270 or I-95 within the study area."
Before the Primary Election, Mr. Duncan came up with an apparent "overnight" $10.8 billion "Go Montgomery" transportation plan that claims to reduce congestion by 24%. The "Go Montgomery" plan was widely publicized before the September Primary and the public apparently bought it. Polls were taken that stated the majority of the public wants the ICC.
An engineer, who was a member of the TPR Task Force that studied transportation issues and the ICC for 18 months, wrote a rebuttal to Mr. Duncan's transportation plan. The media never published his rebuttal. Several other concerned citizens who wrote rebuttals to Mr. Duncan's "Go Montgomery Plan" had their articles published AFTER the Primary election. The public heard only one side of the ICC issue.
Neighbors for a Better Montgomery (Neighbors Pac) conducted a press release on campaign contributions that reported development-backed organizations poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into this election. According to their analysis, "End Gridlock" has raised more than $500,000 and has spent this money getting aggressive-development candidates elected to the Montgomery County Council. They also reported that a group titled "Citizens for Quality Living" (CQL) is sponsored by the National Association of Realtors, the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade. Their analysis shows that CQL collected and spent more than $120,000 supporting pro-development candidates; $15,000 on three cable television ads in support of the ICC and mailed out glossy printed materials that indirectly attacked certain County Council candidates who oppose the freeway.
The Neighbors Pac stated that Douglas Duncan collected and spent over $1.2 million in the 2002 campaign. Their analysis shows that $370,000 documented-dollars went to "End Gridlock" and from there into the support of the development-friendly candidates whom Duncan endorsed. Check out the Neighbors Pac website at www.neighborspac.org
Apparently people's frustration with traffic congestion was used to defeat Council Member Blair Ewing and other citizen-oriented candidates with a classic smear campaign of lies, ridicule and distortions. The Council's transportation plan that resulted from examination of the Transportation Policy Task Force 18 month study will apparently be replaced with the new Council's pro-ICC agenda.
In my opinion, the big money involved in this election was not only about future development in and around the ICC right-of-way. It's about development throughout the county.