Too Young To Vote, But Refusing To Be Silent

By Lori Aratani and Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 17, 2008

Some of them aren't old enough to vote, but student leaders in Montgomery County felt it was important that they have a voice in local elections.

So in the fall, they did what teenagers who have grown up in the shadow of the White House do when they want to make a difference in the political process: They formed the Montgomery County Student Government Political Action Committee.

The effort is being led in part by Ben Elkind, a senior at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Politics is in his blood. At 17, he is the president of the Montgomery County Region Student Government Association. But he's quick to note that the PAC is separate from the student government association.

Now, this effort won't entail fancy fundraisers where shrimp cocktail is served on silver platters. Elkind and his peers have something else in mind.

"We're not going to be able to do [big fundraising], and I don't think that's our strong suit,'' he said. "But I think students are exceptionally great foot soldiers. We have a lot of energy and we can be the volunteers.''

About 170 students have weighed in on the Montgomery County school board race, which has a primary election Feb. 12 and general election in November.

The student government association did questionnaires and 30-minute follow-up interviews with all the candidates on issues including policies the candidates would like to see regarding the environment, race relations in schools and High School Assessment requirements.

The candidates they've endorsed include: Christopher S. Barclay, who was appointed to fill the Silver Spring area vacancy left by Valerie Ervin's election to the Montgomery County Council; Alies Muskin, a parent activist who is running for an at-large seat being vacated by Sharon W. Cox; and Laura Farthing Berthiaume, a Rockville lawyer, who is running against Stephen N. Abrams for the Rockville-Potomac seat.

Muskin is facing four opponents in the race for the at-large seat: Philip Kauffman, a government lawyer from Silver Spring; Tommy Le, an engineer and former teacher; Carey Apple, an aquatic-facility supervisor from Germantown; and Rob Seubert, a loan officer and former middle school science teacher from Silver Spring. Two candidates for the seat will be chosen in the primary.

Elkind said student voices are important because the school board needs to know what's happening inside of schools, and what better way to learn that than from students?

It would be wrong to write off today's teens as self-centered, text-messaging, iPod-obsessed adolescents, he said.

"We do care,'' he said. "And we want to be involved.''

Qi Added as Liaison

County Executive Isiah Leggett has named Lily Qi, a former public affairs director for a District government department, as liaison for Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab and Near Eastern communities in his Office of Community Partnerships.

Qi, 44, worked for the District's Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking. Before that, she was a vice president at the Washington, D.C., Marketing Center and assistant director of multicultural affairs at American University.

A resident of North Potomac, Qi served on Leggett's transition team and participated in the county's Leadership Summit in October. She is a member of Gov. Martin O'Malley's Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs and president of the Greater DC Chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans. She has an MBA from American University and a bachelor's degree from Manchester College.

Qi, who will earn $97,000 a year, joins Tina Clarke, liaison to the African American community, and Joe Heiney-Gonzalez, liaison to the Latino community. Leggett created the Office of Community Partnerships, which is led by former council member Bruce Adams.

Although Qi's hiring was announced after Leggett imposed a hiring freeze, Adams said she was offered the job in November and delayed her start date to finish work in the District.

Short on Notice

The Montgomery County Council is typically not shy about advertising its meetings, sending out multiple news releases and posting agendas on its Web site. So it was unusual this week, when there was little notice of the council's Monday retreat at the Rockville library. The five-hour agenda included housekeeping items such as the annual calendar, but also meaty topics such as Leggett's proposed midyear budget reductions.

Maryland's Open Meetings Act gives government officials latitude for determining the method of providing advanced notice of meetings. The retreat was listed as part of a calendar posted on a bulletin board on the fifth floor of the council office since Jan. 3. Neil Greenberger, spokesman for the council, said the calendar meets those requirements.

"I assume most reporters check it," Greenberger said. But that was news to reporters from the Gazette, the Examiner and The Post.

Council President Michael Knapp, who has made improving communication with residents a priority of his tenure, said that the retreat was advertised in the same fashion as in past years and that it was not his intention to keep the public out of the loop.

The Police's New Voice

The Montgomery County Police Department has a new chief spokesman. Lt. Paul Starks, a 23-year veteran of the department, joined the media office last month. He most recently served as the deputy director of the department's internal affairs division.

Starks, 47, replaced Lt. Porsha Jones, who spent about six months on the job. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland and has a master's degree in management from Johns Hopkins University.

Starks, a Montgomery native, lives in Rockville with his wife. They have five children. He's also a principal of a driver's education company that employs several county officers.

Still, with five kids and two jobs, it usually takes him no longer than two or three minutes to respond to e-mails.

Staff writer Ernesto Londo¿o contributed to this report.