David Montgomery’s outburst at the recent Town Council meeting was revealing — not about the Talbot Family Network, but about himself.
Presented with hard data on hunger, housing insecurity, childhood poverty, and mental health, Mr. Montgomery chose not to engage with the suffering of nearly 40% of Talbot households struggling to meet basic needs. Instead, he attacked the representative of TFN for acknowledging racial disparities and for daring to include transgender people in the human conversation. That is not leadership. That is projection.
Mr. Montgomery accuses others of “bias,” yet he arrives with his own rigid ideological script already written. He dismisses community data as “progressive,” while advancing a singular moral theory that poverty can be solved simply by promoting traditional family structures. That view conveniently ignores economic reality, healthcare access, wages, housing costs, disability, addiction, and the countless circumstances that families do not choose.
And let us be honest: Montgomery has made a pattern of singling out LGBTQ people — especially transgender residents — as symbolic villains in his culture war. It is a familiar political move: punch down, then claim neutrality.
What is especially jarring is the timing. We enter the holiday season — a time supposedly dedicated to charity, humility, and care for the least among us — yet the message from Mr. Montgomery once again seems to be that only one type of family, one type of identity, and one type of life experience is worthy of recognition in Talbot County.
The subtext is impossible to ignore: if you are not part of the privileged, straight, cisgender, religious conservative-leaning power structure, your struggles are suspect, your data is “biased,” and your existence is political.
Which raises a fair question: if this is how Mr. Montgomery spends his political capital now — attacking food security networks and DEI book clubs — what comes next? A renewed push, perhaps with like-minded allies like Lynne Mielke, to once again restore the Talbot Boys monument to the courthouse lawn under the banner of “heritage” and “neutrality”? The pattern suggests that symbolic grievance matters more than material suffering.
Mr. Montgomery is entitled to his opinions. But the people of Talbot County are also entitled to ask whether those opinions reflect compassion, reality, or simply comfort with a world where power already looks like him.
And when one public figure recently sneered that certain minority citizens “garbage,” many of us recognized the sentiment immediately — because for too many residents, that is exactly what this kind of politics feels like.
Talbot County deserves leaders focused on solving hunger, housing, and hardship — not manufacturing cultural enemies while real families suffer and fall further behind.
Keith Alan Watts
Tilghman
Martha Witte Suss says
Thank you, Keith Watts for calling to light the glaring bigotry and bias that David Montgomery has displayed. Being progressive is not a dirty word but being a bigot is well you know thank you again Keith for speaking the truth.
Dick Deerin says
Excellent letter. Thank you for taking the time to address the misguided and unhelpful comments made by Mr. Montgomery.
William Keppen says
Thank you Keith, you summed up my feelings exactly. Some people selectively read the Bible, apparently. And/or they misinterpret what religious tolerance is all about. And/or they follow Trump’s brand of Christianity.
Michael Davis says
Thanks Keith for writing this. To paraphrase a great saying, Dr. Montgomery may be entitled to his opinions, but he’s not entitled to promote lies. It is an out and out lie that poverty is due to nontraditional families. Why would a a man such as Dr. Montgomery, who pretends to be intelligent, believe an absolute lie and say that lie over and over again? He’s in a bubble of a cult and voluntarily gave up his ability to think.
If he and his ilk would only stay in their entitled white social groups bemoaning giving women the right to vote and work, that would be fine. If they want to dress up in white sheets and dance around burning crosses, well, just keep off my grass. But Dr. Montgomery comes out of this 19th Century box to use political power to impose his racist beliefs on others. For promoting lies, he needs to be voted out of office.
Deirdre LaMotte says
It is probably a conservative Catholic “thing”. And these regressive US Catholics are not a fan of the
present Pontiff, nor the last one. Figures, you know, human rights is an anathema to real Christian values. /s 🤣
SHarron Cassavant says
RIght on! An eloquently expressed analysis of the bias that leads to shouting “bias” when inconvenient truths are laid before the public.
Ron Ketter says
Excellent letter. Thank you for taking the time to call out this small minded bigotry. Easton deserves better.
Lance Simon says
I find it interesting that so many are quick to judge Dr. Montgomery and call him names like “bigot”, but so few take the time to attend (in-person or virtually) our Town Council meetings (1st and 3rd Monday of every month, 5:30 p.m. at Town Office) to hear what all the Council members have to say about the important topics of the day.
As an avowed Town Council junkie, I attend every one of these meetings and can tell you from experience that Dr. Montgomery is thoughtful, fair & open-minded, candid, extremely professional, and — get ready, big surprise! — Conservative. Not MAGA, not Far Right, but old-time Conservative.
We are fortunate to currently have a balanced and professional Town Council – two Democrats, two Republicans, and an Independent Council President. They each make comments regularly on presentations, this is part of their elected duties. Regarding TFN there was no legislation being discussed, no budget items, simply Councilmember responses to a presentation that was placed on the agenda by the TFN. (BTW why didn’t TFN submit its presentation and background materials ahead of time to all Council members? That is the normal protocol and would have provided time for the Council to better prepare for responding to this presentation.)
Let me tell you a story about David Montgomery. Several months ago, I made a public comment (3 minutes) about Council civility and effectiveness during the terrible and thankfully short reign of Frank Gunsallus as Council President. Afterwards, David thanked me for my comments and invited me to join his ongoing political discussion club. This club is center-right to be sure, and I’m clearly a center-left thinker, but David was happy to have me join, and I’ve gained valuable insight and new friends through this group.
Have you heard of Easton Town Ordinance 840? This is perhaps the most important piece of legislation passed by the Council this year. It requires fair and reasonable limits on expenses by all candidates, along with public reporting and education. The ordinance’s sponsors? David Montgomery and Mayor Cook.
Have you listened to David’s comments on the “despicable” rise of antisemitism on the Far Right? See the Nov. 3 Council meeting recording, right at the 2:00:00 mark.
TFN is a left-center group. David Montgomery is a right-center Council member. There is no bigotry here, and no surprises really, just a clear disagreement on strategy and focus. Dr. Montgomery was well within his rights to make the comments he made, and I hope TFN will invite David to continue this strategic discussion. Dr. Montgomery is not speaking in a vacuum, there are many residents who share his views, which is why he’s been elected to the Town Council.