Why should Talbot County voters choose David Montgomery and Dave Stepp as their county council representatives when they belittle our efforts and assume our intellectual gullibility? Mr. Montgomery asserts that any effort that Talbot County citizens make to diminish the effects of climate change would be ineffective so why bother to do anything. Talbot citizens know that while their efforts alone may not make the needed adjustments, taken together with the efforts of their fellow county, state, and national citizens, they can set the example for world-wide change.
As a presumed economic expert, he wants us to believe that the high price of fossil fuels are due solely to the green revolution to save our environment. He neglects to acknowledge the collusion of two of the major world authoritarian dictators, Putin and Mohammed bin Salman to lower oil production and thus raising prices enriching themselves and causing pain to the rest of the planet. He doesn’t want to recognize the multi-year supply chain problems caused by the world-wide billionaire oligarchs who control the flow of oil and natural gas. Mr. Montgomery wants us to live under the economic guidance of our own authoritarian whose middle name might well be “Bankruptcy.” He has made his millions or billions (we will never know which) simply by giving his name to overpriced goods and facilities that profess to be of high quality but are not. If his enterprises fail, he declares bankruptcy leaving bank creditors, large and small business concerns, and hard-working employees bearing the costs of his failures. He has gouged the American taxpayers to cover the cost of secret service protection for himself and his spoiled, over-indulged family. Do Talbot County voters want to support Mr. Montgomery and his “Bankrupt” economic policies?
Mr. Stepp on the other hand, thinks he can employ the Trumpian trick of waving a blank manila envelope containing alleged evidence of $500,000 spent by the Talbot County Education Department on critical race theory. He seems to think that we cannot intellectually process these figures to understand what these expenses are for so he does not share them. He also does not define what he means by critical race theory and why it is toxic for our children’s innocent ears to hear. Does he even know what it is he is raging against? Why do we need to be enraged because he is?
Finally, Mr. Stepp says that voters should choose him because he is a “Christian Man.” Yet, he sits silently as his cohort, Mr. Montgomery, disparages Talbot County citizens’ efforts to bring about world-wide climate changes. As a “Christian Man” is he blind to the efforts of an itinerant Jewish rabbi who lived more than 2,000 years ago with his twelve rag tag followers wandering in the wilderness at the far edge of the Roman Empire. Did those efforts fail to change the world that we live in today? Should we vote for a man who can’t seem to appreciate that?
So Talbot County voters why choose these men as your representatives when there are five rational, prescient Democratic candidates who value your knowledge and efforts to improve our local and world environment, and will do all they can to lead and support you?
Marc Ebersberger
Easton
Dave Stepp says
Mr. Ebersberger,
Thank you for your thoughts. As I always do, I’d like to make my response public, as to clarify questions that others may have as well.
I can assure you that the “blank manila envelope” you speak of does contain actual contracts and receipts totaling exactly $509,798.57 of taxpayer dollars spent between the years of 2009 and 2018. That is not “alleged evidence” as you claim – it is an actual response received from an MPIA request to TCPS for receipts and contracts related to Pacific Education Group, a San Francisco-based company who trains organizations on critical race theory. I’d love to share the “toxic” contents with you, as I’ve already done with many in Talbot County, including our new TCPS Superintendent, who is looking into the matter. I’ve seen and lived these divisive practices and have actually taken the time to dig into this at a local level – this is not a “Trumpian trick” as you claim. I very much know what I am “against” and what I stand for. Let’s meet up and I’d be glad to have a conversation, as you can only get so much information out in a public forum where you have 60 seconds to respond.
In regards to your “Christian man” comment – As a Christian man needing no quotation marks, I would never blindly question your Christianity – especially when we’ve never met. I am well aware of Jesus – it sounds like you may be too. Jesus is my Lord and Savior and I am proud to glorify His name in my reply. The stretch attempt you make to link Jesus, His followers, climate change, myself, and another local candidate – to a comment that the other candidate made falls short on me. It sounds like a longer conversation is warranted, and I welcome it. I do not hide in the shadows – I show up, listen, and engage. My recommendation here – let’s start the above conversation I offer with a discussion about Jesus – we’ll certainly make more progress on any issue we discuss thereafter. You can reach out right on my website.
I’ll close with one of my favorite (and very relative) scriptures – “With God, all things are possible” – Matthew 19:26
Respectfully,
Dave Stepp
Candidate for Talbot County Council
Michael Pullen says
“Critical race theory”. Why, suddenly is the historical reality of slavery, theft of others freedom and labor, theft of Native American lands, etc. such a problem? Because Tucker Carlson’s narrative says so?
It’s real. It happened. It’s left a legacy that exists today. Are you willing to be part of the solution, or do you refuse to look at it honestly and without preconceived ideas?
If Americans cannot face their own history and recognize the moral failures of the past, how can we accept responsibility for our own moral shortcomings? It’s not a gospel of guilt, it’s a gospel of love for one another.
Mickey Terrone says
Dear Dave. I appreciate your response to Mr. Ebersberger.
I have to ask however, if you believe your information on the Pacific Education Group contains information that shows the Talbot County Schools is teaching Critical Race Theory, don’t you have a public responsibility to share what you have before the election rather than maintain the accusation without suppoorting your claims? Withholding accusatory information raises the question about your veracity. What is the point of withholding information?
Frankly, I don’t believe your accusation. It seems to me that if you had clear evidence, you’d have presented it. Second, your interpretation of CRT may be reasonably questioned. Mr. Montgomery has stated that CRT can refer to “a whole lot of stuff”. We don’t know what you definition is. You should absolutely have to define this alleged threat before people vote to find out they disagree with some bizarre, extreme opinion.
Isn’t this demagoguery? Making abased claims is not a reflection of a leadership so much as it’s fearmongering. Having spent $509,000 over 9 years isn’t such an extravagant amount of money. Did it buy books on CRT? What CRT instruction did it provide?
I also have to ask what specific evidence have you discerned that CRT has caused children in our county to be negatively impacted by personal shame that their ancestor(s) brutalized slaves? The Family Advocacy Alliance, in which you are involved, has claimed that CRT is part of a Marxist takeover of Talbot County. What evidence have you seen to confirm this claim? To the best of my knowledge, none of the Republican candidates for County Council or School Board have distanced themelves from these extremist claims.
These accusations are very serious. Mr. Montgomery promises to line item veto any vestige of CRT from the school budget. Of course, when you can only offer generalized definitions of CRT, this amounts to an unveiled treat to every teacher and student in Talbot County’s school system.
I would urge every voter in Talbot County to withhold any votes for Republican candidates unless or until you present your evidence on CRT and explain how it impacts the County schools and children.
David Montgomery says
For the most part, I got a very good laugh from this letter. Normally I would not reply to something that cheered me up so much, but I do need to give Mr. Ebersberger a lesson in arithmetic. Some simple numbers reveal the reason that I, and other climate experts across the political spectrum, think that we must prepare for unstoppable climate change rather than wasting money and effort on actions that will only slow it by a few years, at most.
The latest projections of growth in greenhouse gas emissions by the US Department of Energy show that by 2050 less than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions will come from the US. The largest contributors to the rest will be China, India, Brazil, Russia and other rapidly growing countries that have made clear that they have no intention of reducing their emissions. Even if the US reduced its emissions to zero by 2050, that would delay temperatures by only a few years. That means that very costly efforts to reach such a target, or even smaller reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, will inflict economic harm now far greater than any future benefit.
The sensible approach to climate change is to develop wise policies to protect against that which we cannot avoid. Sentiment has to give way to realism. For a short, quick summary of projections of global emissions, this is a good start: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/energy-and-the-environment/outlook-for-future-emissions.php. In the interest of full disclosure, I used to head the office that puts out these studies.
Steve Shimko says
Mr. Montgomery may be right in the projected growth in greenhouse gas emissions by nation that he presented. But it’s telling that he ignores (deliberately, out of ignorance, who knows) that through 2021, the US has emitted almost twice the amount of greenhouse gasses as China – 397 Gt (Giga tons) vs 214 Gt. Those greenhouse gasses are still, for the most part, in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Ron Ketter says
Mr Montgomery’s arrogant reply proves again why he’s ill-suited for serving on council. Does he not realize that the US represents less than 5% of the world’s population? So that a decrease to 10% would still have us at twice the global per capita rate. Given his record on climate change (look it up) he’s been on the wrong side of the science and economics for so long that it must be hard for him to change. This is someone we can’t afford to have on the council.