Judge Dismisses Ambulance Fee Lawsuit And The Electioneering Continues
Nov 1, 2010 21:30 - 3 Comments
TBD.com reports Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg dismissed a challenge by the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association (MCVFRA) claiming the county was engaging in illegal electioneering in support of the ambulance fee referendum.
Judge Greenberg ruled that “the suit was filed too late (there is a 10-day statute) and that there was no evidence to show the county’s actions would sway voters.”
In her post Ambulance fee lawsuit: Judge dismisses volunteers’ challenge Elahe Izadi noted:
Meanwhile across town today, county officials were out in full force, along with a volunteer paramedic, advocating for ambulance fees. And, yes, county communications’ staff members sent out numerous press releases ahead of the press conference.
Evidence of the County’s efforts to sway voters on Question A was also documented by Tom Moore, who has written a Contributor Opinion to Vote No On Question A. He snapped this picture of the Rockville Memorial Library from earlier today with a “Vote For Question A” banner hanging across the entrance.
Photo by Tom Moore
Regardless of your opinion on the ambulance fee issue, should a government building be displaying a banner telling us how to vote ? Who paid for and hung this banner on a public building?
To pay an ambulance fee is like paying a police fee when robbed or paying a city fee for information. And so on. .
Thanks to Tom Moore for sharing this photograph of the banner hanging from the Rockville Memorial Library. I should have done the same when I saw it there on Sunday. As Library Advisory Committee Chair, I was concerned about this use of a public building in this way. I also wondered who paid for and authorized it. Signs were also prominently displayed in the lobby of the library. We need to follow up on this.
Helen,
I appreciate your comment but your analogy is not quite right as individuals don’t already pay a private company for the services provided by the police, etc.
In the case of ambulance service: those of us who have health insurance already pay a premium to ensure that the ambulance ride is there and available when we need it (note: under the failed proposal those who do not have insurance would have still been covered by the County). And, unfortunately, the way our insurance premiums are structured, we cannot opt out of that fee. So that now, that the voters have spoken, we will continue to be double-billed for the same service, once by our insurance companies and the second time through taxes paid to Montgomery County for the same purpose. (The windfall goes to the insurance companies that collect the fee, but will never have to pay for the service.)
Now, paying for the same service twice isn’t the worst thing in the world when there is an abundance of money. Unfortunately, in the current economic conditions, giving this windfall to the insurance companies, so that we can take care of the ambulance rides through taxes, will necessarily worsen what will already be draconian cuts in other areas of the county budget. Schools? Libraires? Number of emergency personnel available when we need them? I don’t know where the cuts will ultimately have to be made. But the county government cannot print money, so we all need to brace ourselves. Alternately, we need to accept higher taxes.