THE GAZETTE
Page A-10
Wednesday, December 4, 2013 z
Barve says education, jobs priorities in District 17 Barkley to go another round in District 39 Majority leader n
is seeking re-election to represent Rockville, Gaithersburg areas BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
Del. Kumar P. Barve is counting on his track record in the state House of Delegates over the past 20-odd years to form the foundation for a successful re-election campaign. “If you looked at my campaign literature from four years ago, it would probably be pretty similar,” said Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg. Barve has been a member of the House of Delegates since 1991 and Democratic majority leader since 2003. He represents District 17, which includes Rockville and Gaithersburg. Barve said that if elected to another term, he plans to continue working on the same
things that have been priorities throughout his political career, such as education and hightechnology job creation, always in the context of balancing the budget on time. “Montgomery County is wellsituated Barve to benefit from the economy as it recovers, and the education system in the state of Maryland is still the best in the nation,” Barve said, “and we’ve done it all while maintaining a triple-A bond rating at the state level.” Barve said the major issues in the district have always been and probably will continue to be education and job creation. Since the recession ended, Barve said the state has increased the amount of investment in education, especially in school
construction, and will likely continue to do so as the economy recovers further. This year, Barve began serving on a new business climate work group in the House. The group’s mission is to study ways to streamline business regulations, encourage innovation and develop public-private partnerships to finance infrastructure, according to a description of the group on the state archives’ website. “We are going to be working very closely with Montgomery County and some major employers in Gaithersburg and major academic institutions of higher learning to really kick start our effort in developing even further the biotechnology [industry] in Montgomery County, Maryland,” Barve said. “That’s an ongoing effort that I’m going to continue to be very involved in.” Barve, 55, was born in New York, grew up in Silver Spring and received a bachelor’s degree in accounting
from Georgetown University. He now lives in Gaithersburg and is chief financial officer for Environmental Management Services Inc. of Rockville. His wife, Maureen Quinn, is a Maryland workers’ compensation commissioner. Barve has not yet officially filed to run for re-election, according to the state election’s website. Del. James W. Gilchrist (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville said he plans to run for reelection. Like the seven other legislative districts in Montgomery, District 17 elects three delegates. In the 2014 election, the district will have at least one open seat because Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons (D-Dist. 17) has announced he plans to seek the District 17 Senate seat. Andrew Platt of Gaithersburg has already filed to run in District 17, and Laurie-Anne Sayles, also of Gaithersburg, said she also plans to run. ewaibel@gazette.net
Del. Gilchrist focuses on environmental concerns n
Montgomery County Democrat plans to run for re-election BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
Del. James W. Gilchrist says he wants another term in the General Assembly to continue working on environmental concerns. Gilchrist (D-Dist. 17) switched from the Ways and Means Committee to the Environmental Matters Committee last term. “I want to continue the work I’ve been doing as a legislator,” Gilchrist said. “... Specifically, some bills and issues I’ve been working on have to do with the health and sustainability of ... the Chesapeake Bay and the fisheries.” The state delegate said he also wants to continue working on a number of bond bills and legislation dealing with taxes and hous-
ing issues. Gilchrist, 48, grew up in Rockville and now lives in the Americana Centre downtown. He is treasurer on the board of the Potomac Area Council of Hostelling International-USA. Gilchrist has served in the House of Delegates since 2007 and represents District 17, which includes Rockville and Gaithersburg. He said the biggest issue in his district is education, especially figuring Gilchrist out how to deal with a growing student population. “The top priority there is to figure out a way to get more school construction going on to enable students to have good classroom space,” Gilchrist said. In the broader agenda, Gilchrist said,
FREE
HOME VALUE ESTIMATE
other top issues continue to be health care, environmental concerns and transportation. “In each of those, we’ve made some good strides, and I want to continue to work on those priorities,” Gilchrist said. Gilchrist has not yet filed to run for reelection, but said he probably will before the new year. Andrew Platt of Gaithersburg is the only candidate who has officially filed to run for a District 17 House seat, according to the state Board of Elections website. LaurieAnne Sayles, also of Gaithersburg, has said she also plans to run. Incumbent Del. Kumar P. Barve said he plans to run for re-election, while Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons has said he plans to seek the District 17 seat in the Maryland Senate. ewaibel@gazette.net
n
Germantown Democrat says education is his top priority BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
Charles Barkley has served District 39 in the Maryland House of Delegates since he was first elected in 1998, and with his 2014 bid for reelection, he isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. The Democrat incumbent, 63, announced his plans to run again last spring, hoping to continue his work on education and alcohol policy. After working as a math teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools for almost 30 years, Barkley retired in 2002. Even with his teaching days behind him, education is still at the forefront of his agenda. If re-elected, he hopes to increase educational funding. One way he intends to do this is by lobbying for state legislators to support Montgomery County’s likely request for money to increase school capacity to handle an influx of students. To help fund expansion projects, the county plans to request up to $20 million from the state, to go along with $40 million from the county, Barkley said. The infusion of cash would let the county issue about $750 million in bonds to fund necessary construction projects, he said. “Education has always been my top priority,” he said. “I’m lobbying for legislators to support that plan.” As chairman on the alcoholic beverages subcommittee, Barkley also intends to work on amending state rules regarding growlers, which are refillable jugs of beer. The changes would streamline the process of using growlers, which is currently controlled by individual counties, and allow consumers to exchange or refill growlers at any location that sells them, such as bars. Currently, growlers must be returned or refilled at the location where it was originally
purchased. The process would benefit both the consumer and the brewery, Barkley said. Barkley and the rest of his District 39 delegation — state Sen. Nancy King (D) of Montgomery Village, and Dels. Kirill Reznik (D) of Germantown and Shane Robinson (D) of Montgomery Village — have formed a slate to run for reelection. “We work together as a team and we’ve covered a lot of issues in Annapolis,” he said. “We’re focused on running a team campaign.” XiangBarkley fei Cheng, a Republican from Montgomery Village, is the only challenger who has filed to run as of Monday. District 39 includes Clarksburg, Germantown and Montgomery Village. It recently underwent state legislative redistricting that is set to take effect in January 2015. Barkley said he had originally set a personal goal of raising $60,000 for his campaign. However, he has already surpassed that amount, explaining that he currently has about $80,000 in the bank. While much of the team’s active campaigning will begin in the new year, Barkley said he and his colleagues have been knocking on the doors of new constituents in Clarksburg and Germantown to introduce themselves as a result of the redistricting. He earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary mathematics education at Towson University in 1972, and a master’s in educational administration at Western Maryland College — now McDaniel College — in 1982. A resident of Germantown, Barkley is married and has two grown sons. The primary election will be June 24 and the general election will be Nov. 5, 2014. jedavis@gazette.net
Call for your FREE, NO-OBLIGATION Competitive Market Analysis
LARRY PERRIN, Realtor ®
Specializing in Montgomery Village & Gaithersburg LARRY PERRIN PROPERTIES
1894578
(301) 983.0601 LJPerrin@aol.com
THIS PROMOTION IS NOT INTENDED TO SOLICIT THE OFFERINGS OF OTHER REALTORS
FREE
HOME VALUE ESTIMATE
1905490
1911894
LARRY PERRIN (301) 983.0601
1906083
1912260
1906088