Statement by the Coalition for Smarter Growth in response to David Lublin's Seventh State blog posts about our staff person Jane Lyons and her lobbyist filings January 26, 2022 David Lublin has recently personally and publicly attacked Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, in two of his Seventh State blog posts. Mr. Lublin criticizes Ms. Lyons for not registering as a lobbyist with the State of Maryland in 2020. In fact, Ms. Lyons’ activities have not reached the staff time/salary cost threshold for registering as a lobbyist with the state. Mr. Lublin notes that we filed our 2020 Montgomery County lobbying reports late. When notified by county staff last July, Ms. Lyons immediately filed overdue reports and is current on 2021 reports. Although it was an unintentional oversight, as Executive Director for CSG, I take full responsibility and we have implemented an improved tracking system to ensure such an oversight does not happen again. We certainly support both transparency and ethics in government. But, Mr. Lublin’s two posts impugn the reputation of a young and extremely accomplished person -- a 2019 graduate1 of the University of Maryland who has demonstrated the utmost integrity in advocating for policies which she and the Coalition for Smarter Growth believe to be important for our collective future. We believe Mr. Lublin’s attack on Ms. Lyons is driven primarily by his policy disagreements with CSG. Of greatest concern to us is that Mr. Lublin has ignited a round of online harassment and intimidation on Twitter, Facebook, and NextDoor that is all too common today, as he must certainly be aware. If Mr. Lublin has disagreements with the position of the Coalition for Smarter Growth on policy issues, he should focus on the substance of those issues rather than use his platform to target an individual with whom he disagrees. ### The Coalition for Smarter Growth advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all.
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B.A. 2018; M.P.A. 2019