Republican County Executive candidate Jim Shalleck released two television ads last week highlighting his positions on the county budget, safety in public schools and support for the privatization of county alcohol sales.
In one ad, “Public Safety revised”, Shalleck says he’ll fight for a uniformed police presence in every county school. He also focuses on overcrowding in schools and asks, “Why in one of the richest counties in America, do we have 10,000 students being taught in trailers?”
In the other, “Budget,” Shalleck says businesses are leaving the county due to high taxes, and excessive fees and regulations. He suggests that privatizing liquor sales would bring in millions of dollars more in revenue annually for the county and also calls for reducing the county’s car fleet, freezing salaries for elected officials, eliminating the tax on bags at retail stores and offering tax incentives to bring new businesses to the county.
Shalleck said he’s planning to spend $10,000 to run the ads on local cable TV in early October.
Shalleck, a New York City native, is considered a longshot in the county executive’s race. The county hasn’t had a Republican county executive since James Gleason served as the first and only Republican when he won the post after it was established in 1970.
Shalleck is a Montgomery Village attorney who has run unsuccessfully three times for state’s attorney and once for circuit court judge in the county. He moved to the Washington area in 1989 to work for the U.S. Justice Department after serving as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx.
With reporting by Bethesda Magazine politics editor Louis Peck
