Politics & Government
District 18 Democrats Lose Treasurer Over Pension Shift Votes
Adam Pagnucco cites votes on the teacher pension shift and income state tax hike as reasons for leaving.
Adam Pagnucco resigned last week after four years as the treasurer for District 18 Democrats.
He cited the elected officials' votes on the from the state to the counties, their votes "to make MoCo residents pay more than 40 percent of the state income state tax hike," and their inaction on raising transportation revenues as his reasons for leaving, according to an email posted by David Moon on Maryland Juice, which Patch confirmed with Pagnucco as genuine.
Del. Ana Sol Gutiérrez was the only member of the Democratic slate--which also includes Sen. Rich Madaleno, Del. Al Carr and Del. Jeff Waldstreicher--to receive any praise from Pagnucco, for her votes against the pension shift and income tax hike.
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"Her votes deserve praise, and the votes of the others deserve scrutiny," Pagnucco told Patch in a phone interview.
Pagnucco currently serves as the chief of staff for Montgomery County Councilmember Hans Riemer. He is also a former blogger at Maryland Politics Watch.
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Votes on Teacher Pension Shift
Although Gutiérrez was the only District 18 Democrat to vote against the pension shift, she was at one time joined by the other three representatives.
Madaleno has changed his position on the pension shift since 2008, when he announced that "Montgomery County’s Delegation is united in working to stop any effort to shift retirement costs for our teachers and librarians back to the county." Yet in 2010 he was the one in the Maryland Senate to propose phasing in the shift.
Carr and Waldstreicher stated in their answers to a Progressive Maryland questionnaire in 2010 that they opposed any teacher pension shift to the county level. They expressed similar positions in another questionnaire by the Maryland State Education Association in 2010.
See their answers to the questionnaires online:
See the original Maryland Juice post for a list of how other Democrats voted on the pension shift.
What do you think of the District 18 Democrats' votes on the teacher pension shift and the income state tax hike? Tell us in the comments.
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