Politicizing the New "Montgomery Rx" Cards
by Cary Lamari, MCCF President
Thanks to the work of Marilyn Praisner and Tom Perez, District 4 and District 5 council members, this month many citizens will be receiving the new "Montgomery Rx" drug discount card. This new program, supported by many citizens as well as officials, will help make necessary medications more affordable. The program charges no enrollment fee and residents may receive cards regardless of age. With the new prescription discount card residents may visit any of 130 participating pharmacies and receive discounts on needed medications.
The "Montgomery Rx" card will have one attribute of questionable value, however. It will carry the message that it has been brought to you by two elected officials–County Executive Douglas Duncan and County Council President Steve Silverman. In my opinion, this amounts to campaign publicity, unwittingly and unfairly paid for by the public. I wonder if our property tax bills will similarly advise us that the increases in our assessments are "brought to you by County Executive Douglas Duncan and Council President Steve Silverman."
In our system of government, all elected officials review public policy proposals and programs, and a majority either approves or rejects them. I commend all our elected officials for initiating this discount drug program and hope that actions such as this will be seen as good government practices and emulated in other jurisdictions. The program and cards, however, are provided to the public by the county government as a whole, and paid for by our taxes. No elected official(s) should take credit for the action of the entire body nor in such a self-promoting manner.
I will ask the Civic Federation to send a letter congratulating all elected
officials for creating what I hope will become a nationally emulated program
and asking that the cards not be used to provide publicity to any specific
elected officials. Good government is a responsibility, not a gift.
This Page Last Edited: December 5, 2004 .