An Open Letter to Raj Kathuria

So, I saw your anti-Liz Walsh mailer (see below).  First, as I am sure Steve Bannon would tell you, it’s supposed to be a dog whistle, not an air horn.   You had to use that picture from a New York County Executive race, eh (also see below)?  I checked against the original, and I am pretty sure you darkened the photo too.  One wonders why you would do that. 

Looks like Trump-style race-baiting to me.  I thought you were supposed to be a different sort of Republican.  Your mailer makes it clear that you are willing to traffic in the politics of division and hatred if you think you can rustle up another vote or two by doing so.  To whom do you think this mailer appeals?  The answer is the alt-right fringe.  I would say that group constitutes a very dangerous “special interest.”  Yet your mailer claims you won’t listen to special interests.  So when were you lying, then or now? 

What else about special interests, oh yes, you are supposed to be “standing up to developers.”  That is weird, did you mean “stand up to take developer money,” like the $5K your campaign pocketed from someone with Greenwood Hospitality?  And aren’t you currently involved in a development deal yourself involving 48 apartment units?  Care to explain this apparent hypocrisy? 

And, putting my operative hat on for a minute, as an attack mailer, your piece was simply inept.  It makes me wonder if someone who seemingly can’t string a proper sentence together should sit on the County Council.    

Look, I don’t mind fact-based comparative mailers.  But this mailer is flat-out racist and misleading. And it appears to have been written and designed by a hack.

You, Mr. Kathuria, by sending out this garbage, have shown that you are not fit to serve on the County Council.  We don’t need Trump-style politics… politics that you clearly embrace (ahead of people, apparently) …in Howard County.

I encourage all of my friends in District One to vote for Liz Walsh.  She’s smart, a good person, and lives and breathes Howard County values.  She will represent the First District well, and honorably, on the County Council.