Give Spiegel a chance

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Give Spiegel a chance

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A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of assisting with the campaign of Carlos Solis, the first Latino to run for a seat on the Gaithersburg City Council. He ran in a loose alliance with two other candidates, Ahmed Ali and Ryan Spiegel. I was proud to be associated with this group of very capable people who were all born on different continents and practice different religions.

One of the three candidates, Ryan Spiegel, was elected and is now serving on the council.

I understand, however, that Mr. Spiegel has become a target of attacks by persons in the community who, presumably, do not want to have an intelligent, progressive young attorney in public office. They speak against him at meetings and write against him in an e-mail group. I doubt that there are many of these vociferous defenders of a vanished status quo, but their actions distract Mr. Spiegel and the council as a whole from their important work.

Ryan Spiegel has been elected to serve the people of Gaithersburg. He needs to be allowed to develop as a council member, interact with the other members and present his views on the many issues with which the city’s government must deal.

He and others who have been elected to public service deserve respect and support.

Kenneth D. Weiss, Derwood