By Brian Hughes
The Examiner
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — The feud between Montgomery County elected leaders and firefighters has come to a head with a push to ban employees from seeking charitable donations on roadways.
Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, is seeking to keep county employees from approaching vehicles for money while on the clock after an effort to prohibit all roadside solicitation in the county failed in the General Assembly this year.
Theres no doubt what theyre doing is jaywalking, he said. Its a terrible example theyre setting for everybody else. This is a major public safety issue.
But firefighters counter that the legislation will decimate their Fill the Boot fundraiser each year for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which raises money for area families.
Weve done it incident-free for years, said Assistant Fire Chief Scott Graham. This would significantly harm that program.
Some say Andrews is punishing the group for their support of an ambulance fee that voters rejected in November.
Its retribution pure and simple, said John Sparks, president of the firefighters union. Its pretty easy to see what his motives are.
Its hardly the first time local firefighters have accused Montgomery leaders of political retribution.
Before voters decided the fate of the ambulance fee, Leggett threatened to cut nearly one of every 10 firefighters, remove police officers from schools and reduce services for seniors and the homeless.
After the fee was blocked, Leggett proposed to wipe out funding for the countys 2,000-strong volunteer firefighters association in his fiscal 2012 budget. The volunteers led the effort against the ambulance charge and accused Leggett of punishing them for successfully overturning the fee.
Andrews and fellow sponsors of the bill, Council President Valerie Ervin and Councilman Craig Rice, D-Germantown, argue that roadside solicitation is a public safety hazard, pointing to accidents in Florida and Texas involving firefighters looking for donations.
Under the legislation, firefighters would still be allowed to seek money from roadways as long as they werent on the clock.
Leggett has criticized the plan. But Andrews said, If people vote on the issue alone and dont bow to outside pressure, its not even close it will pass easily.
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