Chris Stoughton in Silver Spring. Photo by the author.

Chris Stoughton is a candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates, District 20, which includes downtown Silver Spring and Takoma Park.

Chris lives in Silver Spring. He says he was motivated to run in the District 20 delegate primary because of his belief that the district needs a different voice for innovation in the General Assembly. His sentiments have been bolstered while listening to the people whose doors he has been knocking on during his campaign.

During our conversation, Chris made sure that he emphasized his three priorities: campaign finance reform, transportation planning (smart growth), and kick-starting a clean energy economy in Maryland and the Washington region.

Chris talked about the voluntary public campaign finance legislation that continues to be considered in the General Assembly. A compromise was struck last year which would significantly increase the contribution limits for those who decide to stay in the private funding system. He said that in some respects this compromise would actually make the situation worse since it would allow those who stay in the private system to raise even larger sums of money from lobbyists and political action committees. This compromise would ensure continued special interest control over the legislative process since most if not all of the representatives who control the legislative process would stay in the private system. Chris called the compromise a “cynical bone thrown to first-time candidates.”

I pointed out that many challenging candidates employ a strategy of painting themselves as an outsider in a campaign against “the establishment.” “How would you keep from falling into the mindset of ‘the establishment’ that you care currently criticizing?” I asked. Chris pointed out that he has capped his contribution limit at $500. He also emphasized that he is not accepting donations from businesses, political action committees, and Maryland registered lobbyists. Chris said that this will enable him to maintain his independence and passion for innovation in the General Assembly.

District 20 has been a long-time axis for Purple Line support, both among its elected officials and among its voters. Chris emphasized he would be a champion for the Purple Line as an essential part of his smart growth platform. He expressed, “We need to reorient how we think about transportation and planning. We need an efficient [intra-regional] train that is more convenient than driving and also provides economic incentives to use transit.” From the conversation, I inferred that Chris understands that planning and transportation go hand-in-hand. If you don’t have human-scale walkable urban places to connect, transit can’t be more efficient and convenient than a private automobile.

As part of his platform of bolstering a clean energy economy, Chris feels that an important first step would be to put more emphasis on the existing Maryland Clean Energy Center. Ironically, it is currently in car-dependent western Rockville, miles from the Red Line. It was put there because the office space was donated.

He asserted that Maryland has fallen behind the rest of the nation mainly as a result of the Maryland General Assembly not making this issue a priority. We’re ahead on smart growth (which says as much about other states cluelessness on the matter as it does about Maryland’s success) but behind on placing an emphasis on clean energy. Maryland is fortunate to have a very wide and deep human capital talent pool. We could leverage our proximity to the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a clean energy economy similar as we have leveraged our proximity to the National Institutes of Health to create a robust biotech industry.

Most importantly, we already have a political consensus that creating a clean energy economy is the right direction to take. The creation of the Maryland Clean Energy Center is a physical manifestation of that consensus. Now the center needs significantly more resources to drive Maryland forward in this emerging industry.