Sidney Katz For Mayor

If you live in Gaithersburg, then you probably know that there is an election taking place on Nov. 3. The mayor's office, along with two city council positions, are up for grabs.

Sidney Katz, who has served as Gaithersburg's mayor for the past 11 years, is being challenged in this year's election by Richard Koch, a real estate developer. Koch believes the time has come for a change in Gaithersburg. Katz has also come under fire from Demos Chrissos, a former city council candidate who expressed his thoughts this week in a letter to the Gazette.

I am not a Gaithersburg resident, but I covered the city council for a year and a half as a reporter for the Gazette. Last year I used those connections to get the city to support our efforts to bring truth in sentencing to the state of Maryland.

I don't claim to know the ins and outs of Gaithersburg politics as well as I used to, but I will tell you this. When I approached Sidney last year at his Wolfson's Department Store in Olde Towne and told him about the Justice For Safety movement and our desire that the City of Gaithersburg endorse legislation that would reform the early release credit system in Maryland, I barely even had to tell him the reason why I had gotten involved with this effort before he agreed to it immediately.

Since then, the city has held a work session to raise public awareness of the issue, and it sent two of its representatives to Annapolis last March to testify in support of Senate Bill 354 and House Bill 581.

I found it curious and interesting that Mr. Chrissos believes that Mayor Katz should be "held accountable for the rise in violent crime and gang activity during his watch". With all due respect to Chrissos (who I also know from my Gazette days), if he is aware of just how flawed our criminal and correctional systems are in Maryland, then he should also know that there is only so much the mayor of a small city like Gaithersburg can do to curb violent crime, especially recidivist violent crime.

Should Richard Koch upset Mr. Katz in the Nov. 3 election, then I will certainly make him aware of our group and the city's past efforts in helping us get our message across and ask him to continue that practice. Having said that, I do hope Gaithersburg residents will re-elect Katz, so that one of our known staunch allies will be in position to continue to assist us in our efforts.