Funny Numbers

David Gertler should be on the school board. He is funny, smart and has a passion for mathematics yet twice now HoCo voters have chosen lesser candidates over him. As far as I’m concerned it’s a loss for our students.

Then again, we really haven’t lost him. Despite his electoral loss, David has remained engaged with the system by organizing the first countywide STEM Festival to be held Sunday, June 9^th at HCC.

He also does stand up comedy which distinguishes him from your stereotypical math geek.

David was one of those guests we felt we could jump right in with since he’s pretty well versed in HoCo issues. In fact, our freewheeling chat about HoCo loco stories almost didn't leave us enough time to talk about his upcoming festival.

We had plenty of news items to fill the show, particularly on the political front with the announced retirements of Senator Jim Robey and delegates Jim Malone and Steve DeBoy and Ken Ulmans budget.

You can listen to 88^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Awesome Guests

Jean Parker has served as General Manager of Merriweather Post Pavilion for almost thirty years. She’s held the same job even as the operators changed from Nederlander to SFX to Clear Channel and now I.M.P. She started working at the outdoor theater part time while still a high school student at Mt. Hebron. After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in computer science, she did a one year stint with Arthur Andersen before returning to Symphony Woods. This is the third time Jean has been on our show.

And speaking of Symphony Woods, Jean told us she “loves the Inner Arbor plan.”

“CA is doing lots of great things…it’s all good.”

The future looks bright for Merriweather too, particularly now that the Maryland General Assembly has codified the permitted noise levels within a quarter mile of the facility.

 And speaking of the future, we also invited Ian Kennedy to join us to discuss the upcoming elections for the Columbia Council. Ian launched the Let’s Make Columbia Awesome website to support those candidates who support visionary initiatives like the Inner Arbor Plan.

Ian also has a Merriweather history. He and his friend Justin Carlson launched the Save Merriweather effort back in 2003 when the future of Merriweather was in doubt.

Ian made a pitch for Regina Clay in Wilde Lake, Mike Cornell in River Hill, Julia McCready in Oakland Mills and Ed Coleman in Long Reach, pointing out that these people are more interested in “pushing Columbia forward rather than holding it back.”

In other words, these are the candidates that can make Columbia awesome. “They’re all awesome,” he suggested.

You can listen to the 87^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Berry Protein Shakes and Speed Cams

The thing I like best about Roger ("The Rog") Caplan and Chris ("Ox") Oxenham as loco politico pundits is that they are able to find faults in their own political camps. Ox criticizes the HoCo loco Repubs as “not well organized,” while The Rog doesn't pass up any opportunity to take a shot at Delegate Liz Bobo, but then again, those two do have a bit of a history.

What I didn't like about this show was the attitude they both took towards the upcoming Columbia Council elections. They acted as if it didn't matter who was elected. Even my co-host seemed to think it wasn't a topic worthy of much of our time.

They are mistaken. It is very important. If you are reading this and you live in the Village of Oakland Mills, Wilde Lake, River Hill or Long Reach, please take a moment to get informed. This is a good place to start. For that matter, so is this.

But back to our guests…

After we finished talking about speed cams, teacher associations, berry protein shakes and Ox’s impending nuptials, we focused on the 2014 county executive race, specifically the potential candidacies of Allan Kittleman, Courtney Watson, Guy Guzzone and Dr. Calvin Ball.

A couple of my favorite comments:

Ox: "Physical money isn't important right now..."

I like physical money.

The Rog: "If Guy decides to run it's his..."

So why does everyone think he won't?

You can listen to the 86^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

All about the Trees

Michael McCall says that his epiphany on Symphony Woods occurred as he was leaving a concert at Merriweather one night last summer, “For about fifteen seconds I got disoriented” in the dark woods.

“What a wonderful thing that that you can be right next to all this development yet feel like you’ve escaped”

That set Michael on a path that radically changed the future direction of Columbia’s central park.

"The worse thing I think you do is to start drawing straight lines through the woods."

Michael is the president of Strategic Leisure, a Columbia company that has designed the Inner Arbor Plan. He and his wife Barbara are also longtime Columbia residents though he readily admits he knew very little about local politics before deciding to get involved with Symphony Woods. It was his old boss from Enterprise, George Barker, who introduced him to Ken Ulman.

This rest is history.

And speaking of Ken, our county exec was recently honored by Government Technology Magazine for his One Maryland Broadband Initiative. We talked about that in our local news recap along with the new storm water management fees, Wilde Lake Village Center redevelopment, the Merriweather noise legislation  and the political ascension of Laura Neuman.

You can listen to 85^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

A Brit in Clarksville

I can’t recall exactly how I first stumbled across Claire McGill's blog, ukdesperatehousewifeusa, but I’m pretty sure it wasn't the result of using a search term like “undressed housewife.” According to Claire, those words or some similar iteration, are the most frequent keywords used to find her blog. She shares this insight with us, not with anger or revulsion, but with a certain sense of amusement. That same sense is reflected in her writings, which she describes as “a little bit adventure, little bit stream of consciousness, little bit Bill Bryson.”

In her blog she writes about her observations of American culture from the prospective of a thirty something mother of a five year old, transplanted from Britain to Clarksville about two years ago when her husband accepted a job here. Instead of pining for home she’s embraced the move as an adventure.

George Bernard Shaw once wrote that Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language. Claire points out that it is more than just language that sets us apart. Restrooms, fire hydrants, and football are but of a few of the topics we covered in the podcast.

We had such a good time with her that we are already talking about having her back later in the year. I should also note that Claire is co-sponsoring the HoCo blogs party with Marshmallow Man on February 26^th at Union Jacks pub in Columbia. The event is free and open to the public but registration in advance is encouraged. You can find out more here.

In news stories we talked about the Inner Arbor Plan, the apprehension of the suspected Mall flasher, Lisbon firefighters, HoCo’s bond rating, the accreditation of the Tai Sophia Institute and the move to push back the school start time for HoCo high schools.

You can find the 84^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Battle of the Bulge

When Howard County General Hospital became part of the Johns Hopkins Health System fifteen years ago, included the deal was the establishment of a foundation “to improve health and wellness in Howard County.” The Horizon Foundation now doles out approximately $4 million annually to a variety of initiatives to advance this goal. Sitting at the top of this foundation is Nikki Highsmith Vernick.

Nikki joined the Horizon Foundation about a year ago and soon began focusing her efforts on childhood obesity. According to Nikki, over twenty thousand HoCo children are dangerously overweight. To draw attention to the foundations efforts to promote healthy snacking, they recently staged an event at Burleigh Middle School dumping 9.6 tons of white sand in the schools parking lot to dramatize “the amount of sugar the school’s students would consume if each drank one 12-ounce soda a day for a year.”

The same day, HoCo Exec Ken Ulman announced that he was banning the sale of sugary drinks on county property, a move that immediately bought criticism from State Senator Allan Kittleman saying that “is not a function of government to determine what you should and should not drink.”

In our podcast yesterday Nikki offered a defense of the execs ban pointing out that since we are paying for county employees healthcare we have a responsibility to promote healthy snacking in their workplace.

In our news recap we discussed Ken’s state of the county address, Symphony Woods Inner Arbor plan, and the legislation to allow HoCo public library employees to form a union.

We also briefly discussed the new parking system in Ellicott City which debuts next week. Paul told how he got a ticket last week on Main Street, despite assurances from the client he was visiting that parking was still free. Paul’s offense was that he parked twelve inches over the marked lines. That little indiscretion cost him thirty five bucks, meters or not.

You can listen to the 83^rd episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Mr. Easy

Doug Gansler comes across as an easy going guy, belying his Ivy League background. Within minutes of him sitting with us yesterday it felt more like we were meeting for beers with a buddy than preparing to have a far reaching conversation with one of the most powerful politicians in Maryland. Then again, he is a former college lacrosse player.

We covered a wide range of topics with the attorney general from chicken waste to gun control before we even touched on his future political plans. Perhaps indicative of his front runner status, that is the subject he seemed least interested in exploring. “I love being attorney general,” he told us, “and I’m not term limited.”

“Does that mean you will run for reelection?”

Though he was forthright in answering all the other questions we asked, that particular question he deflected with the ease of a lift check. That being said, he twice reminded us that he considers himself to be a “moderate pro-business centrist Democrat.”

That would seem to be more campaign slogan for governor than another term as AG.

At the end of the show we were also joined by Michelle Jose, the marketing manager for The Mall to discuss the “wall breaking” for the malls expansion that was held earlier this week.

As we were packing up to leave, Korva Coleman, dropped by to say hello. She didn't realize that the middle of The Mall was our regular studio. "You're brave," she told us.

Not so much. Unlike a well known broadcaster like her, most folks who pass by us during our show have no idea who we are or what we're doing there. There is a certain safety in being unknown. 

You can listen to the 82^nd episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Third Times a Charm

As we were packing up after our show yesterday, Dave made a comment that there was less laughter than usual this week. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Some listeners have told me that they think we laugh too much.

That’s not to say the show didn't have its light moments, it’s just that we had a lot of meaty stuff to discuss with Senator Kittleman. With the Maryland General Assembly set to reconvene in Annapolis next week, we wanted to get Allan’s take on things like gun control, marijuana law reforms, school funding, and the transportation trust fund.

This is the third time Allan has been on the show. He was one of our first guests back in 2010 when he was serving as Minority Leader in the Senate, a position he subsequently forfeited when he parted ways with the rank and file on civil unions.

Allan is also the presumptive Republican nominee for county exec in 2014. Before he took over the Senate seat that was previously held by his father, Allan served six years on the county council representing District 5. In a strange twist of fate it was Allan who helped convince Courtney Watson to seek her first elective office on the school board. In 2014 he will likely face Courtney as the Democratic candidate for county exec.

Allan told us that he likes his chances in that race.

You can listen to the 81^st episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

The End of the Year as We Know It

When Nikki Highsmith had to cancel for this week’s podcast we decided to invite Dave Yungmann and Luis Valdivieso to join us instead for a freewheeling discussion of politics and the year in review. There was a lot to cover.

David is a loco Repub and a founding member of the New CityAlliance, an organization that supports the redevelopment of Columbia’s downtown. Luis is a Dem and a former member of the county exec’s staff. They are no strangers to spirited political discourse.

We covered a wide range of loco stories from derecho’s to derailments. Listening back over the show this morning I realized the conversation got a little bogged down when we talked about sugary drinks and the growth tier legislation. The growth tier stuff may seem boring on the surface but it has pretty deep political implications for Ken Ulman and to a certain degree, Courtney Watson. The county’s ban on sugary drinks on the other hand is much ado about nothing in my opinion. If you want a sugary drink when you are on county property, just bring with you. The ban is only on the sale of these drinks.

Of course it may be moot if the world ends on December 21^st as some believe the three thousand year Mayan calendar predicted. As far as I’m concerned if the Mayans were so smart how come they didn't see the Spanish coming?

Assuming that the world doesn't end, we also learned yesterday that The Mall was renewing our contract for another year. They have been hosting our show since November 5, 2010 and we're grateful for their continued support.

Anyway, you can listen to 80^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Fun with Numbers

The story about the county’s plan to build a new apartment complex for the homeless provided a surprisingly target rich environment for us this week. Preparing for the show earlier in the day both Paul and lamented that our selection of local stories for this news cycle were a little weak. As we talking I received an email from George Berkheimer, a colleague at The Business Monthly. He pointed out that in order to build this new complex the county would be replacing an existing 38 unit mobile home community called Beechcrest. The new development would have 33 individual apartments.

“That’s five in the hole, the way I count it,” he wrote.

Or more. Consider that most of those 38 units house more than one person. It seems as if the county housing department is just creating more work for our guest, Bita Dayhoff, the president of the Community ActionCouncil.

Bita is a gem and we are lucky to have her. She’s smart and incredibly charming. Three years ago I had the opportunity to work with Bita on renewing the lease for the Food Bank in Columbia. I found her to be a tough negotiator and a constant advocate for the less fortunate in HoCo. She sits on the front line of HoCo hard times.

We also talked a bit about Courtney Watson's anti bullying initiative. Courtney had proposed a resolution to “Encourage the General Assembly to provide the necessary resources to appropriate agencies to implement the use of multidisciplinary teams to address bullying, harassment, and intimidation among students.”

She has since tabled the bill. At best it had lukewarm support. The school board didn't even endorse it and it is questionable whether she had the votes on the council to get it passed. It was widely criticized as lacking any substance. As one of her colleagues on the council pointed out to me, even the people who testified at the public hearing in support testified more about the problem of bullying than about supporting the actual resolution. For example, Brian Meshkin spent his most of three minutes giving a campaign speech telling the council about everything he’s done about bullying. Courtney’s resolution merely provided him a jumping off point for another self promotion pitch.

You can listen to the 79^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Teacher on Special Assignment

After pointing out that she was at the helm of an operation with a budget approaching a billion dollars, 50,000 students, 8,000 employees and 82 buildings, Renee Foose responded that she “is just a teacher on special assignment.”

She probably knows a thing or two about special assignments. She’s a former state trooper too.

Dr. Renee A. Foose is the first female superintendent of the Howard County Public School System and if I had to pick one word to describe her I’d go with genuine. There is something that seems very grounded and honest with her and that made conversation and discussion easy.

We talked about redistricting, grant monies, testing and the apology that the system made for promoting segregation ten years after the Supreme Court outlawed the practice in public schools. HCPSS may be the first school system in the country to apologize for what was then a pretty widespread practice. According to this story by Joe Burris in The Sun, “a historian with the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, said he recalls many apologies for slavery and segregation, but he could not think of one that specifically addressed segregated schools.”

Dr. Foose told us that school board member Allen Dyer was particularly passionate about this. Is it just me or does anyone else notice that Allen is becoming more agreeable now that his board days are numbered?

In the loco news recap we discussed speed cams, zoning issues, parking and Twinkies.

So if you are looking for something to listen while driving to Alice's Restaurant for a Thanksgiving dinner, you can download the 78^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Our Contrarian Comptroller

Last year when Peter Franchot joined us on “and then there’s that…” for the first time, he was decidedly more formal. It was obvious that the Comptroller was uncertain of, not only what to expect, but also of what exactly our show was all about. He had a healthy skepticism of who would actually listen to us. Even his physical appearance telegraphed caution. He wore a suit and tie.

On the other hand, so did Paul and I, but mostly out of respect. In Maryland, our comptrollers are legendary political figures. In all my years in the Free State we've had ten different people serve as governors but only three comptrollers. Actually there were four but one guy, Robert Swann only served for five months following the death of Louis Goldstein who held the office for thirty nine years. Peter succeeded William Donald Schaefer who held the job for eight years after first serving two terms as governor and sixteen years as Mayor of Baltimore.

It kind of makes you wonder why he’d want to be governor, but that’s something Peter Franchot is seriously considering which is why he’s willing to once again spend a little time with an unproven media outlet like a hyper local news podcast in Howard County. Governor’s races in Maryland are won in the stretch of counties along I-95 from Washington to Baltimore and we’re right smack dab in the middle of that mix.

This time around, we got a much more relaxed Peter. In fact he seemed energized by being a leading voice in the opposition to Question 7, relishing his role in bucking the Dem establishment. It’s not that he opposes gambling it’s the backroom deals that crafted this legislation that he finds abhorrent. While you might expect the states chief revenue collector to welcome the purported millions that will flow into the state with expanded gambling, he sees it as detrimental. Expanded gambling will not fix the structural deficit problem with our state budget. Maryland simply spends more than it takes in and that is not sustainable. New revenues from gambling he posits, will only allow state lawmakers to kick the can further down the road.

When asked about other three big statewide questions he didn't hesitate, “Yes on four (undocumented immigrant tuition measure), no on five (congressional redistricting) and yes on six (marriage equality).”

“In five years people will be wondering why Question 6 was ever an issue.”

You can listen to the 77^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

A Civil Session

When it was first suggested that we do a podcast in conjunction the HoCo libraries Choose Civility Symposium I wasn't so sure it was a good idea. Paul and I both view the Choose Civility in Howard County effort with a fair degree of skepticism. On the other hand, it was an opportunity to have a freewheeling discussion about civility with Andy Green from The Sun, Korva Coleman from NPR, and author and investigative humorist, Henry Alford. That was too tempting to pass up.

We talked about civility in politics, the press, Facebook, old TV shows and email. It was more fun than I’d hoped. This was first time we've had three guests at the same time and somehow everyone managed to get equal time. I credit that to having a professional broadcaster in the group.

I also screwed up by calling Andy "David" at least once. I’ll chalk that up to the fact that maybe I was bit tired after a day that started at 5 AM. We didn't start taping the show until a little after nine last night. In keeping with the civil tone of the evening, Andy took it in stride and never said a word. When I listened to the show this afternoon I was embarrassed, to say the least. I can't imagine Korva making a gaffe like that. Sorry Andy.

Since it was late, we deliberately kept it shorter than usual. This episode is is only 26 minutes long. You can listen, to what may be our most civil podcast yet, here.

A One Dimensional Guest

When we received notice late Thursday that Brian Meshkin was reneging on his agreement to join us on the podcast, we had to decide what to do to fill the spot. We discussed trying to get someone else to fill in at the last moment but in the end decided it would be more fun to simply have Brian in absentia.

We mounted his picture on a piece of cardboard and propped it on a chair.

No one of us were really surprised at his cancellation. Beer bets were made that he’d find some excuse not to join us. You might be surprised to know that I actually took him at his word. I told the doubters that Brian had said he welcomed the opportunity to come on the show in comments made to this post.

“Growing up here in Howard County, I always felt like we were a small town between two big cities – a place where everybody counts.  That’s why my wife and I moved back here from California a few years ago.  It’s not a county where we lob personal attacks – it’s a place where we speak civilly and discuss fully.  So, if you’re interested, I’d be happy to come on your show.”

Note that he wrote this comment well after I posted this, this, this, this, and this about him. I thought he was genuinely interested in demonstrating that I had him all wrong.

“I look forward to finally meeting in person and having a conversation.  Who knows?  Maybe we’ll think better of each other afterwards.”

So, despite the popular sentiment that he wouldn't post, I took those beer bets. I actually took Brian for his word.

What was I thinking?

I should have known better. All I’m now left to conclude is that the questions of Brian Meshkin's character, that I and others have raised, have real substance.

You can listen to the 75^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Lindsey’s Last Day

Lindsey McPherson, a writer for Explore Howard who covered the HoCo loco politico scene, is leaving the HoCo beat. She has taken a new position covering Congress for Tax Analysts.

During her brief stint in HoCo we were fortunate to have her as a guest on our podcast not once but twice.

She will be missed. Her last day is today.

Good luck Lindsey.

Brian Backs Out

Last month, in a lively exchange on this post, school board member Brian Meshkin agreed to come on "and then there's that..." to refute some of the things I've written about him. After offering Brian three different dates he settled on our October 5^th show. Yesterday I sent him an email requesting a copy of his CV in advance of the show so Paul and I could learn a little more of his background. We did not consider this to be an unusual request. We've asked it of other guests over the three years we've been doing this and no one ever had a problem with it.

Until now.

This afternoon I received the following email from Brian:

“In light of your request for my CV yesterday, I spoke with our corporate legal counsel at Whiteford, Taylor, and Preston.  

In reviewing the written record on Dennis' blog posts, he has instructed me to "cancel" my appearance on the show based on what legal counsel has concluded to be "damaging defamatory attacks coming from Dennis Lane".   

Really?

I seriously question whether this unnamed attorney used the phrase “damaging defamatory.” As a member of the school board he should at least know that “damaging defamatory” is redundant. That's not the kind of thing you usually see from an attorney at a large firm like Whiteford Taylor.

I also like how he blames the last minute cancellation on this attorney. This podcast appearance has been scheduled since August 31st. Perhaps his attorney thinks he’s said too much already. There are lots of holes in Brian’s story about Salugen that Paul and I were hoping to explore with him. I suspect that this is somewhere that Brian would really prefer not to go.

To be honest, more than a few people told us that Brian would find some excuse to bag out at the last minute. It’s okay, the show will go on, only now it will be with an empty seat.

Fox in the Dem House

Some may think that being the lone Republican on the five person county council is an exercise in futility. Being one against four would seem to make it easy to be ignored, unless that lone Repub is a fox, as in Greg Fox. The fifth district council person has managed to make his role larger than the odd man out. This particular councils preference for unanimous consent on most issues gives Greg an opportunity to exert influence beyond his minority stature. That speaks well for both parties and gives county politics more balance that you might expect from a Dem dominated council.

It helps of course that Greg is no career politician. He has a real job with Constellation Energy in addition to his part time council job. I marvel at how it handles it. For example, before appearing on our podcast yesterday afternoon, Greg began his day at a Leadership Howard County kick off breakfast before heading to work in Baltimore. He then he came back to HoCo for our podcast, followed by a meeting with his boss back in Baltimore, then back to HoCo for his son’s soccer game, followed by an off tape appearance on Politics Unplugged with Bob & Kendall Ehrlich which airs tomorrow morning at 10 on WMAR Channel 2.

I got tired just writing all that!

We talked with Greg about the latest HoCo loco news, the loco GOP political scene and his recent stint as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Tampa. He told us he did not wear a silly hat, though he did hesitate for a moment when asked the question.

You can listen to this weeks episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

The Politics of Gambling

Last month I lambasted Delegate Frank Turner for what I perceived to be his lack of backbone in the gambling debate. Subsequently, Roger Caplan suggested that perhaps I was being too hard on the man.

I seem to get that a lot.

In any event, I actually do try to keep an open mind on these things. Last month I sent Frank email inviting him to join us on and then there’s that… to discuss how he “came to support the governor’s legislation in the recent special session.”

He never responded.

I can understand why Frank may not feel comfortable discussing this hot issue on our podcast but you’d think he’d at least give us the courtesy of a response.

Perhaps the delegate who proclaims that he "carries no mans water" would feel a little uncomfortable discussing how he ended up carrying Mike Millers canteen. Maybe he thought that by ignoring us we’d just forget about this and move on.

That’s not going to happen. Someone should probably tell him that we make more hay out of guests who turn us down than those who don’t. We reserve special treatment for those who won't even respond to our request. It looks like we’ll be having fun with Frank for awhile.

The Comptroller of Maryland isn’t afraid to discuss the gambling issue with us. Peter Franchot is returning to the show for a second time on November 2^nd, the Friday before the election.

Maybe we’ll ask him what he thinks of Frank's backbone.

A Regular Guest

On the podcast this week, we noted that it was the third time that Tom Coale had joined us on the show. It turns out that we miss counted. It was actually the fourth time in the three years that we’ve doing this show that Tom has sat down to chat with Paul and I.

We obviously like having Tom on the show.

The fun thing about Tom is that he enjoys talking about the HoCo loco politico scene as much as we do and he really knows his stuff.

The big loco politico news this week was the announcement that long serving ultra lib Liz Bobo will not be standing for reelection in 2014. Liz has been in elected office in HoCo since 1977, beginning on the county council, then as county executive and finally as a Delegate to the General Assembly since 1995.

Whether you agree with her politics or not, that’s a pretty impressive run.

The big question is who will take her place. Immediately after the announcement, Mary Kay Sigaty’s name was mentioned as the logical successor. Tom disagrees. Tom thinks that Mary Kay will hold on to her council seat through at least the first phase of the downtown Columbia redevelopment. She was the sponsor of the enabling legislation for the redevelopment, a role that put her at odds with her one time sponsor, Liz Bobo.

So who then?

The other names I’ve heard are Clarence Lam, Terri Hill, and even Joan Lancos.

We also spent time discussing the school board race, the redevelopment of Symphony Woods, the bicycle master plan, the Main Street MusicFest and more.

You can listen to the 73^rd episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Brian, Bloggers, and Bullying

Brian Meshkin has launched yet another initiative to burnish his public image. This time he’s hitched his wagon to the nascent anti bullying crusade. In a press release last week he announced the formation of One-Howard-County “a new initiative aimed at reducing cyberbullying and avoiding other digital dangers among youth and adults here in our community.”

The key word here is “adults.” Brian believes that cyber bullying is something that effects adults as well as kids. I suspect he believes that he has been just such a victim.

“Examples of such "adult bullying" include bloggers that attack instead of discuss and individuals who post personal attacks on comment boards of online news articles, oftentimes under pseudonyms or false identities.”

I think he might be referring to me and possibly my HoCo blogging brethren, Tom Coale.

Regular readers know that I am no fan of Brian, mostly because he wildly exaggerates his professional accomplishments and often repackages others ideas as his own. When confronted with hard truths, he has a tendency to go silent. For example, in this exchange with Steve Murphy, MD on his blog, Gene Sherpas, Brian took issue with Salugen being referred to as a “snake oil company.” When the doctor asked him to back up his claims, Brian went silent. Eric Berger, a science reporter with the Houston Chronicle had a similar experience with someone who identified themselves as a “Salugen Researcher”. Given that Salugen never had a staff of more than ten people; it seems likely that “Salugen Researcher” was actually Brian. The tone of the writing is strikingly similar to the comment posted on the Gene Sherpas blog.

Salugen eventually tanked, resulting in financial judgments being rendered against Brian and his company. The State of California even revoked its charter for non payment of taxes. One of his former partners had this say about the company's' demise.

“Sadly the company Salugen, Inc. San Diego, California, had very poor management and due to alleged fiscal infractions especially committed by the president and CEO, Brian Meshkin, all top executives including myself, Bill Downs, Rodger Waite as well as others resigned. My hat is off to Kim Downs Bill's wife, for having the insight to personally confront him, thereby precipitating the exodus.”

None of this would even be on my radar if Brian wasn’t serving on our school board. As long as I didn’t have any dealings with him, his business antics would not have concerned me in the least.

But he is on our school board and he continually paints himself as a wise and savvy business person. That simply is not borne out by the facts. He may see this as bullying but I see it as merely pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. 

And if Brian would truly like to discuss his record, I extend him an invitation to join us on "and then then there's that..." That's a discussion I'd like to have.