good morning, everybody. i'm jim çhandly. our guest this morning, a republican candidate. welcome to viewpoint, great to see you. you now know who your opponent is going to be. the current county executive, ike leggett. you are running, and you've run in this county before, a few times. you're running in a county that is overwhelmingly demoratic, nearly three to one, does this make this do-able, wentable for you or how much of a challenge? >> we think we have a great shot this time. the democrats had a very contentious primary. there was a very low turnout which is always good for the

minority party. which our base will be out voting. we think a big republican vote, a split democratic party, the perfect storm we need to win. >> and how much do independents make up in the county, and are they key to a victory? ? very important. they have a key. there's about 125,000 registered republicans. approximately 345,000 democrats, and maybe 160,000, 170,000 independents. they ary crucie y're crucial fo. >> you mentioned a contentious democratic ballot. >> i thought he would win, but whatever you have an incouple bn bent challenged by two challengers, they divide up the vote.

but they got 6,000 or 7,000 more than leggett combined. so more people voted against ike leggett than for him in the primary. ? we should mention for our viewers, he was the guest last week. thank you for coming in. we've got you back to back. does it make it easier to run against an incumbent? >> yes, because we can point to things that we think the public is against. we can point to his record, and we can say that for eight years he's been there, and if there's things that we want done that haven't been done they can't blame us. we can only blame him. so the incumbent has to deal with his eight-year record. >> what would you say is the biggest difference or two differences between you and ike leggett? >> my main priority is public safety. i moved to montgomery county 25 years ago. while i was a d.a. in the bronx

i prosecuted the son of sam killer for three murders in the wro bronx. i have seen evil close up, what it does to a family and a city. i think montgomery county is too complacent. i don't want to see a nbc helicopter over any of our schools or reporters chasing bereaved parents when their child is killed. i want to see a uniformed officer at every single school. they have a police presence at just high schools. i want to see them at every one of our schools. every child is precious. second, we have over 10,000 students being taught in trailers, which is outrageous. i want to get all of our children out of trailers into classrooms. the those are my two main priorities. in terms of my other priorities, i want to do away with the bag tax, recruit business, have more

business in the community, to raise revenue. i want to get us out of the liquor business. >> before we get on to that and taxes, let's go back to education. one is having a four-year institution. >> yes. >> in montgomery county, a college institution. and you're talking about one with high standards. >> i want to see a world class university in this county. montgomery county is bigger than sex states, and we don't have a university with dormitories, athletic facilities where our best and brightest and the best and brightest around the world can come to be educated of the i want to look into building a four-year university in our county. that's a priority. >> how do you go about doing that? because you rarely hear about that, a world class university develop from the ground up overnight. you see a lot of online schools now around the country. ? we can go to the private sector. i would love to meet with mr. marriott and say mr. marriott,

wouldn't it be wonderful to have marriott university, a world class university with your name on it? can you go to the private sector or the public sector. we have montgomery college which is a great school, shady grove institutions of learning. maybe as the incubator to build our university around. but i want to look into that. we should have a four-year university and we don't. we're one of the richest counties in the world. i want to look into that. >> montgomery community college has a growing population. it could certainly be there. >> yes. it's a great institution. >> we have more to get to, we'll be right back on viewpoint. so stay with us.

and welcome back to viewpoint, again, our guest this morning, jim shalleck. he's the republican candidate

for county executive. you've brought up taxes. you want to do away with the bag tax. >> absolutely. everywhere i campaign, people detest the bag tax. they really are offended by it. and small businesses are very offended by it because it takes a lot of their effort, the paper work to deal with the paperwork and receipts and everything. but people are offended that if they want to buy something they have to pay an extra nickle to get a bag. it's something i want to do away with that's very unpopular. it sends a bad message to the rest of the community and other communities how hungry we are to take nickels from people. >> the energy tax, too? >> reduced, greatly. phil andrews agreed with that. we really have to do, not do away with it, but lower it. we have income tax, sales tax, bag tax, flush tax. speed cameras are a tax.

we have so many taxes burdening the people that we've got to cut back. >> what's your position on speed cameras? we see them popping up in every jurisdiction of our area. >> i would like to see big signs maybe 100 feet before you get to them, big sign, not small signs. if you still speed, then yousev. but i want to give more warnings in advance of the camera so people know if you slow down you're not going to get the ticket. >> are they just money-makers or a deterrent. >> i think they're more of a money-maker. they speed up again. obviously people do slow down for that period of time. but it's generating money, and i think that's the main purpose. >> so if we're cutting taxes or doing away with some, where do you make it up on the revenue side? >> the first thing i would do, and i always repeat this, but i

won't here. we are the only county in the united states, only one. some states do it, we're the only county that owns and controls the liquor stores, liquor warehouses and distribution assets of liquor. i'm morally opposed to that, and i want to privatize that. they say if you own a liquor for or dry-cle cleaner or funeral parlor, you're set for life. sell them off to private industry. we can make about $50 million on the initial privatization. each year we charge fees, and the revenues will come in like crazy. i want to get out of that business. we can get a lot of money in. and then we have to recruit business to the county. recruit businesses, give them tax incentives to move here. if they need a road built, i'm going to build it. bring in a company with 200, 300 employees, that expands your tax base and you don't have to go

into our pockets anymore. those are important ways to raise revenues without raising taxes. >> what is the big selling point as you would go out if you were county executive to bring in new business? the county has a lot to offer. >> it does. it's a great county. i love living here. one, it's got a world class education system. second to none in the united states. fabulous schools. my children went to public school. great education. we have proximity to d.c., transportation. airports are here. and we're one of the richest counties in the united states. and we have a demographic, that if you move in your business people are going to buy and purchase. we have the individuals here with the money to buy your product. so we have all the ingredients that would attract a business, but what doesn't attract business is our taxes and our regulations and our rules and

incumbrances on business. virginia clocks us in terms of new business. they have less corporate tax, less regulations. and people, you know, business is going to go where they make the most money. and if you're going to take, drain them with taxes, they're going to go to virginia. so we got to make it business friendly. we don't have a reputation of being business friendly. i will. >> we have to take another break, and our guest this morning, jim shalleck, he is the republican candidate for county executive in montgomery county. we'll be right back on viewpoint, so stick around.

and welcome back to viewpoint of the again, our guest this sunday morning is jim shalleck. he is the republican candidate for county executive. in montgomery county. you have run four times in the county before. county-wide races, one for circuit judge three times before, for states attorney there. what makes this difference and how many times as a republican can you run and not get

dejected? >> well, it's in my blood, you know. i love politics. i'm grateful to be the republican party candidate. i was john mccain's campaign chairman during the primary. i was chairman of the local republican party. it's in my blood. i love it. and to me, the only way we can have a dialog in this county is to elect republicans. i think a two-party system is great. i have great running mates. so we, you know, the only time you lose in politics is if you don't run, is my view. and we've got our ideas out there, and we hope to attract democrats and independents. >> do you think the one thing stifles the debate, but county council, too. it's been years. >> absolutely. even in kansas where it's all republican, i would say the same thing. one party rule is not healthy. there's no dialog. there's no friction of ideas. no give-and-take. it's all one-party doctrine.

they don't take on each other. if i could mention the silver spring transit center. if you had republicans on the council over the last four years, this may not have got ton where it was. there might have been questions and friction and dialog. >> you've actually called for an investigation. >> i've called for a federal criminal grand jury investigation. not to say anybody did anything wrong criminally, but to get answers. tens of millions of dollars overspent, years overdue and the buses can't even ride on the concrete that's been laid. were there keck backs? were contributors given sweetheart contracts to get on the job? was inferior product purchased against what we paid them. was there wrongdoing? because this is a debacle. and my view, we're not going to get answers from all the democrats in rockville. they're all democrats. there's no friction. nobody's pointing fingers. we need an investigation just to get the answers. >> do you suspect there was wrongdoing? >> i suspect inferior product

was purchased, yes. because the reports say that the buses can't withstand the, you know, the concrete that's laid can't withstand the weight of the buses. so obviously something was put in there that shouldn't have been put in there. and was it a mistake? we don't know, but it deserves an inquiry, i think. >> let's talk about transportation in a broader sense, certainly. a top topic in so many minds around our region, not just in montgomery county, but inside and outside the beltway, traffic can be a nightmare morning, noon and night. what are your plans for that? >> this is a car-driven society. we spend a fortune on purple lines and silver line. but montgomery county is in their car. they've got to be at work at different tiles. my priority would be helping ease the traffic congestion with maybe widening roads. i've often wondering why we

don't have a better strategy. coming down 270 in the morning, the rush hour lanes are bumper to bumper. but going north they're empty. why don't we take some of the empty lanes and use them during the rush hour time. >> how about staggering work schedules? >> that's an excellent idea. move businesses to 8:00 to 4:00, 10:00 to 6:00. but if we have to spend money on public transit, i think buses are the most effective way to add more buses and bus lanes. but everybody's in their car because they can't wait for a train. they can't wait for a bus. they got to be at work. and they work in different places. and each family has two cars. so my priorities are leaving the car traffic. >> you've seen the changes in the county, how it's become more diverse. do you welcome that change? and what does that add to the

county? ? oh, that's wonderful. i came from the lower east side of new york. talk about diversity. diversity's great. my family fled russia. and so we know what diversity means. and it's great. it's great. and what i would like to see is a more diverse government. you know, more hispanic and black police officers, firefighters, teachers, judges, to reflect the face of the community. i think it's great. and one of the things that saddens me about being a republican, you know, many of the minority community don't like republicans. you know, we have a bad image. and that really bothers me, because the people i know in our local party are wonderful people, god-fearing, philanthropic, but our image is bad. that really bothers me. one of the biggest hurdles we have as candidates is the word "republican" because of the image we have from the national party and the media. and it's unfortunate because our local party is a caring,

compassionate party. >> jim shalleck. we'll be right back with the republican candidate for county executive in montgomery county, stay with us.

and welcome back to viewpoint. again, our guest this sunday morning is the republican candidate for county executive in montgomery county, jim shalleck. let me ask you mr. shalleck. one of your ideas is to bring in a pro sports team. we're talking about maybe arena football, minor league baseball? >> correct. there's a group trying to form an arena football team to bring into the county. that would be great. i'd like to pursue minor league baseball. we don't have real professionals. we have some minor professional sports, like the big train and we have some great athletes, but we don't have an event where you can go and take your kid on a

saturday or sunday to arena football or minor league baseball. and that would bring in reven and be great for us. it would provide a venue where you can see your child graduate high school in montgomery county. now if you want to see your child graduate in a high school in montgomery county, you got to go down to the dar hall. i want to bring big ideas. bring a pro sports team, a university, things that we should look into. the cost is a factor of the we don't want to overkill ourselves with spending. but we are the jewel of counties in the united states. the people that run this government and ambassadors and senators. they live here. and, you know, we don't have what i envision for a world class county, and that's what i want to . >> and, again, that involve, involving the private sector. >> yes. the private sector has been ignored in my view. i want to reach out to the private sector and bring in private sector and encourage

them, like the developers. help us with affordable housing. they're getting 3,000 a month for a studio apartment in bethesda, that's fine. but i want you to contribute to our other needs. affordable health, housing. you're going to make a lot of money in a shalleck administration, you're going to make a lot of money, but we want some pay back for this great county. and that's my view of this. i want the private sector to be a partner, not an enemy. and unfortunately so many of my democratic friends hear the word business, that's like a dirty word. and i just have the opposite view. >> you also want to cut spending. >> yes. >> talk about ways would you do that. and one of them is salaries and benefits. >> we have a $5 billion budget. that's with a "b." and over 70% of our budget goes to salaries and benefits. the school board gets 2

$2,500,000. when you're spending that much on salary and benefits you can't do the things that i'm talking about. university, things like that. so we've got to take a close look at salary and benefits. but in addition to that, we've got to cut nonessential services. how many cars does the county have in how many banquets and conferences do they go to? not police and fire. because, you know, i want to put a cop at every school, and that's going to cost money. but that's a priority. i don't care what that costs. i think we're too complacent. and to me, at the end of the day, if i'm county executive and one of my assistants says jim, all the kids that we bussed to school, 120,000 plus, they're back home, that's a good day. that will be a good day for me as county executive. >> you've had a long career in

legal world as d.a. prosecutor in new york and working for the justice department here. how does that prepare you should you become county executive in at that role? >> it makes high priority law enforcement and public safety, because i've seen -- god forbid it happens here -- but i've seen what terrorists and murderers can do in a city. the mother and father don't care about the purple lean and bag tax. for the rest of their lives they're ruined. and i never want to see that happen to any of our children. i never want to see one of your network's helicopters over our schools. >> we talked about differences between you and ike leggett. what would you say are one or two things that you admire about the job he's done over the past seven or eight years? >> he's a wonderful man, man of integrity. i have no issues with him personally. i think he spends too much, i

don't think he's proactive to bringing business. we spend too much, tax too much. the people voted down the ambulance fee years ago, a few years later he pushed it through against what the voters wanted to get an ambulance fee. so i think he's, he's gone too far with the fees and taxes, and it's hurting us, and i don't think he's got the business-friendly attitude that i do. >> we're going to have to end it here. jim shalleck. thank you for coming in. good to see you on viewpoint. now back to news 4 today. enjoy the rest of your weekend. uncle craig, what's the deal? oh...you can't record that many shows at once. why? you can't save every single cartoon.

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taking a stand, the large demonstration on capitol hill today that's expected to draw thousands of protesters. plus a virginia teen believed to be in danger. this morning, the amber alert issued to help find him. >> good morning. and welcome to "news 4 today." i'm richard jordan. >> i'm chris tin bright. that amber alert issued from danville, virginia. >> first here? d.c. we have much more humidity on this sunday. >> storm team 4 meteorologist amelia segal joins us with the first forecast. hey, amelia. >> good morning, guys. the weather today having a low to moderate impact on your day. it wille