I Hate Politics Podcast

Maryland State District 18 seat is one of the  few contested state legislative offices in Montgomery County. Viable challenges to state legislative incumbents are rare, but in the 2022 community organizer and social activist Max Socol is challenging longtime senator Jeff Waldstreicher. Sunil Dasgupta talked to Socol about affordable housing. Waldstriecher did not respond to interview requests. Mus...

The Montgomery County Executive race is one of the most closely watched and contested elections in the 2022 primary. Sunil Dasgupta talks with incumbent Marc Elrich about housing and jobs. Elrich is in a three-way race with businessman David Blair and Councilmember Hans Riemer. Prior to becoming county executive, Elrich sat on the Montgomery County Council for 12 years. IHP candidate interviews wi...

Montgomery County Council District 4 is a newly created seat in the southern part of the county starting in Takoma Park and going all the way over Kensington and to North Bethesda on Rockville Pike. Sunil Dasgupta spoke with three candidates running for the seat: bartender John Zittrauer (timestamp 4:44) about safe injection sites for drug users, Takoma Park mayor Kate Stewart (22:33) about housin...

Montgomery County Board of Education District 3 used to be held for a long time by Pat O'Neill, who died in fall 2021. The Board chose education consultant Scott Joftus to replace her. Joftus is now running to keep his seat and Julie Yang, a former MCSPS career and college counselor, is running against him. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Joftus (timestamp 4:11) about how he will bring to bear his educa...

The Apple Ballot is the voter guide issued by the teacher's union in Maryland that has been one of the most powerful endorsements for public office in the state. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, the county teachers' union, about education politics. Very local news as police return to schools in Montgomery County and anger erupts o...

IHP 64 Earth Day with the Sunshiners Earth Day episode with The Sunshiners, a local band of climate activists debuting on the show their first album, Endangered Species. Kipyn Martin, Rick Sullivan, and Jeffrey Weisner bring their talents to the cause in the hope that music speaks louder than words alone. We play the full album. News update about political candidate shuffling and a war update from...

Montgomery County Council District 7 is a newly created seat eastern upcounty centered on Olney, Damascus and Montgomery Village. Sunil Dasgupta spoke with three candidates running for the seat: Dawn Luedtke (timestamp 3:34) about public safety, Jacqueline Manger (27:13) about jobs, and Ben Wikner (46:58) about the Montgomery Village Equity Center. Music for this episode comes from DC-based singer...

The Maryland Attorney General's race in 2022 features two heavyweights on the Democratic side. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Congressman Anthony Brown, who served as lieutenant governor before and ran to be governor; and with Judge Katie Curran O'Malley, former first lady of the state and longtime circuit court judge in Baltimore. They talk about public safety, civil rights, and rethinking the office....

Sunil Dasgupta speaks with Albert Einstein High School junior Baba Cissé and Walt Whitman High School junior Arvin Kim, the two finalists for the Student Member of the Montgomery County Board of Education in 2022. The SMOB is one of the eight members of the county school board, nearly co-equal with other generally elected members of the Board, but voted for only by secondary school students in the...

An exhausted Ukrainian medic talks about life and war in her country, a Maryland Delegate finds unexpected celebrity support for his bill on court transparency, and a mayor ponders on voter turnout and election management. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Maria Nazarova and David Moon, and Andtew Saundry talks with Jud Ashman in an episode that goes from global to national to local news. Music for this e...

In December 2021, the Washington Post Sunday Magazine had a story about the decline of local news around the country, but left out any discussion of the Post's own local coverage. In this episode, Sunil Dasgupta talks with former Washington Post Metro Editor and columnist Robert McCartney about how local coverage in the newspaper declined even in the robust media market of the DC metropolitan area...

The Americans with Disabilities Act was a landmark piece of legislation that made institutions responsible for accommodating persons with disability, but the burden of proof remained with disabled persons. Sunil Dasgupta explores the politics and evolution of disability rights with Annie Tulkin and Katherine Lucas McKay, two Montgomery County disability rights advocates. Music for this episode com...

Montgomery County Council District 6 is a newly created Latino-plurality seat in mid-county centered on Wheaton and Aspen Hill. Sunil Dasgupta spoke with Natali Fani-González (timestamp 3:12), Omar Lazo (22:52), and Maricé Morales (49:32), all three of them Spanish-speaking candidates with family roots in Latin America. Music for this episode comes from Kara Levchenko, an Arlington singer-songwrit...

In this mega-episode, Sunil Dasgupta talks with four candidates running for Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office in the June 2022 primary. The State's Attorney race is a down ballot contest often ignored by voters but one of the most important independently-elected offices in local politics. The candidates appear in order of my interviews with them: Tom DeGonia (timestamp 2:56), Bernice Mir...

Sunil Dasgupta speaks to three-term and term-limited councilmember Hans Riemer who is now running for Montgomery County Executive in a four-way race with incumbent Marc Elrich, fellow councilmember Tom Hucker, and Rockville businessman David Blair. Riemer talks about the county's pandemic response. Music for this episode comes from Kara Levchenko, an Arlington singer-songwriter, who is the choir d...

There are over 100,000 people on the US transplant list, and on average 17 die each day from the lack of organs. For this episode going into Valentine's Day, Sunil Dasgupta talks to local residents Ashley Waters, organizer of City of Frederick's Oktoberfest, and Eric Saul, publisher of The Takoma Torch, about their experience donating their kidney.

Sunil Dasgupta speaks to Tim Adams, mayor of the City of Bowie, in Maryland. Adams is a businessman who built a large federal contracting firm starting out from the trunk of his car and continued to lead and grow his business even after he became wheelchair-bound almost two decades ago following a spinal cord injury. In his race to be comptroller of Maryland, Adams lent his campaign $1.8 million t...

I Hate Politics Candidate Interview with David Blair for Montgomery County Executive. Blair is a Rockville businessman who ran a self-financed campaign for county executive in 2018 and lost the Democratic primary to current incumbent Marc Elrich by 77 votes. He talks to Sunil Dasgupta about how to attract corporations and high-paying jobs to the county. Music for this episode comes from Kara Levch...

Taking stock of a tumultuous few weeks that includes a student walkout, a teachers' vote of no-confidence, a call from principals for a pause to plan, local education reporter Caitlynn Peetz talks with Sunil Dasgupta about Montgomery County Public Schools not having metrics for when schools stay in person or go virtual, lacking clarity about who is making decisions; and displaying an overall unwil...

Fair Maps Maryland and Judicial Watch have filed lawsuits challenging the Democratic majority's Congressional and redistricting plan. Dominique Bonessi talks with Doug Mayer of Fair Maps Maryland, and Sunil Dasgupta talks with Walter Olson, Chair of the Hogan-appointed Citizens Redistricting Commission. Local news and music from The Airport 77s, a power pop band from Silver Spring.

I Hate Politics Candidate Interview with Marilyn Balcombe for Montgomery County Council District 2. Balcombe is the president of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce and talks with Sunil Dasgupta about how to bring more jobs to the county. Music for this episode comes from Kara Levchenko, an Arlington singer-songwriter, who is the choir director in Centreville High School in Fairfax Cou...

In the middle of a pandemic that threatened to devastate the economy and squeeze government budgets, Maryland is reporting higher than expected tax collection, more than $2 billion of it. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Maryland House Majority Leader Eric Luedtke and UMBC budget expert Roy Meyers about the politics of plenty. Very local news, including a poorly designed public survey. Music from DC area...

Christmas Special with all local music from the Washington DC region: In order of appearance, Kara Levchenko, Sic 'Em Buster, Bad Robot Jones, Doogie Whittaker, Two Truths, Soul Witness, Premila Mistry and Laura Guli, Emily Hall, Seth Kibel, Damon Foreman, King Soul, The Treading Lemmings, and The Airport 77s, Arlington Presbyterian Church Choir and Abby Madden.

A year ago in January 2020, White's Ferry, a car barge connecting Poolesville in Montgomery County, MD, to Loudoun County, VA, closed down. Much has happened since but no quick resolution seems likely. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Libby Devlin, part-owner of Rockland Farm, the ferry landing site on the Virginia riverfront to get to the bottom of a long-running commercial dispute with implications for...

When Maryland State Delegate Kathleen Dumais left her District 15 seat in Montgomery County recently to join the circuit court as judge, the County Democratic Party appointed its chair, Linda Foley, to fill the position. This led to questions about whether the appointment process is truly open and democratic. Sunil Dasgupta talks to Delegate David Moon from District 20 in Montgomery County about h...