Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1954-04-01

Whose Letter Appeared
In Last Weeks Issue:
Dear Name Withheld:
You seem to consider it a crime
that members of Citizens fol-
Good Government are voluntarily
contributing small amounts OF
money to help support the Good
Government candidates in this
campaign. You say you never
heard of anything like this going
on in Rockville before" Well
it's about time it happened! It's
about time the citizens of Rock.
vile themselves have something
to say about who is running for
election, and take part in helping
the men of their choice to be
elected. Heretofore, the citizens
were forced to accept whatever
men sometimes for selfish rea.
SonS) ran for office. The indif.
ference of Rockville's people to.
ward registration and voting in
the past was a result of this.
Now, however, we have a truly
democratic organization support
ing, in a democratic way, candi-
dates who were nominated by a
large group of leading citizens
from all parts of the city, both
old and new. That is why such
a large number of people are en-
Enthusiastically supporting these
candidates!
You want to know what is done
with the money collected (Which
is, incidentally, quite a small
amount). Don't you know that all
political campaigns cost money?
Do you think newspapers print
political advertisements free of
charge? All three states have had
advertisements in this paper, and
all of the states are spending
money in this campaign. The
Good Government group gets its
money from the small contribu-
tons Of many ordinary citizens
who give this money because they
want good government and for
no other reason! We don't know
who is paying for the support of
the other candidates!
You also don't seem to realize
that there are many earnest
members of Citizens for Good
Government who have never con-
tributed a cent! But they are
contributing hours of their time
and a lot of hard work in helping
to inform the public of the quail
ficationS of the Good Government
candidates: Hovsepian, Oxley,
Greene, Robertson and Turner.
Nobody forced all these people to
spend their time and effort for
this cause. The candidates have
made no commitments to anyone;
not even to members of Citizens
for Good Government, nor to the
group as a whole!
The only thing they are COM
mitted to is to give Rockville a
good government, with careful
planning for the city's develop
ment, better traffic conditions,
be ter recreational facilities,
sound financial practices, efficient
administration, and Whole-heart-
ed cooperation with the citizens.
Why are so many people working
so hard to elect these men? Be.
cause they believe in them!
The Citizens for Good Govern
ment want a united Rockville,
with government by the people;
not by politicians! Only those
who have reason to fear a united,
democratic group of citizens are
against this organization! The
opponents of Good Government
know that they cannot challenge
the good reputation of the candi-
dates, who are too well thought
of throughout the town. So they
have tried to smear the organiza-
ton as a whole, by limiting all
sorts of evil things about it, call
ing it a "power block" and other
such ridiculous names. But the
opponents of Good Government
seem to forget that in smearing
the group, they are trying to
smear hundreds of Rockville's
fine, honest citizens in all parts
of the city; housewives, local bus
inessmen, government employees,
civic leaders, and others. 1t just
can't be done!
In closing your letter, you'say,
GAS far as Mr.. Hovsepian is con-
cerned, he has never been in this
section of town before, so how
can he know so much about our
problems? Keep him in Twin
brook. We don't need him here"
You evidently aren't aware that
Mr.. Hovsepian has not only been
in your section of town; he has
been in and studied all parts of
Rockville, and many other cities
and towns as we'll! He is civil
engineer whose study and analy-