Fact check: Immigration, tax claims at debate
It won't come as any surprise that the Anne Arundel County executive candidates bent and flexed the truth while discussing tax cuts, immigration, abortion resolution and kickbacks to developers at their debate.
Incumbent
Some of the comments made about the following issues were missing context or misrepresented the facts:
Immigration
Schuh said this about the county's participation in the 287(g) program, which allows detention officers to screen incoming inmates and inform the federal government if they are undocumented. The county does not have its police officers and deputies engage in the program.
"That is the only means we have to identify illegal aliens in the county who have committed serious crimes like murder or rape or something like that," Schuh said. "That's the only way."
That isn't entirely true. The federal government maintains a database of information and can find undocumented people who enter the prison system. What the 287(g) program does is make it easier for local governments to proactively inform the
ICE has a program called Secure Communities that links information between the
According to ICE, the
The county executive clarified his position later, saying the 287(g) program tracks down criminals not already in the government's databases.
Critics of 287(g) argue the agreement doesn't identify serious offenders and instead harms immigrants picked up on minor traffic offenses, screened and then detained at the request of ICE. Those detainments may create liability problems for local and state governments as immigrants are kept past release dates required without a warrant or probable cause, Attorney General
Developer giveaway
Pittman accused Schuh of giving
"We delivered for our developers a
But calling it a giveaway might be a stretch. Schuh's administration has maintained those cuts led to lower housing costs for residents, reducing it by
Capitalism requires developers pass those savings on to homeowners, he said.
There are so many factors that influence a home's price that it is hard to confirm that the
Taxes
Throughout his campaign - and at Thursday's debate - Schuh has touted his administration saving
That number is accurate, based on county budget data. Schuh has taken tax reductions and fee cuts and bundled them together into a nice, big round number for voters.
But that also includes millions of dollars in utility connection cuts given to developers.
And the bulk of that number is property tax reductions that occurred because of Anne Arundel County's property tax rate cap. This cap is linked to a formula that sets a property tax rate to maintain the county's revenue. While the economy is growing and home values go up, that rate falls, meaning Schuh's savings are linked directly to the growth of the economy.
Most recently Schuh's administration and the
Residents did directly benefit when Schuh's administration reduced the county income tax rate from 2.56 percent to 2.5 percent.
Abortion
Near the end of the debate Annapolis resident
She asked the candidates about their stance on abortion after a county resolution was introduced by County Councilman
The resolution was defeated in a close vote.
Schuh said he is "pro-life" but is focusing his attention on county issues, and abortion is a state and federal problem.
He might be focusing on county issues, but his administration took a stance on the bill, supporting it before it was amended to remove a requirement the
Pittman said he supported a women's right to choose and was surprised the county executive weighed in on the resolution. Pittman brought up the fact that he waited all night to oppose the resolution - he was there late - and opposed the language requiring the county health department collect data.
That language was cut from the bill before the vote.
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