We asked local candidates in contested primary elections to write a sub-750 word essay describing why residents should vote for them on June 24.
Next up is Hugh Hill, who is running in the District 16 state Senate Democratic primary. Below is Hill’s unedited response:
As a physician, attorney, and educator, I will bring a unique skill set to the Maryland Senate. This election should not be about whose turn it is; we should send our best qualified and whoever is most likely to get things done for us to Annapolis.
As an emergency physician for over three decades and a 20 year volunteer for Mobile Medical Care, I have learned about the lives of Marylanders of every background up-close-and-personal. Not every ER case is a desperate fight for life; more often I can talk with patients and families about their experiences, their jobs or attempts to find work, their hopes and fears, what holds them back and what lifts them up. The desire to serve more broadly has grown steadily in me.
I have the policy and law making experience at the Federal level, working in HCFA and then CMS for Medicare. I directed the effort to base coverage decisions on science, not politics, and headed the fraud fight for the program.
This combination of intimate understanding of Marylanders’ lives with the government operations, management, and planning expertise present you with the opportunity to hire a representative with something as or more important than the skill set — a unique experience set. I have learned so much from these interactions, but mostly I have learned that I want to serve you in Annapolis, with vigor, enthusiasm, and effectively.
As the only educator in my contest, I appreciate that this issue is the most important one for most people in D16. We should be doing better at every level. We need to move beyond authorizing to realizing the promise of universal pre-K. And we are not leveraging our higher education advantages into job and business creation here in Montgomery County. With more college courses and even associate degrees available to qualified high school students, college becomes more affordable and high schools less crowded.
In the ER, when the police bring in someone to be checked who is under arrest and in handcuffs, I am struck by how often they can’t read the discharge instructions. Prison planners are said to use the inverse of fourth grade literacy to calculate how many cells will be needed in coming decades. Even if this is not true, the link between crime and poor education is inescapable. We have to fix this!
Because I am a physician, you will understand why I believe we need to do whatever it takes to assure health care for all Marylanders — care, not just the assertion of access to care. Like protecting the environment, this is a foundational prerequisite for a healthy community and a strong work force.
Working families are our principal resource. Too often, a family member — and it’s usually a woman — may want to go to work but cannot. High quality reliable childcare, help with a disabled adult, or programs for seniors can allow that family member to work, adding to our productivity and generating tax revenue. We can make this pay for itself. And think of how all of us are enriched when our elders can age in place, participate in the life of the community, stay with us.
I hear complaints as I talk with voters that they don’t have enough contact with their state representative, or don’t get the responsiveness they hope for. Our District has the highest number of dual degree holders and many amazing smart aware people; it’s just plain wrong not to listen to them and get them involved. I pledge to hold monthly open houses in our District throughout the year, in addition to providing all the constituent services and responsiveness we all expect.
I want to return Montgomery County to its preeminence as the economic engine of the state. And to do that, we have to have some participation from the state. Only 17% of our school budget comes from the state versus a 45% state average. Of the tax dollars we send to Annapolis, we only get back in Montgomery County about 20% in goods and services. We are well-off and should pay more than other jurisdictions, but these ratios are extreme.
After medical training, I earned a law degree because I wanted to extend my ability to address health and human issues. This campaign is the culmination of a career of caring. I have taken care of Marylanders one-at-a-time for 30 years. Please allow me to extend that to taking care of all of us.
