MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR CONTROL EMPLOYEES ACCUSED OF STEALING BEER, RESELLING IT

NBC 4's News 4 I-Team alleges that some delivery employees for Montgomery County's Department of Liquor Control have been stealing beer meant to be delivered to county businesses. Their report also accuses some store owners of being in on the scam, which purportedly allowed County-controlled beer to be sold for private profit later by those employees. At least one County Councilmember is calling for an investigation, but hold on a minute - where was the oversight by the Council while the alleged crimes were taking place on their watch? Much like the Silver Spring Transit Center debacle, expect the Council to point fingers at everyone else but themselves, and claim they are victims just like the taxpayers. It's time the press starts asking the Council why they haven't been executing their oversight role in county government.

In the Farm Road case, where multiple Sandy Spring African-American landowners' property rights were violated, the Montgomery County Planning Board was allowed to hire a county political operative, Douglas Bregman, to investigate the scandal. This was somewhat like allowing Richard Nixon to investigate Watergate, as the Planning Department itself is under question in the Farm Road matter.

Bregman also had strong ties to development interests in the county, a conflict of interest for the Farm Road case, in which private developers were involved. Bregman's report was favorable to those who should have been investigated (surprise!), and Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler declined to answer calls to launch a state investigation of the Farm Road case. But, as I exclusively reported here, Bregman had donated $4,000 to Doug Gansler. Oops.

Only Councilmember Marc Elrich has continued to pursue the Farm Road swindle, and the local media dropped the story entirely after Bregman's "report."

County and state politicians have been treating mature adults in Montgomery County like children for years, denying us the right to even buy Bud Light at grocery stores and drug stores. Yet, if these accusations are true, their very own employees have been breaking the law themselves and getting away with it. The "beer skimming" scandal, and the transit center and Farm Road scandals, demand a federal investigation into each.

How convenient is it that we are only hearing about this sensational "beer bust" right after the county elections?