I challenged Kensington mayor Pete Fosselman at a Kensington town meeting on Monday night to recuse himself from all decisions regarding the new sector plan for Kensington, because his acquisition of commercial real estate in areas that could benefit from that plan raises questions of a conflict of interest.  Fosselman dismissed any allegations of wrong-doing, and a supporter praised him for "investing" in the town's commercial redevelopment.

The Kensington mayor does not deny he recently invested in redevelopment property that could benefit from his actions as mayor, but he claims that is "transparent" and even laudable.

As I said tonight, "I have been to Banana Republics, and this is what happens there– not here in America. In this country, we have our debates out in the open. We don’t hide under the cloak of confidentiality as you have done." 

Real estate records show that Fosselman purchased the properties in queston in sweetheart deals with developers in which he does not appear to have actually invested any of his own money.  These were not "arms length" transactions.

Indeed, the local developer, Dennis McCurdy, who "sold" a share of the property to Fosselman was also the buyer who then ofered a share of the new partnership to Fosselman and provided written guarantees allowing Fosselman to borrow 90% of the purchase price from banks using rental income from the properties as collatoral. It remains unclear whether Fosselman or his domestic partner, Duane Rollins, actually put up the 10% remaining stake or whether it was provided by other sources.

Congress has just passed the STOCK act to prevents similar types of apparent insider trading.

The Washington Post outed this one and deserves credit for going after a member of the Democrat Party establishment in Montgomery county.