Rockville Super PAC backs Van Grack attack
A new super PAC in Rockville focused on smart underground development launched an ad on Monday attacking City Councilmember Adam Van Grack's record on subterranean land use and accusing the local politician of giving preferential treatment to elevated causes.
Montgomery County residents Enik Sol and Atam Pakuni registered the Sleestak Super PAC last week, motivated, they said, by poorly utilized underground development opportunities and land use planning that discriminates against below ground cultures and ethnicities.
“He's taken a selfie on top of every mountain within 500 miles of Rockville. His bias against subterranean dwellers and blatant elevation favoritism is slap in the scales of every Sleestak American,” said Sol, who lay the blame at Van Grack's feet as the politician was blazing a trail across the Catoctins.
The group reports spending $500,000 to make its case that Rockville residents should demand Van Grack remain at elevations less than 515 feet, the height of Rockville's tallest point, Hunting Hill in Falls Grove, for the remainder of his two-year term.
"He rides the Metro from aboveground stations in Twinbrook and Rockville and shuns the deep Wheaton and Forest Glen platforms. He wore a path on the Pedestrian Bridge skywalk crossing Rockville Pike into town center. Van Grack only takes selfies at the summit--never in a valley, ravine or canyon. Tell Van Grack to climb down from his Granite Tower and get digging," says the ad narrator as images of Van Grack on top of mountains scroll by.
Van Grack, who just last month sponsored a proclamation celebrating Sleestak American Heritage Week, said in an interview that he was offended by the ad. He says he has supported a number of subterranean development projects and that his critics ignore the nuance and difficulty of blasting through metamorphic rock.
“This is a failure of people to be honest about the quartzite problem we’re dealing with, because it’s much easier to say this guy doesn’t support underground development” Van Grack said. "It's called Rockville for good reason."
Although bitter about the Sleestak Super PAC ad, Van Grack said he is sensitive to the perceptions of the underground community. On his planned expedition to Sugarloaf Mountain next weekend, he says he will forgo summiting and instead take selfies in the Poison Ivy Zone at 500 feet.
Sol says that's not nearly enough. "How about a selfie from the bottom of Travilah Quarry, at 100 feet below sea level?" he challenged.
