Purple Line Agreement
We write to you about an urgent issue concerning the Purple Line.
Columbia Country Club has blatantly violated the spirit of the contract it signed with Montgomery County and the State of Maryland, in which it agreed not to oppose the Purple Line via lobbying or “assisting other persons in communicating opposition.” We have reason to believe that the facts demonstrate that the country club has violated the letter of the contract as well.
Members of the country club held an anti-Purple Line fundraiser, at which some $47,000 was contributed to Governor Hogan's political fund. Among the contributors to that event (along with the lobbyist hired by the Town of Chevy Chase to oppose the Purple Line) were a member of its Board of Governors and the spouses of three other members. Subsequently, leading members of the country club met with members of Governor Hogan's staff and with the state Secretary of Transportation for the purpose of lobbying against the Purple Line.
Since the contract was signed, the Federal Transit Administration has approved a Record of Decision for the Purple Line, and the U.S. Congress and Maryland legislature have appropriated funding for the construction phase. The intent of the contract is that if the ROD is issued and funding is approved, the MTA will build the Purple Line and the country club will not interfere. (The contract states, among other things, that in these circumstances “MTA shall... design and construct appropriate catenary systems...”)
We ask that the county use all legal means at its disposal, including specific performance of the terms of the contract, to ensure that the state and the country club fulfill the intent of the signed agreement.
Sincerely,
Ronit Aviva Dancis, Vice President