Left Handed Leftist

On the Record: Charles County w/ Dyotha Sweat

• Carlos Childs • Episode 31

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In this in-depth interview,  host Carlos Childs sits down with candidate for Charles County Commissioner President Dyotha Sweat shares her extensive background in the Navy, activism, and her vision for Charles County. She discusses key issues like housing, economic development, infrastructure, and her plans to transform the county through community engagement and strategic leadership.

Dyotha Sweat: 

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SPEAKER_03

What's up, you all? What's up, you all? Welcome to the Left Handed Leftist. You all, I'm so so happy to present this episode to you all. We're gonna be having a fantastic conversation with a candidate running in Charles County. We're gonna be talking about housing, we're gonna be talking about economic development, we're gonna be talking about money in campaigns, we're gonna be talking about who gets money from where and this incoming candidate's uh positions on a lot of the crucial issues that you all are wondering about. So, without further ado, the candidate joining me for this incredible conversation is none other than Diotha Sweat. She is currently the president of the Charles County NAACP and a candidate for Charles County Board of Commissioners president. And you all, before we get started, as always, please remember to like, share, subscribe, rate us five stars, give us a comment, and make sure to hit that notifications bell so that you get alerted every time we drop a new episode every single Wednesday. And without further ado, let's get into the episode. Lordy, Lordy. What is up? What is up, you all? Dio the sweat, how you doing? Thanks for being on the Left Handed Leftist podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03

Of course, of course. How's your week been going, full of this? Because we are we're like in the thick of campaign season. So how's everything going right now?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, we are less than 90 days out from early election uh uh primaries, which is June, uh start June um the 11th. And I have been knocking doors, making phone calls, meeting new voters, re-engaging with old voters, and uh just been keeping busy. I I'm running up to people, introducing myself. They was like, I know you miss sweat. And so I I'm meeting so many folks that I'm forgetting who I'm meeting, but I am in the community, uh, making sure that people who know who I am and what I stand for. So I'm busy, I'm a little tired, and so uh yeah, I get a little rest and uh start all over again.

SPEAKER_03

There you go, there you go, hitting the pavement. And it's so good to see candidates actually out there talking to voters and not just saying, here's a mail or here's a here's a Facebook ad and go on with it. But with that being said, since you already got got into a little bit, Kia, do you mind telling the viewers, viewers just who is Diota Sweat and what are you running for and why?

SPEAKER_02

Okay, well, Dyotha Sweat, I am running for county commissioner president, and uh I am a retired United States Navy veteran. I retired in 2010 at the rank of chief petty officer. I like to share that information because that uh that's a chosen responsibility in the Navy. Everyone doesn't get to be a chief, and uh so there's a rigorous responsibility in it the steps to get there, some people can do it and some won't. And so I was one of those that did. And so um, I'm from Patterson, New Jersey. Most people know I'm from Patterson, the home of Lean On Me, Mr. Joe Clark. I grew up in that school system. Um I always like to share that Mr. Clark was the first person that gave me an opportunity to lead and uh was something very simple. But in the eighth grade, he uh saw something in me that I didn't quite see at that moment. And so uh he uh gave me an opportunity to to manage folks and uh and report back and all those things, and always taught me to stand up because I was uh tall for my age at the time, and always told me to stand up straight. Mr. Clark was a drill sergeant, so he always says, stand up straight, look me in the face when you're talking to me. So that's um those are some of the things. But I joined the Navy at 19 years old, 1986, when it wasn't a popular thing for women to do, women of color to do. And my mother uh didn't understand why I joined the Navy of all branches, but uh it was just uh destined for me to that was my choice, and it was destined for me. And everything that has come after that decision reminds me that that was the best decision that I ever made in my life. And so again, I served 24 years. I've been I've done some historical things in the Navy. I served on board uh two vessels, war fighting ships. The first one I integrated with the uh what about 20 to 5 to 30 other women. We were the first set of women that served on board the ship. Uh U.S. is uh Veligolf in uh Norfolk, Virginia. We set the standard, set the tone. This was when the Navy, when the world was at war, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, uh executive order from uh President Clinton is uh what allowed me to go into the uh combat zone on the warships. And so I served that proudly. I was in telecommunications, so I was in the STEM uh uh career since I was 19 years old. So now when I see young ladies in STEM, I'm proud to be uh a part of that process that has kept the door open so that they can walk in without um any uh hiccups or any any uh problems with getting into STEM. So I have done some very unconventional things in my career. So I've I traveled to Hawaii. I was in Hawaii for 9-11, and so during 9-11, I had just arrived the week prior on the exact same planes that crashed into the World Trade Center with my children. And so I'm uh I lived my life as a blessed person because that could have been us. And uh, but uh I became the Sailor of the Year at in Hawaii, which was the largest communications station in the Navy. And so from there, that's how I picked up Chief Petty Officer. And then from there, I went on to serve on board uh the USS Steatum. And USS Sedum is important to Charles County because the namesake lived here in Charles County. He went to Thomas Stone High School. He was a graduate of Thomas Stone High School, and we have uh a park named after him. We have a school as well, and so I sit on the um the scholarship um that are granted to two students in Charles County with that bear his name. I sit on the scholarship committee with the family and I help select uh students that um and I help to present that as well. So May is a very busy day month for us, scholarships and high school graduations and things like that. But um, I love that because it's something that I can still give back even as a retiree. I can still make sure that we do that. Um I serve on Congressman Hoya's Service Academy as well. So I'm helping the young people to join the military academies as well. And so that has been I share with the especially the the um candidates of color that in my 24 years of serving in the Navy, I never served with a Naval Academy officer that was black. Wow. So when I see the African American students come across, it it fills my heart with joy to know that we are I am a part of that process to making sure that the people that come after me will not say that they never served with someone that served from in the academy. So I'm I'm proud of that. And and lastly, I've served as the NAACP president for the last eight years, and that has been one of my greatest joys to be able to advocate for our people and uh just advocate for the community because some of the things that I've advocated for, it was just not just for black folks. It was just for Charles County, it was for the state of Maryland and for the nation. Through my advocacy work, I was able to put in a resolution back in 2018 that um was to address missing persons from the ages of 19 to 64. Uh, real good friend. Her daughter went missing. And in that process, we realized that there was no alert put in place to address that population of our society. And so um I put in a resolution with the uh NAACP at the state level. And the national convention, they adopted the resolution, and I was able to take that resolution to the state of Virginia and uh was uh Congressman uh Scott Taylor at the time and let him know that when they take that bill to Washington, D.C., they have the full backing of the NAACP to make sure. And in December 31st, 2018, that law became a law. The Ashanti Alert became a law in December uh 2018. So that's just some some of the things that I've done. Uh my resume with the NAACP is like very, very long. And uh and it's a short in a short amount of time. Uh you would think that I've been the president for 20, 30 years, but I have not. But it just lets you know that I see a problem, I address it, and we get resolution.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. Wow, that is a lot. And and just kind of picking through some of that, one, it is we always see the movie with um the principal, and you just said his name. It just escaped me. Joe Hart. Yeah, yeah. Joe Hart, it's like, one, did the movie depict the real him, though? Like Yes, it did.

SPEAKER_02

He threw a water three-piece suit, he walked around with a bullhorn, he made you walk on the right side of the room, and he would have you sing the song at will.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. Okay, so that's some structure. That is some structure there. Now, if you look at the kid, the the school system now, that would not, he would not, would not let him be no principal nowadays. But hey, that's a different conversation. Wow, that is that's an extraordinary, not just career path, but also an extraordinary activist path path as well. And I think that that's that's one thing really missing when it comes to people running running for office. You have a lot of people who take the route of either they're like a lawyer or they're someone who just who just runs and then they're they're in office. But I always say it's really good to have people who are activists and organizers first to be the ones in office because they have the most um kind of communication, but also in touch with the grassroots and with the actual community. So it is good that you did that. And I want to um say real quick, can you tell the viewers why? So why take all of that career experience, all of that in your retirement from the military, head of the president in double ACP, why take all that and then run for commissioner president? Why, why, why add that to the list?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that is a uh so I it took a long time for me to get to the yes to that. Uh so um I ran for office in 2018, and since 2018, someone has a a group of people have asked me to run for office again. And so I honestly thought that I would never uh see my name on a ballot because I felt that um civil rights was my sweet spot, and that's where I am the most effective and things like that. But I um I believe in term limits, so I put myself on a term limit where the NAACP is concerned, and eight years was my time, and so eight years has come. And so when I was sitting around and people was like, okay, so this is going on, what are you gonna do? And I said, I'm about to be a grandmother. That's what I'm about to do. I'm about to spend time with my grandmother. I have grandchildren, so I want to be a present grandmother. I want to spend time with my grandbabies and uh enjoy life. But when you are a leader and you see there's a need, you cannot sit on the sideline and expect change. And so, as a basketball coach, we never, no one from the stands has ever won a game. They've never shot a ball, they've never blocked a shot. Okay, and so in order to make sure that you get what you need and what you deserve, you have to be in the game. And so when I resolve that in my heart, that, okay, diotha sweat, if you're unhappy and you think that leadership is needed in this moment, you have been a proven leader for most of your life. So you at least must try to give it a try, to run for office, encourage people to vote, encourage people to vote for what's in their best interest, not what what is familiar, what is comfortable. We know we're we're seeing across the country how bad leadership, what it what it does, and how it's affecting the everyday people. And so my why has get over yourself, and I know you want to retire, but God has given me many talents, and I tell people this all the time. The day I stand before him on judgment day, I do not want to have to say that I did not use the talents that he gave me to make his people's lives better. And so it's just just that simple.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, okay, and let's go ahead and get into it because you said that really a lot of people have been pushing you to run again to solve some of these problems going on. So let's go ahead and get into the problems going on here. Um, one thing really is is housing. You see a lot of people with within the county, whether you're on the western side, whether you're all the way in Waldorf, all the way down a Cobb Island, it's been kind of two kind of factions of Charles County. One is on the side of we are building way too many housing, uh, whether that be affordable, whether it be just market price, it's just way too much building. And you have another side who's saying we don't want to see as much building, but we do need increase of affordable housing. And when you look at the housing that is continuously built in Charles County, it is your half a million dollars uh single family homes, $400,000 town townhomes. And once uh people do buy the homes and move in, you see that people don't have topsoil, people have foundations cracking. Uh the house was built cheaply, uh, but and just slapped up there. What do you see is the current problem within uh a Charles County's uh housing crisis? But then also what is your plan to hold developers accountable as well?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I agree with all that you have shared. Um I live in a house um that is only that's not even six years old yet. And so I've had uh issues with it. I had to um I can fight for myself so I know how to go to the people to get stuff uh resolved. But a lot of our residents don't know that and don't have that that skill set or that access. And so we are allowing developers to put houses together too fast. I'm not sure who is responsible for doing the inspections, but their inspections are questionable because a brand new house should not be falling apart. And so, and we're building houses that are not in line with the workforce that we have here. And so, although we pride ourselves in saying that we're the richest African-American community in the in um in the country, but what does that really mean? When when you look here, um our primary employment does not reflect half a million dollar homes or many as like as as I like to call them, many mansions. Yeah. Okay, and so I think that we need to um stop and reassess what's really important where housing is concerned. So I'm in my door knocking across the county. I find the older developments are a good use of how things should have continued. Uh they have the duplexes, they have the townhomes, they have the small starter homes. We have no starter homes being built right now. So you're either uh a well-established professional or you're just renting. And so um we're not accommodating our young people that are graduating out of high school that uh would like to stay here near family uh and may go into the workforce. Because even if you're making uh $60,000, $70,000, uh, that's the bare minimum uh to live here in Charles County. So you can't do anything else extravagant because most of your money is gonna go to uh overhead uh to keep the uh roof over your head. And so I am happy that we have finally uh made some um headway on affordabil affordability in housing. And so now that we've gotten that is now the execution piece, I think that the county uh does not do a very good job at is that we come up with a lot of great plans. And so how are we actually gonna execute the housing plans that we have uh just passed? The board of county commissions just passed, I think it was last month. Um, and they're now uh starting to have public hearings and all these things. That has to be a priority. It cannot just be a conversation. And so uh I would also challenge the board as the president to see what properties that we have already in existence because they're already using resources, they're not needing new resources. How can we repurpose those pieces of property? The county owns property, we have properties that are um that are falling apart, that are vacant, and all these things. I think that it would be a better use of funding to even if we had to pay the property taxes on these because they're now lapsed, and repurpose them and make these uh pieces of property available for rental or home ownership in young families, young professionals. Uh teachers are always saying they can't afford to live here, firefighters are saying it, police officers are saying these are crucial pieces to the puzzle in the county and they can't afford to live here. No, you're right. That has to be a priority. It's not the folks that can get on a commuter bus and go into DC every day. And so we should make sure that we're managing the county so that the people that are helping the county stay afloat, i.e. the teachers, the firefighters, the police officers, that they can live here, that we want them to grow families here. And so I growing up in New Jersey, we repurpose buildings all the time. Okay. Yeah. I go home and it was like, oh, that used to be, oh, it's this now. And so uh where uh there were we were bearing in medical uh uh care. They would repurpose the buildings and now it's a it's a medical facility, not a full-fledged hospital, but it is now tucked into that neighborhood. They have some medical care, a triage center or whatever it is. And so I think that we can learn from other areas outside of Maryland because we're copycatting a lot of what other counties are doing in Maryland. And we're getting the same, same same. And so we need to go into more urban cities, go into up to New Jersey, go up to Massachusetts, go to Delaware, go to these areas and see how they are transforming areas to be reusable to the communities. And I and and don't and let's not be afraid to ask for help. And I think that we uh with our housing, we have, I think our housing needs are bigger than we want to say they are. And we're not asking for folks that um that are doing as well to come in and and help survey and and assess and then give us some some uh good tidbits of how we can move things forward.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. No, that's definitely great. I definitely think that it's crazy to think that other areas repurposing old buildings, repurposing spaces to seen as such a normal thing. And in Charles County, it's seen as like, wait, this is like a brand new idea. We've never heard of heard of it before. And and it and it is really sad. But one thing that you did did say that kind of caught my um ear was that the the kind of questionability of of the actual inspections when these homes are built. We've seen actual uh people on the ground from um HOAs come out and say that the the development has been signed over to the residents without it fully fully being done, without it meeting, meeting the criteria. And then when you look at the board of commissioners now, they're the ones signing off. I think it's actually um the commissioner president who has signed off on these when the development's not even done, people have foundational problems, and we're still allowing them to build. So my question to you to you with that is what do you think needs to be changed with this with this process and how would you fix it? And then also, do you believe that some of these larger developers who who have been consistently causing problems, like Lenar specifically, there should be a moratorium or a ban on those type of uh developers building housing until they get their act together?

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so twofold questions. The first part, so being a chief petty officer in the Navy, we are considered the deck plate leaders. And what that means is that you're out and about, you're not leading from an office, you're not leading from a desk. And so I believe that at this point we've had enough complaints that the commissioner president needs to be on site. They need to go do some site visits, they need to go and um see what is actually being uh approved because as a resident, because the president is the president for everybody, not just the employer or the developer and the president of, and so if you and I uh are unhappy with a product that was produced, then the president should want to know how, why you're unhappy, and now come to up with some kind of solution to fix that. And so again, I've ran I've moved into a and so I've lived this right now. So I know this firsthand that there is no can real control or oversight between the HOA developer and the county. I know this for sure because I've lived this from 2020 until about maybe 2023 when the developers wanted to hand over what the the community over to the HOAs and we were in debt. How how are we in debt? Okay, how are we uh getting homes that are have all kinds of hiccups and In infractions. The county should not have been able to, um, they should not have approved Lenar, was the the developer, should not have approved that the developer to um to move forward. I believe in fixing a problem, not adding on to the problem. I I have personally said this to commissioners that there should be a halt and things should be fixed and repaired. I've said that to them. And I totally believe that because this is the biggest investment I have ever done in my whole entire life. And I should not have a crack in my foundation that flooding is coming into my house the first six months of living here.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. So I have the again, I have the resources. I have this is I'm not the first, this is not the first time I purchased a home. So I've had some experience, but you have young families that are purchasing homes, and these homes are not cheap. These are half a million dollar homes.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Easily without any add-ons. Okay, so we have to do right by the residents. We're asking them to pay taxes. We're asking them to uh pay and to make sure that we can keep the lights on. So we should do right by them. And so as a president, this is not a popular stance or position, okay? But I have never been status quo. And so I will have conversations and I will want to walk these sites and see what are you seeing that I'm not seeing as the reason why this is ready to go. There, I think that we uh we need to do a better job with HOAs. I think too much ownership and too much responsibility is on the HOAs. Uh the HOA should be m monitoring whether or not you cut your grass, make sure you didn't paint your house pink, make sure you don't have no dead cars in the ride. All the things that the HOAs are managing now is is is is baffling to me.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, water management. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And so the thing is that most HOAs are not qualified to do these, to keep these things up. And so I feel that if we're going to lay that level of responsibility on the HOAs, then we need to provide them with the resources, we need to provide them with the training and the access to make sure that they're keeping things in line and in order and making sure that they're uh doing what they uh need to do to keep things in line. So uh I am about rules. I'm about policy. Uh when you when we don't do what we're supposed to do at sea, we die. It's that simple. Okay, and so uh some things should not be negotiable.

SPEAKER_03

No, that's definitely great. And actually, that's the crazy enough that that's the first time I've ever heard uh heard heard a candidate talk about how, like, no, I want to go and look at the expense uh inspection with them because you're right, it is baffling that somehow all these homes are being approved through inspection, but then you have the residents saying, Why did you all approve it? And everyone just shrugs their shoulders and say, Oh no, I was just doing my job. But with that, another thing that you talked about was uh just how for young people, families, seniors, it is just incredibly hard within the county to afford to live there, and not just by buying a home, but also renting as well. So, with that, do you support setting up a rent stabilization program within the county? And if so, what are your thoughts on how you would go about um establishing that as far as like percentages, parameters, and things of that nature?

SPEAKER_02

So that's a uh a very interesting uh question. And and some for a person is not actually in the seat is a hard question to answer. Because one, do we need rent stabilization in the county? Yes, but who would we offer that to? Okay. Because we got seniors, we have young people, we have single parents, we have struggling, we have a lot. So do we give it to the teachers? Do we give it to the fire? So there's a lot of tiers to that.

SPEAKER_03

Would you not make it universal for like for everyone?

SPEAKER_02

Well, we could do that, but that would probably because we have such a high shortage, I mean, uh such a shortage of housing, that could easily balloon into millions of dollars. Easily. Think about that. We are about a thousand plus houses short in the county, and that's just short. We're not talking about the people that's in houses that's struggling, okay? And so I think that the uh stabilization is something that we would partner with our state and federal legislators, okay, and have them find us some grant money, have them find us some legislation that could be for identifiable for uh see if there are grants out there for firefighters, for teachers, for seniors, uh for people with disabilities. There's money that's is categorized just for those communities. And so we need to go out and get that money and earmark it so that when we have disabled people that need housing, we now can pull from that pile and allow them to be able to live with respect in our community. We have firefighters that's coming in. If you're coming in and uh you have whatever the parameters are, but we have money for that. So I think that when we are stabilizing things, we have to be extremely careful with how we say, yes, I'm gonna do that, without having some means of getting the money. Because we don't want the money coming from you and I.

SPEAKER_03

So I I guess so when you're looking at rent stabilization, are you looking at it from the lens of like the government giving money to people to help um them with them with uh rent costs? Because as you look at like uh Prince George's County, Montgomery County, and certain uh municipalities mostly, what they've done is you put it on the property um owner of telling them you cannot raise your rent but like three percent um each year or or the rate of um inflation, whichever is low or higher, however the county wants to uh put it. So there's no government money that from their programs goes into it. It's just on the um the um the uh uh property um owner. So is your thought to have a system where it is diverted from the property uh owner to the government giving out grants to people instead?

SPEAKER_02

So I think it could be a twofold. I think we need because we already have a reputation of not being business friendly, and we have to be careful with how we're uh shifting the load to the business owners altogether. And so I think that if we are coming to the table saying, okay, I have $50 and I need you to give $50, I think it'll be an easier sale than just saying that I need you to pay the whole hundred dollars yourself. Because what they're gonna actually do is that that money is eventually going to still transfer to the tenant. The person is not going to, uh they're gonna figure out a way if they it's gonna be in utilities, it's gonna be in lights, it's gonna be in in something. So the the money is still gonna get transferred. If you look at, because somebody had to pay the bill. And if they're telling me that I have to now pay $100, I'm gonna figure out a way to have to figure out how to transfer that $100. It may not be in rent, it's gonna be in something else. And so that's what we're starting to see. And so I think that we have to be strategic as a county as to at least come to the table with some money so that when we tell the property owner that you need to, we need you to stabilize this here, but we're gonna help with this right here. And so um stable it because we have to also think about from a holistic approach that everything has gone up. Every single thing has gone up. So if I'm making you stay here and all of my things are here, like I said, that that property owner is gonna figure out a way to have that trickle back down to you. And so, wherein you may not be paying high rent, now you're paying higher utilities. You're gonna pay higher water.

SPEAKER_03

Well, you can say the water and utilities are kind of set by the company. By like, by like Smeco, hey, will set your um how much you pay for electric. The Charles Charles County would would tell you how much you're gonna pay in uh water. Whereas you look at the property owner, a lot of times for them the rent goes up not because their bills go up, because they they want a higher profit margin, especially if you take out, like, granted, you have some some landlords for lack of another word who are like small, small families, like like just someone who owns a owns a separate house, so they they rent it out. But you have a lot of times, especially when when these apartment complexes or now now, like we're seeing new developments, which are being either rented out by the developer or by a private corporation, they're not doing it because of their their margins, they're doing it just to attract a bigger profit. Bigger profits so for them, they don't really need the government support. And also a lot of times, and maybe this is this is controversial. I look at it as I personally do not believe that housing or or housing should be seen as a profit-driven thing, but I also look at it as as a as a landlord to say, you got into the business of doing housing at certain times, some of this cost you're gonna have to eat because people need housing.

SPEAKER_02

Right. So I do um, so the thing is, is you and I have been in um advocacy world. We know when we advocate for something and it's blanketed, it doesn't ever reach the person that we were targeting. And so what do you mean? So I think that um I was an actual uh landlord here in Charles County. Yes. And uh I sold my house because of the legislation that was coming down, because it would hurt me as a person that just owned one house. So the legislation is more so for people that has multiple units, but it still applies to someone that has one thing.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So I say when we do blanketed uh legislation, the person that we're trying to target sometimes is not that they don't get targeted. The person that really gets hurt that's hurt is the person that you really want to help or make sure that it doesn't affect them. And so uh do I think that we should have the increase should be what should match inflation? So let's be clear. Yes, I do. Okay? I don't think that you should be um raising no one's rent three, four, five hundred dollars just because you can. And I I just don't believe that. And so if you need to do that, then you need to be able to justify that your um requirements financially have substantially increased. And then we're we have to look at that. But just because you want to, I don't want to be misleading that I'm not on board. I do believe that that there should be some stabilization because rent here is a lot is a lot. When I was renting my house, I was just like, I could have got that much for my house. But I in my conscience, I didn't, I couldn't do that because I wanted to make sure that a young family could rent the the local the house and be able to still be able to live and function and and enjoy life. But um, but there's some people that should be greedy. I'm renting my house for $5,000 because I can. And I don't I don't agree with that. And so in those instances, we need to make sure that we have that in place.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, awesome. And actually, one of the things that you mentioned that kind of segue to the next topic is one of the main reasons people cannot afford the high rent, the high housing prices is economic development. And Charles County does not have the job for it. And like you said, Charles County as a county, the the major employer is the school system, which shout out to the teachers, school workers, bus drivers, all of them, but they don't get paid by so much. So when you have the largest employer being being a again, lack of a better term, uh low-wage um uh career path, you have a problem there. So can you talk about what is your is your plan to really bring some jobs where where people don't don't have to leave the county to go to DC, Virginia, or uh Prince George's County to be able to afford to live in Charles County?

SPEAKER_02

So this is my fourth time talking about this, and as a Navy veteran, I am um sometimes confused that we do not talk about the Indian head base the way we should. Okay, um the military department of the Navy is a federal entity as well. What most residents in Charles County are unaware is that the Navy has done, has slated um Indian Head to for a huge investment over the next 10 years. Two to three billion dollars. Okay, as county commissioners, we should be best friends with the commanding officer of Indian Head Base. We should have constant communications with the Indian Head Council to see how we can nurture that investment that it benefits the entire county. I use the example as well is that um if you look at Pax River, if you look at King George, those areas grew because of the Navy. Those areas are now uh economically powerful because they understood the importance of partnering with the Department of the Navy. And so um we don't have to go look for a entity to come in the county. We have one. We just have been overlooking it. And so if you go to uh I'm not sure where you live, but if in the Bryan's Road area, District 2, it is called the tech quarter, technology quarter. What does that mean? Because nothing technology looks like in someone has a computer somewhere. So, but my thing is is that you do have a tech quarter over there. You it's called the United States Navy. Okay, and so we have to be innovative and we have to have the courage to go in and say, okay, how can we work together? Because the the core of the Navy, the core of the military is to ingrain themselves in the in whatever community that they are. No one that's outside of the inner circle even realizes that we have a naval base in the in the county. That is a huge problem. Sailors are supposed to be in the community volunteering, doing work. This is what the Navy is supposed to do. And we are not utilizing a huge resource, and we're trying to figure out what we can do economically to grow the county. Go to the Indian, drive down 210 all the way to the end of the 210, and you will find economic. That should be the economic artery for the county right now. And it's the second largest employer uh to the school system. Wow.

SPEAKER_03

People don't even talk about that.

SPEAKER_02

Like people Yes, it's a travesty, to be honest with you, that we are not we have the Military Alliance Council that's this has come up. We have the Velocity Center that's down in Indian Head, and we have the new bomb uh technology. So all of these things, we should now be the Board of County Commissioners should be talking to the school board members and the superintendent. How can we get these middle school kids in this pipeline to be engineers and and all of the things that that the base is gonna need? There's 2,400 jobs that's supposed to come. Whoa. Can we get a percentage of those jobs to be identified within the county?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And it's crazy because the commissioners now don't even talk. I didn't no one talks about this. No one talks about the the investment that that is being made. So when you talk about investments under a a Dieltha Sweat presidency, what kind of investments do you or or what does investments into the naval base from a county perspective look like to you?

SPEAKER_02

So it what it looks like is a it's a a a marriage, okay? There's a partnership, it's collaboration, it's networking. It is the base, uh, we we're having meetings with the base to understand what the needs of the Navy are and how can the Charles County government help you meet those needs outside that gate, okay? Because sailors come, contractors come, they're gonna need amenities, they're gonna need uh restaurants, they're gonna need somewhere to stay. We need a hotel or something on it.

SPEAKER_03

Any of those.

SPEAKER_02

None of those things. Okay, I was door knocking over on the other side, and I I literally had to sit there and say, okay, I'm hungry. There and my and I was determined to eat and spend my money in the county because I'm like, I'm not gonna go to uh Manichae and Akakite to go eat. I'm gonna, and so I was just like, okay, so okay, that's closed. I can't go there. That shouldn't be.

SPEAKER_03

And if you don't want it to be a chain, that's that's even harder.

SPEAKER_02

That is even harder. So I was actually, it was I went to an event uh two weeks ago, and a young uh lady that was there has a um Mexican restaurant that's across the street from um KFC. And so I actually went and patronized her, her business on Saturday. But I had to pull off to the side of the road to say to myself, okay, where am I gonna eat without taking my money outside of the county? Okay. President Sweat at the uh leading the county will make sure that we are having these conversations with our second largest employer, making sure that we are investing in our young people, we're investing in housing, we're investing in small businesses because small, and and we and with this um investment, we should be able to invite contracting companies to come to make Charles County their home. If you go to Pax River, you go to King George, contractor companies, they have offices outside those gates. Those are professional jobs with those companies that can afford a mini mansion that we're building here in the county. But the the fact is that it will help offset traffic. It will also bring in because wherever you like during COVID, the county was doing well because we were here.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

We were spending money here. We were because you spend.

SPEAKER_03

We have a COVID economy.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. You spend money where you work. And so that would, that's what um you would get with me at the uh, and I speak the language. I met the CEO that that's there now, introduced myself as a retired Navy chief, and it was an instant connection. Hey, we started talking. So I'm already a valuable asset for that kind of conversation and that type of uh partnership.

SPEAKER_03

Awesome. And I'm also glad that you mentioned too your um thought about just getting more just restaurants, small businesses, hotels, because you're right. It's crazy because Waldorf is seen kind of as as the economic hub of Charles of Charles County, just based on the population. But even if you look at Waldorf, to find a nice restaurant is hard. To find a nice hotel is hard. It's it's incredible. So, real quick before we go to the next topic, you kind of tell tell the viewers what are your thoughts around or or how do you fix that problem with with just the lack of of just amenities, restaurants, hotels, just like small businesses, because when you hear a lot of business communities talk about it, they talk about the permitting process being ridiculous. They talk about just all these different things. What's your plan to fix that?

SPEAKER_02

So throughout this whole entire campaign, PGM has been a sore spot in everybody's mind. And so if we're going to grow economically, a PGM has to be fixed. Okay, just plain and simple. I have had conversations with PGM as an NAACP president because we had people that would come to us with complaints and we would go to them to address them. Um I feel that most uh entities within Charles County were operating uh in a 1980-ish, 1990-ish type mode. And um, I think that that is causing us to spend more money, spend more resources. And so um we should uh go in and see what's working and what's not. It's a culture shift and change that has to happen. I've heard of the unprofessionalism that you get when you go to PGM and how disrespectful people are, that's unacceptable. If we're saying that we're open for business, we should be shining the pearly whites when someone's coming into the office that wants to open up a business. It shouldn't take six months to get a permit. It shouldn't take two years to get something built. So um that has to be a priority, though. And not just during election year, and not because someone came to me and made it a problem. It has to be that the PGM is probably one of the most important offices in the county. And it should run like a well-oiled machine at this point. And uh our left is running like a Ford Pinto right now. So we need to upgrade it. Don't put no nice rims on it and ties. No, we need a new V.

SPEAKER_03

Fresh for the paint.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. And so the thing is, is again, let's go to areas that are doing this well. Let's figure out what it is that they're doing well. Because I like to talk about Cecil County. Cecil County is a lot like Charles. Is this almost the same size and all this? They do things, they're pretty ahead of us in how they're managing things. And so if we need to get in a car and drive two, three hours up the road, let's guess what? We're making a field trip.

SPEAKER_03

There we go.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, and so I go back to being that deck plate leader. You cannot have conversations over the phone via Zoom. Some sometimes you we need to lock elbows, look each other eye to eye, and say, hey, these are the things that we're we have we're deficient in. And I see that you have made these strides. How show me, can I walk through, let me hear from your uh your employer, your employees and things like that. We have to, as the count board of county commissioners, we have to take those extra steps. The president really should be everywhere doing everything and bringing it back because that is the person. That sets the tone. And if the president is not willing to do the extra things, then the district commissioners will not. And so as a president, that is what I will bring, I will bring that energy.

SPEAKER_03

Starts from the top. Leadership starts from the top. Absolutely. You're right. So as you kind of mentioned the county's just uh uh different problems, one thing that kind of came to mind was the county's the county, and kind of this is kind of what what we've been seeing across the country. Multiple localities are saying we are strap strapped for cash, we need to figure out what we're gonna do. You have people who are saying do not raise our property taxes. Charles County, as you mentioned, uh since like 70% of the residents leave leave the county to go to go to work, and they're so they're spending their money outside of the county, so we're not getting that tax revenue. Something that the county has been pushing down people's throats, some people would say, is data centers and saying this should be the way to fund the county. Um, given that you had a two to one margin of people against the uh data center ZTA, you had the commissioners trying to uh pull the ZTA, you have residents continuously speak out saying it's draining electricity, draining our water system. You even look at the servers that are going to have to be uh disposed of every three to five years going into our landfills and just the overall problems that the data centers cause. And now looking at some some state legislation that would say that, oh yes, let's let's have data centers bring bring their own power source, but a lot of these power sources are are either diesel generations or having a natural gas plant directly tied to a data center, like is speculated with um uh uh Morgantown and Terra Wolf. What are what is your position on data centers uh within the county?

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so as an IT, I have dealt with data centers my whole entire adult life and then realized that at 59 years old, I would be talking about data centers the way that I'm talking about data centers. So this is where I am with data centers. I don't, I'm not for or against data centers coming into Charles County. What I am for is making sure that we have the proper governance to protect um the county and for uh making sure that we have infrastructure readiness, meaning electricity, water, and all the things that take um that the data centers will need to function. And will it be a positive impact to the community? And so if we cannot answer those three questions in the positive, then my answer is no. And so we have to figure out ways, be cre very creative with uh finding revenue. I'm not sure what people think that um all these jobs will come from with um data centers in the long term, in the in the very beginning, you will because of the contra the construction and all those things. But once that data center is up and running, um there's not a lot of employment that comes with that. And so um the NAACP has done uh a lot of studies on data centers, and a lot of people um don't realize that data centers are getting a lot of subsidized funding. And so subsidized funding means there's more taxpayers dollars from the residents. And so uh we just need to be when we are looking for ways to uh pay the bills, we just need to make sure we're thinking long term and not something that's reactionary. So uh data centers, we still have to, there's a still a lot of conversation that needs to be had. First of all, we don't even we're not even zoned for a data center. We're having a lot of conversation about this, but we can't even have it if we said yes, because we are not zoned for that. So let's talk about the policy, let's get the policies the way it needs to be for the betterment of the entire community, and then let's have that conversation about data centers.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, okay. No, definitely. And you're right, a lot of people are concerned about just all those things that we both mentioned as well. What are your thoughts on the the Morgantown plant being turned into theoretically a a data center? And you see the commit the community heavily push it pushing back on that. I think even PJM came out and said that they're not supportive of this because we do not have the energy and the actual infrastructure to supply Morgantown with the necessary electricity of it. What is your um thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_02

So I think Morgantown was another reactionary knee-jerk um situation. Um I think, no, I don't think. I believe and I will do before we start introducing anything to the community, we need to do our homework and our due diligence. Because now we're having a whole conversation about Morgantown. And Morgantown, first of all, needs to be cleaned up because I was the president that partnered with um Sierra Club to shut Morgantown down. And our ask in that process was to make sure that when Morgantown shut down, they cleaned it up before they evacuated out of the space, which the county did not follow through with that. And so now we here we are six, seven years later, with this Morgantown conversation again. I think that we do not do a very good job of doing the homework on situations that could be sensitive to the community before it's introduced to the community. It's not about hiding or not being transparent. It is about having all the facts of what is uh what is and what isn't it, because I'm trying to figure out how you had a closed-door conversation with Morgantown, and then all of a sudden now you don't know what their intentions were. And I'm just gonna leave that there.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, no, yeah. And I can I'll I'll do a slight, a slight explanatory comma. And this is me talking, not Dayotha talking. Um, yeah, there there was a uh a Charles County uh Board of Commissioners meeting a few months ago, I believe, now where the Commissioner Gilbert Bowling and Commissioner Mana Stewart were coming out and talking about the Morgantown uh sale to um to uh terror terror wolf in saying how, oh, we had a presentation. This is not what we were told they were gonna come. Surprisingly enough, Commissioner uh Patterson Coates and Collins were quiet during that whole exchange, which is odd to me too. But but it was also odd to have two commissioners talk about how like we were lied to or we don't know what's coming when you all had these back to backroom conversations.

SPEAKER_01

Because of the press release with Morgantown. And with looking at like the press release they put out and looking at their website and looking at some of their history, it's not uh aligned with the information that we got in the presentation. And so I'm I'm blurry and concerned about the disconnect. Because I my my spidey sense is like, well, what's the difference? Like, why didn't they tell us some of the information about their company? About the like the Bitcoin, the mining, the data mining. Um I'm a little concerned, and then how does that affect this type of data mining data centers? That's different from data center. Data mining is different from just a regular data center that holds data. Like I need information about that. We need to be we need to be very intentional about getting that information.

SPEAKER_00

I think it's also important for for me and for the public to know. And I'm I'm not afraid to say what I won't say what happened, but this is four days ago we found out this was happening, and they just closed yesterday. So this isn't something we've been holding on to for months. This is something we just literally found out about on Wednesday. So that's why um once the announcement was made on Monday, I felt the need to let the community know this is happening in our backyard, and these are the concerns. And I am grateful first that we have a power plant that somebody bought and possibly is gonna, you know, find ways to make it work and and generate revenue for the county, but you can't turn a blind eye to the concerns, and I'm not implying that any of my colleagues are, but for me, I don't want to turn a blind eye to the concerns being brought up and the circumstances. And uh I want to be clear, I'm grateful that they came down and invested in our community. We just this is a big deal for the county, for the state when it comes to energy, and we need to make sure we're doing our due diligence.

SPEAKER_01

And we just need and we need to know the truth, need to be transparent so we can plan accordingly.

SPEAKER_03

And one thing that always sticks out to me is that they always have backroom conversations and never update the public until we find out via the news, and then they look at us and say, Oh, oh, oh wow. No, we're just as surprised as you all are, which is insane. Either y'all don't don't listen during meetings or don't show up, or you all just get the news, and that's how you're you're informed about stuff. So you're definitely right. There is definitely a uh now I'm trying to figure out how to say it nicely. Just it's just a lack of like actual professionalism, but also care to like what they're actually doing, or even paying paying attention at this point. But kind of switching gears here as we wind down. One other thing that that has been coming up recently in Charles in Charles County is the battle between the uh Charles County Library Workers Union and the Charles County Library System. Um, the Charles County librarians uh who were on this podcast before unionized a while back. And to this day, I think it's been over a year, they do not have a contract, but the Charles County Um uh Library Board has approved in their uh a previous budget $250,000 to go towards a a union busting law firm to do um uh negotiations with the union. And this union busting law firm has been known to work at like um major colleges, major corporations to actually like stop, stop unions. And they're known as like, hey, if you want to derail union negotiations, come to us. The crazy thing is that this is because the library board did this, this is public money, taxpayer money that is gonna have to come from books, digital resources. There, there's a whole La Plata library that has been on tracks to be built for for years now, that that's not even getting built to this day. As Commissioner President, what are some of the things that you would do to part one, how do you feel uh about the situation? And also, what would you do do about this as well?

SPEAKER_02

Okay, two-part question. So, first, I want to know why legally, uh, I'm not sure how what we could do as a county, so I would have to take legal counsel to see what we can do and and want to know why if we uh pass that the um you the librarians could unionize while we're picking um entity that's there to unravel that. Okay, so that's the first question because there's always a why behind something, and I before I can make a decision on which direction to move in, I need to understand the why behind the decision that was made. Okay. And so once I find that information out, then um we and I think that uh we as a county, we do a lot of decision making without follow through. Okay, and so uh if something was voted on and passed a year ago, why are we still having this conversation? Why hasn't it been implemented? And so the execution of processes sometimes lag a little too long. And so uh I um one thing people will always say that have worked with me is that we do not talk about things long. If we're gonna get it done, guess what? We're gonna get it done. And I and if we have said we were gonna move things forward and there was a vote on it, I need to know why we aren't moving forward. Someone needs to really have a conversation with me and say, okay, so we can't do this because the the because needs to have some type of teeth to it, some type of legal standing to it to say why we didn't do it. And I I think that we follow through as a county is it's like a D minus, okay? And so we start things and then it's like we go, but when then we over here and then we over there. We don't never focus in on the finish line. And so we can't allow policies to be in place and then we don't we don't follow through with the policies. And that has to also be a morale issue with uh the employees as well. And and as you stated, wasted taxpayers' dollars. Here we are pinching pennies, and we we're giving a quarter of a million dollars away to an entity that can undo something that we said that we would do. And so I just think that the board, um, we have to uh make sure that we understand what the priorities are and stick to them and check have a have a list and check it off. Okay, don't just you know when you go to the grocery store and you don't have a list, you go to the store and pick up every single thing but what you went to the store for. You get home mad. Getting you mad. And so I think that we have to really make sure that our list of priorities stay a list of priorities until they're finished. And if there's something that comes in that has to overturn something or whatever, we need to be able to justify that and explain it to the community. We don't do a very good job of explaining why we had to pivot. If we needed to pivot, if something changed or we can't we found out we can't do something, have a press release. Go into the community and explain why. Don't let the social media be the narrative.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. No, you're definitely right. And and in and just to add one thing to that, I definitely think there needs to be more that the the board of commissioners does to hold these kind of like ceremonial to appoint boards uh accountable. Because a lot of times when this happened with the library board, no one really talked about it. And it's crazy because Commissioner Stewart is actually on the library board as the uh commissioner representative. Now, now she does not have a vote, but during this whole debacle, there has been no mention from her to people to say, or to her to her fellow commissioner members to say, hey, we need to talk about this. We need to bring this up. We need to bring the library board in front of us to explain what we're doing with the budget. So you're definitely right. There needs to be more just accountability across the boards. Moving into two of two of our final topics here. One, one, we mentioned all the myriad of problems that the county is facing from traffic, the infrastructure, the jobs, the housing. I mean, it's a lot. It's a big problem. And that's why you're running. What do you think about the current commissioner president, Ruben Collins? Do you think he he's done a good job because a lot of these problems are kind of on him? Because he is, is he is the the current um uh commissioner president, especially when you talk about the housing developments and things of that nature. How do you think he's he's done as a commissioner president?

SPEAKER_02

So, what people don't understand is that although he's the president, he has no more power on the board than the other four people. And so I've talked about this in a few other forums, is that we have allowed a culture of division to fester at our county um the board. And when I say that is that we run, I see it now, people are aligning themselves with who they want to be and who they don't want to be, and the people should be selecting the commissioners, not the commissioner candidates, and then and encouraging the citizens to do that. And so I phrase that like this is that it's hard to get things done when the house is divided. And so the board has been divided, and it's been divided to me since I've lived in this county. It's always been a three-two. But we uh we elect five people. And so, what is going to be different from any other president that I've seen since I've lived here is that I've I'm telling, I say this now. I've met I'm meeting with almost all, I've met with almost all of the candidates on the ballot right now to be commissioner. Okay? Because what you need to understand is that when President Sweat becomes the president, you have a voice at the table. It wasn't because I ran with such and such and I don't like you, and now whatever you bring to the table, I don't have, I don't want to hear it. And so when you do those kinds of things, the serious matters and the serious conversations and the serious issues that we have in the county cannot be resolved because if I bring it up, you're automatically gonna say no. Whether it makes sense or not. And so as the president, that was that has not been fixed. We've just kind of moved in this status quo, okay, I got my three, you got your two, you got your three, I got my two. The residents are suffering because of that. And so we don't know what could have been if the board would have worked together as a team. And so I I'm not gonna grade him on whether or not he was a good leader or not. The failure was five people decided that they didn't want to come together and be one voice.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, okay, thank you for that. And then I know I said last question, I got one more to fit in there too. I'll always is that would so throughout this campaign, we've seen, or not just this campaign cycle, but we've seen previous campaign cycles. You have organizations like G.S. Proctor Associates, uh, development companies, real estate groups who kind of even even the sheriff's uh union kind of kind of flood the race with their own uh money to kind of what I see it as as buying candidates all for for for future things. And this is again me talking, not you talking. I one of my biggest bones, bones of pick is with uh G.S. Proctor, just because they have been known to donate to candidates. They also lobby for um uh different people companies to the county commissioners. And also when the county commissioners during the uh the uh general assembly session, the county hires them as a contractor to to lobby for them on things. So so it's so it's kind of a revolving door for um them, them specifically, but you also have have the other uh corporate packs and things. Would you voluntarily choose choose to not take money from corporations, uh developer packs, real estate organizations, or or um uh GS Procter and associates or different companies?

SPEAKER_02

So right now, no one's giving me any money. I am financing my own uh campaigns to this day. So let me be very, very clear. Campaigns are not cheap. I have interviewed with quite a few entities, and I have been very, very clear that my soul is not for sale. And so you can go with it, whatever that means for you, but my soul is not for sale. And I remember um when I ran the last time, I won't say who the entity was, but they endorsed me. And when I became the NAACP president, they were shocked that I was coming at them for some policies. My soul is not for sale. Okay, so if you're if I'm saying something that you think that you need to champion behind, then that's good. But my soul is not for sale. And so I want to uh be clear with that. And so, do I need money? Yes, I do. Okay, but I have to make sure that they understand that I stand on principles, I stand on values, and I'm standing up for our citizens, our residents of Charles County. So I don't want to be holding to anyone. So if you think that if you uh finance providing finances and and I'm gonna I need to scratch your back later, I'm not your candidate.

SPEAKER_03

You have an itchy back.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, just be itching.

SPEAKER_03

With that, and kind of doing a little bit of uh pushback, but also a clarification for it, given that a lot of politicians, or not politicians, a lot of candidates just say that in general. They all say, like, kind of, I may take money from from like X group, but they don't guide guide my um decisions. And a lot of time, it's that kind of gray area for like residents, because it's like, well, how do I know that that's really the guiding factor? Is are there any kind of corporations, packs that you would not take money from just because you don't even want the appearance of you're doing something for a certain group because of the money?

SPEAKER_02

So to be honest with you, if if I don't want their money, I'm not even gonna interview with them. Okay, so I'm not even filling out like I I got uh something from I can't remember what the organization, I was just like, okay, uh they're they're not in line with my moral values. Okay, um, so I don't think that um this is how I look at this. And I'm telling uh residents when I'm out in in the streets, an elected official only gets away with what you allow them to get away with. Okay, so if I stay, uh if I stood 10 toes down in my chest out saying that I would do X, Y, and Z and I'm doing A, B, C, D, E F G, then you need to call me out on it. You need to say, hey, remember you said this right here. And so um I think that a lot of times we as we don't hold elected officials accountable enough. And so they toe the line, be like, okay, well, then nobody say nothing about that. So then nobody say it. And so no, hold me accountable. But uh I my moral compass is pretty calibrated, okay? And so I do things that's in line with because I'm um I always think about what my mother would say, my grandmother, all I'm just I'm just down to earth like that. And I know if it's something that I would bring harm or discredit to my family, then I I'm not gonna do that. And so I've had to be very, very candid during this candidacy, like, yeah, yeah, but no. Okay. Okay. And so I'm on record saying that. And so uh we can we'll be able to go back to the digital footprint and say, okay, well, on April the 15th, this is what you said. Right. And so, yeah, and I I think sometimes people forget that you're being recorded. Did you not realize that you said that on camera? Things like that. So the thing is, is that I and I I will give you uh uh instance. So to do some mailers, just just give you some numbers, do some mailers or about say 10,000 people.

SPEAKER_03

And I'm smiling because I already know it's expensive.

SPEAKER_02

That's gonna be a good car.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And so the thing is, is that do you need money to win? You do. But again, I will tell the individuals if you feel as though this is a scratch my back and not scratch your back situation, then I'm gonna have to decline the uh the money. Because that's not what who I am, and that's not what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you for that. Thank you for that. And then again, last clarification with this, you mentioned that if if it's groups that you do not align with their, let's say, ideology, that you wouldn't even go for their their support. Can you think of any groups that you currently do not align with their positions, that you just don't do not want their endorsement support, even outreach?

SPEAKER_02

To be honest with you, Carlos, I don't have any because um most people that are reaching out to me know that I'm the NAACP president. So they don't even come to me. So I'm getting the the average folks that are coming to me. And I don't even want to say average, like I have had uh AFL CIO reach out to me. Okay, unions, yeah. Yeah, so I I'm already endorsed by AFGE. Wow. AFGE District 14 that that has endorsed me. I've had um vote vets have endorsed me. Uh Run Sister Run has endorsed me. So those are the kind of grassroots, uh, even though AFGE is big top tier vote vets and and and run sister run, they're grassroot people because that's the uh the type of campaign that I'm running. And so um I haven't had any uh um entities that's reached out to me and like, oh hell no. So, but no, so the people that have that are reaching out to me are are labor unit unions and and professional uh and people that uh are looking to see who they want to endorse. And so I haven't gotten anything crazy, and I can't think of any that's off the top of my head that would even send anything meeting.

SPEAKER_03

My mind always goes to well one, G.S. Proctor, but two, the real estate um uh uh the real estate lobby within the county, but also the um like developers like Lenar who may give out money. Weirdly enough, I saw look, I'm gonna just say names here. Uh Commissioner Ralph Patterson has gotten money from Washington Gas Company. So, like, like it's just weird entities that I feel like people would get.

SPEAKER_02

No, um, no, I have not. Now, I will be honest because I'm I'm being recorded. Uh Mara did uh um send a uh letter for me to fill out the application, and I did. And so uh I don't want you to be like, now she didn't tell me that, but yeah, they did. And so uh I interviewed with them back in 2018 as well. And so um the thing is is that real estate is real estate, it's not just housing real estate, it's commercial real estate that uh we need to make sure that we are bringing in commercial real estate that makes sense and not storage units and things like that that don't bring another chicken restaurant. Yeah, that don't bring in real money. And so so you don't want to isolate yourself from that community, but you still need to stand firm and what that means to you as an individual and as a as the leader of the county, what that means. So I want to be very transparent with you that they did reach out, I did fill out the information, they have their interview uh process, I think, sometime next month. So we'll see what comes of that.

SPEAKER_03

Awesome. Thank you for thank you for sharing that. So, last this is the last question. So this is Board of Commissioners, President Diotha Sweat's in office. What are the first two bills that you want to sponsor?

SPEAKER_02

We have a lot of bills that go to Annapolis each year. I want to look through those and see why they didn't pass. I don't want to spend a lot of time implementing no new bills when we have some that's sitting on a shelf with dust on them that were probably good bills and we didn't write them properly or we didn't get the right um support or things like that. We have we we send bills every year. And I know that we have some good ones. I I would love for the bill that we I think I'm not sure where it ended up in this legislative session with the HOAs. We we're sending HOA bills up to Annapolis every year. We need to strengthen it so that we can, because we are heavily a HOA county, and so we need some type of governance to help us with that. So I'm not going to sit and pull out a notepad and strike up a new piece of legislation until I figure out what is going on with the legislation that we've already submitted, why didn't it pass, and how can we get it to be a stronger piece of legislation for the 20 session? Because um, I'll be going into office in 12. Well, I may be able to do it in 27, but the 28 legislation, because we can't just put bills in and they they don't pass, and then we forget about them and we go into something else. Let's build on it because eventually they're gonna be like, okay, Charles County ain't gonna let this go.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I don't have anything that I'm gonna bring come to the table with. I want to know what was already at the table and how can we fix that.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Or or I guess I'll reframe it of what locally, as far as like like a Charles County bill that that doesn't need Annapolis approval that you want to do, or just and if it's not bills, what are what are the first two things that you want to do coming into the Board of Commissioners?

SPEAKER_02

So I would love to um reintroduce a summer um job program for our young people. Okay, that was something that was uh implemented several years ago and it it uh died. I think that we need to have give it some teeth um to give our young people um something to do and and to make themselves employable, even if they go to college, you still need to have some type of work skills. Um and although we have been talking about this for eons and eons and eons, most of what I I'm still young people is still my passion. I feel that if we invest in our young folks, we are gonna be all right. And so we have to find some ways to take care of our preteens and teens, okay? Um, we have too many nonprofits that are have young people extensions to their organizations. Can we bring all these organizations together and figure out really how can we really impact our young folks, the next generation? And so outside of going in and um cleaning up the government, uh those are the two things that I would like to try to focus on. Because as a president, I think that um those are things that I can work on. And I want the district commissioners to be really focusing in on what are the needs within their district.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. That's amazing. Thank you, thank you. And then for that cleaning, we'll be sure to get you the mops, gloves, the detergents, the sanitizer, hazmat. But yes.

SPEAKER_02

Also, also, now that you spoke, you shared about cleaning, we have to have uh uh some type of regiment to help clean up Charles County. And so I'm not saying to employ another division. I I'm talking about bringing the community together. And once a quarter, we have Charles County Cleaning Clean Day, that we we'll we'll provide the supplies just like we do at Adopt the Roads. You do all these things because this is our home. And the more people that come, the more trash we're gonna see. That's just because human that's just what human beings do. And we don't have trash receptacles around and things like that. So I just think that Which is crazy. Yes, have pride. And it also will help the transplant center Charles County to to have some sense of community because we don't we're lacking that. And so that's something else that I would like to incorporate. That's just something as a as a president that I can do within the community itself and still leave district-wide stuff to the district commissioners because I don't want to be in your district minding your business. Okay, I want you to do that, bring it to the body. Let's talk about how we can manage whatever the issues are, whatever you would like to implement, and let's do that. But I don't want to go in district one and say, you need to do this, I think you should do. I want you to bring that to the board. Wow. And I think the importance of district wide voting now is that you are now really solely responsible to those voters because they are the ones that put you in that seat.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So that's a few things. No, no, thank you for that. And that's actually crazy enough. I actually have have not heard anyone talk about actually like beautifying the county, which goes apart into the culture of the county, goes into how people think about their environment. What is that? The broken window theory. Once there's a broken window, the whole neighborhood goes bad. So yeah, no, we need to start taking pride in our space. And then maybe you you'll have people who may work outside of the county, but when when they come home, they're like, I'm coming home to a to my county, not just a county. Right. Wonderful. Diotha Sweat, again, thank you. Thank you so much for being here with me today. Can you please tell our viewers how they can get involved with the campaign, stay up to date on what's going on, anything? This is your moment to shout yourself out.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. All right. Well, what first of all, uh, Carlos, thank you so very much for this opportunity to share my vision for the county to the residents. Diota Sweat running for county commissioner president. You can reach me via my um webpage is electdiotasweat.com. You can follow me on Facebook, Diotha R Sweat. Instagram is at elect dr sweat. Um, I'm starting to do a little bit on uh my LinkedIn as well because I um I have a lot of uh professional friends that live in the county, but on LinkedIn may not be on Facebook. My phone number, uh my campaign phone number is 240-776-5385. Email is electdiothasweat at gmail.com. However, you wish to reach out to me, please do. You will get a response back from me. This is a moment in time to uh shift the culture of the county. And so in order to do that, we need to make sure that we have the right people in the seats to uh set the tone and and change the culture to uh moving us in the direction that we need to be in. Uh, I believe that uh Diotha Sweat at the helm, uh, we can get that done.

SPEAKER_03

Wow, thank you. Thank you again, Diota Sweat. And everybody remember, this is a podcast. So please like, share, subscribe, follow, hit all the little buttons and trinkets to keep this podcast going and growing. And remember, don't forget to hit that notifications bell so you can get alerted every time we drop a new episode, every Wednesday. And you all, thank you so much for tuning in to Left Handed Leftist Podcast. See you next time.