Interview With Gabriel Njinimbot - Why Good People Don't Run for Public Office

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Gabriel Njinimbot, was a candidate for the Prince George's County Council, discusses his background and motivations for running for office. He highlights the need for change in the county and the disconnect between the establishment and ordinary citizens. 

The conversation with host Tamara Davis Brown addresses the challenges of running for office, such as the high cost of campaigns and the complexity of land use and zoning issues. It also explores why good people often don't run for office, citing barriers like time, money, and politics. The influence of political machines and the perception of rigged elections further deter potential candidates. The discussion emphasizes the need for transparency, accountability, and public financing in elections to encourage more qualified individuals to run for public offices.

Episode Transcript

Tamara Davis Brown (00:01):
Welcome to another edition of All Politics
is Local with me, your host,Tamara Davis Brown.
I have the distinct honor andpleasure to bring in another
guest for this episode.
It's a gentleman that I met onthe campaign trail for the
special election for the PrinceGeorge's County Council at Large

(00:24):
seat.
And his name is GabrielJinnnabot.
What impressed me about Mr.
Jinnnabot is the fact that one,he was just so gracious and uh
such a gentleman during all ofour candidates' form.
And I'm not gonna steal histhunder, but he said some things

(00:45):
about Prince George's Countythat I think is worth hearing
and listening.
And I actually had to look itup myself to confirm what he was
saying was true about a Latinterm, and um and exactly he was,
and so we'll we'll get into themeat of it, but Mr.

(01:06):
Jinnabot was also a candidatealong with myself for the
at-large county council seat inthis special election.
That although the election isover, the ballots are still
being counted, and while wedon't have the elections
officially certified, it is veryclear that the council chair

(01:30):
will um get this seat, and we'lltalk a little bit more about
that.
But what we're gonna be talkingabout today is why good people
and why good candidates don'trun for public office.
And that can be not justlocally here in Prince George's
County or in the state, butnationwide.

(01:52):
I've heard a lot of people, youknow, that uh talk about their
distaste for politics, and I canunderstand why having run
several times and not get to thefinish line as the nominee for

(02:14):
the Democratic Party to to gainthe seat.
And there was a lot of trickerygoing on with all of my races,
or with the majority of myraces, I would say.
And so we're gonna we're gonnadelve into that and um we'll
tangentially talk about thiscurrent race.
When I met him, I felt likeGabriel was a very genuine

(02:39):
person, a person who reallywanted to see change in Prince
George's County, and he puthimself out there to run.
And I applaud anybody havingrun myself several times.
I applaud anyone that putsthemselves out there to run for
public office and have a genuineish interest in seeing our

(03:01):
quality of life improve.
So with that, I'd like to saygood morning, Gabriel.

Gabriel Njinimbot (03:07):
Good morning, Tamara.
And let me just say that uh youare an amazing person.
Uh even though I've known youfor three weeks when you started
this whole thing.
Uh you're amazing.
You are talking about genuine,I think you are really genuine.
And you you you you areinvested emotionally,

(03:32):
financially, and in every wayyou can look at it to see that
something is different in PrinceGeorge's County.
And I I saw all of this duringthe primary, I mean, during the
special election.
And I just wanted to say thatout there before we even go on
to saying anything about theelection about myself and so on.

(03:52):
But I want everybody to knowhow amazing you are.
And if there's if there arepeople out there who are still
wondering if if they should besupporting you, I say they
should not waste any more time,you know, in any place and
anywhere, in any effort they seeyou putting any time in it.

Tamara Davis Brown (04:11):
Well, thank you so much for those those kind
words.
Um I certainly appreciate it.
You know, my I definitely willsay that my heart is in the
right place and I want to do theright thing for the right
reason.
And I hope that that continuesto to to show and to be

(04:31):
demonstrated in all that I sayand all that I do.
But let's let's let's firstjump right in.
Um tell us about yourself.
Uh tell us um where you wereborn and raised, tell us about
your family, tell us how youcame to Prince George's County,
you know, the whole nine yards.
People um want to know who myguest is today.

Gabriel Njinimbot (04:51):
Well, great.
Um I was born originally in asmall West African town uh in
Cameroon.
I don't know, I'm sure manypeople know about Cameroon.
Um I was born in that town.
It's about 12 to 14,000 milesaway from from Prince George's
County.
And uh I moved here.

(05:12):
Right away, I was raised byparents who weren't that lucky
to see even the four walls of anuh elementary school, but
believed in all 19 of us, we're19 to our parents, uh, that we
can achieve whatever we want, ifwe especially if we put our
minds to it.
Right.
Um we walked seven miles eachway to school every day.

(05:36):
Wow.
Yes.
Um and in those days, becausemy parents weren't weren't that
weren't educated, they the onlyway they depended on making any
money was working in theirfarms.
And that's how we essentiallygrew up, walking barefoot
sometimes to school and back formonths.

Tamara Davis Brown (05:55):
Wow.

Gabriel Njinimbot (05:56):
And but because we were they were
dedicated and sacrificedeverything to see us succeed,
they they you know, they pushedus, they paid our fees all the
way through college.
Uh, and I graduated in 1997with a second upper class degree

(06:19):
in educational administrationin Cameroon, and I was fortunate
to move to the United States in1999, where I flew into Chicago
knowing nobody with a hundredbucks.
I got lost for several hours atthe airport because it was so
big I didn't know where I was,and that led me to lose uh

(06:42):
missing my flight, my connectingflight to Chicago, to um to
from Chicago to to Akron, Ohio,where I was going to school uh
on a H1, no, on an F1 studentvisa.
Now I got to Chicago uh after Iwas missing the flight, I met a

(07:03):
gentleman who was also kindenough to I was sitting right
next to him and he asked where Iwas from and where I was going,
and I explained everything tohim, and he asked if I had a
ride to the university from theairport, and I said, No.
And he was kind enough to driveme from the airport, it was
like an almost 45 minutes drive,and when we got to school, the

(07:25):
school was closed because it wasa Sunday.
Okay, and he did not want totake me to his home, obviously,
because he didn't know who Iwas.
So he decided to help me pay mybus fare from Akron, Ohio to
Washington, DC, and that's how Iended up in Prince George's
County.

Tamara Davis Brown (07:44):
Wait a minute.
This the school was in Akron?

Gabriel Njinimbot (07:50):
Yes, the school was in Akron, Ohio, um,
because that's where I hadmanaged to have an admission to
go to uh uh to go to um uhcollege, another college, in the
University of Akron.
And uh I got to the UnitedStates on a Friday evening,

(08:12):
missed a flight, then flew outthe next morning to Akron, Ohio,
which was a Saturday, and therewas nobody in school to even
receive me as an internationalstudent.
Okay, and um uh Mr.
Nelson was the guy's name wasMr.
Nelson.
So when we got to school, hewas like, Well, there's nobody

(08:33):
in school to receive you.
Apparently they were waitingfor you yesterday, but you never
showed up.
So I'm uh you know he'santicipating that they'll
probably get to receive me thefoot on Monday.
So he was like, Well, I can'tleave you on the streets, I
cannot take you to my house.
So he asked if I knew anybodyin the country.

(08:54):
I said, Well, I know people inMaryland, but they don't know
I'm here.
Oh so uh he was like, Well,well, you're gonna have to let
them know you're here becauseyou're gonna have to go
somewhere before you come backto Acorn, Ohio.
So he gave me 60 bucks.
You know, he gave me 60 bucks,took me to Greyhound, and gave

(09:15):
me another 20 bucks to eat on myway down here.

Tamara Davis Brown (09:18):
Wow.

Gabriel Njinimbot (09:19):
And uh that's how I ended up in in here in
DC.

Tamara Davis Brown (09:22):
Wow.
So let me ask you this.
Did you, once you got here, youwere you able to connect with
the people that you knew inMaryland, and did you actually
go back to Akron to go toschool?

Gabriel Njinimbot (09:36):
Yes.
So when while in Ohio, Iconnected one of my cousins who
was here who knew I was foundout I was coming.
And so they picked me up atUnion Station.
Okay.
Uh, at a Greyhound station,Union Station in DC.
And then um when I and I'm I'mI didn't even realize how

(09:56):
complicated and how difficult isit to survive in the United
States of America.
Uh, because you know, you know,out of America we have this, we
have this idea or notion thatyou know everything is green,
uh, there's probably money onthe streets.
You know, so I went back toOhio, uh, but I I realized that

(10:19):
the tuition was $17,000 a year.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (10:24):
And I'm thinking, you know, I did not
know that $17,000 was was noteasy money to get.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
Okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (10:32):
So um I did not go to school that semester
because I had to work, which wewe're gonna get into that, which
I was gonna have to work toraise the money to pay my
tuition $17,000, because therewas nobody to to help me with
that one.
Remember, I came in with ahundred bucks.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Right, right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (10:50):
If I had a lot, I wouldn't, you know, I
would have brought it.
But then um I ended up in DC,which I started working to make
money at a seafood restaurantright down there in College
Park, Maryland.

Tamara Davis Brown (11:02):
Okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (11:03):
Wow.

Tamara Davis Brown (11:04):
Yeah.

Gabriel Njinimbot (11:04):
Wow.

Tamara Davis Brown (11:05):
Okay.
Well, that's interesting.
That's definitely interesting.
That uh something I never knewabout you.
Obviously, we like you said, wejust met three weeks ago when
the when the campaign started,and we had some conversations,
but definitely have not had anyconversations about um your um
upbringing or your arrival here.

(11:26):
So that is quite interesting.
Well, tell us what you're doingnow.
Do you have family?
Um you have children.
What's what's what are youdoing now?

Gabriel Njinimbot (11:36):
Fast forward.
So right, fast forward, right?
Uh just just so you know, I mymy story is very interesting to
the point where I actually wrotea whole book.
Oh, yeah.
About 253 pages of my wholestory from Cameroon to you know
how I was raised to the UnitedStates and the things I went

(11:56):
through up to a certain point.
Um, but while I was here inPrince George's County, uh I got
married.
I have three children, uh, andall of them went to Prince
George's County public schools.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (12:09):
The first one is at Towson University right
now, and the other two are stillin Prince George's County's
public school.
One of them is in high schoolin Laurel, and another one is in
elementary school here inLaurel as well.
And um, you know, over theyears, I worked for Prince
George's County uh right thereat LIGO.
Uh I we ran the informationtechnology department right

(12:33):
there on my comic drive for acouple of years, and then I had
a job in Baltimore City'smayor's office of information
technology, which I worked therefor 18 years.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Oh, wow.

Gabriel Njinimbot (12:45):
And yeah, and we essentially ran the IT
department for the city.
Um, the city was was mainframedriven.
All city applications were forall city services were all in
mainframe.
So we had the the duty tomigrate everything out of the
mainframe system into modern-daytechnology, which I was the

(13:07):
database analyst there for agood number of years.
And then subsequently, um Ibroke out of, well, before I did
that, I went to law school.
Uh went to law school, Igraduated in 2014.
I had my law degree in 2014,and I started up a couple of
small businesses as well when Ileft.

(13:29):
Um and fast forward, I am justdoing my own business right now
and doing a little bit of lawpractice on the side and then
running for office.

Tamara Davis Brown (13:40):
Okay, well, wow.
I think we can all write abook, right?
We all have a a story to totell and to you know be an
inspiration to some to someoneelse, and that is incredible.
So, what's the name of yourbook?
Well, I have five booksactually published.
Um, wow, okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (13:58):
Yes, and they're all on Amazon.
If you look at, if you justsearch my name, Gabriel Ginimod,
all of them will show up.
But the first book was titledFrom Meager Beginnings: The
Power of Dedication,Persistence, and Consistency.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (14:13):
Um, and it is to tell you that.
Well, and I'm not gonna go intoall that, but let me just give
you the five books.
Uh, so the power of dedication,persistence, and consistency is
the first one.
And then getting to the top,the secrets is another one.
Uh, the other one is be uh thesecond, the third one is the art

(14:37):
of endurance.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (14:39):
And then the other one is be your naysayer's
greatest surprise.
Uh no, be your last line ofdefense and your naysayer's
greatest surprise.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (14:50):
And then the last one is uh how to turn small
resources into big dreams.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Wow.

Gabriel Njinimbot (14:58):
Those are the five things I've written.
And they're all on Amazon.
Self-published, by the way.
Uh, and um yeah, you can youcan look that up and um they're
all very interesting booksbecause they all they all are
all real true life experiencesof the things I went through to

(15:21):
the point where I am today.
That's quite interesting.

Tamara Davis Brown (15:24):
So you moved to Prince George's County in
1999?

Gabriel Njinimbot (15:28):
Yep, 1999, June 14, 1999, to be precise.

Tamara Davis Brown (15:32):
Okay, and you live in Laurel, Maryland
right now.

Gabriel Njinimbot (15:35):
Yes.
I live in Laurel.
I lived in Green Bell for acouple years.
I moved to Laurel in 2024.
Wait, I did I say 24?
Twenty twin two thousand four,sorry.

Tamara Davis Brown (15:46):
Oh, two thousand four.
Okay, not twenty twenty-four.
Okay, okay.
Gotcha, gotcha.
All right.
Well, let's pivot a little bit.
Um again, very interesting umuh background, upbringing, and
uh if you will, survival story.
And I definitely will have topick up a couple of those books
and and and hear your story andread your story uh um in more

(16:10):
detail.
They sound very interesting.
But let's put pivot again andas I said at the top of the
episode that this episode isdedicated, um, is entitled Why
Good People or Why GoodCandidates Don't Run for Office.
So tell me first, what made youdecide to run for public

(16:31):
office?
And tell us a little bit ofhistory, because what I did
learn, and I don't think I knewthis in 20, I guess that would
have been twenty twenty-two ortwenty eighteen, and you can
correct me that you ran for theat-large seat previously before

(16:52):
this special election.
So first tell me what made youdecide to run for public office,
and then um Yeah, let's start.

Gabriel Njinimbot (17:00):
Go ahead.
Well, you know, uh based on mystory, number one, uh I'm
grateful for the United States.
Uh I came to this country witha hundred bucks, and today I can
I can say that my my journey,my success is mostly attributed

(17:22):
to the country that I live in.
And I feel like it's aresponsibility for me to give
back to the community that has,or to the country that has made
me who I am.
Uh, and I owe that to theAmerican people.
I owe that to the people whocame before me uh and paved the
way for me to be free, for me todrive on the roads that I never

(17:48):
built, um for me to vote.
People who died for me to behere, to be able to vote.
Uh, I feel like I owe them.
And I would not, I will bedoing a great disservice to this
community, to the country thathas made me who I am, if I don't
go out and fight for morejustice for the next generation

(18:09):
of people who are, you know,still struggling to survive uh
in this country today.
I feel like we there is stillmore to be done.
And if people like myself andothers don't go out there and
fight, we would never get to thepoint where we are supposed to

(18:33):
be.
Uh and and those those thingsmade me go out and say, you know
what, let me go out and fight.
That's number one.
Number two is that over thedecades I've realized that uh
the county needs to do more thanit is doing.
And uh if you look around, yougo to our different cities in

(18:58):
Prince George's County, CapitolHeights, District Heights,
Laurel, Greenbelt, Hydesville,there is a lot of status quo
that has remained the same, uh,regardless of who is in that
office.
And the the common denominatoris that a lot of the folks who

(19:18):
are in government are wellestablished and are very
disconnected with the ordinaryguy on Main Street on the
streets of Hydesville andCapitol Heights.
The people who Mario Cuomo, thelate governor of New York,
described as people who are notso rich to be worry-free, but

(19:39):
not so poor to be on welfare.
Uh, those people in PrinceGeorge's County need to be
represented by folks like youand I.
Folks who pick themselves upwith their own bootstraps, even
when they didn't have boots, andstruggle to send their kids to

(20:00):
school, take care of their momsand dads, do three jobs, pick up
trash, and work uh nighttime asyou study nighttime as students
and work during the day asworkers and earn minimum wage.
These little things that arenot very visible to the

(20:23):
untutored eyes require peoplelike you and I to go out there
and fight for them because ofthe disconnect that exists
between the establishment class,the elite class, and the
ordinary folks who are who arenumb to the daily surviving mode

(20:44):
that they're in and they don'tget to tell their stories.
So for people like us who seesome of these things, who see
homeless people here and there,who see people at the grocery
store go pick up food items andthen take it back out because
they can pay for it.
Uh, who see senior citizens insenior res senior citizens'

(21:07):
resident homes with very oldmattresses or beds and sometimes
have to pay for their owntransportation to the hospital,
these things make me cringe.
And I I mean the list goes onand on and on, but we do need
the ordinary guy on the streetsto be in government to see some

(21:31):
of these things and see how wecan change their status quo.
And in me digging, that's how Icame to find out what's written
on our county logo, which iswhich I'm thinking, how is this
a coincidence?

Speaker 3 (21:44):
Right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (21:44):
That that's what our logo says, however way
they intend it, but it somehowhas a reflection of what
actually happens on the streetsof Prince George's County.

Tamara Davis Brown (21:54):
Right, right, right.
Um, very interesting, and Iagree.
And let's let's tell ourlisteners what is inscribed on
the logo of Prince George'sCounty.

Gabriel Njinimbot (22:06):
Yeah.
Uh you know, I I know some ofour listeners have never never
had a chance to either see it orthey see it, but they don't
take the time to look at it orlook it up.
It's a sim it's a Latin wordthat says siempre.
Siempre, which means everythingremains the same.

(22:31):
Everything remains the same.
Yeah, and it has a wholebackstory to that, which we
wouldn't go into the whole thewhole backstory for the sake of
time.
Uh, but it essentially sayseverything, the status quo,
always will remain the same.
And it's been the same over thedecades.
Um look that up.
And when you look it up, askyourself what your status has

(22:54):
been in the five decades andwhat the county has done to
change your status in the few inthe past few decades.
And tell me if or how thatactually means to you as a
Prince George's County resident.

Tamara Davis Brown (23:13):
You know?
Right, right, yeah.
It's you know, when you saidthat at um the your very first
candidates forum that we were inperson together, I was like,
Well, I never paid attention tothe Latin phrase on Prince
George's County logo, and neverknew that that phrase was there

(23:35):
and what it means, but the wayyou broke it down is saying,
we're really living up to thatcreed here in Prince George's
County.
Everything is staying the same.
And you are so right that Ihear so many people, including
people that are doing quitewell.
And when I say quite well, youknow, they live in beautiful

(23:55):
homes, uh, they areprofessionals in whatever
profession it is, they could be,you know, they have their own
salons, they may beprofessionals like as an
attorney or a doctor, or here,this, that, and the other.
And they always say, you know,it's this is always the same.
It never changes.
We don't care who gets inoffice.

(24:17):
It's uh, you know, it never itnever changes.
We always get the same old, youknow, whatever it is that they
are complaining about, orwhatever it is that they're
looking for that they don't feellike they're getting here in
Prince George's County and theyhave to go elsewhere.
And um so I agree with you thatwe need to change that logo on

(24:39):
on our on our on our seal, butmore importantly, we need to
live it out by changing it.
Um changing that everythingstays the same, that no, we need
to make progress.
And we need to make progressbecause we need to do more than
what we're doing in electing thesame people over and over and

(25:02):
having musical chairs andexpecting different results.

Gabriel Njinimbot (25:07):
And you know, um I I've spoken to tens of
thousands of citizens of PrinceGeorge's County.
And they they are going througha lot, and they're they're
tired of the status quo.

(25:29):
And some of them, like yourightly mentioned, they rather
just quietly move out.
And NBC 4 carried out a aninvestigation um documentary
about Prince George's County,and you can look that up too,
and it was titled The MassMigration.

Tamara Davis Brown (25:52):
Right, I did see that.
I saw that.
Yeah, and I actually didn't Iactually did an ep uh episode on
our politics as local aboutpeople moving out of Prince
George's County and particularlyinto Charles County and the
millennial generation, which isthe whole reason why I created
this podcast was to reach ayounger generation uh and not

(26:14):
you know so much an oldergeneration or generation of
people who are my age or evenolder.
And um I'm not sure if it evergot published because we had
some audio problems and uh atthe time NBC did its story,
Washington Post did its story,everybody did a story on um how

(26:36):
Prince George's County is losingresidence to Charles County and
other jurisdictions.
Right.
Although there's still pe quitea few people moving in, but the
majority of the people that aremoving in are moving in from
either out of state or out ofthe country.
Um but the people who may havegrown up here, and the person

(26:57):
that I interviewed that was myguess, uh her she grew up in
Fort Washington with her parentsand went to Prince George's
County Public Schools along withher husband.
Uh and they made a consciousdecision to when they were
looking for homes to move toCharles County.

(27:19):
Now for them, part of the pronot part of the problem, but
part of the rationale wasaffordability.
And I know that that that issuecame up during our uh election,
and I believe it was one of theRepublican candidates, Mr.
Tails, who always talked aboutaffordability being one of his

(27:41):
platform.

Gabriel Njinimbot (27:42):
You know what affordability means, right?
I can't afford to live in anenvironment where the crime has
gone up 12%.
I can't afford to live in a inan environment where uh students
are struggling to survive inschools.
I can't afford to live in anenvironment where um the
property taxes are so high.

(28:03):
I can't afford to live in anenvironment where and the lease
goes on and on and on and on.
Right.
And that's that's and that'sthe issue, that's the challenge
that the citizens of PrinceGeorge's County are facing.
And by the way, a lot of thesefolks who leave Prince George's
County, they are hurting whenthey leave.
They don't, especially the onesthat were born here and raised

(28:26):
here and love it here.
Right.
Now they can't afford to leavehere.
That's not necessarily doesn'tonly mean that they can't afford
to buy the homes.
They could buy it here, butthey can't afford to not be able
to walk the streets at alltimes of the day.
They can't afford to not go toa gathering and somebody gets

(28:48):
shot.
They don't want to live in thiskind of an environment.
They can't afford to drive inone neighborhood and it doesn't
feel like Prince George'sCounty, and into another
neighborhood that feels likeHollywood in the same county.
It feels like there's twocounties in one county, one that

(29:10):
is completely neglected andforgotten, and the other one
that is living in affluence andwealth and thrive.
And it feels like what's goingon here?
Right.
What's going on here?
Right.
Am I on my own?
If you remember on the um oneof the forums that we we had

(29:30):
with the mayors, the blackmayors of Maryland, yes, Mr.
Porter.
I don't know if you rememberMr.
Porter, he essentially painteda picture of the other side of
Prince George's County in PrinceGeorge's County.
Right.
Right.
Essentially saying, look, thispart of Prince George's County,

(29:51):
Capitol Heights, DistrictHeights, Heightsville, they have
completely been abandoned.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (29:57):
And our politicians could say whatever
they want.
We we are completely forgotten.
We are we don't exist in PrinceGeorge's County in Alumna.

Tamara Davis Brown (30:08):
Right.
Yeah, and and I remember Iremember that question, and then
you know, that's our quoteunquote inner beltway
communities, um, those thatborder the District of Columbia
lines.
And I remember answering thequestion that the unique thing
about all of those areas justabout is that they all have a
metro station.
And we've been talking thelongest about doing

(30:30):
transit-oriented development,but it's never occurred.
Now our council chair says,well, most of those are built on
floodplains, and it's you knowvery difficult to to and very
expensive to to build on it, butI think that's just an excuse,
you know.
Even if you know, if you if youwanted to make the investment,

(30:50):
you would make the investment inthe communities.
And I think there needs to be agreater investment in our inner
beltway communities.
But you're exactly right.
We have we definitely have acounty that is quite diverse in
the sense that we have you knowvery, very wealthy enclaves, if

(31:11):
you will, and then very, verypoor enclaves as well.
And the question is is is howto represent all the people and
bring, you know, you know,rising tides raise all ships,
right?
And how can we how can we bringthat rising tide to the inner

(31:33):
beltway communities, to the youknow, communities that have been
neglected.
And I I think that you and Ihave some great ideas about
that.
But for whatever reason, youknow, the status quo still rema
always remains the same.
And so let's let's kind ofpivot a little bit and and talk

(31:55):
about, you know, we can thereason the status quo remains
the same is just it's because wehave the same people in office,
right?
It's to me, it's a musicalchairs and it's a it's a
stepping stone.
People, you know, they startoff at school board and then
they run for county council,then they run for, you know,

(32:18):
maybe state delegate or statesenator, then they run for
county exec, or maybe they areon the central committee and
they use the central committeeand just wait for an opening.
You know, somebody's gonna, youknow, we've had so many new
delegates and new senators byvirtue of the fact that
somebody's either stepped down,retired, passed away, what have

(32:42):
you, you know, for variousreasons.
Yeah, and then the person onthe central committee, you know,
is now elevated to publicoffice.
And I guess what disturbs me alittle bit about that whole
process is that people don'treally understand the the jobs

(33:03):
of our elected officials.
So for example, um most peopledon't know, and I I had to
actually explain this to peoplenot only at the polls but on our
candidates forum, is that thePrince George's County Council
is an if you are a HOApresident, uh citizen, what have
you, in leadership, and youthink you want to become a

(33:28):
Prince George's County councilperson, you're in for a uh Y
widening experience because thePrince George's County Council,
60% of what they do is sit atthe as a district council on
land use and zoning matters.
And land use and zoning mattersis not an easy subject or topic

(33:55):
to understand.
You have to have done this fora while to really understand
what the county council does,and they and you're bombarded
with it, right?
And I don't pr pretend, becauseI don't practice that type of
law, I don't pretend to to knoweverything about it, but I have
been advocating for so long onit that you know I fear that the

(34:20):
wrong people get in office ifthey're not gonna be manipulated
and everything remains thesame, they're gonna be
bamboozled and everythingremains the same.
Right.
Because it's such it's it's socomplicated.
And I've heard people say,well, I didn't get comfortable
in the position of I've heardformer council people tell me,

(34:43):
and one person called me up totell me, I didn't get
comfortable in the position ofcounty council until after my
first term, four years, or Ididn't get comfortable and
really know how this thing worksuntil I became council chair.
And that's a travesty,unfortunately.
But we we can get into that alittle bit later or at another

(35:06):
on another episode.
But what we really want to talkabout is why good people like
yourself and like I would liketo say myself don't run for for
public office.
I have you know put myself outthere plenty of times.
And number number one, I'mgonna start the conversation,

(35:29):
but then I'd like for you to youknow pick up on what you think
why good people don't run.
Number one, it's it's quiteexpensive to run for office, and
the and people wonder whycandidates are always asking for
money.
The flyers that I printed outfor this election, so because
this was a special election, Ihad a certain budget in mind and

(35:50):
that I was not gonna going toexceed because number one, I
knew it was a short turnaround.
Number two, I knew people werenot paying attention.
Number three, the county did apoor job in advertising this
election.
In other words, letting peopleknow about it, other than
sending out the ballots.
And number four, um it wasreally a way for me to continue

(36:17):
to keep my name out there as aviable candidate for public
office, right?
And so people don't realizethat, you know, they want, you
know, yeah, give me a yard sign,yes, you know, I want to I want
a t-shirt or to print all thatstuff out, it costs a lot of
money.
So I used a local, a localprinter, uh, Minuteman Press,

(36:41):
uh, Miss Latasha Ward, whoactually ran for office herself
as a state delegate.
She opened up a print shop, andso I used her to do my
printing.
And, you know, I paid a coupleof thousand dollars just to
print out my little um handoutsthat I that I gave.
And and and you know, she's aunion shop, um, so you pay a

(37:02):
little bit more for for unionunion shop, although she didn't
put the bug on mine, and I don'tknow um the union bug on it on
my card.
Somebody asked me about that atthe new Carrollton Candidates
Forum why it wasn't there.
But in any event, um, you know,you you have to pay for that.
You have to pay the the bigsigns, the the smaller signs,
all of those things are veryexpensive.

(37:24):
So I think some people that uhand people don't people there
are people, one potential personthat was gonna run, she says
she doesn't feel comfortable inasking people for money.
I have no problem asking forpeople for money.
I will ask you, please donateto my campaign.
This costs money, I can'tafford it.
And you know, that was that wasthat that was my line at the

(37:47):
polls when I was meeting people.
I was like, you didn't getanything from me to in the mail.
And the reason was was Icouldn't afford it.
I couldn't afford to mailsomething out countywide.
In a countywide race, it isquite expensive to run.
District in a district race isexpensive, but certainly a
countywide race that you got toget your name out there
throughout the county.

(38:07):
And it's very expensive.
So that's number one.
Well uh what's your number onething why good people don't run
for this?

Gabriel Njinimbot (38:18):
I I run for, and that's that's the correct um
what you you talked about inthe race I ran.
I ran for Congress this pastprimary three months ago.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Okay.

Gabriel Njinimbot (38:32):
And uh before that, I knew what my challenges
were gonna be.
One is the money.
The one thing that has has Iwant to use the word corrupt,
but has has spoiled or ruinedpolitics in our nation, not just

(38:55):
in Prince George's County.
Financing.
Yes, yes, you know, there'sthere's some numbers out there,
and the average congressionalraise cost one point five
million dollars.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
That's crazy.

Gabriel Njinimbot (39:14):
Yes.
Um and and because of thisnotion of everything remains the
same, you have candidates outhere who have other personal
interest groups and lobbies andyou know, big developers that
sponsor their campaigns fortheir own personal interests,

(39:36):
right?
That alone, that alone, hearingthe numbers 1.5 million dollars
or even $500,000 in Ron anyway,was allowed anybody who a
well-intentioned orwell-intended candidate who is
sick and tired of the status quoto even think of filing your

(39:59):
initial documents to run.
Where the heck are you gonnaget a million $1.5 million from
unless you have some ties to aspecial interest group or a
lobbyist or some big developerwho has uh a greedy interest in
some part of George George'scounty's government or um real

(40:24):
estate or something, right?
Otherwise, right there, you arejust crazy trying to run for
any kind of race in the entirecounty or in the district
because you don't have thatmoney.
I was fortunate to have a goodground support when I ran for
Congress.
We raised almost a hundredthousand dollars um and that ran

(40:46):
out pretty quick, very quickly.
Um and so I think that's yourthat's the number one reason why
uh good people don't run foroffice.
The second reason you thinkabout just yourself what it took
for you to run the campaign injust three weeks, right?
Much less six months, much lessa year, if you intend to run

(41:10):
for any kind of office, right?
That means you have to eitherbe self-employed, even when
you're self-employed, you don'tyou need money to pay your
bills?
Yes, you do.
Um somebody who is notself-employed has a nine to five
because you cannot campaign ifyou do not have time, right?
And you can't have money if youdon't have time, right?

(41:33):
To do fundraisings and all.
You you have to have time andyou have to have money.
These two factors will stop youfrom running because you have
to go to do a nine-of-five.
You have your mortgage to pay,you have your rent to pay,
especially if there's uh therent the landlords can go crazy
as they want with the rent, uhyou have easy to raise, you have

(41:57):
you have your life, right?
So if you are not an agent ofchange, somebody who really is
passionate about seeing yourcounty being different, uh being
somebody who really wants tosee that the county is doing
better, or have your county uheliminate processes that don't

(42:19):
work, or make processes thatwork more efficiently, you're
not gonna you're not gonna run.
You're not gonna run for a citycouncil because you don't have
time, because you don't have themoney, because your spouse um
you know has to bear the burdenof doing everything.
You don't have that time, youdon't have the money, you don't

(42:41):
have the support, you're notgonna run.

Tamara Davis Brown (42:43):
Right.
Well, what let's talk about theelephant in the room because
there are people who may havethe time and may have the money
or can at least raise the money,but they still choose not to
run, and that's because of quoteunquote politics.
And and I think it gets to backto your observation of the fact

(43:10):
that our the Latin phrase thatis written on at least Prince
George's county's logo, and it'sprobably even though it's not
written as a logo on the logo,it's certainly implemented
nationwide.
And that is, you know, peoplethink that it's it's all for

(43:30):
lack of a better term, it's allrigged, it's all set up, it's
all you know, you know, it'sit's it's all corrupt.
What are your thoughts aboutwhat are your thoughts about
just politics and the fact thatpeople just don't want to get
involved in politics?
And that's why they don't run.

Gabriel Njinimbot (43:53):
You know, the the status quo has always been
has always been a a roadblock toto a lot of folks because when
somebody I I'll give you anexample of the Kennedy family,
right?
A name brand family.

(44:15):
In the county we have somethingwhere if somebody were to hear
that, oh, uh you're trying torun for Congress, we're like,
oh, I'll give you my example.
When I was running forCongress, I had a I had a ton of
people who call me for eitherpersonal reasons or not, and
tell me, look, man, you're goingagainst the Ivy family, that's

(44:38):
the Kennedy family, that's likethe Kennedy brand in Prince
George's County, uh, you're notgonna make it.
You are just crazy, you'reyou're you're either doing this
for for ego reasons, or um, ifyou're trying to put your name
out there, I don't think that'show you should do it because you
cannot win against the Ivyfamily.
True or not, but there's a lotof people who would not run for

(45:04):
office in Prince George's Countybecause they just feel like
it's an uphill fine.
Uh you're not gonna win, Mr.
Ivy.
He's a congressman, uh his wifeis in the county council, he's
a county council president, he'ssomeone is a state delegate,
you know, those types of things,right?
And folks who are like, oh youknow what, I'm gonna save my

(45:28):
money, I'm gonna save my time,I'm gonna save the headache, I'm
not gonna do it.
Um it does create theimpression that regardless of
what you do, how much money youspend, somehow you just cannot
win.
Right.
Which you know makes peoplethink that the process is

(45:49):
rigged.
Right.
That no matter what you do, youjust cannot win.
You just cannot win.
Right, right.

Tamara Davis Brown (45:58):
Yeah, and you know, I've I guess I'm I'm
exhibit A.
I have run for state delegatein District 27.
That was the first time I ran.
Now I knew I was kind of likeyou, I knew initially that I
wouldn't rent wouldn't winagainst that political machine,

(46:21):
simply, and it was more so forme to get my name out there the
very first time.
And 27A, in case you didn'tknow, is uh used to be the state
legislative district of formerSenator Mike Miller, who pretty
much ran Prince George's Countypolitics.

(46:42):
And when I f I actually wantedto run for District 9 County
Council even back then, andpeople said, Well, you need to
go talk to Mike Miller.
So I went to go talk to him,and he didn't really give me any
advice.
I, you know, I I I left therekind of dumbfounded, like, why
did people tell me to go speakto him when one, he didn't give

(47:03):
me any advice, two, he didn'treally um you know, show an
interest in supporting me.
And so rather than running forstate, I mean for district nine
county council, I decided to runfor state delegate instead.
And I said, Well, this will bemy first run, let me just kind
of get my name out there.
And what did I do that for?

(47:25):
Lord, because that was hisdistrict and his delegate, and
and I came in a very respectablethird, because you have to
vote.
Um we had two delegates, sothere were two seats open, and
uh the delegate two delegateswere um former delegate James
Proctor, who's also um deceasednow, and delegate, um former

(47:48):
delegate Felario, who is uh riwell, he's n he's no longer a
delegate.
He decided not to run and quoteunquote retire, but he's still
practicing criminal defense lawand he owns real estate here in
Prince George's County and umcollects you know good rent from
um commercial rent, I shouldsay, and has a big cell tower on

(48:12):
his property, so he's makinggood money from T-Mobiles print,
whomever, with some of the celltowers uh on the commercial
real estate that he has.
But I almost knocked offValerio.
I came within less than fivepercent, and that was just my
very first first run.
And so, you know, they they putstraw people in the race, you

(48:36):
know, somebody who, you know, soyou know your your name appears
on the ballot alphabetically.
So they put somebody whose lastname was before Brown to take,
because generally voters whodon't know who to vote for, they
just check the first person'sname that comes out the box, and
that's five percent.

(48:57):
So if that person's name hadn'tbeen there statistically, I
could have probably beatenValerio that very first run.
That just made my name mud inthe in Mike Miller's eyes, and I
got redistrict the very firstopportunity that they could do
um could do redistrict, and Iwas gerrymandered out of the

(49:18):
district into district twentysix.
Then when I ran for when I didrun for um county council
district nine, I ran against theperson who actually resigned
from the at-large seat, Mr.
Franklin.
And yeah, that was that wasthat was quite interesting
because he came to me on his ownunsolicited.

(49:39):
I don't know who he talked to,but I do know that he talked to
some um colleagues of his andthey basically said, basically
advised him, you know, male,don't run against Tamara, y'all
need to agree not to run againsteach other.
And he came to me and said,Okay, well, let's agree not to
run against each other.
And I said, I agree, but I'mgonna run for District 9 County

(50:02):
Council in this next upcomingelection cycle, uh, because
it'll be an open seat, and thethe then councilperson,
councilwoman Bland, MarilynBland, was term limited.
And so, you know, that I hadplanned to run.
Well, he went basically behindmy back and you know kissed the

(50:25):
ring of Mike Miller and becametheir golden boy for the seat
and got the support of MikeMiller and Wayne Curry, who was
the um former county executiveand the first black county
executive of Prince George'sCounty.
And so his name got to be on,you know, all the the sample

(50:46):
ballots and all this otherstuff.
And so, you know, I've I'veseen the I've seen the underhand
and the dirty hand of ofpolitics and how it's used to
keep good people out.
And so I think that's anotherreason that people don't want to
run.
They they they really do feellike sometimes the elections are

(51:07):
rigged or fixed.
And I won't say that they'renecessarily rigged or fixed.
They they can be, but theycertainly are, they certainly
use tools to keep people out andto to keep people that don't
want certain things exposed,because I believe in a

(51:28):
government of transparency andaccountability and integrity.
And because I believe that Ispend a good portion of my free
time, which I could be doingsomething else, believe me,
trying to educate people on whatis actually happening and
what's going on, and to openyour eyes and say, look, folks,

(51:49):
pay attention to what's goingon.
You know, don't just drive upin your nice BMWs and Lexus's
and all this other stuff andpull in your driveway and close
the door and enjoy your fancymeals and you know, do all this
other stuff and not see what'shappening in this county and in
this nation and this state ofwhat's happening.

(52:11):
And you need you need goodpeople to advocate for you
because um, as you say, siempreeatem.
It's gonna always remain thesame.
And so it's it's always gonnaremain the same.
And so I think good peopledon't run for public office as

(52:32):
well.
It's because they don't want toeither they don't want to
challenge the status quo, theydon't want to put themselves out
there to risk establishing thestatus quo, or you know, they
just don't have um the fight inthem to do so.

(52:52):
Yeah.
And I and I have the fight.
I have the fight.
And I, you know, and I I'vebeen I've you know, I've been
pushed, pushed out I don't knowhow many times and kept kept
from running.
And I, you know, I the last youknow, couple of elections with
the exception of this specialelection, and I I'll kind of
talk about why I actually ran inthis well, I already said it,

(53:16):
just really to kind of keep myname out there and you know let
people know that I'm you knowactively and involved in and
trying to to get into office.
But you know, people have said,you know, uh Tamara, why don't
you just give up?
Why don't you stop stop trying?
And I just don't have that quitin me.
I never I never have you youtalked about a couple of titles

(53:38):
of your books, and I'm thinkingto myself, gosh, that is so me.
I am so persistent.
You know, I am so if I ifthere's something that I want to
accomplish, I pretty much stopat nothing to get it done.
And no has never meant no tome.
No has always been not thatit's not that time or not that

(54:02):
way.
So if I look at it as it's notthat time, you try again.
And if it's not that way, youtry a different way.
And so, you know, I think goodpeople don't run for public
office because, like we said,they don't have the time or the

(54:24):
money.
And then primarily they don'treally want to deal with the
politics of what public office.
But if we could remove thepolitics, it's some of the
politics that the way that wecan remove it, I think I
answered this question this way.
Some in our last, in our lavery last public forum at Reed

(54:46):
Temple AME Church, the questionwas, well, how do we know that
you won't, you know, we thoughtMr.
Franklin was uh up and up guy.
How do we know that you won'tbe, you know, be a person of
integrity?
And I answered, and and I thinkthat question also came up when

(55:06):
we were at the Muslim councilas well, Atlanta.
And I answered it in two ways.
First, I s I I talked about mygood name, and one of the
reasons why I used my maidenname, Davis, is because my
father uh was not blessed tohave sons to carry on the Davis
name, but I guarantee you therewasn't a day that that there

(55:28):
wasn't a day that went by in myhousehold growing up that my
father did not emphasize thefact that we were a Davis and it
meant A B C X Y Z, and you hadto uphold that name.
I don't I can't remember, youknow, there I there are two
things that I can't that that aday pass didn't pass by when my

(55:50):
father didn't say or dosomething.
I'm not gonna repeat what thesecond the second one was, but
the first one was was upholdingthe Davis name and how Davis's
react and how Davis's respondand how Davis is, you know, a
person of integrity, you gottauphold the Davis name, which is
why I was bold enough even inthe Muslim council, you know, to

(56:14):
say that I'm a woman ofChristian faith and this is what
we believe.
And I read two scriptures, onefrom Proverbs and one from
Ecclesiastes, about having agood name.
But I thought that was the wayto for me to answer that
question.
I probably not that I wasthinking that I was gonna gain
any votes from that, but I Ianswered the question earnestly.

(56:35):
The second um thing that I dobelieve that we need to have and
that it needs to be arequirement, is that we have to
take money out of politics.
So I am wholeheartedlysupportive of public financing
here in Prince George's Countyfor all elections, not just the
county council and the countyexecutive, which is what we do

(56:58):
have here in Prince George'sCounty, but it has to be
financed.
They they have to put it in thebudget to say we're gonna spend
X amount of dollars on ourlocal elections so that
candidates can select can uhelect to to um finance their
campaigns.
But I think we need to go astep further and require that
all the fine all campaigns befinanced publicly, that nobody

(57:22):
everybody has to meet thisrequirement.
You go out, you have to talk to500 and something can um people
and they have to believe in youand give $100, $150, or
whatever that threshold is underthe campaign finance laws.
And everybody has to umsubscribe to that.
And in that way that theplaying field will be level.

(57:43):
So we won't get like we had inthis special election where two
of the candidates sent out fourmailers each.
One candidate had um a TV ad.
I never saw it, but I you know,she said that she had a TV ad
was coming.
Oh yeah, I never saw, I neversaw the ad, but she and two and
those same two candidates alsohad um you know robocalls, had

(58:10):
people calling and you know,phone banking and this, that,
and the other.
And again, you know, prettymuch almost had a paid staff.
Now, I will say that the mayor,Bowie, you know, he is you
know, he's very successful, sohe has money to sp spend, if you
will.
Um, and so you know, he hit hisclaim, not claim to fame, but

(58:36):
his statement during all of thethe candidates' form is that,
you know, I'm not beholden toanyone.
I can it was almost like DavidTrown, you know, trade David
Trohn saying, I can beindependent because I'm not
bought out by special interests.
True, but maybe in order tohave a level playing field with
everybody, you still have toraise, you know, so much in

(58:58):
small dollar campaigns in orderto take advantage of public
financing, and then you can'traise anything above and beyond
that amount.
And then that would be a levelplaying field for everybody,
right?

Gabriel Njinimbot (59:10):
Yeah.
Well, you know, I I and I knowwhat I'm about to say is uh uh
at the federal level.
After Citizens United.

Tamara Davis Brown (59:20):
Oh yeah, Citizens United just really
messed us up, right?

Gabriel Njinimbot (59:25):
After Citizens United, you know, their
playing field will never beplaying.
It will never be level.
Yeah, you're right about that.
And you're gonna have folks whoalways have folks who are well
connected somehow tocorporations, which is what
Citizens United was all about,right?

(59:47):
Uh who will run for politicaloffice.
And you have folks already inthese offices who, if such a
bill was to come out on thetable.
It will it will be very, verydifficult to pass that bill.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:00:05):
Yeah, I I I don't disagree with you on that.
But we have to try.
We have to start somewhere.
Um and you know, I th just likeany other Supreme Court case
that is can be overturned, justlike Roe v.
Wade, Citizens United candefinitely be overturned as

(01:00:29):
well.
If it's the political will ofthe people.
Um and for those of you whodon't know, I you know got two
lawyers talking to each other,so I guess we should explain
that Citizens United was aSupreme Court decision that
allowed uh political PAC money,political action committees, um,
to one, not only donate tocampaigns, but to do so

(01:00:52):
anonymously, and there was nolimitation on the number of the
amount of money that could bedonated um to a PAC, and it has
become land, you know, the thelaw of the land because the
Supreme it was a Supreme Courtdecision, and that basically
changed the landscape in termsof having financing by you know

(01:01:15):
billionaires, jillionaires,whatever, to to donate to
campaigns anonymously andthrough PACs, and people will,
you know, will never never knowwho who those packs who are who
are the individuals in thosePACs.
And so I but you know, I I'mI'm hopeful enough to think that

(01:01:37):
just as other Supreme Courtdecisions like Roe v.
Wade have been overturned, theCensus United can be overturned
if if it's the will of thepeople, and it's gonna have to
be come from a groundswell offrom the grassroots up.
And you know, you know, youit's not gonna, you know, power

(01:01:59):
concedes nothing without ademand, right?
And so it's gonna have to be ademand at the you know, local
level all the way up to tooverturn something like that.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:02:13):
You know, one of the one of the ways we can
change laws, for example,Citizens United is by winning
elections.
And one of the ways of winning,we can win elections that favor
what we're fighting for ishaving an informed electorate,
right?
A lot of our electorates don'teven know what is Citizens

(01:02:36):
United and how Citizens Unitedactually works.
Because through with CitizensUnited, somebody could give you
five billion dollars and givethat through a super PAC and
fund whatever agenda they have,and nobody would ever find out

(01:02:57):
where this five billion dollarscame from.
And this has given room forentities to pour in a ton of
money into politics holding, youknow, making decisions that you
and I would have never thoughtwould ever happen.

(01:03:18):
For example, all the judges inthe Supreme Court, right, they
were able to turn, overturn Roeversus Wade.
And all of these was based upbased upon how much money was
poured into campaigns andthrough lobbies and special

(01:03:38):
interest groups and stuff likethat.
So if we were to have uhelectorates informed about
certain decisions, certainpolicies that is in place or can
be in place if they don't votefor candidates who are funded by
super PATs, it would make a lotof difference.

(01:03:58):
And I think that's theresponsibility that you and I
carry right now is to find waysand means to not just let them
know we're running for office,uh by also informing them about
things like Citizens United.
That if you were to if you wereto be in a candidate forum and
a question was asked, are any ofyou, I mean, I think this

(01:04:21):
question was asked actually inone of the one of the forums,
are you receiving money from anysuper PAC or yourself funding
your campaign?
Or is it a grassroots fund uhfunding uh your campaign?
A lot of the candidates said,well, we're funding this
ourselves, or we're raisingmoney from grassroots um uh
grassroots funding.
Um, but the candidates who arefunded by super PACs, the

(01:04:44):
candidates in Congress who arefunded by super PACs, and those
and most of these super PACshave foreign influence, have
foreign um some, even thoughit's against the law to have
contributions from foreigngovernment, but with Citizens
United, money can be funneledfunneled through several
different ways, which we willnever find out, into our

(01:05:06):
campaigns, which puts candidateslike you and I who do not have
or accept Super PAC money in aposition where we would never be
able to win elections if we'renot getting votes from
grassroots folks who uh are notinterested in supporting pack

(01:05:29):
candidates.
And through pack money, a lotof our candidates are recognized
by just by their names, and theordinary untutored eye or ear
in the county votes through namerecognition.
If they don't know who TamaraBrown Tamara Davis Brown is,
they're not gonna vote for youif they don't do some kind of

(01:05:50):
due diligence to find out whoTamara Davis Brown is.

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
Right.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:05:57):
So Yeah, so yeah, we have that, and then at
the local level here in PrinceGeorge's County, we have those
sample ballots that are paid forby the different campaign
committees.
Right.
Which is which is basically a asmaller version of a super PAC,
right?
It's your it's it's run by thesenators, the state senators,

(01:06:19):
and each candidate has to, youknow, pay into it so that they
can get their name on thissample ballot.
And unfortunately, the peoplein Prince George's County have
been so trained that they takethat ballot, that sample ballot
as gospel.
You know, they just like, okay,well, this is who they told me
to vote for, so I'm taking thisinto the to the um, and it

(01:06:40):
actually says, take this in,take this ballot, this sample
ballot, take this ballot into umthe uh with you on election
day.
Take it into your voting boothand check the people that we
tell you to check.
And it's it's it's a it's atravesty that people don't do
their due diligence, they don'tdo their homework to try to find

(01:07:01):
out who the candidates are, totry to at a minimum.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:07:06):
Part of the part of the reason uh why good
people don't run is the the theum the parties committee.
If the parties committee wereto pick and choose those who
they think is their candidate,then they're essentially telling
somebody who is not theircandidate, even though this

(01:07:27):
person might be an agent ofchange, not to run.
Because you are not recognized.
You're not recognized by thecampaign committee or the DNC,
then you are not a candidate.
You're not recognized, you'renot talked about in the media,

(01:07:48):
you're not talked about in thenews, or um, you know, your name
doesn't come up at all.
So why would I run?
Knowing that you're not you'renot recognized.
This is part of the reason.
And I think that you know wethe people, we the people own

(01:08:14):
the we the people own thegovernment.
It's not the government thatowns the people to decide who
should run and who should notrun.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:08:25):
That's right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:08:27):
You know, uh, because if if if we were to put
ways and means in which it'stransparent to the ordinary guy
on the street, like look, youguys get to pick and choose who
should run to represent yourcounty, your city council, your
state delegate, without us putgiving our input as to who we

(01:08:49):
think should be the one based onour own criteria, it would be
very different.
Otherwise, those power thoselevels that send out, oh, take
this with you to the votingbooth and pick and vote those
who we think should run, shouldrepresent you.
You know, that influence needsto be removed from politics.

(01:09:13):
Because that's how we get tomaintain the status quo, right?

Tamara Davis Brown (01:09:17):
That's how we get to uh to live to live out
our creed on our logo.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:09:23):
Correct.
We do the work, so essentiallythe parties are doing their due
diligence for the citizen.
So why should they do one?
So uh exactly.
This is this is part of thereasons why all this is
happening.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:09:42):
Yep.
Well, this has been quiteenlightening.
Um, it's been a goodconversation.
Uh, we might have to pick thisback up again.
We're already at the a littleover hour mark um with with with
a little bit of change left.
So um I certainly appreciateyour time, Gabriel, in joining

(01:10:07):
me for this episode of AllPolitics as Local.
I think we need to invite youback and we we talk a little bit
more about politics here inPrince George's County.
Um, but one last let one lastquestion and I'm gonna ask you,
and then I'm I'm I'll probablyanswer myself, and that is uh,
do you plan to run for officeagain in 2026?

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:10:32):
You know, um I ran two elections back to
back, the two-month break.
I cannot really tell you, youknow, say what's gonna happen
two years from now again.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
Right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:10:41):
Uh all I can tell you is that I'm gonna stay
active.
Right.
I will stay involved.
Right.
Because these issues that wetalk about every day is it's not
gonna all of a suddendisappear, right?

Tamara Davis Brown (01:10:54):
Exactly.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:10:55):
Um if we do care about the next generation,
because the the truth is, youand I at this age, doing this is
not for you and I.

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
Right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:11:04):
It is for the next generation.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:11:06):
Exactly, right.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:11:06):
Um because somebody's gotta do it.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:11:10):
Exactly.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:11:10):
If we do not do it, this status quo will be a
siempre Edom.
It will always be the same.
So I will be very active.
I'm not gonna go away.
I will be involved, I wouldstand for rent stabilization, I
would fight for those middleclass and below middle class

(01:11:31):
folks who, like I said before,Mario Cuomo describes them
describes them as those who arenot so rich to be worry-free,
but not so poor to be onwelfare.
Right.
I will be out here for the forthem and see what is in stock in
the next two years.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:11:45):
Right, right.
Okay.
Um, that's fair enough, and Ithink I will agree with you, and
I'll I'll say ditto.
Um people who have beenfollowing me know that I always
remain active and involved, andI stay active and involved, and
I try to make sure that Ieducate you and keep you
informed on what's going on atthe county council level, at the

(01:12:05):
state level, and sometimes atthe federal level, and I tr try
to break those things down toyou in layman's terms so that
you can understand and have agreater understanding of what's
happening in our localgovernment because an uninformed
electorate and an uneducatedelectorate is one that will

(01:12:27):
allow the status quo to continueto stay the same.
So, with that, um well, I lookforward to staying engaged with
you on a number of issues, andwe should definitely keep our
dialogue open.
Thank you for joining me forthis episode of Why Good
Candidates Don't Run for PublicOffice on All Politics is local

(01:12:48):
with me, your host, Tamara DavisBrown.

Gabriel Njinimbot (01:12:51):
Thank you, Tamara.
It was such a pleasure to be onthe show, and I look forward to
coming back.

Tamara Davis Brown (01:13:02):
Thanks for joining me today on this episode
of All Politics is local, theMaryland edition, where we hope
to inspire and activate a newgeneration of informed voters to
move beyond the ballot box andtake action.
Remember, all politics islocal.