Readers of Rockville Central know one of our favorite sources of local political information is Maryland Politics Watch. Founded in July 2006 by David Lublin, MPW rose to great prominence in the last two years due in no small part to Lublin’s co-conspirator Adam Pagnucco. Adam’s tireless reporting, research, and writing catapulted MPW to the status of “institution” while many other local blogs (and local newspapers) could only look on with admiration.

This morning, Adam (whom we count as a friend) has announced he will no longer be writing original material for MPW — he’s got a job, a family, and the blog, and something’s gotta give. Here’s how he puts it:

Every spare minute that I can find goes to my second endeavor, which is writing Maryland Politics Watch on an unpaid basis. I owe a great debt to everyone that has aided me in this, especially my precious spies. Even though I write the blog at night and on weekends and program the content for daily viewing, it requires almost as many hours as my job. If that were not the case, then the quality of the work here would not be high enough to create and sustain the audience that this blog has. . . . So long as I have both a very demanding job and a very demanding blog, I cannot be the husband and father that my family deserves. So I have to choose. And right now, I am choosing the job that puts food on my son’s table. That, of course, is not the blog. . . .

I can’t say whether I will ever write again about state and local politics or policy. If I do, it will have to be in a way that is compatible with the economic and personal well-being of my family. No matter how hard I have tried, I cannot make it work under the current circumstances. I may occasionally put up guest blogs, press releases, event announcements, endorsements, videos, photos, literature and the like.

(As a side note, I believe this is the first guest post Adam wrote for MPW, in October 2007.)

We hope that Adam will once in a while consider writing again. His insight into local politics is important.

Adam’s got an open invitation to send us contributor opinions here at Rockville Central! Do you hear that, Adam?

Maryland Politics Watch has been performing an important service for Rockville residents, especially, since Adam has been closely covering the District 17 state senate race between Sen. Jennie Forehand and former state Del. Cheryl Kagan. We will do what we can to help fill the gap.

For now, though, farewell to a friend — and best wishes.

To view the article from its source, click here.