A Changing Dynamic

Ike Leggett charged to a strong victory in the Democratic County Executive race this year. And, he will be the winner in November. Once in office he will face a different set of challenges dealing with fellow elected officials than Doug Duncan did when he was elected for the first time in 1994.

The election in 1994 returned a veteran County Council to work with the new executive who ran as an outsider. Duncan had been Mayor of Rockville and defeated a seating Councilmember for the seat. However, the council had eight returning members. The lone new member was Neal Potter, the outgoing County Exec and a former Councilmember.

On the other hand, the Montgomery delegation in Annapolis was very new. Of the six resident State Senators elected in 1994, only one was an incumbent. At the time, our seventh Senator represented a shared district with Howard County and actually lived in Howard. The only returning Senator was District 20's Ida Ruben. That was also the year that Larry Levitan, the Chair of the Budget & Taxation Committee, was defeated by Jean Roesser, a big loss for the delegation. Ten of the 22 Delegates were also new that year.

Jump forward to 2006 and Leggett will face the complete opposite. While there will be three new Senators (including myself hopefully), the senior Senators, except Ida Ruben, should be returning including one chair and one vice-chair. The House delegation should also have many returning members including one chair, one vice-chair, and the majority leader. Ike will have a veteran team to work with in Annapolis. However, the Council will have several new faces. While you might disagree with any or all of them, Steve Silverman, Mike Subin, and Tom Perez were all active members. Their departure will create a new dynamic on the Council.

From the beginning, Duncan worked actively in Annapolis and provided leadership for the delegation. Duncan's election also coincided with the elections of other activist executives in Prince George's (Wayne Curry) and Baltimore County (Dutch Ruppersberger). Together with Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, these chief executives with their almost daily presence in Annapolis changed the way each of the big four delegations functioned.

With a newer Council and veteran Annapolis delegation, Leggett may need to focus his attentions more in Rockville than in Annapolis.