Recent events indicate that former Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo is considering a run for County Council against District 3 Council Member Phil Andrews. Giammo is denying it, but there are reasons to believe the rumors have some credibility.
Larry Giammo served three terms as Mayor of Rockville from 2001 through 2007. His tenure is best known for the creation of the new Rockville Town Center and the adoption of a tough Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance intended to slow growth. Giammo, along with Kensington Mayor Pete Fosselman, was one of the few politicians in Montgomery County to endorse Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley over County Executive Doug Duncan in the 2006 Gubernatorial Primary.
One of my sources describes Giammo’s last term (2005-2007) in this way:
His third and final term was marred by interpersonal problems. He decided to run for re-election because Town Square was not yet complete, but it seemed his heart was not in the job. He was absent from council meetings, and did not restrain his temper with certain council members – this was remarked upon and it got in the way of his effectiveness.
It seemed clear during that last term that he did not enjoy being an elected official very much. The open question is whether that was a blip, or whether that was the true colors emerging.
Giammo entered the private sector after he left office. But in the last two months, he has resumed his political visibility. Our sources report that he began attending public meetings again, including those related to the controversial Bealls Grant II affordable housing project. On October 14, Giammo updated his personal website which now reads much like a campaign site. On December 2, Giammo authored a guest blog on Bealls Grant II, his first ever on Rockville Central, which drew an immediate response from current Mayor Susan Hoffmann.
But none of this compares to Giammo’s stinging letter to the Gazette opposing County Council Member Phil Andrews’ plan to replace Ike Leggett’s proposed ambulance fee with speed camera revenues. In the letter, Giammo says, “Andrews’ proposal does not appear to conform to state law. It’s time for Andrews and his colleagues to get serious about focusing on finding truly meaningful ways to address the county’s pending budget crisis.” This letter produced immediate emails flying around the county’s political class.
There is now considerable speculation that Giammo would like to return to public life, although not to the Rockville City government. One informant reports that Giammo briefly considered running for County Executive in 2006, but was deterred by the presence of both Steve Silverman and Ike Leggett in the race. Another source says, “Giammo doesn’t like Phil. That’s not news.” Does all of this information point to a run against Andrews for County Council?
There is no question that the county’s public employee unions detest Phil Andrews. Indeed, some of their comments about him are literally unprintable. He has gone from being the champion of the county’s living wage law in 2002 to the loudest critic of the public unions’ contracts, which he repeatedly labels as “unsustainable.” “He used to be with us, but something changed,” says one source close to the labor movement. “I don’t know what happened, but now he’s against us on everything.” Andrews’ most recent opposition to labor’s priorities includes his advocacy for a two-point cost of living reduction in public union contracts last spring and his vote against the county’s new prevailing wage law. There is no question that if labor found a credible opponent, they would do everything in their power to remove Phil Andrews.
Could Giammo be such an opponent? One of our informants says, “He has strong name ID and support in the city, but it’s unclear how far that goes beyond. He is not a natural politician, so some of the networking and collaboration does not seem to come second-nature. So it is not clear what lasting alliances he has made on the county level.” Another spy says, “We’ll have to keep an eye out. But he should be warned: nobody is a more aggressive door-knocker than Phil.”
The business community will also be a factor. Andrews, a longtime ICC opponent, claimed in 2006 that he was “the number one target of development interests in this year’s election.” Andrews refuses all developer and PAC contributions, making him one of the more underfunded County Council candidates. But some in the business community appreciate Andrews’ fiscal conservatism and may not see the growth-restricting Giammo as any better on development.
Andrews holds three advantages over Giammo: a three-term incumbency, the visibility coming from his upcoming term as County Council President and the fact that the City of Rockville only accounts for part of District 3. For his part, Giammo told me, “I have no plans to run for anything.” My spies label this a non-denial denial and point out that two years is a long time in politics. One thing is sure: if Larry Giammo does run against Phil Andrews, it will be one hell of a race.
Update: A couple of my sources say that Giammo is more likely to run for County Executive than County Council. That scenario will probably materialize only if Ike Leggett appears vulnerable in 2010. And if Leggett is vulnerable, others will run against him (like Mike Knapp).
Update 2: Another one of our omni-present spies reports the following:
Larry is an interesting animal who does not fit the mold for the normal paths into partisan county office. He is a bit mavericky.
As a municipal official, Larry was very active on state legislative issues, so I would not be surprised if his true aim were a seat in the statehouse. Notice that he mentioned Phil’s proposal was against STATE law. Jennie Forehand’s seat?
One of Larry’s challenges is that he is not affiliated with a political party. His mom is a Republican and he flirted with Ehrlich at one point (before flirting with O’Malley). His voting record shows that he voted in primaries up through 2002, so it would be interesting to find out whether he was a registered Republican before then.
Maybe he will skip the 2010 primary and run as an Independent in the general election?
Update 3: Here are two more tidbits. First, we hear that Giammo changed his registration from Republican to unaffiliated in March 2000. Everyone I talk to believes that Giammo must register as a Democrat to be competitive for any county or state office. Second, Giammo has only made one political contribution: a $500 donation to future County Council Member Valerie Ervin on 7/25/06. Ms. Ervin is a long-time labor movement veteran and a close ally of the county’s unions. Why would a sitting Rockville Mayor contribute to a District Council Member candidate from Silver Spring?
Update 4: This exchange with Rockville Mayor Susan Hoffmann is only furthering the speculation.