By Adam Pagnucco.
In evaluating the flaming hell-pit otherwise known as the Montgomery County Planning Board, let’s start with this central truth.
It’s not about liquor. It was never about liquor.
It’s about control over Park and Planning.
Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson is a historic figure. Two years ago, my sources voted for him as the most influential non-elected person in Montgomery County. They called him “an innovative visionary” and “perhaps the only official (elected or otherwise) who has a vision for where he wants the county to go.” Anderson’s planning legacy, especially with regards to Thrive 2050 and Downtown Bethesda, will shape the county for decades. But like most consequential figures, Anderson has enemies and he made a crucial mistake. He gave them a weapon – in the form of his now-infamous liquor cabinet – that they used to try to take him out.
The mode of attack was the leak of confidential information to the press. The first strike involved an inspector general report on Anderson’s habit of keeping liquor in his office and drinking after hours. The second strike occurred last Thursday, when WJLA-TV reporter Kevin Lewis unveiled an email written by fellow Planning Board Member Partap Verma alleging various verbal indiscretions that Anderson denies. In neither case was the leaker’s identity revealed.
Let’s understand the nature of these leaks. They are serious violations of Park and Planning’s internal policies for dealing with employee discipline. Anderson and his accuser(s) are entitled to an impartial, fair and confidential procedure that weighs the testimony of multiple witnesses and evaluates evidence before reaching a conclusion. Instead, Anderson has been tried and convicted in the press – exactly as his enemies intended.
It did not stop with Anderson. Next up was retiring planning director Gwen Wright, who defended Anderson on WJLA and was fired by the rest of the planning board on Friday. (Anderson was not present at the vote.) Here is what Wright told WJLA.
Gwen Wright is the director of the Montgomery Planning Department and oversees a staff of nearly 150. She supports Anderson and said many of her employees do too.
“There may be people who have concerns with Casey, but they are not my employees,” Wright told 7News during a Zoom call Thursday. “I have not asked him directly, ‘do you deny these quotes?’ You know, I think that’s something he’ll have to address on his own.”
The Washington Post added: “On Sept. 30, Wright sent an email, undersigned by several planning department employees, to the Montgomery County Council expressing her support for Anderson after allegations had been raised against him.”
If there were any other grounds for firing, they have not been publicly revealed. And true to form, multiple anonymous sources commented to Bethesda Beat about the closed session held on Wright that was supposed to be cloaked in confidentiality.
Wright’s removal was a dire escalation. Prior to her termination, there was room for the warring planning board members to cease fire and let internal processes in the merit system and the inspector general’s office proceed. But now the Rubicon has been crossed and it’s probably impossible to restore the world that existed four days ago. In the aftermath of Wright’s termination, every senior figure in the agency must be wondering if their heads will be next to go on the block. And that was likely the point of it.
To get a sense of how bad things are now at Park and Planning, let’s reprint this incredible Bethesda Beat quote from deputy parks director Miti Figueredo.
Gwen Wright is one of the most universally respected public servants in the entire DC region, and won an award just last week for her long and distinguished career in planning… But less than 24 hours after she spoke the truth and said the allegations against Casey were false, she’s fired. It’s been clear for a while that Commissioners Verma and [Carol] Rubin have been trying to push Casey out, but this is absolutely shocking and it sends a message to the rest of us that we will face retaliation for speaking out about what’s happening.
Let’s bear in mind that Miti is a parks manager. We expect parks managers to say things like, “After it rains, let muddy trails dry out before going for a hike,” not “Planning board commissioners are nuking my agency.” If someone like Miti is saying this in public, what is being said around the water coolers inside Park and Planning?
The county council’s initial response to the agency’s problems, which docked Anderson a month’s pay and assessed minor punishments to Verma and Planning Board Member Carol Rubin, has proven woefully inadequate. That’s because it did not address the issue at hand. The real issue is not liquor or colorful language – it’s the evolving culture arising around the planning board of political assassination, backstabbing, leaks and purges that is more typical of Stalinist regimes than Montgomery County government agencies. Left unchecked, this culture will eventually destroy the organization.
Let’s step back and consider what is at stake. Park and Planning is an extremely important institution. It administers our excellent park system. It drafts land use plans. It reviews and approves development projects. It’s a major player on transportation, economic development and environmental issues. It has a police force. It provides data and recommendations on the current state of the county and its prospects for the future. The well-being of the county demands that this agency function at a high level – and it usually does. At its best, Park and Planning has provided a model for the rest of the nation, governed by titans of Montgomery County history like E. Brooke Lee, Royce Hanson and Norman Christeller.
Those titans are long gone. In their place, there is disorder, disgrace and disaster.
The county council members, who are ultimately responsible for Park and Planning, must now save the agency from destruction. Their leverage comes from Md. LAND USE Code Ann. § 15-105, which states, “The Montgomery County Council may remove any commissioner appointed from Montgomery County before the expiration of the commissioner’s term.” It further requires that the cause of removal be stated in writing and that a public hearing be held.
Anderson is term-limited as of next summer so he is on the way out even with no action from the council. The question is how to deal with the other planning board members. The preferred option is for the council to negotiate their quiet exits in return for no more leaks, no more public executions and no more headaches of any kind. That’s a far better option than public removal hearings, which could easily become circuses that would stagger P.T. Barnum. The council doesn’t want hearings. Neither do the planning board members for fear that they would permanently damage their reputations. But either way, these individuals have brought enormous disrepute to Park and Planning and for the good of the agency, THEY MUST GO.
Just as critically, the council must learn from this experience when appointing future board members. There must be no drama queens. No cronies. No aspiring politicians. No unqualified people who might “learn the ropes” with time. No blank slates who meet the lowest common denominator of acceptability. No nominees who are good for nothing other than the stroking of interest groups. Planning board appointments are not advisory committee slots. They MATTER. A LOT.
Instead, the council should appoint responsible professionals with relevant experience, records of accomplishment, restrained egos and – this is really important – the demonstrated ability to work productively with others as part of a team.
Above all, the council must step up, take charge and fix the mess. Or they and the rest of us will watch Park and Planning sink into oblivion.