By Adam Pagnucco.
Senator Ben Kramer (D-19), sponsor of two bills potentially expanding the county executive’s authority over Park and Planning’s functions, attended a meeting of the county council to discuss his legislation. The result was a ferocious explosion against critics of his bills seldom seen on the council floor.
First, a note on Senator Kramer. He comes from a legendary family in county politics. He is a strong leader in his district and has done much good, including his work on behalf of seniors, animal welfare and victims of antisemitism. He has been a key player in strengthening the county’s inspector general. And he deserves immense respect for his passage of Noah’s Law, which cracked down on drunk drivers and protects every person in this county every day.
That said, I have rarely seen an elected official behave the way he did today in public.
In a bellowing eruption that repeatedly scorched the hearing room and visibly stunned the council members, Kramer held nothing back in making the case for his bills. One of them would establish a task force to explore transferring Park and Planning’s functions to the county executive. The other would give the executive more authority over the agency in the event of the first bill’s failure. The bills are reminiscent of the approach taken by his father, former County Executive Sidney Kramer, who briefly exercised limited control over planning in the late 1980s. The bills have been opposed by the current acting planning board chair and three former planning board members. County Executive Marc Elrich has called criticism of the bills “totally dishonest.”
Council Member Natali Fani-Gonzalez, a former member of the planning board, defended Park and Planning as a “unique, bi-county institution to be proud of.” She said that legislation targeting the agency “pains me deeply” and praised the heroic efforts of its staff to work through the self-annihilation of its former board. Looking directly at Kramer, she said, “We here in Montgomery County deserve way better than this.” That was just the beginning as she executed a takedown of his legislation more akin to a pro wrestling suplex than anything seen in a hearing room.
And then she threw in this.
In 2014, when I came up to the now-County Executive Marc Elrich, he was a county council member back then, and I told him that I wanted to apply for the park and planning commission, he told me straight to my face: no, you don’t have the qualifications. I had to get coalitions to target him to support me. If it had been up to him, no Latinos would have been on the park and planning commission yet. I’m the only one so far, the first millennial there.
Who wants to mess with Natali Fani-Gonzalez?
After concurring comments by Council Members Marilyn Balcombe, Gabe Albornoz, Laurie-Anne Sayles and Evan Glass, it was time for Kramer to return fire. And boy did he ever. He denounced “misrepresentations and hyperbole” afflicting what he characterized as a “common sense initiative” for reform. He referred to his lauded legislation to establish an inspector general at Park and Planning and said his bills were in the best interest of county residents. He quoted definitions from Merriam Webster of “feasibility” and “recommendations.” (Perhaps the council would like to thank him for bringing the existence of dictionaries to their attention.) Hearing him speak, I do not doubt that his beliefs are sincere.
But it was not so much what he said as how he said it: blustering, blasting and blistering, a torrid tirade unleashed to burn to the ground any sorry object caught in its path, including county council members. Fingers stabbing the table and the air, head cocked to spot dissent and eyes trained at the panel like artillery spotters, he referred to himself in third person. He interrupted and argued with council members, something that he would probably not tolerate if he were seated on the dais (and as a senator, he often is). No microphone was needed; his thundering voice could have been heard in Philadelphia.
Senator Ben Kramer, ably representing Mordor at the county council.
When Council President Evan Glass tried to clamp a lid on Kramer’s boiling pot, the senator yelled, “Mr. President, I didn’t come here today to be shut down.” Glass coolly replied, “You have not been shut down sir, you have been speaking for nearly fifteen minutes. That is not being shut down. I looked it up in Merriam Webster.”
There is more but there is only so much heat this laptop can bear before it melts down.
Here is the irony: while some may disagree with Kramer’s bills, no one is actually arguing that everything is right with Park and Planning. Several council members, including Glass, Will Jawando and Sidney Katz, said they supported looking at improvements to the agency. After all, much has changed in a hundred years. But Kramer’s performance was so off-putting to the council that they could not accept his bills as a vehicle for reform. Ten of the eleven council members voted to oppose his legislation with only Sayles declining to join in. The issue now moves to the county’s state legislators for their consideration.
Hopefully Senator Kramer will not treat them the same way as he did the council members, none of whom will ever forget this encounter.