By Adam Pagnucco.
After reading about County Executive Marc Elrich’s latest altercation with the county council in MoCo360, I return to an age-old question:
Why can’t Elrich just shut up?
First, some background. In holding its straw vote on the operating budget, the council added $29.6 million to Elrich’s recommended MCPS budget. That didn’t stop Elrich from criticizing the council over a variety of things, including its lack of transparency in its budgetary decision making. (Folks, the executive branch has never had ANY transparency in formulating its recommended budgets.) In a MoCo360 interview, Elrich doubled down on his criticism, questioning why the council did not employ a budget gimmick to steer money towards MCPS that he did not bother to propose in his budget. Council President Friedson replied, “It’s hard to take seriously criticism about underfunding education from a county executive who recommended a budget that funded education dramatically less than what the council supported and ultimately has recommended and is poised to approve.” Elrich then tried to get the last word in a media briefing.
Set aside the budget technicalities. Why on Earth is Elrich doing this?
Let’s start with the fact that Elrich began his criticism of the council by acknowledging that its budget funded 99.5% of his proposed budget. Elrich was in China when he wrote that statement. Perhaps he should have asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether his politburo gives him 99.5% of what he wants. That’s a pretty high success rate in Chinese government or MoCo government alike.
Elrich got a win. Why isn’t he acting like a winner?
This is part of a longtime pattern with Elrich, who regularly makes statements that he should not make in public. Consider the time that Elrich joked that the council is “fact proof” on COVID policies. Or the time when Elrich publicly feuded with the president of the fire fighters union over a doomed fire chief nomination he should have never made. Or the time that he blasted the General Assembly over political contributions while he was asking them to give him more taxing authority. (That last one cost him a top policy priority that he has been seeking for years.) We could even go back to 2016, when he scolded angry voters after voting for a big property tax hike: “There are no civilizations in history that are remembered for their tax rates, none.”
Elrich gleefully insults the council in 2020.
Elrich’s critics depict him as some kind of anti-development cartoon character. That’s wrong. Elrich is actually a smart and interesting fellow who thinks for himself. I enjoyed his time on the county council, when – right or wrong – Elrich never followed the herd. But he would rather be right than win, and that flaw prevents him from being an effective elected official.
One of my sources advised Elrich to remember Aaron Burr’s famous quote in Hamilton: “Talk less, smile more.” Another source compared Elrich unfavorably to his predecessor, the famously restrained and canny Ike Leggett, commenting on the former: “He has never embraced or understood that his role as county executive should be focused on bringing people together.” Leggett never forgot that part of his job and is well remembered as a steady, sober leader in tough times.
Before spraying buckshot at random again, Elrich should muzzle himself for two reasons.
First, it handicaps the effectiveness of his staff. They have to do business with the council, the unions and Annapolis on a daily basis. How are they supposed to carry his baggage and deliver his priorities? (Quick question: when is the last time you saw Rich Madaleno, Ken Hartman, Melanie Wenger or Earl Stoddard argue with the council in the press?)
Second, it looks like the term limits movement may be for real. If it succeeds, Elrich’s tenure on the second floor will be summarily decapitated. It’s much more in Elrich’s interest to project the image that he knows how to run a government rather than bicker with the council over budget gimmicks that few outside the county offices understand. That’s especially true now that MCPS is considering layoffs, a problem that Elrich did not create but nevertheless has to deal with.
Talk less, smile more. I bet even Xi Jinping knows how to do that!