By Adam Pagnucco.
Part One explained how this survey was conducted. Parts Two, Three, Four, Five and Six listed elected officials. Parts Seven, Eight and Nine listed influential non-elected people. Let’s continue with them today.
All comments are from my sources except for those specifically made by me.
7 (tie). Parks Director Miti Figueredo (13 votes)
A smart and dynamic leader who has survived adversity and continues to thrive as Parks Director. Could do any job in county government.
Former chief at council, former chief at planning board, now head of parks. Well connected and smart.
Parks Czar. Controls 11% of the county’s land and counting.
Her job’s important, her role as a survivor of the planning board putsch and a bridge between two planning board regimes makes her more powerful and consequential. In some ways, the epitome of an inside player.
Director of Parks, well liked and respected by most. Gets things done.
I expect in the background but still very powerful.
A long and well-connected career in and around Montgomery County politics has culminated in her appointment as Director of Montgomery Parks. Parks might be the only agency in Montgomery County that works right now: constantly updating its facilities, introducing new features like a mountain bike park at Wheaton Regional Park, and providing excellent customer service with a small budget and minimal controversy. It turns out that when you’re nice to people and make friends, you can actually get things done.
Is doing an amazing job running Parks — and works hard to get what they need.
Pagnucco: Let’s count the roles Miti has had in this county: Van Hollen staffer, chief of staff at the county council, east county regional director, PR for the Chevy Chase Land Company and the Purple Line, chief of staff at Park and Planning and now parks director. I can’t think of anyone else in the MoCo political world with this breadth of experience in both government and the private sector. If you have a problem, Miti will fix it.
7 (tie). Governor Moore’s Chief Legislative Officer Eric Luedtke (13 votes)
Chief legislative officer to the governor. Enough said.
While not even the most influential person in his own house, gets the governor what he wants in Annapolis. If the Moore family starts vacationing in Des Moines, Concord, Las Vegas, and Charleston and inspecting ballrooms that happen to be full of billionaires in New York City, Luedtke will have an outsized influence over Moore’s legislative agenda.
As Wes Moore’s political muscle, he carries a great deal of weight.
Pagnucco: A former House Majority Leader with roots in the teachers union who now sits at the right hand of the governor. My sources were right to note him but he should be ranked higher.
6. MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor (14 votes)
He just got here, but whoever is in the role of MCPS superintendent automatically gets a spot on the most influential list.
We are in a transition moment but hard to imagine the Superintendent won’t be influential in education first Montgomery County.
Welcome to the party, pal!
Maybe it’s a bit too early to call the new MCPS Chief “most influential” but his position assures it.
I’m impressed by what I’ve seen so far, but this is purely because of his role.
Pagnucco: Taylor ranks this low only because he is new. The next time I run this survey, he should rank in the top three. And if he turns out to be a great superintendent, he will rank number one just as Jerry Weast did back in 2009.
5. MCGEO President Gino Renne (16 votes)
More influential in many aspects of Montgomery County government than any single elected official, including the County Executive. I don’t mean this in a good way.
Running MCGEO isn’t for the faint of heart.
Can not underestimate how much power organized labor has in MoCo.
Still a powerful political force.
In a “tight budget year” MCGEO contracts passed the council unanimously.
Pagnucco: I had more fun writing this column about Gino than almost any other column I have ever written. When he finally retires, the next MCGEO president will have VERY LARGE shoes to fill.
We will finish with the Final Four next!