By Adam Pagnucco.
Presidential election years are normally sleepy ones in state and local politics. Sure, the identity of the president and control of Congress matter to Maryland and especially MoCo, where many federal agencies, employees and contractors are located. But most state and local officials are elected in mid-term years, not presidential years, so major changes typically occur two years after presidents are elected.
Not this time.
The 2024 general election produced many consequences aside from the seismic return of Donald Trump. Those consequences conspire to produce a gathering political storm, which will only reveal its true force come spring. Still, dark clouds align as the sky grows heavy with wrath.
Consider.
The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), long aggrieved by MCPS leadership, has single-handedly engineered the defeat of three school board incumbents and has placed its endorsees on the dais. Eyeing the newcomers warily are the other incumbents, who have no doubt noticed the apex performance of the Apple Ballot. MCEA’s message to all of them is not a subtle one: we can put you in and we can take you out.
What does MCEA want? President David Stein, as direct as only a math teacher can be, gave the board a long list anchored by this: “And then you need to act because listening is not enough. And work with us to develop solutions even when those solutions are hard and expensive.” Translation: take us seriously and let money be no object.
Under Maryland’s divided system of local government, school boards can request as much money as they want from counties without having to worry about how it will be financed. What incentive do these school board members have to be fiscal conservatives, especially with a vigilant Apple Ballot dangling above their necks? Then there is Thomas Taylor, the fresh-faced new superintendent who would like to play nice with everyone. With MCEA in its current mood, there will be no triangulating between the union and the council. Taylor would be wise to learn the lesson of former MCPS overlord Jerry Weast: a unified MCPS community, wielded fearlessly, can be used to bludgeon politicians into submission.
Now we come to County Executive Marc Elrich, who has been plucked from the second floor by term limits-loving voters and hurled kicking and screaming to the street. One might believe that Elrich would be chastened by his overwhelming defeat at the hands of his enemies in the GOP and developer conference rooms. But that is not his way. Elrich seems invigorated by his freedom. He no longer has to worry about the next executive race. He has no incentive to care what the county council thinks (as if he ever did). Elrich can be Elrich – the roaring Democratic Socialist for whom tax increases are the answer to every problem. Why not propose the mother of all tax hikes to fund what is likely to be a hefty budget increase requested by the Apple-dominated school board? And why not cater to the teachers, who could place him once again on the county council – a perch from which he can torment his successor?
Finally, we come to the council, where several members are plotting their ascendance to the executive’s suite. Some will no doubt compete for the delicious taste of the Apple. Others, sure of deprivation from its tart juices, will cast about for alternative routes to the big chair. The combatants are surely staking out their respective high grounds in the field of battle.
Such considerations are not limited to the county executive candidates since all the other council members (except for term-limited Sidney Katz) are eligible to run for reelection. Witness now this X post by District 7 Council Member Dawn Luedtke, whose Upcounty seat does not depend on progressive stamps of approval.
And so, after a year in which national voters veered to the right, Montgomery County could tack sharply to the left. With the county’s political landscape looking like an orchard of Apples, a vengeful lame duck county executive tossing out tax hikes like bowling balls and a gaggle of ambitious politicians looking to move up, who knows where things will wind up by the summer solstice? Waiting in the wings is a cabal of Republicans and real estate interests coming off a charter amendment win and already making calculations on their next move.
Beware, residents of Montgomery County, and seek shelter from the gathering storm.