By Adam Pagnucco.
The next year and a half will be a difficult time for the Montgomery County Council. While its heaviest lifts will be the next two budgets, the Attainable Housing proposal and any problems created by the new presidential administration, there will be many other issues as well. They will be taken up during a county executive race in which my sources believe no fewer than five council members (almost half of them!) will consider entry. Given all of that, the folks at 100 Maryland Avenue will have to work hard to earn their paychecks.
The council members can make their travails easier or harder. That question is directly relevant to their upcoming election of officers.
Under the council rules of procedure, the council elects a president and a vice-president at its first meeting in December. (The next one is tomorrow.) The vice-president typically goes on to become president in the following year provided that the vice-president can hold onto his or her votes. That expectation makes the jockeying to become vice-president intense, often transactional and even personal. In the past, council factions arose and were enforced through their election of officers.
While council presidents do not wield as much authority as presiding officers in Annapolis, they do have some powers. The most important of them is setting full council agendas. They decide what bills get votes and when. They schedule other items such as master plan votes, briefings and budget sessions. These decisions are not absolute, as they can be overturned by majority votes by the council, but such events are rare. Council presidents also represent the body in public, appear before the media and act as point people on the budget. That latter role will matter a lot as the current county executive is telegraphing his intention to send over a tax hike in the spring.
A capable council president who looks out for the good of the body can make the council’s work smoother and more predictable. But an incompetent or self-interested president can make the council building a hellish place to navigate. That brings us to the present day.
The likely incoming council president and possibly the incoming council vice-president are regarded by my sources as viable contenders for county executive. I won’t name them. I don’t have to. This discussion does not depend on specific individuals. Rather, this is about the welfare of the council as an institution. That’s important for the proper administration of government. It’s a matter of public interest and it should be of interest to the council members as well.
A council president running for executive could conceivably steer the work of the body to support his or her run for office. The council agenda alone would be a powerful tool for self-promotion by spotlighting the president’s bills and other initiatives, throttling those of rivals or both. The president’s key role in the budget process could also be abused. Even the president’s ceremonial role could be employed strategically. Would such a president invite rivals to appear alongside them at public events with advocates applauding and the press scribbling notes? And all of this says nothing about what the president would say at the regular Monday media briefings.
Of course, the victims of such conduct will not just sit there and take it. They will retaliate. And since individual council members have powers of their own – multiplied when working with allies – they can cause some damage too. The resulting warfare could easily tar the entire body. What will the public think as the council descends into food-fighting while most council members get ready to face the electorate?
This guy would enjoy a food fight.
It’s not unprecedented for council presidents to run for executive. Roger Berliner declared his executive candidacy while president in 2017. Tom Hucker formed an exploratory committee for executive while he was president in 2021. I bet neither event pleased the other council members running for executive at the time (Marc Elrich and George Leventhal in 2017 and Hans Riemer in 2021.) There were only muted objections when Berliner did it as he was a long-time veteran who had already served capably as president once before. But some council members expected Hucker to postpone any interest in a higher office while he was president – and they were disappointed when he did not.
Battered by Trump, budget problems, housing debates and an inevitable executive race involving some of their own, the council is bound to struggle for the next year and a half no matter what else happens. But if the council allows its elected officers to run for executive while also running the council, those struggles will metastasize – possibly out of control. Having worked at the council a decade ago, I can’t imagine why the council members would want to do that to themselves.
Council members, elect who you want to preside over your body. But for your own good, you should place some restrictions on your leaders with regards to their entry into the executive race. If you don’t, the headaches caused by the Trump administration will seem small in comparison to those you create for yourselves.