By Adam Pagnucco.
On Tuesday, Council Member Will Jawando provoked an intense confrontation at the county council over his bill prohibiting law enforcement officers from wearing masks. (The bill, named the Unmask ICE Act, is targeted at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.) A majority of the council was appalled by Jawando’s tactics and voted against his motion to speed consideration of his bill. They should not be surprised. The real question is whether they will do anything about it.
Jawando’s Unmask ICE Act is part of a broader effort by Democratic elected officials in Maryland and elsewhere to put guardrails on ICE’s activities. A similar bill has passed the Maryland Senate and awaits action in the House of Delegates at this writing. Given the antipathy of Democratic politicians and Democratic voters against ICE, some version of this seems likely to pass (even though there are questions about whether state and local governments can regulate federal agency conduct). There are primarily two questions at hand.
1. Will the state pass legislation or will the county do it? It’s conceivable that both could pass, but a complicating factor would be if the state bill explicitly preempts local legislation. In that case, local bills would be moot.
2. When would legislation pass? If the General Assembly passes state legislation, it must act by Sine Die (April 13). Montgomery County, and other local governments, could act at a later date.
With various avenues available for passage, a legislator genuinely focused on policy would choose the most feasible route to victory. If a state bill passes and gets the job done, great. Additionally, the state can ensure statewide coverage, which no county could do. If the state bill fails, there is time for MoCo to pass one. Above all, a careful legislator would keep in touch with colleagues and make sure the votes for passage are in place if needed.
That’s not the path Jawando picked.
Council Public Safety Committee Chair Sidney Katz has scheduled the Unmask ICE Act for committee consideration on April 17, four days after Sine Die. He did that to await state action on the issue, which could very well preempt any county bill. Assuming that the bill passes committee, it would head to action by the full council, where Council President Natali Fani-Gonzalez (a former undocumented immigrant) is as concerned about ICE’s activities as anyone. That is how the council operates. And for a bill like this one, with its many legal questions, it will take a bit of staff analysis and deliberation to figure out.
None of this was good enough for Jawando, who triggered a rarely used section of the council’s Rules of Procedure to try to force the bill for consideration at full council within one week regardless of committee action. Such a motion at the dais would need a majority vote to pass. In nearly twenty years of writing about or working at the council, I can’t remember the last time that this procedure was invoked.
Jawando knew this would make his colleagues furious, and it did. Media coverage by Bethesda Today, the Banner and MCM chronicled extreme frustration by many council members with Jawando. Fani-Gonzalez denounced Jawando’s tactics as “so wrong” and “so awful and disgusting.” Evan Glass, who is running for executive against Jawando, said, “People are playing politics at the council, and it is disgusting.” Kate Stewart, whose voice trembled with rage, said she was “angry and heartbroken.” (Glass and Stewart are co-sponsors of the bill along with a majority of the council.) Jawando replied, “The gaslighting that is happening here is insane.” The Banner reported that Jawando threatened to “publicly release text messages and emails he exchanged with them about the legislation.” (If he does this, I will print them!)
Jawando lets it rip!
Jawando lost his motion on a 7-4 vote, gaining the votes of Kristin Mink, Laurie-Anne Sayles and Andrew Friedson along with his own. In the aftermath, private remarks concerning his conduct were FAR more profane than anything uttered in public.
So what was gained here? Absolutely nothing, other than creating publicity and infuriating some of the county bill’s co-sponsors. (How does enraging co-sponsors help pass a bill?) Either the state or the county seems destined to pass some version of this bill whether it holds up in court or not. After all, Democratic voters are loudly demanding that ICE be reined in and their politicians will do what they can to accomplish that.
The most insightful statement on Tuesday was made by Katz, who paraphrased President Harry Truman’s quote: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” That’s the key. If the state bill passes and preempts county legislation, Jawando will not get a law with his name on it.
It’s government by grandstanding, folks. This is widely understood inside the council building. And it’s a preview of how Jawando would act as county executive.
Should we feel sorry for the council members? I don’t. They have all served with Jawando and understand that this is how he operates. In the past, the council had quite a few tough customers who would react poorly to being used as political punch dummies. Folks like Mike Subin, Marilyn Praisner, Valerie Ervin, Nancy Navarro, Nancy Floreen and George Leventhal were not shrinking violets and there was a cost to messing with them. Their absence is noteworthy in that the use of the council dais for such theater now seems to be go without consequence.
And so the council members who bristle at tactics like these have a choice. They can get involved in the county executive race, throw their support behind whoever they believe is the best equipped to defeat Jawando and – even if they fail – show there is a cost to crossing them. Or they can sit on their hands, squeal helplessly at council meetings and get ready for eight years of government by grandstanding.