By Adam Pagnucco.
In a last-minute surprise, former Council Member Craig Rice has withdrawn from consideration for a special projects manager position in County Executive Marc Elrich’s office.
The position, which was a non-competitive political appointment, was created through Bill 4-23E. Back on January 17, the county executive’s administrative specialist wrote to the council that the executive intended to appoint Rice to the position. MoCo360 subsequently confirmed this. The position was due to pay $175,000 in salary and have total compensation of $214,391. The council passed the legislation on a 9-2 vote, with Council Members Evan Glass and Dawn Luedtke dissenting.
Rice then appeared before the council in an interview on March 28. The interview went well and there was no reason to believe that Rice would not be confirmed. Council Member Sidney Katz even said:
Some have said that you are being considered for this job because of friendship. And I have to say anybody that knows Craig Rice would know he would not want this job because of friendship. He would want this job because of relationships. He would want this job so that he can bring people to a better place.
Rice at his interview with the council.
Rice was due to be confirmed by the council today. His name was on the agenda. But as you can see, his item was deleted.
Then the county executive posted this tweet.
The position has already been created under law so I presume that the executive will find another person to fill it. As for Rice, if I can obtain information on why he withdrew, I will update this post.
Update: Rice commented to Montgomery Community Media, which printed the following.
Rice said he had heard too many behind the scenes comments and read to many social media posts that he was being given the job because he was a friend, and “I don’t want anybody to ever perceive that I got a position I don’t deserve.”
In a phone call with MCM, Rice said, “That’s just not right. It’s not fair.”
He thanked the support he received from councilmembers, but said he never wanted to put any of them in a position where they would have to defend hiring him.
“That’s just the world we live in,” Rice said. “There is a constant assault on people.” He added, “I have children. I have a family. They are on social media.”