By Adam Pagnucco.
Many folks following county politics look at the county employee unions as a monolith. You should avoid that mistake. They have important differences based on budget, the work of their members and their internal cultures.
Take the public safety unions (International Fire Fighters Local 1664 and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35) and the two largest MCPS unions (Montgomery County Education Association and Service Employees International Union 500). So far, their endorsements are going different ways in several key county races. Consider the following:
County Executive (Open Seat)
Fire Fighters and Police: Andrew Friedson
MCEA and SEIU: Will Jawando
Council At-Large (Three Open Seats)
Fire Fighters and Police: Scott Goldberg, Jim McNulty, Karla Silvestre
MCEA and SEIU: Fatmata Barrie, Marc Elrich and Laurie-Anne Sayles
Note: SEIU also endorsed Silvestre and MCEA also endorsed Josie Caballero.
Council District 1 (Open Seat)
Fire Fighters: Drew Morrison
Police, MCEA and SEIU: Julie Yang
Council District 2
Fire Fighters, Police and MCEA: Marilyn Balcombe (incumbent)
SEIU: No endorsement
Note: Balcombe is running unopposed in the primary.
Council District 3 (Open Seat)
Fire Fighters and Police: Jud Ashman
MCEA and SEIU: Izola Shaw
Council District 4
All four unions: Kate Stewart (incumbent)
Council District 5
Fire Fighters and Police: No endorsement
MCEA and SEIU: Kristin Mink (incumbent)
Council District 6
Fire Fighters and Police: No endorsement
MCEA and SEIU: Natali Fani-González (incumbent)
Note: Fani-González proposed reducing the negotiated raises of the unions as part of this year’s operating budget.
Council District 7
Fire Fighters, Police and SEIU: Dawn Luedtke (incumbent)
MCEA: No endorsement
See the splits?
It’s also interesting that the realtors are supporting many of the same candidates as the public safety unions.
One big dog has yet to enter the yard: MCGEO, which represents most non-MCPS county government employees and is led by its fearsome president, Gino Renne. What’s taking you so long, Gino?
I’ll be running a series soon on the value of these endorsements. But here is one thing that’s clearly at stake: who will get whacked in the FY28 operating budget, which currently has a projected structural deficit of $293 million. None of these unions wants to bear the brunt of whatever the next group of county leaders will have to do next year. The public safety unions and the MCPS unions are clearly placing their bets on different sides of the table.
We shall see who gets the payout in next month’s primary.