Fast pace turns heads in Anne Arundel

ANNAPOLIS — A single portrait of Abraham Lincoln hangs in a corner on the otherwise bare white walls of Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold’s office.

‘‘I believe in simplicity wherever I can,” said Leopold, a Republican who served two decades in the General Assembly before a hard-fought victory in the 2006 county executive race.

A review of his first year in office, however, shows an aggressive record of strictly enforcing environmental laws, slashing government spending, cracking down on panhandlers and illegal immigrants, and managing growth ahead of a major expansion of jobs at Fort Meade.

‘‘The best campaign is a good performance in office and our first year record of accomplishment speaks for itself,” he said. ‘‘It’s not a record to stand on, it’s a record to build on.”

And there’s much work to be done in the remaining three years of his term. Succeeding will require overcoming fiscal constraints. Leopold has pledged to maintain property and income tax rates, meaning new fees or more cuts could be in the offing.

Leopold’s first year has been somewhat bumpy.

Some critics have complained that several of his fundraisers have given the appearance of favoring builders in county business. Community activists criticized his decision to halve local aid to nonprofits to $2.5 million. And he has clashed with county schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell over education funding.

‘‘Our resources are finite and our needs are enormous, especially because of the BRAC explosion,” Leopold reasoned.

Observers and colleagues say Leopold is a typical fiscal conservative who is playing to the Republican base and cashing in on the pro-environment sentiment in Anne Arundel.

‘‘You can’t give blank checks to any one agency throughout government. That’s the worst thing any executive can do,” said former delegate David G. Boschert, one of five Republicans who sought the party nomination for county executive in 2006. ‘‘The school system has to understand the checkbook is not as fat as it once was.”

Leopold touts other victories in his first year: giving free colonoscopies to low-income men and women; dedicating $300,000 for street lighting in high-crime areas; providing more money for middle school resource officers and protecting land from development countywide.

He plans to increase so-called impact fees on new development to help pay for infrastructure needs and will propose a stormwater management funding mechanism that aims to decrease runoff by reducing the amount of impervious surfaces.

Much of Leopold’s efforts have focused on curbing the size of government. That strategy will win with constituents, said Del. Ronald A. George (R-Dist. 30) of Arnold.

‘‘I think he’s the right man at the right time. We had so many years of record growth in this county, had huge surpluses, and the taxpayer never got any of that back, and all of a sudden, there’s not as much coming in and you need someone in there who understands cost-cutting,” George said.

Because Anne Arundel imposes a tax cap, funding shortages are a perennial issue, said Janet S. Owens, Leopold’s Democratic predecessor as county executive.

‘‘I sense we’re going into stormy weather financially and how that is handled, in particular how the executive handles education, is pivotal to the county,” she said.

Former state senator Philip C. Jimeno (D) agrees. ‘‘The next three years will be a real test of his leadership skills, because of the tight budget crunch.”

As the highest-ranking GOP officeholder in Maryland — Anne Arundel has a larger population than other Republican-led counties — Leopold is a de facto leader of a party that he has sometimes quarreled with.

‘‘I have a mind of my own and I plan to use it,” he said.

While some consider him a maverick for defying the party line, Leopold rattles off numerous GOP credentials from recruiting candidates for public office to serving as a delegate at seven Republican National Conventions to being named state lawmaker of the year in 2000 by the National Republican Legislators Association.

‘‘You can’t win an award like that without being a bridge-builder. I pride myself on being an independent-minded elected official,” he said. ‘‘At the same time, nobody has the kind of party credentials I’ve had over the years, but governing is about problem solving. It’s not about making ideological pronouncements that serve no useful purpose.”

Despite his visible position and a shallow pool of Republican candidates, Leopold has no immediate interest in higher office. ‘‘My plan is to run for re-election in 2010.”

Yet, it's not hard to imagine him doing so. Following three terms in the Hawaii legislature - two in the House and one in the Senate - Leopold unsuccessfully ran for governor of Hawaii in 1978, picking up 44 percent of the vote.

Others say time might be running out for Leopold, who turns 65 next month.

‘‘I’d say there is a biological clock playing itself out,” said Dan Nataf, director of the Center for the Study of Local Issues at Anne Arundel Community College.

Leopold has forged a steady relationship with the Republican-led County Council by not micromanaging its actions, said Vice Chairman Ed R. Reilly (R).

‘‘John is a delegator. He points us in the direction we should be going and allows us to get there on our own,” he said.

Still, Leopold has plenty of his own initiatives to see through in the next three years, and he may have to do so in a tumultuous economic climate.

‘‘He’s hitting a lot of singles,” Reilly said. ‘‘Whether or not it will get everyone around the bases in time, I can’t answer that.”