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Spending taxpayers’ money dominates two candidate forums

Council District 2 and 4 debate asked for funding priorities; county executive forum focused on re-establishing the library system’s budget

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Last week saw two candidates forums — one for people running for the County Council in Districts 2 and 4; the other for all the declared aspirants for county executive.

The forums also presented a contrast in focus: The County Council debate ranged broadly from gangs to the Intercounty Connector highway to the county’s budget, while the county executive discussion focused exclusively on libraries.

But both had one topic in common: money.

At the March 29 forum sponsored by the District 14 Democratic Club in Olney, County Council members Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown and Marilyn J. Praisner (D-Dist. 4) of Calverton faced Democratic primary challengers Sharon Dooley and Steven M. ‘‘Mike” Jones, respectively.

District 2 encompasses the upcounty, including Germantown, Clarksburg, Damascus and Laytonsville and Olney and parts of Gaithersburg; District 4 includes Burtonsville, Aspen Hill and parts of Silver Spring and Wheaton.

Both Knapp and Dooley highlighted prevention, intervention and enforcement to combat gang violence. In culturally diverse District 4, where gang activity has become more prevalent, communications consultant Jones said, the answer is bridging cultures and fostering relationships with community leaders.

‘‘We have to provide an alternative, just like the old proverb, ‘It takes a village,’” said Praisner, the district’s four-term incumbent.

Also high on the minds of the audience were financial issues — including upcoming budget discussions and rising home assessments. Candidates were asked how to prioritize items in the county’s operating budget, which is recommended at $3.9 billion for the year that begins July 1.

Knapp reminded the audience of his efforts to better organize council budget discussions.

‘‘The budget is a two-month exercise, and this year, I worked with other council members on passing legislation to prioritize some of our issues prior to [budget debates in April],” he said.

Priorities are good, said Dooley, a health care professional, but the council must find better efficiencies in government.

‘‘We can’t continue funding programs that don’t work just because they’ve always been funded. We must look at the outcomes of the programs and are they working,” Dooley said.

Knapp was not asked about his proposal to move the headquarters of Park and Planning from Silver Spring to Rockville, even though it had been addressed in the council just a day before the debate.

‘‘It’s still early in the season,” said Knapp. ‘‘As we get closer to [primary elections] in September, there will be several opportunities to address many of the district issues on the table.”

The next day, the Chevy Chase Friends of the Library sponsored one of the first county executive debates with candidates from both parties. Libraries were on the agenda, and more specifically, library funding.

Most county executive debates this season have included only the two Democratic candidates, County Councilman Steven A. Silverman (At large) of Silver Spring and former councilman Isiah ‘‘Ike” Leggett, while Republicans Robin Ficker and Charles R. ‘‘Chuck” Floyd have been largely shut out.

‘‘This is the first time that we’ve done [a debate] like this, and it’s because we’re mad that the library is not being funded as it should be,” said Anne Kilcullen, chairwoman of the library board and a member of the Chevy Chase Library Community. ‘‘We need to get the story out that we need our library facilities cleaned, our staffs need help, and we need to replace many of the central positions that were lost.”

Each candidate was asked to support a one-time $4 million appropriation to the library system to restore funding back to 1999 levels. Both Silverman and Leggett said they would consider an appropriation in relation to the entire county budget, while Ficker promised a $40 million appropriation. Floyd, who was on a business trip in California, was unable to attend.

Ficker took the opportunity to expand on his campaign initiatives — traffic congestion and cutting county spending.

‘‘You have to first clear congestion to get to the libraries,” he said, touting his idea for another Potomac bridge. He also took jabs at his Democratic opponents regarding campaign contributions. ‘‘Developers are going to take a back seat to citizens like you. ... I will be a friend of the library. This is my priority. I will not go to other groups and say that they are my priority,” Ficker said.

Neither Leggett nor Silverman replied to Ficker’s digs, but Leggett did reiterate his support of the library system.

‘‘[During my time on the council] we built and⁄or renovated 17 libraries. ... Libraries are key to the county,” the former four-term councilman said.

The library system has been in the news lately following an incident where a county Homeland Security officer took issue with the Internet activity of a library patron. Free library parking has also been in the news, as the city of Rockville considers charging patrons for parking spots in the Town Center parking garage.

‘‘We will find the resources to make sure parking is free,” said Silverman, a two-term councilman from Silver Spring.

On Tuesday, the council did just that, establishing a policy of free parking at all of the county’s libraries.