Democrat

Candidate name: George L. Leventhal

Place of residence: Takoma Park

Date of birth: Nov. 19, 1962

Place of birth: Boston

Current occupation: President, Montgomery County Council

Education: Master’s in public administration, Johns Hopkins University; B.A. in English, University of California

Community associations, involvement: Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, 1994 –2002 (chairman, 1996-2001; NAACP; Temple Shalom

Professional associations: n⁄a

Family: Wife, Soraia, and sons Daniel, 11, and Francisco, 7

Campaign office address and telephone: Friends of George L. Leventhal, P.O. Box 724, Silver Spring, MD 20918, 301-588-6961

Web site: www.georgeleventhal.com

Link to state Board of Elections campaign finance database

I will continue my strong advocacy for the Inner Purple Line. As Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, I will continue to work on expanding access to health care for the poor and uninsured, addressing the problems of homelessness and improving services to abused and abandoned children, the elderly and the mentally ill. I want also to continue our progress on clean and alternative energy and environmental protection. I will also look for opportunities to expand the availability of affordable housing.

How would you rate the performance of the current council: excellent, good, fair or poor? Why?

We have good government in Montgomery County and a high quality of life although we face continuing challenges and we are working on those. I think the County Council has done a good job of listening to county residents, investing in transportation infrastructure and school construction, managing our growth, protecting our Agricultural Reserve and putting new management structures in place at the Planning Board. We have not solved all of our problems but we are making an honest effort to respond to the public’s concerns.

Is the rate of growth in Montgomery County too fast, too slow or just right?

Our population is growing at approximately 1.5 percent per year — far slower than most other neighboring counties. I think this growth rate is about right, although I think the county has a lot of catching up to do with greater investment needed in transportation infrastructure and school construction. We are working toward that end. We need state government to do more to fulfill its obligations on roads, transit and schools as well.

Who should have more control over the planning process, the council or the executive and why?

State law primarily vests authority over land use with the Montgomery County Council, which appoints the members of the Planning Board.

What should have been done to avoid the development problems that happened in Clarksburg?

Because of a lack of clear lines of authority, Planning Board staff authorized inappropriate changes to approved development plans. There should have been stronger management in place, the Board staff should have been more closely supervised and answers should have been provided to the public’s questions in a more timely and thorough way. We must restore the public’s confidence in our planning process by providing greater clarity in rules and procedures and ensuring the opportunity for public input and public scrutiny at every stage of the planning process. The lessons of Clarksburg are not limited to Park and Planning. Every public agency — and every elected official — needs to remember that we work for the people of Montgomery County and they are entitled to answers to their questions and access to public decisions.

What’s your plan to provide more affordable housing in Montgomery County?

I have asked the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) to notify the County Council every time a condominium conversion is proposed, which she was not doing in the past. This will allow the council to assist, if necessary, in creative means of exercising our right of first refusal to preserve affordable housing. We must also develop additional protections for renters who have no other housing options, continue to strengthen our MPDU program to get more new units, creatively seek public-private partnerships to produce more housing for working families and explore new methods to assist low-income first-time home buyers to obtain a down payment and access to credit.

Do you think the county is doing enough to meet the needs of its growing diverse population? If not, what do you think the county needs to do?

This has been a primary focus for me since my election to office in 2002. In January of this year, I introduced the ‘‘Days of Commemoration” bill to designate 23 days during the year which are to be taken into account when county supervisors consider employees’ leave requests, or when county government is delivering services. The goal of this legislation is to increase diversity awareness and sensitivity within Montgomery County. I also sponsored the Local Small Business Reserve legislation that requires county government to set aside 10% of contracts for local small businesses. This will open up substantial new business opportunities for minority entrepreneurs.

We must continue to expand access to county programs for those with limited English proficiency. We must recruit more employees with language skills. We should also ensure that residents from diverse backgrounds have access to culturally competent health care. To this end, my committee has supported significant increases each year in the budgets of the African American Health Program, Latino Health Initiative and Asian American Health Initiative. We need to engage in an active dialogue with and between all of our diverse communities.

Do you support Montgomery County’s day laborer centers?

Yes.

What programs would you add to the budget, and how would you pay for them?

I am confident that a growing economy will continue to allow us to provide excellent services to Montgomery County residents. I am the leading supporter of the ‘‘Montgomery Cares” program (about which more is written below), which I expect will continue to grow in size. I believe we should significantly increase funding for our Housing Initiative Fund which enables us to take creative approaches to the development and preservation of affordable housing. I am exploring with constituents whether county government should do more in the areas of workplace health and safety and conditions of employment for the lowest-paid workers and I may support proposals for new county responsibilities in these areas.

Are there any programs, taxes or fees that should be cut? What would you do with the money from the savings?

I’m not advocating major changes in the tax structure at this time. I did sponsor the successful ‘‘Clean Energy Rewards” program which will provide rebates of the energy tax to consumers of clean, renewable energy. I would like to continue to refine that program to provide further incentives for energy conservation, energy efficiency, alternative energy and construction of green buildings.

Does council have too much, not enough or the right amount of oversight of the school system?

As the entity that provides funding for the school system, we should exercise oversight as to how taxpayer dollars are spent. I strongly supported adding two new positions to the Council’s staff in the FY 2007 budget to assist us in this task.

Do you think the current system for renovating schools is adequate, or does it need changing?

The FY 2007-2012 capital budget will build seven new and 16 modernized schools by 2012, provide gymnasiums in every elementary school and eliminate 367 (out of 719) portable classrooms. I am working with the public school system to develop a plan for even more funding to eliminate nearly all portable classrooms. We must continue to keep pressure on state government to do its fair share for school construction as well.

What is the No. 1 public safety concern for Montgomery County? What would you do about it?

We are fortunate to live in a county with a very low crime rate. Gang violence is an important safety concern, though clearly not the only concern. With respect to this issue, we have added police officers to address the gang problem and have funded the Crossroads Youth Opportunity Center. In this year’s budget, the Council added funding to provide after-school programs at every middle school in the county. We must continue to support stronger law enforcement as well as better outreach, after-school programs and job training to reach youth before they join gangs and give them hope and opportunity once they leave the gang. We have also fully funded Police Chief Tom Manger and Fire Chief Tom Carr’s requests for increases in personnel in both of their departments and we are adding new fire stations and fire apparatus and equipment. As a member of the council’s Homeland Security Committee, I also support increased regional cooperation and information-sharing regarding the ongoing threat of terrorism in the National Capitol Region.

Do you support an east-west Metro link, and where should it go?

I strongly support building the light rail Inner Purple Line from Bethesda to New Carrollton. Between Bethesda and Silver Spring, the light rail should run on the former B&O railroad freight train right-of-way which was acquired by Montgomery County for that purpose. It should be integrated with the hiker-biker trail and will provide an attractive greenway as well as a rapid, clean, quiet and safe alternative to automobile travel for those who ride the Purple Line.

Do you support the Montgomery Cares program, and are adequate audit controls in place for accountability?

I am the Council’s leading supporter of the ‘‘Montgomery Cares” program, which provides basic health care to uninsured residents through a network of community clinics. As part of this program, I also sponsored the Community Pharmacy, through which the county buys large quantities of generic medicines in bulk and distributes them to the clinics. I am also a strong supporter of the ‘‘Care for Kids” program, school health clinics and the ‘‘Linkages to Learning” program. We have also established a Montgomery Cares Policy Advisory Board to ensure accountability for the program. If re-elected to the Council this year, I will make sure we achieve our goal of serving 40,000 uninsured residents through the ‘‘Montgomery Cares” program by 2010.

What should be the county’s role in mental health?

The county has an important role to play with regard to mental health. Unfortunately, reductions in federal and state funding have placed a great burden on clinics and mental health practitioners and the county is increasingly being asked to close the funding gap. Meanwhile, we are paying more every year to provide mental health treatment in the county jail. We should do more to ensure that those who suffer from mental illness get treatment earlier. As Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, I have been the Council’s leading advocate for programs that get homeless people off the street and that expand the availability of mental health and substance abuse services for the poor.