Primary election voters back slower-growth Democrats

Council, executive races swung on ties to developers, builders

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006

By choosing Democratic candidates who campaigned to slow the county’s growth rate, primary election voters sent a message last week that Montgomery County needs to change gears.

That shift was clear in the county executive race, where former county councilman Isiah ‘‘Ike” Leggett — who wants the county to grow more slowly until roads, schools and transit needed to handle more people and trips catch up with the population — soundly defeated Councilman Steven A. Silverman (D-At large) of Silver Spring, who was seen as a pro-development candidate.

The shift is also clear in voters’ choices for the County Council, which makes or oversees most land-use decisions.

The Democratic nominees for nine council seats include just three of the five ‘‘End Gridlock” slate candidates backed by County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) in 2002.

Slow-growth activists targeted the ‘‘End Gridlock” incumbents for defeat this year because, they argued, those candidates are biased toward developers from whom they received most of their campaign contributions.

Democrats Marc Elrich, a Takoma Park city councilman, and Duchy Trachtenberg of North Bethesda pledged to take no contributions from development interests and placed second and third for the four Democratic at-large County Council nominations.

‘‘If anyone had said four years ago that two at-large candidates could run and win without any development money, it would been thought that was impossible,” said Trachtenberg, a social worker and president of the Maryland chapter of the National Organization of Women.

‘‘This, to me was a very clear pendulum swing — it was 1990 all over again,” Silverman said Monday, referring to voters’ surprise ouster that year of County Executive Sidney J. Kramer (D), who was considered pro-growth. Kramer was unseated by the eleventh-hour candidacy of Democrat Neal Potter, a slow-growth advocate and councilman.

Trachtenberg and Elrich won more votes than End Gridlock Councilwoman Nancy M. Floreen of Garrett Park, who finished fourth and moves on to the Nov. 7 election, and Councilman Michael L. Subin, who finished fifth and will not advance in November.

‘‘It will be interesting to see if the winners will be able to translate [into action] what they said on the campaign trail,” said Floreen(D-At large) of Garrett Park.

With development already slowed by a reorganization of the Park and Planning Department, it may be difficult to slow growth much more.

Barring an unforeseen surge in votes from more than 10,000 still-being-counted provisional and overseas absentee ballots, the primary will end Subin’s 20-year career on the council and long leadership of its Education Committee.

With his departure, the council will lose its longest-serving member, as well as someone distinguished by his candor and independence.

Leggett said he counts Subin’s departure as a loss, and there is already speculation that Subin (D-At large) of Gaithersburg could be tapped for a high-level position when the new council and executive are sworn in Dec. 4.

Until then, George L. Leventhal of Takoma Park, who won the most votes among at-large Democrats, continues to serve as council president.

Leventhal was on the End Gridlock slate in 2002, but he received a smaller percentage of his campaign cash from developers than others on that slate.

Generally, pledging to curb developers’ clout seemed to resonate with Democratic primary voters in a county that has been scarred by planning scandals for more than a year.

‘‘I put the issue about slowing growth firmly in my platform,” said Leggett who pledged to take no more than a quarter of contributions from developers in this campaign. ‘‘I used the word ‘slow’ purposely; not ‘managed’ or ‘smart.’ I said, ‘If you vote for me, this is what it means.’ And looking at [the results], voters seemed concerned about growth and development and voted that way.”

Stephen Z. Kaufman, one of the county’s leading land-use lawyers and a senior partner in the Linowes and Blocher law firm, agreed. Kaufman, who represented developer Newland Communities in negotiations over violations at the troubled Clarksburg Town Center and supported Silverman, said he is sure that Leggett will reach out to the industry.

Although Democrats outnumber Republicans in Montgomery more than 2 to 1, it remains to be seen how the slow growth message will play in the general election when Leggett and the Democratic council nominees face Republicans, who ran unopposed in the primary, and a few independents.

Still, Leggett said, ‘‘a strong progressive wing of the council has emerged.”

In the five district council races, three of the four incumbents who advance to the general election, including lone Republican Howard A. Denis of Chevy Chase, limited or refused campaign contributions from developers.

They include Council Vice President Marilyn J. Praisner (D-Dist. 4) of Calverton who trounced her opponent in the primary. With Praisner poised to become council president for a third time, ‘‘This is going to be the Praisner era” former councilwoman Gail Ewing predicted.

Although no rules govern committee assignments, traditionally the council president proposes a roster. Praisner has been at odds with fellow planning committee members Floreen and Silverman over their support for removing key tests that served as a check on growth.