Candidate drops out so Abrams can step in

Owen-Williams withdraws from County Council at-large race to give the GOP a stronger ticket in November

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006

The slate of Republican candidates on the November ballot for the County Council at-large race has changed following the sacrificial withdrawal of one less-known candidate and addition of a better-known school board member.

Adol T. Owen-Williams II withdrew his candidacy on Monday afternoon — the last day candidates were allowed to do so — and was replaced by Stephen N. Abrams, who was nominated by the Republican Central Committee that night to fill the spot.

The change ended a week of speculation and intraparty negotiations to devise a stronger GOP ballot, said Tom Reinheimer, county GOP president and an at-large council candidate.

‘‘This is basically a changeup. You want to have your best players on the field,” he said. ‘‘Adol understood what was at stake. He’s a team player and he made the decision on his own based on what was good for the whole party.”

Last week Abrams, who ran unsuccessfully for state comptroller this year, lobbied to be added to the at-large slate. At the time, three of the four candidates, including Owen-Williams, said they would not step aside for Abrams. Only Reinheimer, the last candidate to enter the at-large race, was considering a resignation.

But after reconsideration over the weekend, Owen-Williams withdrew, he said, not to put Abrams on the ballot, but to prevent Reinheimer from taking himself off. ‘‘Tom has put in a considerable amount of time to grow the party, to help the party,” Owen-Williams said. ‘‘It would have been, in my opinion, a gross disservice had Tom Reinheimer withdrawn.”

The other two candidates, Shelton ‘‘Shelly” Skolnick and Amber Gnemi, were also approached about withdrawing, but refused, Reinheimer said.

Reinheimer said the ideal ballot would have put him and Abrams, both with considerable name recognition, on the ballot with Owen-Williams, a North Potomac financial adviser known within the GOP for his work at the state and local levels.

Reinheimer, an information security analyst from Boyds, received the most votes of the four Republicans in the Sept. 12 primary. Abrams, an attorney from Rockville, sat on the Rockville City Council from 1980 to 1989, and the county school board from 1992 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2002 before being elected again in 2004.

On Monday night, Abrams (Dist. 2) left a school board meeting for about an hour to accept the central committee’s nomination. ‘‘Clearly I don’t have to take a backseat to anyone as a champion for education in Montgomery County,” Abrams said. ‘‘I also don’t have to take a backseat in the respect I have for the law. I am much less of an activist, which some people may find appealing. I think government should do what it is supposed to do and do it well, rather than taking on new things.”

The process that led to Owen-Williams’ withdrawal and his appointment ‘‘peeled back the curtain” on party activities that usually take place out of public view, Abrams said.

‘‘I view this process as one that shows the maturing of a party,” he said.

Although the central committee made no promises to Owen-Williams in exchange for his resignation, Reinheimer said his decision was for the good of the party. ‘‘The promise is that he will be recognized that he did this for the team,” Reinheimer said. ‘‘In the future, people owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Owen-Williams plans to seek another elected office, but declined to offer details until after the Nov. 7 election.