As we go to the polls to elect our local politicians, it is remarkable to remember that our county institutions are relatively recent. Montgomery has only had a County Council since 1949 and a County Executive since 1970. Before gaining the power of home rule after the second World War, this county, and most counties in Maryland, were governed directly by the Maryland legislature. It is even more remarkable that the advent of home rule came about through the agitation of local civic organizations; notably, The Montgomery County Civic Federation.

The Montgomery County Civic Federation was founded in 1925 to give a collective voice to the many neighborhood civic organizations that sprouted up in the newly formed suburbs. The primary interest of the Federation was to protect property values and encourage the development of local improvements like schools and parks. In the '20s and early '30s the Federation was a close ally of LeeÕs United Democratic Club; the land developers shared the civic associationÕs interest in public improvements and they were both intent on developing high quality detached housing for white, upper-middle class families.

As the Great Depression deepened, this common interest began to diverge. Personal income fell and created a demand for apartments and less expensive single family houses. Lee and the land developers wanted to take advantage of this demand by building multi-family housing and less expensive houses on smaller lots. The Civic Federation, alarmed by falling real estate prices, considered multi-family housing a direct threat to property values.

Disillusioned with the autocratic power of the Lee machine, a new alliance of 'anti-organization' Democrats and 'good government' Republicans challenged the status quo and elected county commissioners and house delegates that reflected their 'progressive' (and self-interested) views. But their practical success was marginal because E. Brooke Lee was able to use his influence with the legislature to out-maneuver his rivals in Annapolis. He also used his control over the M-NCPPC to win zoning decisions favorable to his land development strategy.

Realizing that under the current system they would always be trumped by the Lee machine, the Civic Federation began to promote the idea of a home rule charter for Montgomery County. In 1937, the Federation appointed Allen Gardener, a lawyer from Woodside, to chair a committee to study the reorganization of Montgomery County. In true Montgomery fashion the committeeÕs finding was that the issue should be studied further by a professional research organization. The Board of County Commissioners agreed to fund a study by the Brookings Institute.

After two years of work, the Brookings Institute made public the 700 page study Government of Montgomery County in 1941. The study called for sweeping changes. Among the most radical suggestions was the replacement of Board of County Commissioners with a County Manager and a non-partisan County Council of nine members, plus the granting of zoning authority to the Council.

The Colonel realized that times were changing. He took up the banner of County reorganization by accepting a number of recommended changes in order to defuse the more dangerous momentum for Montgomery home rule. The 'Organization' and its commissioners supported the establishment of a centralized purchasing system and the creation of a merit-based system for county employees, even though this diminished the patronage politics on which they had built their strength. But on no circumstances could they accept the loss of zoning control through the M-NCPPCÑthat was the golden goose. Nor could they accept a non-partisan County Council. After all, they were a Democratic machine and a great many of their civic activist rivals were federal employees forbidden by the Hatch Act from engaging in partisan politics. Non-partisan elections meant giving up the core of their organizational strength.

The Montgomery Charter Committee was formed with the support of the Civic Federation, the League of Women Voters, the Home Interest Club of Forest Glen, and the Montgomery County Farm Bureau. Using a 1914 Home Rule amendment to the Maryland Constitution, they had to negotiate a maze of complicated procedures that included: a petition signed by 20% of the voters, an election of a Board to draw up the Charter, and finally an election to adopt the Charter. The petition easily got the requisite number of signatures, and the charter board was elected in 1942.

Determined to preserve the status quo, LeeÕs United Democratic Organization successfully appealed to farmers, blacks, and absent servicemen to defeat the alliance of white, suburban property owners (including many women), who were once his allies. The charter was defeated in 1944.

The whole process had to be repeated once again in 1946 and 1948, but this time the voters accepted the charter. For the first time since the creation of Montgomery County in 1776, citizens could elect a County Council that had the power to adopt a budget and enact local legislation. This triumph of local democracy came about because of the perseverance of civic activists and despite the stubborn resistance of entrenched politicians.

Fifty-four years have passed. What do we see as we survey the political landscape? Our state delegation attempts to redraw political boundaries for the good of nothing but their own careers. Colonel LeeÕs Democratic machine is gone, but the alliance of big development and big county government is as thick as it ever was. What we once called patronage is now called campaign donations, tax incentives, and public-private partnershipsÐand it is always to the favor of the large and out-of-town, and always at the expense of the small and local. Our measure of local self-determination consists in sitting on advisory boards to advise Rockville how to solve Silver Spring problems. Local democracy has once again grown thin and threadbare.

Democracy can never be static. Either the spirit of self-government is growing, gaining energy with each new challenge, or it is diminishing, exhausting itself by the recognition of its own powerlessness. We can only move forward or backward. Maybe the time has come to rekindle once again the flame of local democracy in Montgomery County. What better place to start than in Silver Spring?