Editor's Blog

The Montgomery County Civic Federation (MCCF) has always objected to the heavy proportion of campaign contributions that flowed from one small segment of our total economy—the development industry.

Sixteen years ago, individual members of the civic community organized a political action committee, CITPAC, which tried to counter this disparity by asking candidates for county office to report the sources of their campaign funds to CITPAC every month so that it could publicize them. It did so again in 1994. Many candidates complied while the holdouts took a hit in public esteem.

By 1998, CITPAC was praised for being the first in the nation to post these monthly reports on campaign funding on the world wide web. This work is now performed with even greater skill by another all-volunteer civic group, Neighbors for a Better Montgomery and getting national and world wide attention.

The defeats of then County Councilman, Bill Hanna, in 1998 and County Executive candidate, Steve Silverman, last month are due in part to public aversion to their accepting over two thirds of their campaign funds from the development industry. At the opposite extreme, Marc Elrich and Duchy Trachtenberg probably owe part of their recent victory in the primary to refusing any money from that industry. Phil Andrews who defeated Hanna in 1998 is the only incumbent councilmember to refuse contributions from the development industry and PACs.

Smaller Council Districts
The MCCF has represented neighborhood civic and homeowners groups all over this county since 1925. It is strictly nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates, but it is never shy about advocating specific policies that would lead to better government and quality of life in the County.

The “Civic Fed” tried to get at money-in-politics by working to eliminate the at-large seats on the Council since they require the most expensive campaigns. MCCF wanted the county divided into nine small, community-based districts with one council member from each.

Supporters toiled through a very long, hot summer to gather signatures for this purpose and successfully placed “Question C” on the 2004 ballot. The opposition had to spend over $100,000 against our tiny $6,000 to persuade the public into voting against Question C.

Persistence Pays
Although Question C lost two years ago, intentions remain strong within MCCF to keep trying for some reform of this kind. After all, it took two tries—the elections of 1984 and 1986—to achieve the present structure of the Council with four members elected at-large plus five from districts. That represented an important reform from previous Councils of seven members, all elected at-large.

Dale Tibbitts, the Legislative Chairman for MCCF, has pointed out how a sustained effort to keep an issue before the public slowly builds and finally becomes persuasive to a majority of voters. So activists shouldn’t be overly discouraged when their side loses on a bill before the County Council or in an election. Their factually-based efforts may have laid the foundation for a victory later when the issue matures.

Environment and Schools
Civic groups have been among the firmest to champion a clean and healthy environment. But all candidates nowadays are environmentalists or at least pose as such. It was difficult for the general public to discern big differences between the candidates except for those who saw the connection with building the ICC. Thus environment did not play a large role this year.

Although a strong advocate for our public schools, Councilmember Mike Subin, was defeated, it is very likely that two new education advocates will be added to the Council in November. One is former School Board member, Valerie Ervin. The other is a professional teacher, Marc Elrich, who favors restrictions on developments that would impact already overcrowded schools. With a net gain of one seat, civic goals for effective schools at the teacher level and less crowding will advance more quickly.

It was not all good news for us. A selfless and dedicated civic leader and former president of MCCF, Cary Lamari, lost his at-large race for the Council. He made a great impression at the candidate forums but few people ever got to see these. He had far too little money to get his name and message heard over the whole county.

The “End Gridlock” Team
County Executive Doug Duncan and five Council candidates campaigned four years ago as the “End Gridlock” slate. They were all elected. But their actions since have accomplished just the opposite. They removed many impediments to development such as killing the annual growth policy and making traffic standards so weak as to be useless in many areas. As a result, the public suffers more gridlock in more places than ever. So there is some justice that three of those six will soon be out of office. Two were defeated in the September primary, and Duncan withdrew from an uphill battle to become governor.

Ignoring the Law
Voter disaffection with developer-financed campaigns was heightened by the discovery of an unprecedented number of violations of approved building plans. In the past year or so, the Planning Board found noncompliance in seven projects including the notorious Clarksburg mess. Five other projects violated the Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit laws. Details of these violations were researched and documented in a report by MCCF’s Planning and Land Use Committee (available at www.montgomerycivic.org, "Site Plan Enforcement Study" .

Slower Growth
The voters also seemed to respond to the call by Ike Leggett and others for a slower rate of growth to allow public infrastructure to catch up. There were 719 classroom trailers in schoolyards throughout the county in June, some of which had been in place for more than a dozen years. And a Park and Planning study (June 2006) showed that one of every five county intersections with traffic signals has more traffic than can be accommodated during weekday rush hours. Such inadequacies belie the claim by the End Gridlock Council that new “development impact taxes” would generate sufficient revenue to provide needed schools, roads and transit improvements. It is well known that the average new development actually costs the county money for additional roads, schools, police and social services for at least one decade after the projects are built. To paraphrase a 2003 Planning Board report, we should implement the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance by using a definition of “adequate” that conforms with the reasonable expectations of most county residents.

A Convergence of Forces
The debacle in Clarksburg exposed the developer-friendly culture in Park and Planning and the Council Council. Four years of research and publicity by Neighbors for a Better Montgomery, correlating campaign contributions with permissive development policies and relaxed regulations had its impact. Daily doses of increased traffic congestion and school overcrowding amplified an aggressive campaign by the teachers union (MCEA) for the candidates endorsed by the Apple Ballot. Lack of a Duncan-led pro-development slate hurt rapid growth candidates. All this combined with a nationwide anti-incumbent mood to create the conditions for switching the Endless Gridlock 6-3 pro-growth Council into what appears will be a 5-4 slow, sustainable and smart growth Council.