Facing those challenges, Mr. Baker (D) has had some real achievements. Chief among them has been his success is sending the message, in word and deed, that Prince George’s is serious about getting its ethical house in order. Mr. Baker has appointed generally top-notch and experienced people to key jobs, with an emphasis on competence rather than personal loyalty. He pushed a package of Prince George’s-specific ethics bills through the legislature — not quite as strong as he would have liked but a definite improvement. He is moving to fulfill campaign promises to establish an inspector general’s office, as well as a so-called Countystat program — modeled on ones used by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) when he was mayor of Baltimore and former mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) in the District, and designed to measure each agency’s performance.
He established an advisory task force on accountability and integrity, led by former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke (D), which endorsed Mr. Baker’s call for an inspector general and urged the county to beef up its ethics board and establish a hotline for citizens to report waste and fraud.
Mr. Baker has moved deliberately to reorient government with new department and agency chiefs. In some ways, he has had a transition period lasting seven months — too slow for some but sensible given the bad habits ingrained. Although he has not yet officially named a permanent chief administrative officer, he has made no secret that it will be Bradford Seamon, a highly respected manager (and treasurer of Mr. Baker’s campaign) with extensive private-sector experience who is getting top marks for the work he has done in county government so far.
Mr. Baker has had substantial, if partial, success in the initiatives he has undertaken in education and economic development, his top priorities. He used his connections and solid reputation in Annapolis, where he once served as a legislator, to restore $20 million in funding for schools in the face of state cutbacks. That enabled the county to avoid several hundred layoffs that would have spared veteran teachers, regardless of skill, while costing the schools young and promising teachers. That was a big win. On economic development, Mr. Baker failed to win support from the County Council to establish a $50 million fund to lure businesses to Prince George’s, but the idea isn’t dead; he is likely to raise it again in the fall. If he does, he’d be wise to spend more time lobbying council members whose concerns that the fund would lack adequate oversight, valid or not, have to be taken into account.
In many ways, Prince George’s lost eight years, thanks to the ethically impaired, managerially inept administration of Mr. Baker’s predecessor, Jack B. Johnson. Mr. Baker is playing catch-up — culling agencies, rewriting rules, promising a new day. Some of this involves a commitment to show himself in public as an engaged and substantive leader; witness his pledge to visit one school every week during the academic year, chatting with teachers, administrators and students. But there is plenty more on Mr. Baker’s agenda, and much of it will involve heavy lifting: crafting a rescue for Prince George’s Hospital Center, kick-starting development near Metro stations and continuing to improve the school system, although there he lacks any direct managerial role.
Mr. Johnson, hoping to mask his shenanigans with boosterism, launched a public relations campaign, touting “Gorgeous Prince George’s” to all the world. Mr. Baker and his lieutenants understand that they don’t have the luxury for such froth. His efforts are substantive, and so far they are paying off.
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