Prince George's County pays its representative to the Metro board of directors as much as $100,000 a year, about five times the stipends received by Metro directors from other jurisdictions.
Marcell Solomon, a Greenbelt lawyer, holds a personal services contract with the county for as much as $100,000 a year to represent Prince George's on the Metro board and advise County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) on transit matters.
That compensation dwarfs stipends received by the other 11 Metro board members, whose payments range from zero for representatives of the District of Columbia and Alexandria to about $22,000 for those from Arlington, Fairfax and Montgomery counties and the state of Maryland.
Prince George's has paid its representative on the board far more than other members since 1991, when former governor Parris N. Glendening (D) was county executive. Glendening appointed to the post John P. Davey, a lawyer, lobbyist and longtime friend who was Glendening's chief of staff and later his chief administrative officer. His contract paid as much as $100,000 a year.
Davey served on the Metro board for 12 years, under Glendening and former county executive Wayne K. Curry (D). When Davey stepped down last year, Johnson appointed Solomon to the post under the same payment terms.
Solomon, who attended the same South Carolina college as Johnson and has served as his personal attorney and confidante, said he works about 15 hours a week in his capacity as a Metro board member and transit adviser to Johnson. In the last fiscal year, Solomon submitted bills to the county totaling $91,543 for that work, according to Jim Keary, Johnson's spokesman.
"It's amazing that The Washington Post hasn't explored this in the past," said Keary, when asked why the Prince George's representative is paid so much more than his counterparts on the Metro board. "And we question the motive of looking into it during this administration."
This year has been an especially difficult one for Metro and its customers. Service was disrupted many times because of equipment breakdowns and construction, and a train crash on the Red Line last month slowed travel for days. Meanwhile, the transit agency has been appealing to its local government sponsors for a consistent source of revenue to maintain and expand the system.
That focused additional attention on how Metro is managed and how it spends money. When the board held its first town hall-style meeting last month, board members and senior staff members fielded many questions from the public about their performance. A Post survey of board members showed that none uses the transit system daily and that some ride the trains and buses rarely.
The amount of compensation for the Prince George's representative was news to several Metro board members, who said privately they were stunned to learn one of their colleagues receives up to six figures while some of them receive nothing. The board members declined to comment publicly, saying it would violate decorum to comment on the pay of another member.
Solomon is actually an alternate member to the board and can act only when the voting member from Prince George's, Charles Deegan, is absent. Deegan was named to the post by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and as a gubernatorial appointee gets $22,000 a year as a stipend. The 12-member Metro board comprises two voting members and two alternates from each of the three jurisdictions served by Metro: Virginia, Maryland and the District.
Montgomery's representatives, Robert J. Smith and Gordon Linton, were appointed by the governor and the county executive, respectively. Two of the District's members are appointed by the mayor and two by the D.C. Council. Arlington and Fairfax governments appoint their members, and the Alexandria mayor appoints a member.
In addition to representing the county on the Metro board, Solomon said he acts as Johnson's "point person on transit." He said he attends community meetings and gives Johnson advice about ways to attract development around Metro stations.
Prince George's has a transportation department that is overseen by Alfonso N. Cornish, a deputy chief administrative officer in the Johnson administration. One of Cornish's duties is to increase development in the county, including near Metro sites.
