Candidates for County Executive, Council Square Off at Forum

By Rosalind S. Helderman and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 3, 2006

Campaign season was in full swing in Prince George's County last week as candidates held fundraisers and events countywide and two nonpartisan groups held candidate forums.

On Wednesday, the county's branch of the NAACP and several fraternities and sororities sponsored a forum.

In the county executive race, former state delegate Rushern L. Baker III debated Michael D. Herman , who is Executive Jack B. Johnson 's chief of staff. Herman told the audience that Johnson was visiting his ailing mother in South Carolina. Baker is challenging Johnson in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary.

Baker and Herman offered classic challenger and incumbent fare. Herman argued that county residents are better off than they were four years ago, thanks to Johnson. Baker responded that Johnson is ignoring important problems and said it's time for change.

"When you look at the success of this county since 2002, truly this has been one of the most remarkable periods in the county's history," Herman said.

"If we're going to solve the problems we face in Prince George's County, we first of all have to admit that we do have problems," Baker said.

They sparred over crime: Is it going up? Is it going down? Why? And they clashed over Baker's legislative role in disbanding the elected school board in 2002 in favor of an appointed board whose members serve four-year terms. Herman revved up the crowd, some of them school board candidates, by saying that Baker's effort had taken away residents' right to vote.

Baker said that he knew the decision wasn't popular but that it was necessary to avoid a state takeover and secure new state money for schools.

The forum also featured dozens of men and women who are running for the County Council or are vying for nine school board seats. The former includes three council members running unopposed: Camille Exum (D-Seat Pleasant), Tony Knotts (D-Temple Hills) and Chairman Thomas E. Dernoga (D-Laurel), who made a pitch to the crowd in favor of the incumbents who are facing opponents. "What you have is a team you need to keep together," he told the audience.

There was feisty debate among candidates challenging incumbent Marilynn Bland (D-Clinton), with Marvin M. Silver of Upper Marlboro telling the crowd that Bland represents a "weak link on the team" and needs to be replaced. Bland, who faces five challengers, responded that she was running on her record. "I'm not just a politician. I'm a public servant," she said.

The most crowd-pleasing line of the night might have belonged to Florence Hendershot . The candidate for County Council is running to replace her husband, Thomas R. Hendershot (D-New Carrollton), who is stepping down because of term limits. Asserting that county leadership needs more female voices, she said: "It has been my experience that men win the elections, and then they appoint women to carry out their policies."

The crowd rewarded her with resounding applause and cheers.

Voting Rights Ceremony

Herman also represented the county at last Thursday's White House signing ceremony for the 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act.

The landmark 1960s civil rights legislation ensured access to the ballot box for millions of black voters. Its extension means that the U.S. Justice Department will continue to review any proposed changes to voting laws in several states.

Herman said he was honored to stand in for Johnson at the historic event.

"To see the extension of it, the reaffirmation of it, was a very powerful moment," he said. "The real luminaries of the civil rights movement were there. It was wonderful to be together arm in arm with them."

Those attending included NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and family members of the late Rosa Parks , Coretta Scott King and Fannie Lou Hamer . Hamer was beaten and jailed in 1962 for trying to register to vote in Mississippi.

Also present were Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Del. Herman L. Taylor II (D-Montgomery) and the Rev. Grainger Browning Jr. , pastor of the 10,000-member Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington.

"You really feel a sense of history being here today," Browning said as he took his seat on the South Lawn of the White House for the ceremony.

Hilary Shelton , Washington bureau chief of the NAACP, said the signing ceremony was special because so many people had laid politics aside.

"It means that something as fundamental as voting rights transcends normal politics on Capitol Hill," she said. "It means that there are times we can set aside political differences and address the needs and concerns of people."