Elections To Bring Change At the Top

Montgomery County residents will have more than 100 candidates to choose from in races as hotly contested as the one for county executive and as low-key as the one for register of wills when they head to the polls for the Sept. 12 primary.

Whatever the outcome, residents are sure to see a major shift in leadership for the first time in years.

A top position to be filled is that of county executive, a job that has belonged to Douglas M. Duncan (D) for the past 12 years. Duncan recently dropped his bid to become governor to pursue treatment for depression.

The two leading candidates to succeed him are County Council member Steven Silverman (D-At Large) and former council member Isiah "Ike" Leggett (D), who also is a past chairman of the state Democratic Party. They are running in the most expensive county executive race to date. Silverman has raised $1.9 million, while Leggett has collected $770,000.

Both candidates say their priorities are reducing traffic congestion, providing more affordable housing and maintaining good schools. They differ most in their views on growth, which has become one of the most important issues in the campaign, with many residents complaining that the county has become overdeveloped and overburdened with traffic.

Leggett believes the county should slow construction to unclog roads and relieve crowding in schools. He has questioned the county's ability to manage growth and rein in developers, pointing to the discovery of building violations in the northern Montgomery town of Clarksburg last year.

"You have to in my opinion address the transportation needs and, more importantly, fund them, and you also have to slow the rate of growth," he said.

In recent weeks, Silverman, who chairs the council committee in charge of land-use policies, has tried to steer the debate away from the issue. Much like Duncan, Silverman has always been business-friendly and pro-development. While acknowledging voters' concerns that the county has grown too much, Silverman argues that building fewer homes will not reduce traffic. Building more roads and mass transit will, he said.

"I think people in this county are fundamentally against traffic," Silverman said. "They're not against job opportunities and housing for families. People in downtown Silver Spring are thrilled about the new housing opportunities for young people, the new retail and shops that are there. They just want to make sure they can get around."

Joining Silverman and Leggett in the Democratic primary is Robert Raymond Fustero, a former grocery store clerk who ran for governor four years ago and managed to capture 20 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary against Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

The winner of the Democratic primary will proceed to the Nov. 7 general election, where he will face Republican Chuck Floyd, a former State Department employee best known for his affiliation with the Minuteman Project, a national anti-illegal-immigration group. Running as an independent is perennial candidate and anti-tax activist Robin Ficker, a lawyer. Both candidates say they want to change the status quo, which they describe as a culture of coziness between elected officials and developers.

Many of the 33 candidates for County Council are sounding similar themes. All nine seats are up for grabs, with seven of the nine council members seeking reelection.