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Leggett's Victory May Signal a Shift To Ease Growth
Teacher Isiah Leggett is greeted by his Howard University law school students with a huge "congratulations" for winning the Democratic primary for Montgomery County executive.
(Photos By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)
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"I think it's clear that the council will move in that direction and maybe by an overwhelming margin," he said.
Leggett said yesterday he would seek to convince the council to restore building restrictions that it loosened three years ago. That year, the council increased impact taxes but eliminated a traffic-review standard that restrained construction, effectively lifting building moratoriums in some areas.
A new slow-growth majority on the council would have the votes to implement Leggett's plan.
"You have to respect the will of the people," Leggett said. "It would be irresponsible to deny what I consider to be such a clear mandate from the citizens."
Tractenberg said: "It would seem to me the majority of the people elected yesterday are probably supportive of that idea."
In assessing the election, Leventhal said Elrich and Trachtenberg benefited from the message they shared with Leggett. But he played down the importance of the issue of growth in the election. Leggett, he said, was a formidable candidate even before he took up the slower-growth mantle.
Sen. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery) agreed that voters were drawn to Leggett's personal story of rising from a childhood of poverty in Louisiana and his long history in the community with 16 years on the council. He compared Leggett to former president Bill Clinton, in that he is difficult to pin down ideologically, but able to talk to everybody on every side on an issue.
"This is a guy who everybody likes," Frosh said. "I don't think Steve Silverman lost because he was too this or not enough of that. I think he lost because he ran against Ike Leggett."
The challenge for Leggett, if he prevails in November, said former planning board chairman Gus Bauman, is to translate his talent for massaging divergent viewpoints into consensus in the chief executive's role.
"When you're the executive, at the end of the day you have to make certain decisions that make some people unhappy," Bauman said. "The trick will be to continue to be the great dealmaker that he is, and be able to convince the folks he's leading that this is a good deal for everybody."
