By Ann Marimow and Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 21, 2006

Fresh from losing the Republican primary for state comptroller, Montgomery school board member Stephen N. Abrams is talking with local Republican leaders about the possibility of running for an at-large County Council seat in November.

Abrams sees an opportunity to attract Democrats and independent voters with a message of moderation.

"Parties are terrific in terms of riling up activists, but most good decision making gets done in the center," he said, sounding every bit the candidate.

But it's hardly a done deal. Abrams says he's willing to run, but first one of the four at-large GOP nominees would have to step aside. The Republican Central Committee would then have to vote to allow Abrams to fill the vacancy. And, Abrams said, he wants to assess his financial and political viability.

When asked about the chance that Abrams would replace one of the GOP candidates, Republican Central Committee Chairman Tom Reinheimer confirmed the discussions but said "nothing is settled."

With 10 years on the school board and nine on Rockville City Council, Reinheimer said, Abrams "could bring some strength to the ticket and help us get a Republican elected."

"Steve clearly has some things going for him, so it could present an opportunity," Reinheimer said.

In addition to Reinheimer, the Republican at-large nominees are Adol T. Owen-Williams II , Shelly Skolnick and Amber Gnemi .

Winning at large as a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic county would be a challenge -- something council member Howard A. Denis (R-Potomac-Bethesda) and former council member Betty Ann Krahnke were unable to do in past elections.

But Abrams is not one to shy from a challenge. It was his lawsuit and appeal that knocked council member Tom Perez (D-Silver Spring) off the ballot for attorney general.

If Isiah Leggett , the Democratic nominee for county executive, takes over the job in December, he will have the prerogative to replace dozens of department and agency directors, some deputies and four top aides known as special assistants.

One of County Executive Douglas M. Duncan 's senior aides, Jerry Pasternak , was spotted at Leggett's election night celebration. His appearance sparked speculation about whether Pasternak was hoping to stay on after the changing of the guard. No word from Pasternak.

One department head who has served for nearly all of Duncan's tenure has already announced his departure. County Attorney Charles W. Thompson Jr. will become executive director and general counsel of the District-based International Municipal Lawyers Association, a nonprofit group of local government lawyers, in December.

In a statement, Duncan (D) praised Thompson for doing "an outstanding job" as "a leader and public administrator." He announced that Deputy County Attorney Marc Hansen would serve as acting county attorney.

Members of the Montgomery County Education Association, which represents about 11,000 teachers in Maryland's largest school system, are used to giving out report cards. With the union broadening its efforts in the political arena, last week's primary offers an opportunity to see how the union scored.

In August, MCEA formed its own political action committee. Although it still supports education-friendly candidates through its affiliation with the Maryland State Teachers Association, its members can channel their efforts more directly to local races through the PAC, the Montgomery County Education Association Fund for Quality Schools.

In the reporting period that began Aug. 16 and ended Sept. 1, the PAC had collected about $7,000. The money came from County Council President George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) and school board candidate Judy Docca , both of whom were endorsed by the union. The union sent fliers featuring its "apple ballots" to households across Montgomery County and displayed signs at Metro stations.

So how did the union do?

MCEA-endorsed candidates won all but one race. The exception: the closely fought Democratic primary for the state Senate in District 20, between longtime incumbent Ida G. Ruben and challenger Jamie Ra skin , a law professor at American University. Raskin won.

Rockville City Council member Bob Dorsey said Monday that his loss in the County Council primary to incumbent Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville) was "suspicious" and he believes there may have been election tampering.

"I just don't see any other explanation," Dorsey said of the lopsided outcome in which Andrews won with 76 percent of the vote. Those votes don't include provisional ballots.

Having seen a widely publicized simulation of a tampered election, in which Benedict Arnold defeats George Washington after electronic voting, Dorsey said his race seemed similar.

"Benedict Arnold's margin of victory was surprisingly like my margin of loss," Dorsey said. "There was too much in my case parallel with the contrived results."

He added that people closest to him said that he had been "robbed."

Dorsey brought up his suspicions after Mayor Larry Giammo announced during Monday's City Council meeting that he no longer would support the electronic voting system for use in Rockville.

Andrews said he was a little surprised.

"If Mr. Dorsey had bothered to look at the absentee ballot results, which are cast on paper ballots, he would have found that the margin among the absentee ballots was the same as on the machines. That would strongly suggest to anyone looking at it that there was an accurate tabulation of the votes."

Andrews defeated in Dorsey in 2002 as well.

Staff writer Aruna Jain contributed to this report.