By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 7, 2006

It has been a week of transition for county government, as a few newcomers took office, and many more incumbents patted themselves on the back for getting reelected.

On Monday morning, County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and the nine members of the County Council took the oath of office before an audience of several hundred at Upper Marlboro's Show Place Arena. Johnson, the county's sixth executive, and seven of nine council members were incumbents taking the oath for the second time.

Newcomers Ingrid M. Turner (D-Bowie), a former Navy judge advocate general, and Sierra Club official Eric C. Olson (D-College Park) were sworn in for their first terms.

The joint swearing-in was notable for a council and an executive who have tussled over the past four years. In their speeches, Johnson and council Chairman Thomas E. Dernoga (D-Laurel) promised to cooperate to tackle the county's problems over the next four years.

Dernoga said the council and Johnson have reason to be proud of the past four years, but he also suggested that both could do a better job -- and suggested that citizens could do a better job of demanding so. "The citizens of this county should demand better from us, and I challenge my colleagues on the council to join me in this next four years to give the citizens the best legislative body in the state of Maryland," Dernoga said.

Turning to Johnson, Dernoga said, "You have served this county well, and you can point to numerous areas of success, but we have faith you can do even better. The citizens of this county should demand better from you, and I challenge you to be the best County Executive in the state of Maryland."

For his part, Johnson did not deny that he and the council have not always agreed. But he said the disputes have been part of "constructive debate."

"Constructive debate should not be seen as divisive because clashes of ideas are the very process of democracy," he said.

On Monday night, the council and Johnson came together again to celebrate their elections in style at a black-tie ball at the arena. Guests, who paid $100 each to attend, were greeted by entertainers who wore red, white and blue costumes and reached down from stilts to shake hands. Nearby, a wigged woman in tights struck acrobatic poses on a small platform.

Onstage, two live acts performed and WUSA Channel 9 executive J.C. Hayward served as mistress of ceremonies. Part of the live entertainment was the Temptations Review, a singing group featuring Dennis Edwards, the last living member of the original Temptations.

In an ebullient mood, Johnson greeted guests from the stage, telling his supporters that they would "have a great four years together," before instructing them to "take your shoes off, and get ready to party!"

On Tuesday, it was time for a change in the council leadership. Camille A. Exum (D-Seat Pleasant) was elected the body's new chairman by her colleagues, replacing Dernoga; David Harrington (D-Cheverly) was elected vice chairman.

"As has become our tradition," Exum said, upon assuming the job, "this council will continue to strive to speak truth to power and act in a collective voice."

Thomas R. Hendershot (D-New Carrollton), whose second and final term as a county council member ended last week, may be under investigation by the state prosecutor for his use of a county credit card, but he pulled no punches at his last public meeting before leaving office.

The council member was forced from office by term limits. Before stepping down, he gave a rousing address Tuesday, decrying divisions within the county. Never shy about acknowledging his own desire for publicity, he even instructed a group of students and their parents who had been attending the meeting to stay in the room to hear his words. ("The worst thing for a politician is to lose his audience," he announced after asking the teenagers, who were streaming from the room after the completion of their agenda item, to sit back down.)

Quoting Robert F. Kennedy, Hendershot appealed for more love, less hate in society, more unity, less division. Hendershot, who is white, criticized white county residents who fled Prince George's as its black population grew, as well as African American residents who have moved after the arrival of African and Latino immigrants in their neighborhoods. He slammed people of all races who, he said, have found wealth and retreated behind the walls of gated communities.

The line that caused the most eyebrows to rise, however, was his citing "political slate-makers" in the county as one cause of division.

He accused such people of recently shutting out "a well-respected, well-educated, well-experienced, successful, incumbent only because she is white."

This was an apparent reference to the recent Democratic primary battle between incumbent Register of Wills Lynn L. Skerpon, who is white, and sheriff's office official Cereta Lee, who is black. For the past four years, Skerpon has been the only white person to hold a countywide office. Several black senators backed Lee for the job, however, and she won handily. "That was flat-out wrong," Hendershot said, "contrary to the kind of people we're supposed to try to be."

The comment drew a couple whistles from the crowd, but Hendershot, who has been fixture on the county scene for years, was generally applauded nevertheless at the conclusion of his remarks. Afterward, he said he has not ruled out a return to elective office.