Council's Holiday Skit Pokes Fun at Own Efforts

By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 20, 2007

In the spirit of the season, we bring you snippets from the County Council's hush-hush annual holiday skit. For more than two decades, the council's staff has penned parodies of the year's initiatives with council members serving as beholden actors, learning of their roles only as they change into costume.

Past themes have included "Star Wars," "Saturday Night Fever" and last year's, "Happy Days," with council members Marc Elrich (D-At Large) and Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda) dressed in drag as Laverne and Shirley. When County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) was on the council, he was cast as Indiana Jones and John Travolta.

This year's skit, performed last week at the council building in Rockville, was a take on "It's a Wonderful Life," set in the made-up town of "Clarksburg-ville." There were playful digs at some of the council's efforts to ban trans fats in restaurants, study producing biodiesel fuel from restaurant grease, require nutritional information on chain restaurant menus and allow more deer hunting in the county.

One of the more memorable skits involved art imitating life. Council member George Leventhal (D-At Large) plays the role of a taxi driver whose cab hits a deer. Leventhal hops out, shoots the deer with a rifle and exclaims, "I love this job." In real life, Leventhal survived a November collision with a deer on the Capital Beltway.

The hero of the "It's a Wonderful Life" skit was newly elected council President Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty) in the role of George Bailey. The villain, wealthy Henry Potter, who wants to take over the town, was played by council member Nancy Floreen (D-At Large). The duo sang a version of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" from "Annie Get Your Gun." The two characters one-up each other about better planning and building wider roads.

Floreen: "All the restaurant doormats will praise the joys of trans-fats."

Knapp: "I will end the deer kills with contraceptive salt pills."

Floreen: "I will pave all parklands with undocumented work bands."

Knapp: "Under my direction, we'll spread sex education."

The skit was briefly interrupted by a mock advertisement for "Tasty Trans-Fat Super Tofu Burgers." The ad warned that prices may be slightly higher in Clarksburg-ville due to "nutritional labeling requirements."

Berliner played a bartender in a tuxedo, Elrich was a pharmacist and council member Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring) was an angel.

Council member Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At Large), as George Bailey's daughter, inquired, in a nod to the biodiesel initiative and Montgomery's reputation for government regulation: "Now I hear that all cars must run on french fry oil. Does that mean we all have a quota of french fries to eat every day?"

Transgender Law Opposed

Opponents of the council's initiative to prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals are seeking to overturn the law through a referendum. The group has until Feb. 16 to collect more than 25,000 signatures from registered voters to place the measure on the ballot in November.

Leading opponents include members of the group Citizens for Responsible Curriculum, who also battled the public school system's sex education curriculum. Ruth Jacobs is president of the offshoot group, which is calling itself Maryland Citizens for Responsible Government.

The group contends that the language in the gender identity law is so vague that it would allow biological males who identify as female to use women's restrooms and women's locker rooms. The group also sought exemptions for religious schools in their hiring practices.

"This is a bad law all around and should be repealed," said group spokeswoman Michelle Turner.

In addition to Montgomery County, 13 states, the District, Baltimore and 90 local jurisdictions have passed protections for transgender people. In cities with similar laws on the books, government officials said fears of people abusing the law to gain entry into private facilities were unfounded.

The bill, sponsored by council member Duchy Trachtenberg, was unanimously approved by the council and signed into law by Leggett, who said he was convinced that the measure addressed the concerns of opponents about private areas such as bathrooms and locker rooms.

New House Member

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) is scheduled to swear in the newest member of the General Assembly this afternoon in the House chamber. Al Carr, a Kensington Town Council member, succeeds District 18 Democrat Jane Lawton, who died last month of an apparent heart attack.

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signed off Tuesday on the appointment by the county's Democratic Central Committee.

District 18 includes Chevy Chase, Silver Spring and Kensington.