It's Edwards in a Landslide

By Rosalind S. Helderman and Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Some final local notes on last week's election.

Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D) was reelected to Congress last week with 85.8 percent of the vote, according to an early and informal count, giving her the widest margin of victory in Maryland's 4th Congressional District since 2000.

Edwards was first elected in a June special election after defeating longtime Democratic incumbent Rep. Albert R. Wynn in the February primary. With her win last week, she will be sworn in for a full two-year term in January.

The extra months, which she gained after Wynn chose to resign rather than waiting around to bequeath the seat to Edwards, ensures she will have seniority over other new members of Congress elected this month.

She walloped Republican Peter James, who had run a low-key campaign that mostly consisted of a few visits to Metro stops and a single campaign event with libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) The event took place in the District.

It is hardly surprising, then, that Edwards swamped the vote in a Democratic wave year featuring a popular presidential candidate on the ballot. She took 95 percent of the vote in her Prince George's County precincts, which make up two-thirds of her district, and won a not-too-shabby 71 percent of the vote in Montgomery County. Those numbers are likely to change a bit in final tallies, as provisional and absentee ballots are sorted.

"For the first time in a long time, voters throughout my district and the country are energized about the hope and possibilities of the future," Edwards said in a statement after the election. "With President-elect Barack Obama and greater Democratic majorities in Congress, I am excited about the opportunities that await to forge a new path for our nation's future by addressing our economic crisis, safely and responsibly ending the war in Iraq, providing quality, affordable health care to all, and investing in our nation's infrastructure, which will also create jobs."

Voters' Skepticism Of Taxes Continues

Prince Georgians continued their famously skeptical stance on new taxes in last week's election.

County voters didn't just oppose a ballot initiative that would have raised the tax on phone bills from 8 percent to 11 percent. They practically ripped up their ballots and stamped on the pieces over the issue.

An astounding 71 percent of county voters opposed the measure, even though ballot language assured voters the new revenue would have gone to education. An even higher percentage opposed the measure than backed ballot initiatives in the 1990s that required tax increases, such as the telephone tax proposal, be submitted to voters for approval on Election Day.

The striking defeat came despite fairly vocal support for the proposal by the county's Board of Education and County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D). Voters seemed to differentiate the proposal from other ballot questions asking them to allow the county to take on debt to build schools and other government buildings. Voters approved five initiatives that will allow the county to borrow a total of $361.8 million to build libraries, community college facilities, public works, public safety buildings and other county installations.

"That says to me that people knew what they were voting for, they had educated themselves," said anti-tax activist Judy Robinson, who had led the 1996 effort to require tax increases to get voter approval. "I think people literally said, 'This far and no farther.' "

In an amusing moment two days after the election, Robinson was honored by the Prince George's Civic Federation, the activist group she once led. The award? A certificate signed by Johnson, who she said just days earlier had accused her of meddling with county tax revenue in a debate on NewsChannel 8. The award was presented by a top Johnson aide, Floyd Wilson, who was pushed from the County Council after Robinson led a successful effort to introduce term limits for local officials.

"I thought the irony of it was absolutely fantastic," she said.

Robinson said she was pleased that neither man seemed to feel that their political differences with her had to become personal.

"I think Jack was very gracious to do it, and Floyd Wilson was even more gracious to come in and give it to me personally," she said.

Fee Increase to Fight Domestic Violence

The County Council voted last week to raise local marriage fees to provide new funding to fight domestic violence.

In legislation approved Nov. 5, the council agreed to raise the fee from $40 to $65, to generate an estimated $75,000 in new funding each year for programs. The county also receives a portion of the state's $10 fee on marriage licenses.

The bill was sponsored by council member Ingrid Turner (D-Bowie) who said in a statement that the worsening economy will lead to a spike in domestic violence as families struggle to pay bills.

"It is important to get out in front of this issue and take a proactive approach to address it," she said.

School Search Group Also Found Hornsby

The Prince George's County Board of Education chose the Maryland Association of Boards of Education to aid its search for a new superintendent, the organization that found Andre J. Hornsby, the former schools chief who was convicted of wire fraud, evidence tampering and obstruction of justice in July.

School board members have been tight-lipped about the process of finding a replacement for John E. Deasy, who will be stepping down as superintendent at the end of this month and leaving early next year for a job with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. All discussion of the search has taken place in closed session, and the only member who would comment on the issue is the board's chairman, Verjeana M. Jacobs (At Large).

"The board voted to reach out to MABE, which is the state group, but the parameters of their work haven't been chosen yet," Jacobs said Monday night. She said the board would "bear down" on the issue at a meeting scheduled for this afternoon.

MABE, a private nonprofit organization to which all school boards in the state voluntarily belong, is a controversial pick in some circles because during the search for a superintendent in 2003, it included Hornsby in a list of candidates forwarded to the previous, state-appointed school board.

Judy Mickens-Murray, a member of that board who voted against hiring Hornsby, said turning to MABE in the current search made some sense -- it is a homegrown organization familiar with Maryland and Prince George's -- but she also was wary of the decision, based on past experience.

"When I look at the group that MABE brought up, I ask myself, 'How did Hornsby make that cut?' " she said. "We can't keep having collateral damage with children because adults can't get it right."

Jacobs noted that problems can arise in such hiring efforts.

"I'm sure you can look at any search firm across the country, and they chose someone who didn't work out," Jacobs said, adding that the board had chosen MABE unanimously.

Jacobs also said that the board had received positive feedback for the only publicly declared candidate for the superintendent's position so far: William R. Hite Jr., Deasy's deputy.

"I can say that there seems to be some energy around him, and we want to reach out to the community even more," Jacobs said.

Regardless of the board's decision, Hite will have his chance at the reins soon: He takes office as interim superintendent Dec. 1.