By Manuel Perez-Rivas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 6, 1997; Page B01

With former U.S. Senate candidate Ruthann Aron locked behind bars for nearly two months on charges that she planned two murders, the Montgomery County Council voted swiftly and unanimously yesterday to strip her of her $18,500-a-year seat on the county Planning Board.

The council members did not act because Aron is accused of trying to kill her husband, or because she is also accused of later planning to hire someone to kill him and another man. Neither did they act because her lawyer says Aron is mentally unfit and in need of a long stay at a psychiatric hospital.

No, they said, the problem is that she can't leave her jail cell to attend Planning Board meetings.

The action took less than five minutes and came without debate. Three council members commented on the sadness of the occasion as well as on the public benefit of removing Aron. The vote was by a show of hands, 8 to 0. One member was absent.

Absence is what it was all about. With a member who could not participate, the Planning Board would have to limp along indefinitely with only four of its five members.

"This is -- I'm sure I speak for all of us -- a rather difficult and sad occasion, that we have to take the kind of action we're taking today," said council member Isiah Leggett (D-At Large) as he made the motion to remove Aron. "I think, unfortunately, in the public's interest, it is our strong responsibility to act accordingly."

Council President Marilyn Praisner (D-Eastern County) said: "This has been a very painful process for all of us. But given the situation that we find ourselves in, and given the legal ability or authority that we have or do not have, there really is, in the best interests of the county, no alternative."

The vote came after a month of court challenges by Aron's attorneys, who tried to scuttle the council's efforts. Three courts rejected the defense's attempts to stop the council from holding the public hearing needed before Aron could be ousted.

A lawsuit challenging the county's authority to remove Aron from the Planning Board is pending in Circuit Court.

"I guess we'll have to proceed with that case," Barry Helfand, Aron's defense attorney, said yesterday, adding that he, too, was saddened by the vote. Helfand and Aron's other attorneys have argued that the action violates their client's right to a fair trial and that the Planning Board can get by with four members until the case is resolved.

Helfand noted yesterday that he had read last week that the Securities and Exchange Commission has lacked a full complement of five members for about three years.

"If the Securities and Exchange Commission can go without a fifth member since 1994," he said, "I believe the Montgomery County Planning Board can go without a fifth member for a few months."

Council members said the board's zoning work is too demanding and important for the board to be effective with a prolonged absence from one of its members. And the county, they noted, is facing a series of key development issues, including the proposed intercounty connector highway and amendments to the Friendship Heights sector plan.

Now, the council will try to fill the vacancy. A half-dozen people have expressed interest in the position, one of two seats on the board that are allotted to Republicans. Among the names mentioned by county sources are Allison Bryant, a member of the county Board of Appeals, and Catherine Titus, a former aide to council member Betty Ann Krahnke (R-Potomac-Bethesda). The appointment will be made by the County Council.

County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) said he believed the council made the right move yesterday. Yet Duncan said he feels the county should seek to change state law to allow for an alternate member to the Planning Board.

"In the long term, we need to change the situation," Duncan said. "But we didn't have an alternative now, and the council acted appropriately."