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| Robin Ficker, Nancy Floreen, and Marc Elrich at October 8 forum at Beth Tzedek Synagogue |
Post Endorsement
When it comes to the Montgomery County Executive race, the Washington Post Editorial Board appears to be living in a world of magical thinking. In endorsing Independent candidate (and present member of the County Council) Nancy Floreen, it says that there are only “two plausible candidates,” Ms. Floreen and Democratic nominee (and present member of the County Council) Marc Elrich. See here. The Post dismisses the Republican nominee, Robin Ficker, as “rabble rouser notorious for heckling at Washington Wizards games, as well as for repeated disciplinary actions taken against him by Maryland’s Court of Appeals.” True, but Mr. Ficker is no less credible as a candidate than previous Republican nominees, who had far less name recognition. And in recent elections, every Republican candidate has received one-third or more of the vote. So, in a three-way race, unless Marc Elrich swamps Nancy Floreen or visa versa, Mr. Ficker suddenly becomes a plausible victor.
When it comes to the Montgomery County Executive race, the Washington Post Editorial Board appears to be living in a world of magical thinking. In endorsing Independent candidate (and present member of the County Council) Nancy Floreen, it says that there are only “two plausible candidates,” Ms. Floreen and Democratic nominee (and present member of the County Council) Marc Elrich. See here. The Post dismisses the Republican nominee, Robin Ficker, as “rabble rouser notorious for heckling at Washington Wizards games, as well as for repeated disciplinary actions taken against him by Maryland’s Court of Appeals.” True, but Mr. Ficker is no less credible as a candidate than previous Republican nominees, who had far less name recognition. And in recent elections, every Republican candidate has received one-third or more of the vote. So, in a three-way race, unless Marc Elrich swamps Nancy Floreen or visa versa, Mr. Ficker suddenly becomes a plausible victor.
In reality, the Post is, in effect, gambling on the premise that Nancy (here in Montgomery County, we tend to identify our elected officials by their first names) will be able to use the wealthy business interest money backing her candidacy to overwhelm Marc, who limited himself to public financing. But Marc's near-universal Democratic Party and enthusiastic grassroots support make that scenario extremely unlikely. There is a distinct possibility that Nancy's candidacy could result in a close three-way race in which Montgomery County wakes up on November with a hangover that will rival the one experienced in 2016.
I attended a County Executive Candidate forum last Monday.
Mr. Ficker alternated between standard Republican talking points about taxes being too high and going off into never-never land in his attacks on both Marc and Nancy -- but mostly on Marc. Mr. Ficker is just as off-the-rails as he has been his entire political career, as I explained last month, when I reviewed Nancy's support from a developer group calling itself County Above Party. See here.
Nancy presented her self as a "mainstream" Democrat, effectively pretending that this is a re-do of the primary, in which her viewpoint on the influence of developer money did not prevail. She did display a reasonable understanding of the issues that do not divide her and Marc. Indeed, the only sharp difference that emerged is whether to accept at face value what developers want (essentially her position), or whether to be far more skeptical, as Marc. Marc has shown himself to be a practical, progressive problem solver. And at the forum, he once again showed a thoughtful, detailed understanding of the issues that face the community. That is why I voted for him in the primary, and why I enthusiastically support him now.
Nevertheless, most people do not attend campaign forums, and the pro-Floreen advertisements, funded almost entirely by the developers and unfairly attacking Marc as a "dangerous radical," are flooding the airwaves. Indeed, while I see more and more Elrich yard signs in front of people's homes, I see huge Floreen signs in shopping centers and other large business operations. A Floreen victory would be unfortunate, but a Ficker plurality victory would be a disaster for the County.
Ike Leggett's endorsement of Marc Elrich for County Executive
For the last 12 years, Ike Leggett has been our County Executive. In some ways he has been a bridge between the business interests who achieved influence during the Doug Duncan years as Executive (1998-2006) and those who are more skeptical of business influence. Now we have a choice between those two approaches. It is telling that after the primary, Ike immediately endorsed Marc. (Note: That Ike's endorsement was not a reflexive party unity step is illustrated by his reluctance to endorse Democratic primary victor Ben Jealous for governor. See here. I favor Jealous, but Ike's approach certainly should put the lie to the "dangerous radical" label that the developer interests seek to attach to Marc.)
Mr. Ficker alternated between standard Republican talking points about taxes being too high and going off into never-never land in his attacks on both Marc and Nancy -- but mostly on Marc. Mr. Ficker is just as off-the-rails as he has been his entire political career, as I explained last month, when I reviewed Nancy's support from a developer group calling itself County Above Party. See here.
Nancy presented her self as a "mainstream" Democrat, effectively pretending that this is a re-do of the primary, in which her viewpoint on the influence of developer money did not prevail. She did display a reasonable understanding of the issues that do not divide her and Marc. Indeed, the only sharp difference that emerged is whether to accept at face value what developers want (essentially her position), or whether to be far more skeptical, as Marc. Marc has shown himself to be a practical, progressive problem solver. And at the forum, he once again showed a thoughtful, detailed understanding of the issues that face the community. That is why I voted for him in the primary, and why I enthusiastically support him now.
Nevertheless, most people do not attend campaign forums, and the pro-Floreen advertisements, funded almost entirely by the developers and unfairly attacking Marc as a "dangerous radical," are flooding the airwaves. Indeed, while I see more and more Elrich yard signs in front of people's homes, I see huge Floreen signs in shopping centers and other large business operations. A Floreen victory would be unfortunate, but a Ficker plurality victory would be a disaster for the County.
Ike Leggett's endorsement of Marc Elrich for County Executive
For the last 12 years, Ike Leggett has been our County Executive. In some ways he has been a bridge between the business interests who achieved influence during the Doug Duncan years as Executive (1998-2006) and those who are more skeptical of business influence. Now we have a choice between those two approaches. It is telling that after the primary, Ike immediately endorsed Marc. (Note: That Ike's endorsement was not a reflexive party unity step is illustrated by his reluctance to endorse Democratic primary victor Ben Jealous for governor. See here. I favor Jealous, but Ike's approach certainly should put the lie to the "dangerous radical" label that the developer interests seek to attach to Marc.)
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