Obey Your Media Overlords, Ike Legget!

You have to hand it to the editorialists at the WaPo; they get points for sheer nerve.

They run the following editorial (re. marching orders) directed at incoming County Executive Ike Legget, but commit the sin of omission. In this case, they omit virtually any concrete methods for addressing the Mr. Leggett's task at hand. Instead, they hide behind the usual vague and unspecific platitudes that fail to supply any useful steps for actually improving the situation. Apart from its obvious disingenuousness, it offers the WaPo cover to come back later when things don't go the way they had hoped, and say "we told you so." Read on:

Crunchtime for Mr. Leggett
He's got clout. Now he should use it.

Monday, December 4, 2006; A18

IN TERMS of political capital, Isiah "Ike" Leggett must qualify as a zillionaire. Having served 16 years on the Montgomery County Council while hardly making an enemy, he won the race for county executive last month in a landslide without breaking a sweat or raising his voice. The man has clout.

He'll need it. Many or most of the voters who gave the Democrat his mandate are expecting some quick and certain signal that business as usual must change in the county, especially when it comes to growth and development. At the same time, Mr. Leggett has the experience and smarts to understand that slamming the brakes on Montgomery's growth -- which in any event is modest by regional standards -- would be self-defeating; in particular, it could threaten both future revenue and the already paltry stock of affordable housing. For Mr. Leggett, who takes office next week, squaring that circle will be job No. 1.

Some 45 percent of Montgomery's land is set aside for a large agriculture reserve and for parks. Much of the remaining 55 percent is already built to capacity. Still, planners expect the county's population of some 930,000 people to swell to 1.1 million or more in the next 20 years. That growth, driven by a booming regional economy, will demand effective political management as well as a sound regulatory framework. For now, Mr. Leggett is talking about resurrecting growth controls that the county relaxed in 2003. Better procedures may be in order, but moratoriums make little sense and will only be self-defeating. Mr. Leggett must make clear to the public that, even with tighter controls and more public input, development is a fact and a net benefit to the county. (Where’s ANY mention of the fact that infrastructure simply failed to keep up with the development witnessed under “Developer” Doug Duncan’s watch? Where’s any mention of a specific method for addressing growth issues that the WaPo editorialists would like to see. No, they’d rather speak in vague generalities, then sharp-shoot later on when elected officials fail to meet the Post’s lofty-but-unstated methods for actually dealing with the effects of growth. The near-permanent state of gridlock on the area roads is a direct result of the county’s failure to meet growing demand for improvements in the transportation and social services areas when unchecked development was Duncan’s order of business.)

In addition to his landslide victory, Mr. Leggett starts with another important political edge: a political style so soft and soothing that his interlocutors are sometimes scarcely aware that he is not necessarily on their side. To that he will have to add and articulate a vision for the county and for making decisions in a headwind. Some early tests of his ability in that regard will come on schools and immigrants.

On schools, Mr. Leggett should show that he supports what has been an expensive but critical and ongoing project to close the achievement gap that has left too many African American and Latino students behind. Maintaining momentum for that project will take not just a budgetary commitment but also active public support from Mr. Leggett. (Why the Post choose to laser-in on racial and ethnic gaps, when school crowding and space limitations are an equally pressing concern is a mystery to me. When there’s 35 kids in a classroom, any race or ethnic group will suffer because a teacher simply can’t effectively control a group that large.)

He also faces an immediate challenge on the issue of decent treatment for immigrant workers from the city of Gaithersburg, which has refused to build a day-laborer center for dozens of its own residents whose work is clearly in demand locally. All eyes will be on Mr. Leggett to resolve what has become a venomous dispute between the county, which insists that Gaithersburg accommodate the workers, and the city, which remains recalcitrant. By acting firmly and soon to establish a center -- preferably within Gaithersburg's city limits -- Mr. Leggett can send an early signal that he is in charge. (This is hilarious to me. The Post says it’s those “immigrant workers from the city of Gaithersburg” who need help. Are they immigrants from Gaithersburg - who I guess are emigrating to Rockville or Silver Spring or Germantown!?!? – or are they ILLEGAL ALIENS who are demanding government and taxpayer-funded services? I think they’re referring to the later. In either case, The Post Media Overlords have spoken – and Leggett better fall in line, or risk falling out of favor with the effete snobs in the WaPo editorial salons.)