All Politics Is Local
All Politics Is Local
Tamara’s Take on the County Executive Race
Finally after many calls, emails, texts and asks, Tamara provides her analysis of nine (9) of the 10 candidates that are running for Prince George's County Executive. Her analysis is based on several candidates forums, but primarily the one she co-moderated on President's Day, February 17th. She provides the pros and cons of each candidate before making her decision and providing her rationale.
Early voting begins Thursday, March 3 - March 27, 2025 with the Primary Special Election held on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. There are only 9 voting centers throughout the County, one in each councilmanic district. Check the County's Board of Election website for more information: elections.mypgc.us or https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/departments-offices/board-elections
Hello, prince George's County, welcome to another edition of All. Politics is Local with me, your host, tamara Davis Brown. So I have been getting phone calls, texts, emails, you name it. There's a way to contact me. Coming up to me personally, people are asking who are you voting for? For Prince George's County executive, the candidates forum that I co-moderated with the D9 Coalition for Civic Engagement and the Greater Suburban Maryland chapter of Jack and Jill of America, I'm a member of both organizations. Well, for Jack and Jill, I'm an associate member, meaning my children have graduated out. They're young adults, thriving and doing their adulting thing. But I'm also a member of the D9 Coalition for Civic Engagement and working with them since its inception.
Speaker 1:And it was a great night. It was a packed house. We had a lot of people coming to not only support their individual candidates, but there were people actually there that had not made up their mind, had not decided for whom they're voting and wanted to hear from the candidates directly. We did something a little different. There were no opening and closing statements. That was by design and intention. We wanted to delve right into the questions that people were asking. All of the questions came directly from the public. When people registered for the event, they had an opportunity to write their questions down and so we categorized the questions and topics and kind of the best and the highlight of the candidates forum is we teamed with, like I said, jack and Jill, greatest Suburban Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, and the teens did an outstanding job asking direct questions to the candidates. Those questions also came from the public directly public directly. With the exception of the last three, we were able to fit in the three questions that they actually decided to draft and those questions went to all nine of the candidates that were present, and so I thought that went over really well. The teens did a phenomenal job. And then the last thing that we did that was unique is we asked competency-based questions, questions about the office that people, about the office of county exec, that the candidates should have known what the answer is because they are seeking this office. They need to know how the office operates, how it relates with other departments and agencies, and so we asked those questions as well and we gave the audience the actual answers and the sources to those answers. And we did the same thing with the Facebook Live, because the entire event was streamed on Facebook Live and it's still up and available if you want to see it. But we provided the link where anyone who wanted to access the answers could do so. So I thought it went really well and it helped solidify, you know, who really knew what they were running for, the position that they were running for and how it really operates.
Speaker 1:And so let's dive into my analysis for each of the candidates from that night. I also did tune in on the YouTube channel for ABC7 and watched that debate. It was only, I believe, four candidates on that one candidates on that one, and I watched a portion of. I didn't get to finish watching the NAACP's candidate forum at Reed Temple. I know they had two, one at Ebenezer AME Church and the other at Reed Temple AME Church, and I was only able to view a portion of the Reed Temple one view, a portion of the Reed Temple one.
Speaker 1:But I'm going to go in alphabetical order and kind of give my analysis. So the first candidate, obviously alphabetical order by last name, of course, is Rashern Baker. As you know, mr Baker has been a county executive for this county before he came in in a tumultuous time, kind of like this one a little bit, but very different times on the heels of Jack Johnson and his entire administration and we know how that ended, and so it was a very difficult time, dark time for the county, a shadow, if you will, of that administration and the publicity that it got nationwide because of the recordings and how they were released by the public. It was just total embarrassment for us. But he came in and he actually did very well as county executive in terms of creating and instituting county stat to bring more accountability and transparency in our government and how the county government is able to look at the needs of each of the departments and then make a decision of where funds should go to to deal with those departments. It was also under County Exec Baker that we broke out permitting an inspection from Department of Public Works and Transportation it used to be one big department that had a permitting, enforcement and inspection department and the public works and transportation. So he broke that out and, I believe, also broke out Department of Environment as well, environment as well, and so now you know the Department of Environment deals with our trash pickup and snow removal and all of that and DPW&T actually I take that back DPW&T deals with the snow removal, but because they handle all of the roadways, but Department of Transportation I mean, excuse me, department of Environment deals with the snow removal and all of the environmental impacts that the county has impact how government is efficient in that regard for Prince George's County, because we were still operating under a quite antiquated system.
Speaker 1:The other thing that he did I actually really, really liked and still do like the person that was our planning board chair at the time, mr Samuel Parker, and the reason that I like him is because Mr Parker actually has a degree in planning, in urban planning and design and development, and so they were doing some really unique things. That has led to what our parks and planning department is doing now, some of the things that they have instituted, not just in parks and planning but in zoning. And one of the things that they were really doing was the project. Back then it was 2025, which seems like it was a long long time ago, or 2030. It was either 2025 or 2035. But when County Executive Baker, when Sharon Baker was County Executive, they had this project 2025. And it was actually it was called Vision 2025. And it was a long term planning that they were undertaking and it was a lot of work went into it.
Speaker 1:There were a lot of public meetings and I thought that was good and the reason that I mentioned having Mr Parker as a planning director and head of the planning board. It was someone that understood what zoning and development is all about, and you guys know from hearing me talk about zoning and development. It's really what drives the economic engine here in the county and it helps either make our quality of life very miserable or very excited, and right now we are on the misery side only because we have so much townhouse development, so much overdevelopment in communities. You know, every time there's a piece of land that's being sold, it's sold to a developer and the reason is is that you know the heirs of the property. If it's especially not owned by the county, they're going to go with the highest bidder. If it's especially not owned by the county, they're going to go with the highest bidder and the highest bidder is going to be a developer and the developer is going to develop housing and we just. There's no way around it. But what we can do is smartly develop how that community is with the infrastructure that needs to be done.
Speaker 1:Again, another whole, another story, but I did like under the Baker administration at that time that he had Mr Parker as the planning board chair and the planning board seemed to operate a little bit more effectively and efficiently. One thing this county has to do is get rid of the ability of the county council to be the district council on zoning matters. Our county council has no business, in my personal opinion, deciding any zoning case. It's not a single person, and if I was on the council that would include me as well. I don't know anything about zoning and land use development and we get ram, you know, shot and run over by developers in not only understanding and knowing the development laws but keeping it as antiquated as possible. Again, another long story that deserves its own podcast episode. But Mr Baker did do those things.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, mr Baker was a little late for our candidates forum so he missed the first round of questions. Basically, I think we, the co-moderator, gave him one question to be able to answer in two minutes instead of doing the two questions for the first round, and so not really counting that against him. Obviously he had something else prior to our candidates form, but you know it made the session a little little awkward because he didn't pull the numbers and what have you the session a little little awkward because he didn't pull the numbers and what. Have you not counting that against him? But what I will say is I do appreciate the fact that he's been county executive before and this is to fill a unexpired term of the county executive from Angela also Brooks administration unexpired term of the county executive from Angela also Brooks administration. And so the fact that his tagline is that he's ready day one actually really is appealing to me. You know he's ready day one. We need somebody to come in and step in.
Speaker 1:I did have an opportunity to attend a private event for him and, you know, ask the question about whether or not he was planning to keep all of the administrative heads in the position that they are and whether or not that would. Wouldn't that keep the continuity of the county running, and his answer was kind of yes and no. If you will, I truly understand that you have to have people that you trust and you want to be able to work with, but I don't think that we need a wholesale change in any of the department heads right now. Maybe after 2026, but right now I don't think. So I think we need kind of a steady hand and I'm hoping that if he does win that he would keep you know, not, definitely not his inner staff. You know he can bring in his own chief of staff, his own, you know, personal inner office staff. I expect any candidate that wins to bring in their own personal staff. But I'm talking about department heads, like the fire chief, the police chief, the recommendation that you know they make for school board superintendent, which is he makes the recommendation but the school board votes on that person. I said police chief, fire chief, all the department heads, so those he would have the opportunity to do that. He did mention that he may take a look at a couple of positions and potentially make some changes, potentially make some changes. I didn't particularly again, I feel differently about that, since we're completing an unexpired term, but I do understand that. You know you want people that you have trust in and people that trust you. So kind of understand that. But anyway, so kind of understand that.
Speaker 1:But anywayoshan talked about doing away with trim. We've actually raised taxes under his administration, which was not done the proper way, if you will. When I say it was, you know, a loophole in our tax policy in Prince George's County, because normally when you have. When you want to raise taxes, you actually have to put it to the voters for a referendum under TRIM, and that has not been done I don't think ever. Or if it has, it's definitely failed. Nobody wants to pay more taxes. We want you to use, be good stewards of the money that we give you and you do the best you can with what we have and then figure out ways to. You know ways to raise revenue in the county and generally.
Speaker 1:That issue has been is that we have not been able to attract the type of commercial tax base that we have, and so one thing that I do fault Richard Baker and I actually asked him this when I went to that personal event was about Conterra, which is, if any of you live in the northern part of the county, you know exactly where I'm talking about in the Laurel area, right off of that new toll road. I guess it's not so new now. I rarely use it, I'm rarely in that portion of the county. So Conterra was one of the first projects that he got approved, and he told me that it was the first project and it came like six months within his administration and because he was very new to the office. He unfortunately bought Hook Line and Sinker what they wanted to propose and do, and they did nothing.
Speaker 1:And unfortunately he proposed and got a TIF, which stands for tax increment financing, which means they bought the property, bought the land and they're only paying. They're paying property tax over extended period of time incrementally and not the full tech commercial tax that they should be paying incrementally and not the full tech commercial tax that they should be paying, which is quite unfortunate because we as taxpayers, particularly property taxpayers, those who are homeowners we don't get that kind of incentive right. We have to pay our taxes when due, every year, no matter what, or you know, there's a tax lien on your property. So I appreciate having some incentives to help bring commercial businesses to the office I mean to the county but I don't particularly like tax tips, tax increment financing for development projects and when I say development projects I mean I'm talking about something other than just housing. You know Conterra's Conterra promised a lot of stuff and they developed nothing except for apartments. The last time I drove by there I just saw a bunch of empty land, all the trees had been cut and it's a bunch of apartments. Now I have noticed on the planning board's website that they are planning to make some progress on their project, but right now the only thing that I've seen are apartments on the property, our apartments on the property. So I'm very disappointed and I'm very disappointed in the fact that these developers get to pay their property tax over, you know, 10, 20, 30 years incrementally.
Speaker 1:And here we are suffering because we have a budget deficit, because we've got all these TIF projects here in Prince George's County that have not really materialized. The one that has materialized obviously has been National Harbor. So you know, we have the Gaylord there, we have the Gaylord Convention Center, we have MGM, we have a lot that's there. That is one TIF project that made sense and that has benefited the county as a great economic engine. However, some of the other projects have not been on the scale and scope of National Harbor and, in my opinion, do not deserve a TIF. So I kind of dinged Baker for that because his administration there were quite a few, contero was just one and it happened to be the first one. Now he has told me he's learned his lesson from that, but that remains to be seen. So, moving on, because I've spent way too much time on Baker, and moving to Miss Aisha Brayboy, who's our current state's attorney.
Speaker 1:Miss Brayboy, I will say she has sent out the most mail that I have received so far from any of the other candidates. Obviously, she has a bigger treasury to do so and, quite frankly, I do think that she will. Because of that, she will probably win this election. You know, the adage is that you have to touch voters seven times. So I've gotten at least seven pieces of mail. I think I've gotten a robocall and I've gotten some text messages from her and, of course, she's participating in all of the candidates' forum. So you know she is campaigning like you know you should if you want to win, and so she's really spent a lot of money, put a lot of money into to the campaign.
Speaker 1:Now, it wasn't unexpected at least not for me that she would run for a county executive, not just in the special election but for 2026, I knew that she was going to be one of the candidates. It's just a quote, unquote natural progression, at least in this county. If you may remember, jack Johnson was state's attorney and then became county executive. Angela also Brooks was state's attorney and became county executive, and so Aisha is following that same progression in terms of moving up into higher office, although she started out as a delegate for the 25th Legislative District but nevertheless she stepped into the current role that she's in as state's attorney. So let's talk about her role in the state's attorney's office.
Speaker 1:So I can only go and this is just hearsay. I can't validate anything about how she runs the office. There have been some murmurings and complaining by senior prosecutors about how the office is run and staffed and the inexperience and the inefficiencies of the office, and so that can kind of impact some of the cases that you win or lose, cases that you really probably should have won, that you didn't win, and so there have been some rumblings about that. So I'll just kind of say that because, again, that's just hearsay. I have not looked into any of that. But what I have noticed is that Miss Brave Boy kind of puts her finger up to the political wind to see how, where the populist attitude or persuasion is and kind of goes with the flow of that. And what I mean by that is.
Speaker 1:So during the pandemic and directly after George Floyd, there was this big push to do away with cash, bail and the unfairness of it all, and I get the arguments on both sides. I get the arguments on both sides, arguments on both sides. And so there was this big push to do away with cash bail. Because you know if you, if you are, if you can't afford the bail, the cash bail, then you know you have to spend a night in jail and you miss work and then you can get fired. And you know our justice system just needs a total overhaul, actually actually in the United States, but again that's for another podcast. But Ms Brave Boy fell into that same political wind, sticking up your finger and saying, oh yeah, we're not going to do cash bail in Prince George's County.
Speaker 1:And what that did was, as we also know, what happened during the pandemic, and just across the nation there was a spike in crime and particularly juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime. And so you had all these. You know teens, you know carjacking, you know stealing, you know just doing awful, awful things. And then they were because of the cashless bail system and even so they were underage. So the juvenile delinquency part also plays a part in that. But they were let go and then they would do the same thing over again. It was a joke for the kids, no-transcript, and there was a lot of repeat offenders. And again, the kids just thought it was a joke. They were stealing the Kias and still are, in fact, stealing the Kias, and they get these TikTok challenges and they just think it's a game. Okay, well, I can steal five, you know, five kids in a week. I can still, whatever you know, and boast about it.
Speaker 1:And so some of those juvenile delinquents really needed, in my personal opinion, needed to stay in jail and then feel what it feels like to be isolated and caged up like an animal. Feels like to be isolated and caged up like an animal and maybe they think twice about doing it again. But because we didn't have the cash bail system that allowed them to continue to be released. And you know, back out on the streets, and I even heard some of the police officers say to us in some community meetings either our coffee clubs meetings or roundtable meetings that you know, one teen told them like I'll be out and back home before you get off today. Oversight, in the sense enough and the knowledge to know that they can, you know, get home, be out of jail and be back home before the police officer is off their shift. Then no, they needed to spend some time. They needed to spend some time in jail just to prove them otherwise and maybe shake them up a little bit. So I do ping her for that. I also ping her.
Speaker 1:She sided with then superintendent, school superintendent Monica Golson, on removing some of the resource officers out of the schools. And we know that parents send their schools, children to school, with the expectation of safety, that their children going to be safe, that they're going to go, come home and be able to go back and it's, there's not going to be an issue. And we know that. You know. You know they're teens, the young kids, you know they can't control their emotions sometimes and they, you know, fights break out, this, that and the other. And I would rather have the school resources officers there, not for necessarily arresting powers but for them to have and learn to have a good relationship with a healthy relationship, I should say, with the police department and that they know that the officers are really there for them to protect and serve, as all police agencies are supposed to do. But particularly in Prince George's County, you know a predominantly African-American county and you have probably a predominantly African-American police force, although we do have quite a few, even in the command and in some of the command staff we do have quite a few officers that are not African-American, and so I think it's better to actually have them there, to have that presence, to have them there as seen as a protector and somebody who's serving, as opposed to somebody that is always arresting but they can dis. You know, quiet any uproars or any whatever is willingness to remove officers from our school system. And so and Angela also Brooks, when she was county press conference dealing with this, the juvenile delinquency, and then vice versa, and so the state's attorney, aisha, had to have her own press conference, and so there was this kind of dueling back and forth about whether or not the school resources officers should remain in the school system, and Aisha kind of sided with the or she supported the idea that Monica Golsan was saying at the time to remove some of the resource officers, and again that was that kind of political shift Again. Remember, this is all during the Black Lives Matter, george Floyd, all of that upheaval, and people were really looking at how to do policing differently, and so it was more of again sticking your finger in the political wind. And what is everybody saying? And I'm going to go with what everybody's saying, as opposed to taking a real hard look at what's going on in Prince George's County, prince George's County schools and whether or not our juvenile justice system may need to look a little differently. But right at that ship and has been sailing fairly smoothly since then. But those were some missteps that I do ping her for on that.
Speaker 1:The next person alphabetically is Marcellus Cruz. I am not going to spend too much time on Mr Cruz because I know nothing about him. Unfortunately he left the candidates forum a little early. I think he went through the first round of questions and he did answer the question from the team, but what I picked up immediately from him is that he never answered the questions. He always talked about what the county needs, what we need, what we need, what we need is he never gave us his plan, his thought out, articulated plan of what he would do as county executive to address those needs, and so, because of that, definitely ruling him out.
Speaker 1:Anytime you hear a candidate that ask a question or, excuse me, answers a question with saying, repeating what the question is and saying what we need, but not saying what he individually or she individually will do what's your plan? That is a clear, clear, clear answer that that person has not thought out a plan very well, at least be able to articulate it in you know, one or two minute response and not just say you know, go to my website, that kind of stuff, although I don't even. He may have said go to his website, but he did not answer any question with his own plan, as asked. The question specifically asked what are your plans, what are your initiatives, what are you going to do? He never answered them, indicating what his plans were. So that was Mr Cruz. The next person is Mr Calvin Hawkins, who currently serves as our at-large on the county council.
Speaker 1:Now, before any of this, you know the possibility of Angela winning and before you know, I think Ben Cardin even knew that. We knew that Ben Cardin would resign. Again, you kind of heard some rumblings about who was going to run for county executive. Calvin's name has always been in the conversation, as well as Aisha. I think those definitely are the two that have always been in the conversation, as well as Aisha. I think those definitely are the two that have always been in the conversation and of those two, if you would have asked me way back then, I was actually leaning towards Calvin, and this is one of the reasons why Calvin reminds me of someone almost like a Mary and Barry. You know just a little bit.
Speaker 1:He actually, you know, even though he was raised and grew up in the Glass Manor area of Oxon Hill. You know, his family roots are definitely DC, southeast DC, and he actually, what I have learned about him, he actually worked in DC government and so in a particularly during that Marion Barry administration, and I think he learned the craft of, you know, being what he calls himself the people's champ. I think he actually learned how to do that by the observation of that administration and he would be, and definitely has been, a voice for the small people, the least of these, as we call them, people that are either down on their luck or what have you. He's definitely been that voice for the people. In some of the initiatives that he's done have been for people that you know needed a second chance, people that are again, like I said, down on their luck, if you will, you know. Just, you know always people that need a hand up. I think that's good.
Speaker 1:What scares me about Calvin is that not only did he get the endorsement of Angela, but the people in the machinery behind Angela are also the people in machinery behind Calvin and if you look really closely, that's really the development community. And if you look at his record on the county council, he is always sided with the development community and that's what. That's what scares me a little bit, that basically his administration would be a continuation. And he's actually. He actually said this, you know, he proudly likes the fact that he's been endorsed by Angela and he proudly, you know, says that. You know he'll continue some of the things that she's done and some of the things that I actually like. And I'll give a very good example. I love, love, loved her idea and program of. Let's face it, the Washington commanders are leaving Prince George's County in 2028. And what are we going to do with that piece of land land? Now, the good thing is is that Governor Westmore has already endorsed allowing the commanders to move forward with returning to DC in exchange for some things, and one of the things that Prince George's will get out of it is a redevelopment of the FedEx field site. And then county executive also Brooks had this whole big redevelopment of the blue line Morgan Boulevard station, bringing an amphitheater, outdoor amphitheater there, some other arts things as well as you know, development in terms of residential. But her idea and keeping that, I would love to see that happen for that area of Landover, of FedEx Field, of Morgan Boulevard Station. So if he continues that, I would love, love, love that. What scares me, as I said, is that that development community is going to support him and of course he'll have to deliver from the development community the same stuff that we've been getting here in Prince George's County, and so I don't like that. About Calvin is that the development community loves him and they will expect him to endorse anything that they they want, any projects that they want to bring. That includes mostly residential, either townhouses or single family development, and usually what comes with that is very little, if any, infrastructure improvements. So I kind of ding him on that. But that's just some of my analysis.
Speaker 1:Mr Ron Hunt. Now you guys, I had not seen Mr Hunt in action because he wasn't on the ABC7 televised debate and the little bit that I saw of the NAACP forum. I had not gotten to his questions and response. Needless to say, he was a character. He is the former owner of several nightclubs in DC. Is the former owner of several nightclubs in DC. For those of you who are old enough and again, I usually do this podcast for millennials and younger, so you would not know about Chapter 7, chapter 3, I don't know Chapter 1, 2, 3. I don't know how many chapter clubs he's had and some other nightclubs he's had in DC, but apparently they were very popular and he did very well until the baseball stadium came, and basically's all I really know. So I, you know, I had to kind of judge him on the form that we moderated and you just have to go back and watch it for yourself. I'll just I'll say that you have to go back and watch it for yourself.
Speaker 1:But one of the questions, the specific question on the competency, it was very clear that he knew more about how DC government operates than Prince George's County government operates and for that I was like nope, that's not the guy for us. Because if, if you only know how DC government operates and you don't understand the office that you're running for and how that department and how that government operates, then maybe this is not the position for you. He did raise his hand at the end. We did a couple of yes and no questions at the end, just just for a bonus, just to see how people would respond by show of hands. He did raise his hand to say that when lose or draw he would run again in 2026. So we'll see what happens there. But clearly he needs to do a little bit more homework about how Prince George's County operates, how Prince George's County government and what the roles of the county executive, because clearly he was not able to answer that question. So moving on, mr McDermott.
Speaker 1:Mr George McDermott was our only Republican that actually showed up. We actually had all at the time of the filing date. All 11 candidates had agreed to attend. So there was another Republican candidate and his name is escaping me right now, but George McDermott was the one that did show up. He, I believe, said he was 83 years old.
Speaker 1:What was surprising to me that he said was he likened county government to a corporation. He said the county executive is the CEO, the county council is the board of directors. He didn't say this, but I'm assuming that he assumes that all the taxpayers are shareholders in the county. But the fact that he wanted to equate how to run a county like you run a business, I can see the parallelism there. There, however, I cannot necessarily agree that you have to exactly run it that way, because in a business the shareholders mainly want a return on investment, whereas in a jurisdiction people are just talking about quality of life issues. They want their tax dollars spent wisely, they want everything done accordingly and there to be transparency and to get the services that they pay for. So that's the difference. The parallel kind of breaks away once you talk about who the quote unquote shareholders are versus who the taxpayers and homeowners and the people, the residents who actually live there. Because the company which is the county, if you will, has to, you know, provide certain services and there are services that are expected, whether it's education, whether it's public safety, whether it's roads, whether it's school construction. So you can't make that parallel.
Speaker 1:But I didn't hear him per se Excuse me I didn't hear him, like Mr Cruz, provide any real plans that he would do as county executive. So I'm not going to spend much time on him. You know I'm a registered Democrat so he wouldn't even be on my ballot. So if you are a registered Republican, I think you have two persons, you can two or three persons you can choose from and you can kind of do the research on Mr McDermott. But I do applaud him and thank him for attending and coming and sharing his viewpoints. What I will say is what the millennials and everybody younger would say, just as they said of Biden and said of Trump I just think he might be a little too old and it's time to you know. You know, I think he actually said he's 83 years old it's time for someone new, some new blood, some new direction. So, anyway, that was Mr McDermott, mr Albert Slocum.
Speaker 1:Mr Slocum is a fairly good friend of mine and he, when I was running in the special election for county council, he supported me and was helping me out and I actually thought that he was going to run and he had not actually thought. He told me and asked me to support him for District 5 county council to replace the seat that Jolene Ivey gave up to run for the at-large position, gave up to run for the at-large position, and so there were several people that wanted me to support them for the District 5 race that's also going on right now in terms of this special election, and I said I was going to support him. So I was really surprised when he texted me saying that he's going to run for county executive. I said I thought you said you were going to run for district five county council, and he's like no, the time is now and we need some new direction, this, that and the other. So I could not commit to him, just like I didn't commit to really anyone until after I had you know. I knew we were going to have this candidate's form, so I wasn't committing to anyone. I would have committed to, as I had mentioned him, to run for District 5 County Council.
Speaker 1:But his performance was a little lackluster in the sense that on the competency question, that on the competency question, he didn't know what the county's climate action plan was, and so people, it was clear that he didn't know, and he was kind of looking for me because I was the one that posed a question to him, and so he was looking for me to kind of give him some direction, and I basically just said I can't help you. You either know what the county climate action plan is or you don't. And the question was for him to describe it and how he would implement it. And so that spoke volumes to me. To me again, the competency questions were really good because they really said whether you know the office that you're trying to to to run for the position that you're trying to run for, and so also his responses to the team questions, to direct questions, some of the initial questions. He was kind of like Marcellus Cruz in the sense that he talked about what the county needed, as opposed to some action plan that he would have. And so I was. Again, I'm always weary of candidates that can identify the problem. Everybody that lives in Prince George's County can identify the problems. But can you do you have a plan, do you have actionable items that you could try to implement in order to address those needs? And I didn't see that his answers were responsive in that regard.
Speaker 1:So that was Mr Slocum, ms Sweat, ms Tonyanya Sweat. She lives down in South County, in Ackieke down here, so I'm very familiar with Ms Sweat. She's an attorney. She actually was an attorney in the federal government in some capacity, I don't know exactly. You can go to a website and get that information. She has run for county executive before, so hats off to her. She just didn't up and throw her name in. She has run before.
Speaker 1:She's never really gotten traction outside of the southern part of county. She's kind of like me People know her locally here, but getting her name out in other parts has been a little difficult, with the exception of her being a big advocate and attorney for the volunteer firefighters, I should say the volunteer firefighters you know have been dealing with issues in terms of how to continue to integrate and use them. I think we're the only county that still heavily relies on the volunteers, but we're moving more and more away from volunteers to have professional firefighters. Now, with a county with almost a million people and I'm sure we've probably reached a million now, the way we're growing like gangbusters with all these townhomes, we really do need professional firefighters to cover the entire county. Yes, I love our volunteers, anybody that wants to do anything for free. You're not going to hear any opposition from me on that, but Tanya represents them legally, so I think she may have some support in maybe the northern and central portions of the volunteer corps that live in that area, but unfortunately the majority, especially in the southern part of Prince George's County, the majority of them do not live in Prince George's County and they do not vote and would not be able to vote for her. They live in Charles County and other parts of outside of Prince George's County, so I'm not using that as an argument of not supporting her her.
Speaker 1:I think Tanya brings a different perspective of how government works and how government ought to work in Prince George's County. That would be refreshing. And she brings a knowledge base that also will be refreshing. Unfortunately, the knowledge base and how government works and I would even get pinged for this now because it's heavily reliant upon being a good partner with the federal government and unfortunately we're not going to have a in under this current administration the fact is is we're not going to have a good working relationship with the federal government under this administration. The fact is is we're not going to have a good working relationship with the federal government under this administration. So you know the things that I even said when I was on the campaign trail for the at-large position, because I said one of the things that I said about the budget is that we don't do a good job in the county of accessing federal tax dollars. The county of accessing federal tax dollars. Well, guess what, we're not going to have that in Prince George's County just because of this administration. So, while it's a good idea and I wholeheartedly agree with some of that federal perspective it's just this is not the time. This, this is not the time.
Speaker 1:Under the current administration federal administration Prince George's County is not going to get any help and so we're going to have to do. We're going to have to do what we can with the resources we have and unfortunately there weren't a lot of questions. Um, unfortunately there weren't a lot of questions to her, at least about the budget and how she would implement. I have to kind of go back and listen, but I know had some well thought out plans about what to do specifically with public safety and, again, the firefighters and how to use our volunteer corps, and I thought that was very well answered. There were some other things that stood out, but if the reliance is going to be on the federal government, prince George's County can hang it up because we're not going to, we're not going to get it. I don't even think the FBI will now come to Prince George's County as a result of who we have in office and they'll try to cancel the contracts and cancel the awards and all of those other things.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I would like to see something a little bit more local that she would like to implement that could help us outside of the public safety and the firefighters. I thought again. She's spot on on that and I think she would continue to be a good advocate for that. But you know Prince George's County, we've got a whole plethora of issues, and so I'd like to see her launch a campaign in 2026 and see where things stand in 2026, and not this little interim piece. And not this little interim piece.
Speaker 1:She didn't raise her hand, though, when we asked whether or not you win, lose or draw, would you run in 2026. She didn't raise her hand. So I think she thought that this would be a good opportunity to get in and fill in. The only problem with filling in an uncompleted term is that you kind of got to buy in with what you have there. I don't know that she has a lot of contacts within the county to really implement some of the things that she wants in just this remainder of what we have left in this county executive term. So you know, some of the things that she would probably want to implement would not. She couldn't do it. In other words, in the less than two years that are remaining in the term, she would need a full-fledged four years in order to accomplish what she proposes, and so I was a bit surprised that she didn't raise her hand. I think she should run again in 2026 and try to flush out and implement her full vision for the county, and it's just not going to happen in two years and it's not going to happen with the federal administration that we have right now. So that was Ms Sweat.
Speaker 1:And then the last person is also a breath of fresh air, mr Alonzo Washington. Now, when I found out, I was a little surprised, because I found out that he was possibly going to run for the at-large seat, but he never did. But he did put his hat in for the county executive and I love Alonzo Washington. He's a state senator. He was a delegate first and then became state senator. Loved him for the bills that he has put forward, particularly towards children, education and so forth. I've actually gone to Annapolis and testified in support of several of his bills on a couple of occasions as a senator, and so I think he has very good common sense legislation. I do think it's time for some new leadership, even though he's technically in leadership in the sense that he's already in office. He's, you know, like I said, he was a delegate and now he's a state senator. I think he does a very good job there.
Speaker 1:He answered the questions you know fairly well. Unfortunately he also had to leave a little early, I think he's well. No, he stayed pretty much through. I take that back. He pretty much stayed through the entire time. There was, you know, a few little questions at the end, the yes or no questions, raising hand kind of thing. He was not there, for he has a two-year-old and so he wanted to make sure he's home to see the two-year-old to bed and I thought that was so sweet. But he answered the questions very well.
Speaker 1:I thought his workforce development. I remember asking a question about Prince George's Community College and workforce development and I thought he had a well thought out plan for that. He too was a person that had well thought out positions and I think when someone first asked me about the county executive, I said I'm taking a really close look at Alonzo Washington and I really I still really am and I thought he had thought out plans in terms of what to do with and how to continue to give the teens the support that they needed in terms of cultural, recreational and educational opportunities, and so that question was answered really well by him. I can't remember the first question that was posed to him in the first round, but the ones that he did answer that I can kind of the top candidates, or maybe even three Well, I'm just going to stick with two right now Would be Alonzo Washington and Rashawn Baker. I spent way more time on Rashawn than I did Alonzo, because Rashard has a track record that you can kind of go back and look and see. But at the end of the day, because this is a special election to complete an unfinished term, I do agree that we need experience and we need somebody to come in day one.
Speaker 1:What I'm hoping is that baker does not try to do this wholesale, wholesale change. I hope he's learned his lesson, because one of the questions that the team asked was what was his biggest mistake? And his biggest mistakes, he said, was working with the council and the lack of communications. Now, that wasn't really his biggest mistakes. His really biggest mistakes was not listening to the people when we told you we didn't want our taxes raised. And his other biggest mistake was, you know, giving out tax increment financing. You know, if you wanted to raise taxes, then maybe you shouldn't have done tax increment financing for a lot of these projects that you approved that never came to fruition, versus putting it on the backs of homeowners and taxpayers. So I'm hoping that he really learned from that. He didn't. I did not see him raise his hand, but I know that he said in the personal event that I went to that he probably is going to run in 2026 as well.
Speaker 1:I think he would be good to fill this unfulfilled term, but then that's about it. I'm ready for somebody new. I'm ready for somebody some fresh perspective, fresh ideas, not a return to his administration Only because I'm not sure that he has any fresh ideas. I think he would kind of continue where he left off, and some of what he left off was not you know all that. That palatable People also kind of fault him for the golden parachute, for the and I mean the superintendent who ran, the superintendent who left Maxwell that's who it is. His name was not coming to me and you know appointing him and you know all of the things that went on with Superintendent Maxwell. So I kind of hold my nose. Hold my nose if I guess, if I had, if I thought that Alonzo was really, really ready. I look at Alonzo a little bit like Tonya I want him to run in 2026. I'd like to see a full-fledged campaign. You know one. He's a senator, so he's in session right now. He I don't even know how he has time to even run and be in Annapolis. So I would like to see him run again in 2026 because he was one of my top favorites. My top three would be Richard, would be Alonzo, and then probably Calvin.
Speaker 1:And some people say, well, tamara, why would you support Calvin? And Calvin, you know, supported legislation that gerrymandered you out of, would have gerrymandered you out of the district, but for a court case. And you know I don't, I don't hold any grudges and I think that's why I'm not in office now. I don't play politics, I'm just kind of clean and dry. You know, run, you win, you don't. You know I'm not trying to play political favors and so you know he did what he did, and not so much that I don't forgive him or anything like that. You know it's it's a little stain in the back of my brain, but you know, for me it's just politics. It's like, okay, yeah, you did that and I'm I'm not going to necessarily hold that against you. You. You were, you know, playing politics.
Speaker 1:What concerns me most about Calvin is is the relationship with the developers, and that's what I'm concerned about. But I like the fact that he is that people's champ. I think he will hear the people and will try to respond, but I hope that he will also, you know, have a plan of his own. So I kind of look for for those persons, um, to run again and to see if we can lead the county in a better direction. But right now we just need kind of a steady hand, somebody that's experienced, that knows what they're doing, to come in day one and move forward, and so that's why I have leaned towards Baker. So that's where I landed now.
Speaker 1:This episode. I apologize now for all the verbal litters, the ums, the stops to start. This is what I could give you right now, because early voting starts this Wednesday February 26th through Monday March 3rd and special election day is Tuesday March 4th 2025. And so I wanted to get this out, as I promised people. We love you, we thank you for listening and tuning in and happy special election voting. Go out and vote. Whoever you, whoever you vote for, whether you agree with me or not, go out and vote. It's important. Thanks so much for listening to. All Politics is Local with me your host Tamara Davis-Brown.
