When does the political get “personal”?
Increasingly, with MoCo County Exec Marc Elrich, it appears to occur whenever someone has a different policy idea or theory on governing than him.
Take, for example, his recent personal jab on Reardon “Sully” Sullivan as reported by Adam Pagnucco (himself reporting on Fox 5’s Tom Fitzgerald’s interview with the County Exec.):
I have public policies. If you don’t like the public policies, run against me and beat me. And then you show up and get 24% of the vote and lose pretty badly. I’m not sure whether I reflect your public policy that people want or he reflects public policy.
Shaking off the incoherence of the last sentence, Sully is simply leading a citizen petition effort in an attempt to give voters the opportunity to add additional term limit restrictions on the County Executive position. Term limits are sound governing policy that bring politics back the grassroots and prevents 40-year “reigns” by quasi-princelings… and this current petition has nothing to do with prior elections, or who won or lost. Elrich, an incumbent who has been in MoCo politics for 30+ years (and therefore has name ID) and has extensive connections to MoCo government labor unions, also feels it necessary to rub Sully’s face in his prior election results.
“See, he only got 24% of the vote!” Keep in mind, Elrich only got 39.2% of the vote in his own political club’s primary contest in 2022. Far from resounding or even half of the voting body. And this was as an incumbent.
So why the personal jab at someone, a longtime MoCo resident and job creator, like this?
Well, it is part of a pattern with the County Executive that seems to be becoming more and more prevalent as Elrich’s policies and chosen personnel produce economic stagnation and more crime in MoCo. Since he [Elrich] refuses to deal with the decline and reverse course or admit some wrong turns… it is much easier to simply blame and go “personal” then explain coherent policy and law. Ideology over pragmatism.
This reared up during Covid-19 and the aftermath, when the CE basically said he didn’t trust then-governor Larry Hogan’s judgement or offers for free test kits. Larry Hogan was “the other” and therefore should be ignored or smeared on Covid-19 pandemic policy or guidelines.
We saw this same pattern this past spring, when the County Exec basically called some Annapolis Democrats beholden to corporate masters — for not simply rubber-stamping his endorsed tax hike plan (during record inflation for Maryland families). “Won’t give me all of what I want, well then I’m going to take my ball and go home — and call you a corporate sellout too!”
When the political reality requires adjustment or some kind of compromise, Marc Elrich would often prefer to go personal. MoCo should support basic term limits on the County Executive so that we can cycle through such current and future ideologues (should they reach power) as quickly as possible.
