SILVER SPRING, MD — (WMAL) Yogi Berra, great knower of baseball and life lessons once said “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
It appears Berra’s axiom has now taken its full course in the political career of Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett.
It has been long assumed that Leggett, 71, would not be running for a fourth term, and over the weekend, he finally made it official.
“I don’t want to use the word retire, but I’m not running,” Leggett told a crowd at a fundraiser for “No On B”, a group formed to oppose the county’s November referendum question on term limits for elected officials.
Leggett, Montgomery’s first African-American council member and county executive, has been in his current post since 2006, and had broadly hinted since his last election in 2014 that he would not be running again.
The news must be welcome to council members who are believed to be thinking about a run for the Executive seat in 2018, including Roger Berliner, Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen and Craig Rice, most of whom would be prohibited from running again for the council if Question B win at the polls next month.
Leggett’s departure from elective politics will somewhat break up a logjam in Rockville. He had been considering stepping down after two terms, and several councilmembers were preparing for a run, but Leggett made a late decision to run again in 2014, leaving other lawmakers to stick around on the council to await his retirement.
Leggett says Question B was not a factor in his decision to step down. He has had several health issues, including two back surgeries in the past year.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Wikipedia)
