Steve Burns
WMAL.com
UPPER MARLBORO, Md – (WMAL) The Prince George’s County Council will vote today on whether to add a referendum to the November ballot asking voters if they would like to add two new seats to the County Council. The two new seats would be at-large, and not term-limited. Currently, the County Council is the only such body around D.C. with term limits.
Most residents at last week’s public hearing on the bill were in vehement opposition. Some cited what they saw as an obvious circumvention of term limits by the council members, as well as the cost of adding two new seats.
“Do we want two additional council members, or do we want to hire five new policemen, or teachers?” asked Nathaniel Bryant at the hearing. “Do we want additional council members, or do we want to fund social programs, or improve some of the County facilities?”
“There are a lot of things this county needs, but more politicians is not one of them,” Brandon Cooper with the Prince George’s County Republican Party told the Council.
Support for the measure was few and far between, but two former council members in attendance said it would be advantageous to add the two new seats.
“Parochialism has a tendency to sneak its ugly head into the process when you are only representing one particular district,” Former Councilmember Floyd Wilson said. “We don’t want to be limited to just one district. We should be cognizant of the entire population of the county.”
“We bring in a new bench almost every eight years, and really in a couple of occasions every four years,” former Councilmember David Harrington said. Harrington now serves as the President and CEO of the County’s Chamber of Commerce. “You have to get up to speed on some of the major regional transportation and infrastructure issues. You barely get in the room because you don’t have the relationships.”
Harrington cited D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans as an example of a local lawmaker who forged connections during his time in office and now serves in other important regional roles – namely as Chairman of Metro’s Board of Directors.
“This is really a new day of urbanism in this region,” Harrington said. “If we don’t begin to bring in experienced people who at least deserve an opportunity to compete in this regionalism, then Prince George’s County will always be left out the gate.”
Where the support was coming from was not lost on others at the public hearing.
“It is odd that the only two people to support this amendment were politicians,” Cooper said. “The residents are in fierce opposition to circumventing the two-term term limit and allowing county council members to reside on the County Council for 16 years.”
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