{"id":8160,"date":"2017-06-27T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8160"},"modified":"2017-06-26T23:58:15","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T03:58:15","slug":"the-towering-legacy-of-phil-andrews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8160","title":{"rendered":"The Towering Legacy of Phil Andrews"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

Montgomery County\u2019s 2018 primary is now roughly a year away.\u00a0 Many uncertainties have yet to be decided.\u00a0 But one thing is for sure: the two most influential people in the election are not on the ballot.\u00a0 One is the current occupant of the Oval Office.\u00a0 The other is a retired County Council Member whose towering legacy will affect everyone running for county office one way or another.\u00a0 He is the last person who would ever make such a claim, so we will do it for him.\u00a0 He is Phil Andrews.<\/p>\n

Andrews was a former Executive Director of Common Cause who ran unsuccessfully for council at-large in 1994 but was elected after defeating an incumbent in District 3 four years later.\u00a0 Early in his career, Andrews was a progressive darling, passing a living wage law and a restaurant smoking ban in his first term.\u00a0 Later, he became known for fiscal prudence and authored the county\u2019s public campaign financing law in his last year at the council.\u00a0 Andrews finished third in the 2014 County Executive Democratic primary with 22% of the vote<\/a> and is now employed by the State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Andrews\u2019s shadow looms large over the coming election in three ways.<\/p>\n

Public Campaign Financing<\/strong><\/p>\n

During his career, Andrews never accepted campaign contributions from PACs or developers.\u00a0 He wrote the county\u2019s public campaign financing law in part to allow candidates following his example to be competitive with traditionally financed rivals.\u00a0 The growing number of candidates who are using it testifies to its popularity.\u00a0 One at-large council candidate, MCPS teacher Chris Wilhelm, even has a petition<\/a> demanding that all county candidates enroll.\u00a0 One thing is for sure: all county candidates, whether they use it or not, will have to deal with its political implications.<\/p>\n

During his time in office, Andrews was surrounded by colleagues who freely accepted money from PACs and developers.\u00a0 Now some of those same people are enrolling in public financing.\u00a0 Andrews must feel like a country pastor welcoming reformed sinners to church.<\/p>\n

Opposition to Tax Hikes<\/strong><\/p>\n

After having been in office for a few years, Andrews became concerned that growth in the county\u2019s budget was unsustainable.\u00a0 He began opposing what he viewed as excessive spending, especially on union contracts, and started working against tax hikes.\u00a0 In 2008, Andrews teamed up with at-large Council Member Duchy Trachtenberg to reduce the size of a proposed property tax hike.\u00a0 Two years later, he voted against a county budget partly because it raised the energy tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The conventional wisdom is that opposition to the 2016 tax hikes was responsible for passing term limits, although the truth is probably more complicated than that<\/a>.\u00a0 Still, the majority of Democrats voted for term limits<\/a> and that fact is not lost on new candidates for office.\u00a0 Several of them are leery of more tax hikes and more than one will make an issue of it during the next election.\u00a0 One potential at-large candidate recently told your author, \u201cI will be the hardest vote to get for any tax hike.\u201d\u00a0 Reggie Oldak, running in District 1, has said<\/a>, \u201cWe can\u2019t keep increasing property taxes.\u201d\u00a0 Neil Greenberger, the County Council\u2019s now-former spokesman<\/a>, openly denounces the 2016 increases<\/a>.\u00a0 There will be others making similar arguments.<\/p>\n

How many components of Phil Andrews\u2019s 2014 message will show up in next year\u2019s election?\u00a0 Our bet: lots.<\/em><\/p>\n