A divisive question

Down in Wicomico County, Maryland, folks are deciding whether to scrap the form of government they've had for nearly two decades.

Some folks want current Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano (and any successors) to keep her job. This will tell you why it’s there in the first place and how it evolved.

As I wrap up my series of previews for the 2024 election, herein lies a tale of political infighting that could really be applied in some way, shape, or form to almost any governmental unit in the country. This one just happened to be mine for 15 years.

While I live in Sussex County, Delaware, I work down in Salisbury, Maryland, the seat of Wicomico County. It makes for a screwy tax season, but seeing that most in my chosen profession like the “big city” of Salisbury, that’s the row I hoe. In fact, from 2004 to 2019 I was also a resident of the county (and blogged a lot about county affairs) so I thought my opinion had some validity regarding their Question A this time around.

[By way of explanation, at all of Maryland’s statewide elections - which occur every even-numbered year - ballot questions are presented to the voters. Statewide issues are numbered beginning with 1 (so that Question 1 in 2024 is different than Question 1 was in 2022) and county issues are lettered beginning with A. So in Maryland there could be 24 different Question As on the ballot in any given statewide election. In Wicomico County this is how changes to the County Charter are handled, and almost every other year something or another is Question A.]

Oddly enough, the history of the County Executive’s office is just about as old as my history in the area. In October, 2004 I moved from Wood County, Ohio where I lived to Salisbury to take my present job. (In fact, yesterday was the anniversary of my arrival.) Alas, I moved too late to register to vote in Maryland so, not only was I forced to vote absentee in Ohio to have my say on the Presidential election, I missed out on the chance to have my say on the creation of said Executive office.

So my first election in Maryland was the first election for County Executive. And since County Council would no longer be in charge, it was an oddity that all four Democrats (the majority on County Council) chose not to run in 2006. The three Republicans would all attempt to remain in office, although one lost in the GOP primary. So two of the seven remained for the transition to a strictly legislative County Council.

After the primary eliminated a few contenders, the choice came down to Republican Ron Alessi against Democrat Rick Pollitt, with an attorney and erstwhile blogger (Justice for All?) by the name of Charles Jannace running as a write-in. Pollitt prevailed, becoming the first County Executive but having a 4-3 Republican majority on County Council.

Things went rather smoothly in Pollitt’s first term, although he was fond of grousing about what else he could do without the county’s revenue cap (a limitation on property tax increases, voted in after a previous County Council increased taxes 24%.) At least in his first year, he created a “shadow budget” that would show his wish list for the extra $4 million.

After four years, Pollitt was used to the constraints of the office, so despite the TEA Party election in 2010 (which yielded two more conservative Democrats Rick dispatched in the primary) he retained office over Republican Joe Ollinger. But he would be shackled even more by a County Council that was now 6-1 Republican, giving them partisan veto power over Pollitt. Included in that new crop of Republicans on Council was Bob Culver, who had been an also-ran in the 2006 GOP primary for Executive but quickly began angling for the job in 2014.

In the 2014 race between Pollitt and Culver, Pollitt was defeated in a local GOP sweep that netted them the County Executive office as well as the defeat of a 28-year legislative incumbent Democrat, Delegate Norm Conway.

Despite what would seem to be legislative unanimity, as the GOP kept a 6-1 margin, Culver and the County Council butted heads on a number of issues. (Perhaps the veto power they had over Pollitt went to their heads.) While the local 2016 election was dominated by the referendum on whether to change the county school board from a board appointed through the Governor’s office to that of a locally elected body, there were nine other Charter changes designed generally to rein in the Executive’s power.

There were two more Charter amendments in 2018, but voters narrowly kept Culver in office. He received only a plurality vote as opposing ballots were split among the unknown Democrat who ran, John Hamilton, as well as an independent bid from Salisbury City Councilman Jack Heath, who finished third with 21% of the vote. Had Heath ran as a Democrat, it’s conceivable he would have won based on name recognition and a good year for Democrats, who gained back two Council seats to place themselves back at a 3-4 minority. The last two years of Culver’s reign were cantankerous, but we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

On July 26, 2020, Bob Culver died in office after a battle with cancer. Because he had lived beyond the filing deadline for the 2020 election, meaning there would be no special election in 2020 to finish the unexpired term, it was up to County Council to fill the vacancy with a member of Culver’s party, the GOP, until the 2022 election.

Initially, the Council’s choice to succeed Culver was Dr. Rene Desmarais, a local cardiologist. He was selected over two other hopefuls who had also been publicly interviewed by County Council, one of them Delegate Carl Anderton (the Delegate who had defeated Conway six years earlier), sparking a public outcry as the body politic was in favor of choosing Anderton. Seeing the opposition, Desmarais declined the post, forcing County Council to reopen the process. Anderton and another county employee applied again, but County Council decided to go off the board and allow the term to be completed by the acting executive, Director of Administration John Psota. At the time of Culver’s death, Psota had been in his post less than a month, leaving a city manager position in the Salisbury suburb of Fruitland to take the county job.

So the speculation began about whether Anderton would run in 2022; meanwhile, Psota and the Council seemed to get along rather well. Eventually Anderton took a pass, choosing to run for Delegate once again. Instead, a local teacher and political neophyte by the name of Julie Giordano threw her hat into the ring.

At this time, the battle lines began to be drawn. Despite his newness to the county’s political scene, Psota was considered to be a part of the “good old boys club” that constituted most of those County Council veterans who had been elected over the years. On the other hand, Giordano was thought of as the outsider and reformer; as she stated on her campaign website the county “needs new leadership and fresh ideas…Julie believes it is time to bring back the voice of the people, and it starts at the local level.”

She added, “Julie is a student of the Constitution and a true patriot.” Doesn’t sound like a member of the “good old boys club,” does it? But it was good enough to win the primary, and eventually the general election over Democrat nominee Ernest Davis and Libertarian Muir Boda, with 51% of the vote. Julie even got a 5-2 Republican majority on County Council.

Now I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I’m guessing the fact that we have an outsider who cleaned house (Psota, who was serving as both Acting County Executive and County Administrator, was replaced when Giordano took office) didn’t rub County Council the right way. Among other things, an appointment that Council rejected, signing a memorandum of understanding with a local social media page, and a controversy over a Jeep event on county property have led Council to place Question A on the ballot.

So I’ve put up almost 1,400 words with a brief history of the position. Now I’m going to tell you why it’s a bad idea to do away with it.

I look at this like the federal or state government, where an executive has a set of functions and the legislature has a set of functions, one of them being a check on the executive. Wicomico County is probably of sufficient size to require an executive position, whereas a smaller county can get along with three or five county commissioners, as most of the Eastern Shore of Maryland does. (Wicomico and Cecil counties both have County Executives, and they fight over which is the largest county on the Shore. The others are significantly smaller, as in roughly half the population or less. Aside from Garrett County in extreme western Maryland, the remaining Eastern Shore counties are among the eight least-populated in the state.)

Admittedly this was before my time, but as I recall seeing that the last time the Council ran the county, there were massive tax hikes and issues at the landfill. With an administrator accountable only to the Council, which would be the method of government if Question A is approved, it seems to me there is more potential for mischief.

Is it good that County Council and the Executive don’t get along? No, not really. But that’s what elections are for. If Wicomico County doesn’t like the Executive, feel free to find someone to run against her in 2026 and see if you can beat her. (I’m sure the Democrats will.) County Council will always be there, but they shouldn’t be in charge.

Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.