| Isiah "Ike" Leggett | |
|---|---|
| County Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland | |
| In office 2007 – Present |
|
| Preceded by | Doug Duncan |
| County Council At-Large | |
| In office 1986–2002 |
|
| Human Relations Committee | |
| In office 1979–1986 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 25, 1944 Deweyville, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Occupation | County Politician |
Isiah "Ike" Leggett (born July 25, 1944) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Deweyville, Texas, Leggett attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and, after serving in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Army, earned a law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.. In 1986, he became the first African-American elected to the county council in Montgomery County, Maryland and served on the council through 2002. He remains the only African-American ever elected to that body at-large. For two years, Leggett served as the chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party before leaving that position to run for office once again. Leggett was elected County Executive of Montgomery County in 2006, the first African-American to hold that office. Since taking office, he has become involved in a number of controversial issues, including proposals to increase the Maryland gas tax, place a moratorium on new development in Montgomery County, and create a new hiring location for day laborers in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
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Leggett was born on July 25, 1944 in Deweyville, Texas and grew up with twelve siblings in Alexandria, Louisiana. In Alexandria, he played football for Peabody Magnet High School. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, working through school as a groundskeeper in a work-study program and graduating in 1967. In his time as an undergraduate, he participated in civil rights demonstrations and was elected president of his class during his senior year. He also became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first intercollegiate fraternity established for African-Americans. A member of the Southern University Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), Leggett served as a Captain in the United States Army during the Vietnam War and saw action near the cities of Da Nang and Saigon. The Army awarded him a Bronze Star before he left to pursue a law degree and a career in politics. In 1974, he received Master of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees from Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating first in his law school class, followed soon after by a Master of Laws degree from George Washington University. He returned to Howard as a professor in their law school in 1976, and continued teaching at the law school through his election as County Executive in 2006, with the exception of a brief stint as a White House Fellow in the 1970s. Leggett is currently married to his second wife, Catherine.[1]
Leggett's first participation in county government was as an appointed member of the county Human Relations Committee, on which he served from 1979 to 1986. In 1986, he was elected as an at-large member of the Montgomery County Council, becoming the first African-American ever to serve on the council. To this day, he is the only African-American ever elected to county office at large. He was re-elected to the seat three more times, and served three one-year terms as council president. During his time on the council, he chaired the council's transportation and environment committee and played a role in passage of a county living wage law and a public smoking ban.[2] In 1992, a former county council aide of Leggett's accused him of sexual harassment in a widely publicized case, but the accusation was dismissed by a jury.[3] In 2002, Leggett declined to run for re-election to the county council. He was widely viewed as a potential running mate for Democratic nominee Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in that year's gubernatorial race. However, Townsend chose Admiral Charles R. Larson instead. Townsend and Larson lost in November when Maryland elected Robert Ehrlich to be its first Republican Governor in 40 years and Lieutenant Governor Michael S. Steele as its first African-American statewide elected official. When his term on the council was completed in December of that year, Leggett was elected to a term as chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party. Leggett's chairmanship was seen by some Democratic activists as important to maintaining the African-American base of the Maryland Democratic Party following their electoral losses.[4]
Following the election of 2004, Maryland politicians started announcing their intentions for the 2006 elections. Among them was three-term County Executive Doug Duncan, who was in the early stages of a run for Governor. In December 2004, Leggett left his position as Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party to begin a campaign to replace Duncan as Montgomery County Executive.[5] in the primary election was a former colleague from the council, Steve Silverman. Leggett and Silverman squared off in a long series of debates beginning almost a year before the election. But despite being outspent by Silverman, Leggett won the Democratic nomination for executive with 61% of the vote in the primary election on September 12, 2006.[1][6] Although he then faced Republican nominee Chuck Floyd and independent anti-tax advocate Robin Ficker in the general election, Leggett easily won the November polling as well.[7]
In the early days of his administration, Leggett became involved in a number of controversial issues. To help alleviate transportation funding difficulties and a state budget deficit, he proposed a statewide gas tax increase. This proposal, which happened in the midst of a state budget crunch and in response to high levels of traffic congestion in the county, was supported by the county council but largely ignored by incoming Governor Martin O'Malley.[8][9]
Leggett also worked to find a hiring site for day laborers from the city of Gaithersburg and the surrounding upcounty area. During the term of Leggett's predecessor Doug Duncan, Gaithersburg had struggled to find space within the city limits that the county could lease for use as a location where the day laborers could wait for employers. The owners of virtually all of the more than 30 sites considered by the city government had refused to grant a lease for this purpose, and in the one case where the property owner was willing to consider the use, the county's efforts to lease the property fell through after the property owner backed out.[10] The debate became caught up in a larger national debate about the role of illegal immigrants in American society.[11] Abandoning efforts to locate the site within Gaithersburg's city limits, Leggett's proposal to locate a day laborer location on county-owned land eliminated the need to find a private property owner willing to lease for this purpose. However, the decision was still contentious within the neighborhood where the site was to be located.[12]
Additionally, Leggett came out in favor of a proposed partial moratorium on new real-estate development in the county. This moratorium was proposed by Councilmember Marilyn Praisner, and was intended to allow the County time to reevaluate and revise its growth policy. Critics of the moratorium expressed concerns that it might cause economic harm to the county, sending the message to the business community that the county was unpredictable.[13] Despite Leggett's support, however, the moratorium law was altered so that it did not completely stop applications for new development but rather placed increased regulation on them while the county planning board and county council revised the county's planning process.[14]
Dealing with a worsening economic recession and its effects on county government have dominated the second half of Leggett's first term. A number of his specific spending decisions were criticized in light of this recession. In March 2008, opponents questioned the county's use of tax payer money to build a $65,225 bathroom for Leggett's personal office.[15] The project came at a time when the recession had begun to undermine tax revenues, resulting in a hiring freeze for 1,092 county government vacancies.[16] In 2009, two former military helicopters were offered as a donation to the county for use in a police helicopter program. Leggett favored pursuing the program but faced opposition from councilmembers who criticized the cost of such a program.[17]
| Preceded by Doug Duncan |
Montgomery County, Maryland Executive 2006–present |
Succeeded by incumbent |