Bethesda Magazine
BY LOUIS PECK
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
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Guled Kassim
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Councilmember Phil Andrews’ decision to run for county executive in 2014 has created an open seat in the County Council’s Rockville/Gaithersburg-based District 3 for the first time in three decades. But what started out as a potentially crowded field vying to succeed him has thinned considerably.
Two political veterans – former Rockville MayorRose Krasnow and Richard Parsons, a former president of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and onetime executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party – both said this week that they would not run after earlier considering the race.
Their decision leaves local party activist Guled Kassim as the only definite candidate for the Democratic nomination with less than four months until the Feb. 25 filing deadline. The 38-year old Kassim, a business development consultant who emigrated to Montgomery County from Somalia when he was 10, expects to make a formal announcement next month.
Another potential contender, Gaithersburg City Councilmember Ryan Spiegel, said he is still actively considering running for the District 3 seat. But Spiegel, who appeared ready to jump into the race this past summer, last month joined the Bethesda-based law firm of Paley Rothman as a principal – and now says he will make a decision on the contest “by the end of the year at the latest,” while adding, “I have not ruled out running.”
As for balancing a council run with his new job, he added, “I am trying to figure how to make it all work.”
Serving on the County Council is considered a full-time job: The salary, now slightly more than $104,000 annually, would rise to just over $136,000 in 2017 as a result of a measure enacted by the council last month.
Professional and personal considerations weighed heavily in the decisions by Krasnow and Parsons to forgo the contest.
Krasnow spent a decade as an elected official in Rockville before joining the staff of the Montgomery County Planning Commission nine years ago. She was the commission’s acting staff director from 2012-2013, and recently was named deputy staff director.
“I said if I got it, I would not run,” Krasnow said of her new post. “I did get it, so I’m staying here.”
Of his decision to stay out, Parsons, a Derwood-based consultant, said: “There are other personal things going on that would not make it work. It’s just not a good time.”
Parsons said he remains interested in a future run. “It does not mean forever – just not right now,” he said of his decision
Parsons is close to former County Executive Doug Duncan, and there had been speculation about Parsons running as part of a possible slate of candidates headed by Duncan as the latter seeks to win his old job back.
Andrews has represented District 3 seat since 1998, when he ousted the late William Hanna, who had held the seat since 1982.
While insiders predict other candidates may emerge prior to the filing deadline, Kassim, a Derwood resident, for the moment has the field to himself.
He served eight years in the Marine Corps before working in real estate, and now specializes in business development for non-profit organizations and small businesses. He hosted a weekly public affairs show on a Washington radio station in 2011 and 2012.
While he sought the nomination for the state House of Delegates in 2006, Kassim added, “What excites me [now] is at the local level, and trying to realize the benefit of smart growth and mixed uses.”
If District 3 is currently the only sure vacancy in next year’s County Council races, the situation in Silver Spring/Takoma Park-based District 5 remains unclear.
The incumbent, Valerie Ervin, has yet to reveal her political plans. (She did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.) Amid Ervin’s silence, Evan Glass, chair of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Committee, launched a “listening tour” in late September to explore a run in District 5.
“When I launched a listening tour, we had a handful of events scheduled, and have only increased the number of events in the last six weeks,” Glass said. “People want to…have substantive conversations about our community, and that is what we’re engaging in right now.”
Should Ervin seek re-election, Glass’ next political move remains unclear. But another contender who had been eyeing the District 5 seat, management consultant Terrill North, said he has decided instead to seek one of the four at-large seats on the nine-member County Council.
Besides the incumbents – Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal, and Hans Riemer– the at-large contest now includes two non-incumbents besides North: Vivian Malloy of Olney, a Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee member, and Beth Daly of Dickerson, who serves on the Upcounty Citizens Advisory Board.
North is a Takoma Park resident, as are Elrich, Leventhal and Riemer. Asked whether this might put him at a disadvantage in the at-large race, North responded: “I think the people care about what your priorities are, and that’s more important than where you live.”
Source: Bethesda Magazine