July 14, 2024 • 31 mins
In this episode, Tamara Davis Brown discusses the at-large county council seat in Prince George's County, Maryland. She explains the background and history of the at-large seats, which were created in 2018 for political reasons. Tamara also discusses the responsibilities of the at-large council members and the benefits of having representation from outside of one's district. She addresses the high number of candidates running for the seat and shares her reasons for running, which include restoring integrity, transparency, and accountability to the position. Tamara also provides information about the upcoming special election and encourages listeners to vote.
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Tamara Davis Brown (00:05):
Welcome back to another episode of All
Politics is Local, the Marylandedition, with me, your host,
Tamara Davis Brown.
Thank you for joining us today.
So, from my last podcast, youmay recall that I had some
exciting news.
One, I announced that thislocal podcast was ranked in the
(00:28):
top 10 of the Maryland podcastfor political coverage and
political content.
So that was one of the thingsthat I announced.
The second thing that Iannounced that I was a candidate
for the vacant at-large PrinceGeorge's County Council seat.
And the special election iscoming up.
(00:49):
It's right around the corner.
It is Tuesday, August the 6th,with early voting beginning July
31st through August 5th.
I mentioned, and it just tomake sure everyone knows,
Maryland is a closed primarystate.
So there will be Republicancandidates, and Republicans get
(01:10):
to vote for their selection ofcandidates, and then there will
be Democratic candidates, ofwhich I am one.
Then the Democrats get to votefor their top choice.
So the top two from eachpolitical party will face off in
November on November 5th whenwe vote for our presidential
election.
So you'll be able to vote forthroughout the county.
(01:32):
Not only your president andyour Congress and your senator,
U.S.
congressman or woman, and U.S.
senators, you'll also be ableto vote for the new person to
replace the vacated seat ofPrince George's County at large.
So I thought I would call thisepisode here's the tea.
(01:52):
So pull out your cups andsaucers, get your scones and
biscuits and whatever else youwant to have with your tea to
get some information about theat-large county council seat
here in Prince George's County.
Since I have filed, I've gottena lot of questions both online
(02:15):
by email.
And even today, I was out at anevent in Chevrolet, Maryland,
as well as in Laurel, Marylandtoday campaigning.
And the voters were asking,well, you know, what is the
at-large seat?
What does the person do?
Um, just lots of questions.
(02:36):
People don't quite understandthe position of county council
at large.
And so I thought I'd take timeto create an episode to explain
both the background and historyand how we got the at-large
seats in Prince George's County.
It's where the quote-unquote Tcomes from.
I'm spilling the T, if youwill.
(02:58):
But really try to just toeducate you on the Prince
George's County at-large seats.
So I'll start first with thebackground.
So Prince George's Countyactually received and became a
charter form of government asopposed to home rule in 1970.
And the difference, thedistinction is with a charter
(03:21):
form of government, you createan administrative branch as well
as a legislative branch.
Home rule is basically just alegislative branch where the
president of the council or thecommissioners is usually the top
vote getter, and sometimes theymay each person who wins as a
(03:43):
county commissioner will votefor who will be the president of
that commission.
So prior to 1970, PrinceGeorge's County was a home rule
county.
It did not have a countycharter.
It was a home rule.
We had commissioners, and atthat time, most of the positions
(04:04):
in the county were actuallyat-large.
So having an at-large seat isnot new to Prince George's
County.
It's just that we changed andgot a charter form of government
in 1970, which created thecounty executive.
It created a legislativebranch, which is the county
council, and of course we haveour judicial branch or the
(04:26):
judicial system here in PrinceGeorge's County.
So in 1970, when we created thecharter form of government, we
created nine distinctcouncilmatic districts.
So you're either living inDistrict 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or
8, and like me, nine.
Prince George's County has had,if you lived in the county
(04:49):
prior to 1970, you may rememberus having at-large positions.
But now, since the 1970s, nowthat we have the charter, we've
gone from home rule to a charterform of government.
Looking to our neighbors to thesouth, for example, Charles
County, they still have homerule and they still have a home
(05:10):
rule type of government.
That's why they're calledcommissioners and not a council.
They are actually, there's areferendum that will be voted on
in November as to whether ornot the county, Charles County,
should become a charter form ofgovernment as well.
So it'll be interesting to seewhat our neighbors do.
There are some proponents forit and some proponents against
(05:32):
it.
So how did we get the twoat-large seats that we have
right now?
When did that occur?
That actually occurred in 2018by voter referendum.
And some of you may recall thatthere was a question on the
ballot.
We called it question D.
I was actually on theopposition.
(05:55):
I did not want two additionalat-large seats.
And the main and primary focusfor me was that it was
additional tax dollars andtaxpayer dollars that we had to
spend.
And I estimate about $2 millionfor the two seats because
you're paying for the salary ofthe two at-large council
(06:17):
persons, and the salaries areabout $160 or so, a little bit,
maybe a little bit more, thenyou have each of those persons
have a chief of staff, they havea scheduler, they have a
constituent service person orlegislative person.
So they have a staff of atleast four to five people plus
(06:38):
their salaries and theirbenefits.
So once you add all those allthose items up between salary
and benefits for two additionalseats, it's costing Prince
George's County an additional,you know, two, probably an
additional two million in orderto keep that those two seats
(06:59):
open.
So initially in 2018, Iactually opposed having the
at-large seats added to thecounty council.
The second reason that Iopposed it is because I knew it
was purely for politicalpurposes.
And this gets to the why.
So here's the T.
(07:20):
There was a county councilperson who was soon to be term
limited, and in Prince George'sCounty, you serve two terms of
four years, and then after that,you have you cannot run for
your district seat once again.
There's a council member whowas term limited and had a
desire to run for countyexecutive.
(07:41):
That council member was holdingdead last in the county
executive race, and that persondid not have the name
recognition countywide in orderto beat another person that was
in the race.
And actually, at the time, itwas three people that were
considering it running.
And those three people, a pollwas done and it demonstrated
(08:07):
that one person in particularwas definitely far above and
ahead, and that person went onto become county executive, and
that is Angela Osobrooks.
Second person is a currentstate senator right now, and
then another council person whowas term limited could not run
(08:30):
again.
That person was polling deadlast.
And so the powers that be,meaning the political
establishment in the county,said, Hey, why don't you sit
this out?
Well, not sit it out, but whatwhy don't you abandon right now
your desire to be countyexecutive and wait till 2026 in
(08:54):
order to run that way the you'llbe the quote unquote next
person or heir apparent to theseat.
In the meantime, what you needto do is get your name
recognition up in the entirecounty.
So we're gonna create the thesetwo at-large seats.
And they had to create twobecause we want to keep an odd
number on the council.
(09:16):
So when votes are taken, thereis a clear majority or a clear
minority on the council.
So you want an odd number tomake sure that the votes don't
come out split.
So they created the powers thatbe created this at large.
They put it on voterreferendum.
Again, it was question D.
(09:36):
I was highly vocal against itbecause I knew the fiscal
responsibility that it was goingto cost to taxpayers an
additional two million dollarsannually just to pay for the
salary and benefits of those twooffices.
And then second, I knew that itwas created solely for a person
(09:58):
to set themselves up to run forcounty executive later, meaning
in 2026.
Well, because that occurred andthat's what they wanted to
happen, they pulled all thestops, money and everything.
Saw signs, vote yes on questionD, you know, all of this.
(10:22):
And the voters voted for it.
Clear majority.
You know, they saw the signs,they saw the the literature that
was mailed to them, literaturethat was handed out at the
polls, said vote for question D,and unfortunately, there was a
good percentage.
I I won't say it's it was stilloverwhelmingly, it
(10:45):
overwhelmingly passed, but therewere a good percentage of
people that were paying enoughattention to say no.
And I believe that number wasaround 30%.
It could have been as high as40%.
But the motion did pass, thereferendum, I should say, did
pass, and it passedoverwhelmingly.
So by the 2020 election, whichwas the first opportunity after
(11:09):
question D passed in 2018, weadded two seats, and the two
council persons that umcurrently on the council are now
quote unquote term limited andwould not be able to run for at
least county um at largecountywide.
(11:30):
So that's kind of whathappened, and that's what people
need to understand as to whythose two seats were created.
They were created for politicalexpediency for one person in
particular to get their namerecognized countywide and be
able to run for county executivein 2026.
(11:52):
So that is the background,that's when it occurred, that's
why.
And then the other questionthat I get is well, what what do
the at-large positions do?
So the at-large seats arereally no different than the
district seats.
It just means that the countycouncil person has to represent
(12:16):
the interests of the entirecounty.
So if that person gets a callfrom someone in district nine or
get a call from someone indistrict one, or get a call from
someone in district six, theyhave to respond to all of those
persons because they representthe entire county council.
So I guess one benefit ofhaving the two at-large seats is
(12:39):
if you can't get redress fromyour district council person,
then you have two otheropportunities to go to your one
of your at-large persons andrepresentatives in order to get
any type of redress that youneed or get the resources that
you need.
So there is a benefit to havingthe at-large seats, but
(13:00):
ultimately you still have yourdistrict council representative,
and then the at-large will beyour voice on, you know, lar
hopefully larger issues.
And hopefully an at-largecouncil member should be doing
is looking at the totality ofthe county, and when they vote,
they're voting in the bestinterests of the entire county.
(13:24):
And I'm not saying that that'snot being done right now, but
there are certainresponsibilities of the county
councilpersons, particularlywhen they sit as the district
council on zoning matters, thatsome council members in the
district will say, Well, I don'twant this in my district, or I
want this in my district, Idon't want that, or want to zone
(13:45):
this way, I don't we don't wantit zoned that way.
And they can get a littleparochial about it.
So the at-large person shouldbe able to take a look at that
and be hopefully more objectiveand say, Well, what's in the
best interest of the county?
Yes, we may not want this inyour district, but then is it
(14:06):
better in is it still any betterin someone else's district, or
should it be in the county atall?
I think the at-large positioncan be a benefit to both the
residents of having a second orand third voice on the council,
but hopefully it'll be a personwho will be able to take the
(14:26):
totality of what's happening inthe county and make sure that we
are making legislation, makingzoning decisions, making board
of public health decisions thatwill benefit the entire county
and improve our quality of life.
So that's what the seat umdoes.
That's the the you know, theadditional opportunities that
(14:49):
you get, but it's just likehaving three council
representatives instead of justone.
So the next question I get is apolitical why are so many
people running for the seat?
And the quick and easy answeris is this is a quick and easier
election.
(15:09):
It's not as costly as you know.
The primaries are coming up onAugust the 6th, so it's a quick
turnaround.
It's not a a long sprint, it'sa very quick sprint, less than a
hundred meters.
And in in the Olympics, it'sprobably like your 60 meters and
even less, because we are justwe're less than a month out
(15:30):
before the election.
And it's a quick way, oncewhoever wins, it's a quick way
to get their name out and berecognized countywide,
especially if they want to runfor higher office.
And again, that's why it was crcreated politically in the
first place, and that's whatsome people are hoping to do.
(15:53):
I'm not saying all candidatesare, but I know in fact two of
the top candidates, theirinterest lies in the fact that
they want to be county executiveat some point, and that's why
they are running.
It's unfortunate because thetop what what they consider the
top two candidates, they are inpolitical office already, and
(16:17):
it's gonna create a dominoeffect, meaning if they exit, if
they win and they exit theircurrent seat, because they can't
hold both seats at the sametime, they'll have to exit the
seat, it may create yet anotherspecial election.
We're already gonna have asecond special election
potentially because I predictthat our current county
(16:40):
executive will become the U.S.
Senator and she'll have to stepdown to take the oath of office
in 2025 for the countyexecutive seat.
And depending on when she makesthat decision, it could be an
appointment, but myunderstanding is that she wants
(17:00):
the will of the people to decidewho should be the next county
executive, and I think that'sthe correct thing to do.
However, elections areexpensive.
The Board of Elections hasindicated that this particular
race will cost about one pointthree million dollars in
taxpayer money in order to fillthis vacancy of the at-large
(17:23):
seats, because you have to haveyour polling places open, you've
got to print the ballots,you've got to have election
judges, you have to have all theelection staff, you've got to
count the ballots, all of thosethings.
They have to mail out theballots.
So elections don't come withouta cost, so it's gonna cost
(17:43):
additional funds.
And if the top one of the toptwo candidates win, there will
be another special election.
So um one is a city mayor, andso that city would have to have
a special election as well, andone is actually a district
council member, and we wouldhave to have another special
(18:07):
election, at least that'll bejust in their district or in
that particular city.
It begs the question of youknow why certain people are
running, but that goes to againwhy they were created in the
first place.
They're really created in thefirst place to be that stepping
stone to the next level of beingcounty exec.
So people ask, and it's a veryappropriate question to ask,
(18:30):
well, why are you running?
Since you opposed the umat-large seats in the beginning,
you were against question D,and you don't seem to have any
real political aspirations.
Why are you running?
So that's a very good question.
I am running to restoreintegrity, transparency, and
(18:54):
accountability to the position.
As a community activist and acommunity advocate and leader, I
can be and will be the voice ofthe community.
And I think that we need morepersons who are not necessarily
beholden to special interests,but to the will of the people
(19:14):
and to hear what the voice ofthe people.
My tagline for my campaign is aname you know and a voice you
trust.
You're tuning in because eitherone, you're trying to find out
more, a little bit more about meto make an educated decision,
or two, you're already a part ofwhat I call, consider my base
(19:36):
of people who follow me, wholisten to my podcast when I
produce a new episode, or you'vegotten an email to say, hey,
let's listen to the podcast, butyou trust what I'm telling you
and the information that I'mgiving you, because I try to
give you facts and not impose mypersonal opinion, but give you
(20:01):
the facts and let you knowwhat's going on and how it
impacts you as a PrinceGeorgian.
I want to continue that in amore official capacity as a
county council person.
Yes, my heart is still inDistrict 9 where I live, and
that doesn't mean that I won't,because I'm running for the
at-large seat now, I'm onlyrunning to complete the term of
(20:23):
an of a uh of a vacant seat.
It doesn't mean that I will notrun for District 9 in 2026.
I'm definitely not ruling thatout because the southern part of
the county, I've lived heresince 1988, and it's it's what I
(20:44):
know.
The other parts of the county Iknow because I've worked and
been an advocate on issues thataffect all Prince Georgians.
It has nothing to do withgeographic areas or not.
So for example, I was thetreasurer of a group called PG
Tax Watch, and that group's solepurpose was to come together
(21:07):
and make sure we're payingattention to what is going on on
the county council and at theexecutive level when it comes to
increasing our property taxesor any other associated tax.
You know, we pay income tax,but we also pay like a
telecommunications tax, whichwas recently, in my mind,
(21:29):
increased with this last statelegislative session in order to
help fund education.
And I won't say increase.
There was no increase.
I didn't need to correct that.
The tax was not an increase,but it was reallocated
differently so that it couldhelp fund some of the mandates
(21:50):
of the blueprint for education.
I'm not necessarily opposed tothat.
I think that there needed to besome other questions asked a
little bit more in depth.
But nevertheless, getting backto PG Tax Watch, so that group
was actually, I'm probably wasthe only person from the
(22:11):
southern part of the county thatworked with that group.
The rest of them were in thenorthern part, Laurel, College
Park, Greenbelt area, that Iworked on issues with them.
There have been manyopportunities for advocacy and
activism where I've worked withpeople in the northern, the
central parts of the county, notjust the southern part of the
(22:34):
county.
Whenever I send out an email onany particular issue, I try to
be a little bit more different.
I used to send out emails andtell people about meetings and
what's coming up and this andthat, and other people started
to do that as well, and I wasgetting the same emails,
including my own, uh, about thesimilar events like three or
(22:57):
four times, and I just didn'twant to flood anybody's inbox.
So I deliberately stoppedsending meeting notices.
I send meeting notices onlywhen it's an event that a group
that I'm probably associatedwith or know about, and
sometimes I get requests to sendout notices about particular
(23:19):
meetings that may not be wellknown.
In other words, you won't getit from three or four different
sources.
And so the emails that I sendare those that alert you to
potential legislation, both atthe county, the state, and even
sometimes the federal level,less so on the federal side, but
(23:39):
it's potentially something thatyou want to pay very close
attention to.
I have kind of parlayed thatcountywide.
In fact, I asked, I was beinginterviewed by some persons in
in in at the state legislatureabout issues and my candidacy,
(24:01):
and I indicated to them that atsome point in time you may not
be on my email list, but you mayhave indirectly received it
because it got forwarded to agroup, and you may be on that
additional group.
I said all that to say is thatthe reason that I am running is
(24:23):
not only to restore and bringintegrity, transparency, and
accountability to you and to theoffice, but to be that voice on
a larger range of issues thatare facing the county.
And so I'm not going to go intomy platform because that was
not what this podcast wasintended.
(24:44):
It was just intended to giveyou the T on the background of
the county being a former homerule to becoming a charter
former of government with acounty executive and a county
council, and starting off withthe nine councilmatic districts
and how the in 2018 we voted andhad a referendum approved to
(25:08):
allow for two additional seatsfor very political reasons.
And unfortunately, thosepolitical reasons won't come to
fruition, at least not for oneperson, but that is the T about
how those two seats got addedand and and why.
And hopefully you understandthat we can look at it
(25:32):
positively to say that you'llget an additional representation
or voice from at least twopeople, two other people outside
of your districtrepresentatives.
And so hopefully, if the seatscontinue, and I say if because I
understand that my statesenator wants to introduce
legislation to actually removethe two seats, I would not be
(25:55):
opposed to that at all.
Again, I'm a fiscal hawk whenit comes to our tax dollars.
So anything to reduce taxes andto reduce the um our budget is
a good thing to for me as far asI'm concerned.
So um even though we still needto complete the term out, it
(26:15):
wouldn't be a problem for me ifthe seats were eliminated
because they were purely donefor political purposes anyway.
So that's the T.
I thank you for listening.
I would love for you tocontinue to not only listen, but
subscribe, like, and share thispodcast with all of your
(26:36):
friends, family, and neighbors.
And then I want to encourageyou to choose wisely.
I would love your vote for me,Tamara Davis Brown, on August
the 6th is the day of thespecial election.
Early voting begins July 31stthrough August 5th.
And you should also know thatthe ballots this year for this
(26:57):
special election will beactually mailed to you.
You will get a mail-in ballot.
The Board of Electionsrecognizes that one, because of
the quick turnaround, it'sreally going to be difficult to
do a regular election.
But two, it makes more sensebecause it's vacation time.
August is generally a time whenpeople are away.
(27:19):
Tuesday, the 6th of Augusthappens to be national night
out.
Nationally, we always have allthese big celebrations.
It's not that it's not going tobe on people's radar to really
come out to vote.
And so the Board of Electionhas done what I think was a wise
(27:39):
decision is to say, we're goingto mail everybody a ballot, and
you can now, when you get yourballot, you fill it out.
You can actually literally mailit in to the Prince George's
County Board of Election, put astamp on it and mail it.
Well, I don't even think youneed a stamp.
I think you can just mail itin.
But just make sure you fill itout completely.
You sign it, you have to signthose mail-in ballots.
(28:00):
So they have to see thesignature.
Or you can drop it in a dropbox.
So if you drop it in a dropbox, there are going to be 39
drop box locations.
They have not released thoselocations yet.
So as soon as I get thatinformation, I may come back and
just do a short podcast to giveyou all the information on the
(28:21):
special election for the PrinceGeorge's County at-large seats.
And then in addition to the 39Dropbox locations, there will be
nine early voting centers, onein each council district.
So we have nine councildistricts.
There's going to be a drop boxand one in each location.
So during early voting, if youwant to go in and complete your
(28:46):
ballot, you can bring the ballotwith you.
I'm sure they'll probably havesome there just in case people
don't have theirs or it nevergot mailed or they lost it or
what have you.
I'm sure they're going to havesome there.
But you can go into those nineearly voting centers between
July 31st and August 5th, and aswell as on August 6th.
(29:08):
So on August 6th, what's goingto be different, we're not going
to have your normal pollingplaces open all over the county.
You know, where you like, forexample, I normally vote at
Friendly High School in FortWashington.
I'm not going to be able to goto Friendly to go vote on August
6th.
I have to go to one of thosenine centers.
So it's only going to be thosenine centers that are open.
(29:30):
And so that that cuts down onthe cost.
Again, that's a good thing.
It cuts down on having to staffall of those um polling places.
So that's a good thing.
So that's what you need to knowabout the elections.
That's what you need to knowabout how the at large seats
came to be and what they whatyou know, both the positive of
(29:52):
what they do, the negative ofthe additional cost to
taxpayers.
So thank you.
For listening.
Again, please subscribe, like,and share.
Share, share, share thispodcast with everyone, you know,
so that the work can get outand people can understand uh
what the at-large seats are andwhy we have them and what we can
(30:18):
do to benefit from them, butthen more importantly, why I'm
running for the seat.
So thank you for listening, andwe'll be back with another
episode of All Politics islocal.
Thanks for joining me today onthis episode of All Politics is
local, the Maryland edition,where we hope to inspire and
(30:41):
activate a new generation ofinformed voters to move beyond
the ballot box and take action.
Remember, all politics islocal.
Welcome back to another episode of All
Politics is Local, the Marylandedition, with me, your host,
Tamara Davis Brown.
Thank you for joining us today.
So, from my last podcast, youmay recall that I had some
exciting news.
One, I announced that thislocal podcast was ranked in the
(00:28):
top 10 of the Maryland podcastfor political coverage and
political content.
So that was one of the thingsthat I announced.
The second thing that Iannounced that I was a candidate
for the vacant at-large PrinceGeorge's County Council seat.
And the special election iscoming up.
(00:49):
It's right around the corner.
It is Tuesday, August the 6th,with early voting beginning July
31st through August 5th.
I mentioned, and it just tomake sure everyone knows,
Maryland is a closed primarystate.
So there will be Republicancandidates, and Republicans get
(01:10):
to vote for their selection ofcandidates, and then there will
be Democratic candidates, ofwhich I am one.
Then the Democrats get to votefor their top choice.
So the top two from eachpolitical party will face off in
November on November 5th whenwe vote for our presidential
election.
So you'll be able to vote forthroughout the county.
(01:32):
Not only your president andyour Congress and your senator,
U.S.
congressman or woman, and U.S.
senators, you'll also be ableto vote for the new person to
replace the vacated seat ofPrince George's County at large.
So I thought I would call thisepisode here's the tea.
(01:52):
So pull out your cups andsaucers, get your scones and
biscuits and whatever else youwant to have with your tea to
get some information about theat-large county council seat
here in Prince George's County.
Since I have filed, I've gottena lot of questions both online
(02:15):
by email.
And even today, I was out at anevent in Chevrolet, Maryland,
as well as in Laurel, Marylandtoday campaigning.
And the voters were asking,well, you know, what is the
at-large seat?
What does the person do?
Um, just lots of questions.
(02:36):
People don't quite understandthe position of county council
at large.
And so I thought I'd take timeto create an episode to explain
both the background and historyand how we got the at-large
seats in Prince George's County.
It's where the quote-unquote Tcomes from.
I'm spilling the T, if youwill.
(02:58):
But really try to just toeducate you on the Prince
George's County at-large seats.
So I'll start first with thebackground.
So Prince George's Countyactually received and became a
charter form of government asopposed to home rule in 1970.
And the difference, thedistinction is with a charter
(03:21):
form of government, you createan administrative branch as well
as a legislative branch.
Home rule is basically just alegislative branch where the
president of the council or thecommissioners is usually the top
vote getter, and sometimes theymay each person who wins as a
(03:43):
county commissioner will votefor who will be the president of
that commission.
So prior to 1970, PrinceGeorge's County was a home rule
county.
It did not have a countycharter.
It was a home rule.
We had commissioners, and atthat time, most of the positions
(04:04):
in the county were actuallyat-large.
So having an at-large seat isnot new to Prince George's
County.
It's just that we changed andgot a charter form of government
in 1970, which created thecounty executive.
It created a legislativebranch, which is the county
council, and of course we haveour judicial branch or the
(04:26):
judicial system here in PrinceGeorge's County.
So in 1970, when we created thecharter form of government, we
created nine distinctcouncilmatic districts.
So you're either living inDistrict 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or
8, and like me, nine.
Prince George's County has had,if you lived in the county
(04:49):
prior to 1970, you may rememberus having at-large positions.
But now, since the 1970s, nowthat we have the charter, we've
gone from home rule to a charterform of government.
Looking to our neighbors to thesouth, for example, Charles
County, they still have homerule and they still have a home
(05:10):
rule type of government.
That's why they're calledcommissioners and not a council.
They are actually, there's areferendum that will be voted on
in November as to whether ornot the county, Charles County,
should become a charter form ofgovernment as well.
So it'll be interesting to seewhat our neighbors do.
There are some proponents forit and some proponents against
(05:32):
it.
So how did we get the twoat-large seats that we have
right now?
When did that occur?
That actually occurred in 2018by voter referendum.
And some of you may recall thatthere was a question on the
ballot.
We called it question D.
I was actually on theopposition.
(05:55):
I did not want two additionalat-large seats.
And the main and primary focusfor me was that it was
additional tax dollars andtaxpayer dollars that we had to
spend.
And I estimate about $2 millionfor the two seats because
you're paying for the salary ofthe two at-large council
(06:17):
persons, and the salaries areabout $160 or so, a little bit,
maybe a little bit more, thenyou have each of those persons
have a chief of staff, they havea scheduler, they have a
constituent service person orlegislative person.
So they have a staff of atleast four to five people plus
(06:38):
their salaries and theirbenefits.
So once you add all those allthose items up between salary
and benefits for two additionalseats, it's costing Prince
George's County an additional,you know, two, probably an
additional two million in orderto keep that those two seats
(06:59):
open.
So initially in 2018, Iactually opposed having the
at-large seats added to thecounty council.
The second reason that Iopposed it is because I knew it
was purely for politicalpurposes.
And this gets to the why.
So here's the T.
(07:20):
There was a county councilperson who was soon to be term
limited, and in Prince George'sCounty, you serve two terms of
four years, and then after that,you have you cannot run for
your district seat once again.
There's a council member whowas term limited and had a
desire to run for countyexecutive.
(07:41):
That council member was holdingdead last in the county
executive race, and that persondid not have the name
recognition countywide in orderto beat another person that was
in the race.
And actually, at the time, itwas three people that were
considering it running.
And those three people, a pollwas done and it demonstrated
(08:07):
that one person in particularwas definitely far above and
ahead, and that person went onto become county executive, and
that is Angela Osobrooks.
Second person is a currentstate senator right now, and
then another council person whowas term limited could not run
(08:30):
again.
That person was polling deadlast.
And so the powers that be,meaning the political
establishment in the county,said, Hey, why don't you sit
this out?
Well, not sit it out, but whatwhy don't you abandon right now
your desire to be countyexecutive and wait till 2026 in
(08:54):
order to run that way the you'llbe the quote unquote next
person or heir apparent to theseat.
In the meantime, what you needto do is get your name
recognition up in the entirecounty.
So we're gonna create the thesetwo at-large seats.
And they had to create twobecause we want to keep an odd
number on the council.
(09:16):
So when votes are taken, thereis a clear majority or a clear
minority on the council.
So you want an odd number tomake sure that the votes don't
come out split.
So they created the powers thatbe created this at large.
They put it on voterreferendum.
Again, it was question D.
(09:36):
I was highly vocal against itbecause I knew the fiscal
responsibility that it was goingto cost to taxpayers an
additional two million dollarsannually just to pay for the
salary and benefits of those twooffices.
And then second, I knew that itwas created solely for a person
(09:58):
to set themselves up to run forcounty executive later, meaning
in 2026.
Well, because that occurred andthat's what they wanted to
happen, they pulled all thestops, money and everything.
Saw signs, vote yes on questionD, you know, all of this.
(10:22):
And the voters voted for it.
Clear majority.
You know, they saw the signs,they saw the the literature that
was mailed to them, literaturethat was handed out at the
polls, said vote for question D,and unfortunately, there was a
good percentage.
I I won't say it's it was stilloverwhelmingly, it
(10:45):
overwhelmingly passed, but therewere a good percentage of
people that were paying enoughattention to say no.
And I believe that number wasaround 30%.
It could have been as high as40%.
But the motion did pass, thereferendum, I should say, did
pass, and it passedoverwhelmingly.
So by the 2020 election, whichwas the first opportunity after
(11:09):
question D passed in 2018, weadded two seats, and the two
council persons that umcurrently on the council are now
quote unquote term limited andwould not be able to run for at
least county um at largecountywide.
(11:30):
So that's kind of whathappened, and that's what people
need to understand as to whythose two seats were created.
They were created for politicalexpediency for one person in
particular to get their namerecognized countywide and be
able to run for county executivein 2026.
(11:52):
So that is the background,that's when it occurred, that's
why.
And then the other questionthat I get is well, what what do
the at-large positions do?
So the at-large seats arereally no different than the
district seats.
It just means that the countycouncil person has to represent
(12:16):
the interests of the entirecounty.
So if that person gets a callfrom someone in district nine or
get a call from someone indistrict one, or get a call from
someone in district six, theyhave to respond to all of those
persons because they representthe entire county council.
So I guess one benefit ofhaving the two at-large seats is
(12:39):
if you can't get redress fromyour district council person,
then you have two otheropportunities to go to your one
of your at-large persons andrepresentatives in order to get
any type of redress that youneed or get the resources that
you need.
So there is a benefit to havingthe at-large seats, but
(13:00):
ultimately you still have yourdistrict council representative,
and then the at-large will beyour voice on, you know, lar
hopefully larger issues.
And hopefully an at-largecouncil member should be doing
is looking at the totality ofthe county, and when they vote,
they're voting in the bestinterests of the entire county.
(13:24):
And I'm not saying that that'snot being done right now, but
there are certainresponsibilities of the county
councilpersons, particularlywhen they sit as the district
council on zoning matters, thatsome council members in the
district will say, Well, I don'twant this in my district, or I
want this in my district, Idon't want that, or want to zone
(13:45):
this way, I don't we don't wantit zoned that way.
And they can get a littleparochial about it.
So the at-large person shouldbe able to take a look at that
and be hopefully more objectiveand say, Well, what's in the
best interest of the county?
Yes, we may not want this inyour district, but then is it
(14:06):
better in is it still any betterin someone else's district, or
should it be in the county atall?
I think the at-large positioncan be a benefit to both the
residents of having a second orand third voice on the council,
but hopefully it'll be a personwho will be able to take the
(14:26):
totality of what's happening inthe county and make sure that we
are making legislation, makingzoning decisions, making board
of public health decisions thatwill benefit the entire county
and improve our quality of life.
So that's what the seat umdoes.
That's the the you know, theadditional opportunities that
(14:49):
you get, but it's just likehaving three council
representatives instead of justone.
So the next question I get is apolitical why are so many
people running for the seat?
And the quick and easy answeris is this is a quick and easier
election.
(15:09):
It's not as costly as you know.
The primaries are coming up onAugust the 6th, so it's a quick
turnaround.
It's not a a long sprint, it'sa very quick sprint, less than a
hundred meters.
And in in the Olympics, it'sprobably like your 60 meters and
even less, because we are justwe're less than a month out
(15:30):
before the election.
And it's a quick way, oncewhoever wins, it's a quick way
to get their name out and berecognized countywide,
especially if they want to runfor higher office.
And again, that's why it was crcreated politically in the
first place, and that's whatsome people are hoping to do.
(15:53):
I'm not saying all candidatesare, but I know in fact two of
the top candidates, theirinterest lies in the fact that
they want to be county executiveat some point, and that's why
they are running.
It's unfortunate because thetop what what they consider the
top two candidates, they are inpolitical office already, and
(16:17):
it's gonna create a dominoeffect, meaning if they exit, if
they win and they exit theircurrent seat, because they can't
hold both seats at the sametime, they'll have to exit the
seat, it may create yet anotherspecial election.
We're already gonna have asecond special election
potentially because I predictthat our current county
(16:40):
executive will become the U.S.
Senator and she'll have to stepdown to take the oath of office
in 2025 for the countyexecutive seat.
And depending on when she makesthat decision, it could be an
appointment, but myunderstanding is that she wants
(17:00):
the will of the people to decidewho should be the next county
executive, and I think that'sthe correct thing to do.
However, elections areexpensive.
The Board of Elections hasindicated that this particular
race will cost about one pointthree million dollars in
taxpayer money in order to fillthis vacancy of the at-large
(17:23):
seats, because you have to haveyour polling places open, you've
got to print the ballots,you've got to have election
judges, you have to have all theelection staff, you've got to
count the ballots, all of thosethings.
They have to mail out theballots.
So elections don't come withouta cost, so it's gonna cost
(17:43):
additional funds.
And if the top one of the toptwo candidates win, there will
be another special election.
So um one is a city mayor, andso that city would have to have
a special election as well, andone is actually a district
council member, and we wouldhave to have another special
(18:07):
election, at least that'll bejust in their district or in
that particular city.
It begs the question of youknow why certain people are
running, but that goes to againwhy they were created in the
first place.
They're really created in thefirst place to be that stepping
stone to the next level of beingcounty exec.
So people ask, and it's a veryappropriate question to ask,
(18:30):
well, why are you running?
Since you opposed the umat-large seats in the beginning,
you were against question D,and you don't seem to have any
real political aspirations.
Why are you running?
So that's a very good question.
I am running to restoreintegrity, transparency, and
(18:54):
accountability to the position.
As a community activist and acommunity advocate and leader, I
can be and will be the voice ofthe community.
And I think that we need morepersons who are not necessarily
beholden to special interests,but to the will of the people
(19:14):
and to hear what the voice ofthe people.
My tagline for my campaign is aname you know and a voice you
trust.
You're tuning in because eitherone, you're trying to find out
more, a little bit more about meto make an educated decision,
or two, you're already a part ofwhat I call, consider my base
(19:36):
of people who follow me, wholisten to my podcast when I
produce a new episode, or you'vegotten an email to say, hey,
let's listen to the podcast, butyou trust what I'm telling you
and the information that I'mgiving you, because I try to
give you facts and not impose mypersonal opinion, but give you
(20:01):
the facts and let you knowwhat's going on and how it
impacts you as a PrinceGeorgian.
I want to continue that in amore official capacity as a
county council person.
Yes, my heart is still inDistrict 9 where I live, and
that doesn't mean that I won't,because I'm running for the
at-large seat now, I'm onlyrunning to complete the term of
(20:23):
an of a uh of a vacant seat.
It doesn't mean that I will notrun for District 9 in 2026.
I'm definitely not ruling thatout because the southern part of
the county, I've lived heresince 1988, and it's it's what I
(20:44):
know.
The other parts of the county Iknow because I've worked and
been an advocate on issues thataffect all Prince Georgians.
It has nothing to do withgeographic areas or not.
So for example, I was thetreasurer of a group called PG
Tax Watch, and that group's solepurpose was to come together
(21:07):
and make sure we're payingattention to what is going on on
the county council and at theexecutive level when it comes to
increasing our property taxesor any other associated tax.
You know, we pay income tax,but we also pay like a
telecommunications tax, whichwas recently, in my mind,
(21:29):
increased with this last statelegislative session in order to
help fund education.
And I won't say increase.
There was no increase.
I didn't need to correct that.
The tax was not an increase,but it was reallocated
differently so that it couldhelp fund some of the mandates
(21:50):
of the blueprint for education.
I'm not necessarily opposed tothat.
I think that there needed to besome other questions asked a
little bit more in depth.
But nevertheless, getting backto PG Tax Watch, so that group
was actually, I'm probably wasthe only person from the
(22:11):
southern part of the county thatworked with that group.
The rest of them were in thenorthern part, Laurel, College
Park, Greenbelt area, that Iworked on issues with them.
There have been manyopportunities for advocacy and
activism where I've worked withpeople in the northern, the
central parts of the county, notjust the southern part of the
(22:34):
county.
Whenever I send out an email onany particular issue, I try to
be a little bit more different.
I used to send out emails andtell people about meetings and
what's coming up and this andthat, and other people started
to do that as well, and I wasgetting the same emails,
including my own, uh, about thesimilar events like three or
(22:57):
four times, and I just didn'twant to flood anybody's inbox.
So I deliberately stoppedsending meeting notices.
I send meeting notices onlywhen it's an event that a group
that I'm probably associatedwith or know about, and
sometimes I get requests to sendout notices about particular
(23:19):
meetings that may not be wellknown.
In other words, you won't getit from three or four different
sources.
And so the emails that I sendare those that alert you to
potential legislation, both atthe county, the state, and even
sometimes the federal level,less so on the federal side, but
(23:39):
it's potentially something thatyou want to pay very close
attention to.
I have kind of parlayed thatcountywide.
In fact, I asked, I was beinginterviewed by some persons in
in in at the state legislatureabout issues and my candidacy,
(24:01):
and I indicated to them that atsome point in time you may not
be on my email list, but you mayhave indirectly received it
because it got forwarded to agroup, and you may be on that
additional group.
I said all that to say is thatthe reason that I am running is
(24:23):
not only to restore and bringintegrity, transparency, and
accountability to you and to theoffice, but to be that voice on
a larger range of issues thatare facing the county.
And so I'm not going to go intomy platform because that was
not what this podcast wasintended.
(24:44):
It was just intended to giveyou the T on the background of
the county being a former homerule to becoming a charter
former of government with acounty executive and a county
council, and starting off withthe nine councilmatic districts
and how the in 2018 we voted andhad a referendum approved to
(25:08):
allow for two additional seatsfor very political reasons.
And unfortunately, thosepolitical reasons won't come to
fruition, at least not for oneperson, but that is the T about
how those two seats got addedand and and why.
And hopefully you understandthat we can look at it
(25:32):
positively to say that you'llget an additional representation
or voice from at least twopeople, two other people outside
of your districtrepresentatives.
And so hopefully, if the seatscontinue, and I say if because I
understand that my statesenator wants to introduce
legislation to actually removethe two seats, I would not be
(25:55):
opposed to that at all.
Again, I'm a fiscal hawk whenit comes to our tax dollars.
So anything to reduce taxes andto reduce the um our budget is
a good thing to for me as far asI'm concerned.
So um even though we still needto complete the term out, it
(26:15):
wouldn't be a problem for me ifthe seats were eliminated
because they were purely donefor political purposes anyway.
So that's the T.
I thank you for listening.
I would love for you tocontinue to not only listen, but
subscribe, like, and share thispodcast with all of your
(26:36):
friends, family, and neighbors.
And then I want to encourageyou to choose wisely.
I would love your vote for me,Tamara Davis Brown, on August
the 6th is the day of thespecial election.
Early voting begins July 31stthrough August 5th.
And you should also know thatthe ballots this year for this
(26:57):
special election will beactually mailed to you.
You will get a mail-in ballot.
The Board of Electionsrecognizes that one, because of
the quick turnaround, it'sreally going to be difficult to
do a regular election.
But two, it makes more sensebecause it's vacation time.
August is generally a time whenpeople are away.
(27:19):
Tuesday, the 6th of Augusthappens to be national night
out.
Nationally, we always have allthese big celebrations.
It's not that it's not going tobe on people's radar to really
come out to vote.
And so the Board of Electionhas done what I think was a wise
(27:39):
decision is to say, we're goingto mail everybody a ballot, and
you can now, when you get yourballot, you fill it out.
You can actually literally mailit in to the Prince George's
County Board of Election, put astamp on it and mail it.
Well, I don't even think youneed a stamp.
I think you can just mail itin.
But just make sure you fill itout completely.
You sign it, you have to signthose mail-in ballots.
(28:00):
So they have to see thesignature.
Or you can drop it in a dropbox.
So if you drop it in a dropbox, there are going to be 39
drop box locations.
They have not released thoselocations yet.
So as soon as I get thatinformation, I may come back and
just do a short podcast to giveyou all the information on the
(28:21):
special election for the PrinceGeorge's County at-large seats.
And then in addition to the 39Dropbox locations, there will be
nine early voting centers, onein each council district.
So we have nine councildistricts.
There's going to be a drop boxand one in each location.
So during early voting, if youwant to go in and complete your
(28:46):
ballot, you can bring the ballotwith you.
I'm sure they'll probably havesome there just in case people
don't have theirs or it nevergot mailed or they lost it or
what have you.
I'm sure they're going to havesome there.
But you can go into those nineearly voting centers between
July 31st and August 5th, and aswell as on August 6th.
(29:08):
So on August 6th, what's goingto be different, we're not going
to have your normal pollingplaces open all over the county.
You know, where you like, forexample, I normally vote at
Friendly High School in FortWashington.
I'm not going to be able to goto Friendly to go vote on August
6th.
I have to go to one of thosenine centers.
So it's only going to be thosenine centers that are open.
(29:30):
And so that that cuts down onthe cost.
Again, that's a good thing.
It cuts down on having to staffall of those um polling places.
So that's a good thing.
So that's what you need to knowabout the elections.
That's what you need to knowabout how the at large seats
came to be and what they whatyou know, both the positive of
(29:52):
what they do, the negative ofthe additional cost to
taxpayers.
So thank you.
For listening.
Again, please subscribe, like,and share.
Share, share, share thispodcast with everyone, you know,
so that the work can get outand people can understand uh
what the at-large seats are andwhy we have them and what we can
(30:18):
do to benefit from them, butthen more importantly, why I'm
running for the seat.
So thank you for listening, andwe'll be back with another
episode of All Politics islocal.
Thanks for joining me today onthis episode of All Politics is
local, the Maryland edition,where we hope to inspire and
(30:41):
activate a new generation ofinformed voters to move beyond
the ballot box and take action.
Remember, all politics islocal.
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