While the recent buzz in local political circles has focused on the two-track contest to fill the short and long-term vacancies created by the resignation of County Councilmember Valerie Ervin, the race for the council’s other open seat in 2014 is also heating up after months of relative quiet.
Long-time Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz — who last month surprised many when he disclosed he was thinking about running for the District 3 seat of outgoing Councilmember Phil Andrews – said this week he has decided to run, and will make a formal announcement in mid-January. Andrews is seeking the Democratic nod for county executive.
Katz will face Gaithersburg City Councilmember Ryan Spiegel and party activist Guled Kassim of Derwood in the June Democratic primary, with at least two more potential candidates eyeing the race in a district dominated by Rockville and Gaithersburg.
Rockville City Councilmember Tom Moore, re-elected to a second term in November, said he is “considering” running for the District 3 seat, and plans to make a decision in the next week or two. Moore, an attorney, said he began mulling the County Council race in October, after being told by former Rockville Mayor Rose Krasnow that she would not run for the seat. Krasnow was recently named to a top staff job at the county’s Planning Commission.
Also said to be in the potential mix for the District 3 seat is Board of Education member Rebecca Smondrowski of Gaithersburg, who did not respond to requests for comment. Smondrowski also is said to be eyeing the seat held by state Sen. Jennie Forehand, who is retiring after 36 years in the General Assembly. Delegate Luiz Simmons and former Delegate Cheryl Kagan are already seeking the nomination to succeed Forehand.
Katz has been Gaithersburg’s part-time mayor since 1998 – he was re-elected unopposed in November – and spent 20 years on the city council before becoming mayor. Two months ago, he decided to close the family business –Wolfson’s Department Store – that his grandparents founded in 1918.
Katz said the closing of the store was motivated by business considerations — not by political aspirations. He said it had been three decades since the store was remodeled, and “I realized that I needed to remodel or close the business.” He decided to close after determining his two children were not interested in taking over the store.
After the closing was announced, Katz said he received numerous calls suggesting he run for County Council. “The more I looked into it, the more interested I became,” he said.
The entry of the 63-year old Katz sets up a generational faceoff of sorts with the 35-year old Spiegel, who was initially elected to the Gaithersburg City Council in 2007 – and who was born the year that Katz first served on that body.
Spiegel, who announced for the District 3 vacancy last month after positioning himself to run for much of 2013, said he was “extremely” surprised when Katz decided to get in, adding, “Pretty much everybody was surprised.”
For his part, Katz said: “I don’t do negative campaigning. I’ll talk about myself and what I can bring to the table,” citing 35 years in municipal government.
Spiegel, while describing Katz as a friend, appeared less reluctant to draw contrasts. “With all due respect to Sidney, the position he has held for the last 15 years is really focused on the ceremonial leadership of the city and presiding over council meetings,” Spiegel said, noting the mayor does not have a council vote in Gaithersburg’s governmental structure (in neighboring Rockville, the mayor does vote).
“I think my experience as a legislator is more ripe and more recent,” said Spiegel. “There are some really tough decisions I have had to part of.”
Some insiders suggested that Moore, if he runs, could benefit by being the only Rockville-based candidate, as the Gaithersburg vote splits between Katz and Spiegel. But Katz, as a long-time business owner, may also draw broad support from the business community, members of which have griped privately about the absence of anyone on the current council who has had to regularly meet a payroll.
“I do bring a small business background…that I don’t know they have had in many years,” Katz said of the County Council. He acknowledged receiving calls from business people urging him to run, but added, “I have friends in every occupation. It was certainly people from the business community [calling], but other people as well.”
