About a month after casting the deciding vote on stricter rules for Town of Chevy Chase write-in candidates, the town’s mayor reversed his position Wednesday.
Mayor Al Lang was one of three members of the five-member Town Council to vote for the introduction of an ordinance that will require successful town council write-in candidates to submit their financial disclosure forms within seven days following the certification of an election.
At the town council’s meeting in September, Lang had voted with council members Kathy Strom and Vicky Taplin for an ordinance that would’ve required write-in candidates to submit a certificate of candidacy at least 14 days before election day. The ordinance introduced Wednesday dropped that requirement and replaced it with the one concerning the filing of financial disclosure forms after an election.
Lang didn’t return a request for comment from Bethesda Beat for this story.
The new write-in rules came as a reaction to the town’s controversial election in May, in which write-in candidate Fred Cecere knocked off incumbent Pat Burda thanks to a secretive write-in campaign. Many in the town said they had no idea incumbents Burda and John Bickerman had any challengers.
Lang and Bickerman have refused to answer questions as to their involvement with Cecere’s campaign. The two frequently disagreed with Burda, Taplin and Strom and Cecere’s election allowed Lang and Bickerman to install themselves as mayor and vice mayor, respectively.
The move to require write-in candidates to file financial disclosure statements seven days after the election will be the subject of a public hearing at the town’s November council meeting, according to Town Manager Todd Hoffman. The council will likely vote to finalize the new rules that same night, as is common after town public hearings.
Also last Wednesday, Lang, Bickerman and Cecere voted in favor of the town joining the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce as the Montgomery County Planning Board is considering new zoning on the town’s western border.
The town will be the first municipality in Montgomery County to join the chamber, though a number of county government agencies, departments and related organizations are already members.
Lang argued in September that joining the chamber will give the town a seat at the table with developers and provide an opportunity to make those developers more willing to listen to the town’s concerns about density and redevelopment—especially of the two Montgomery County-owned surface parking lots on the town’s western edge.
A resident opposed to the town joining the chamber because of concerns about businesses and developers also part of the organization presented a petition Wednesday with more than 70 signatures.
