| The information trickling out about the appointment of David Harrington to succeed Gwendolyn Britt in the state Senate is revealing (no surprise, really) that Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson had his fingerprints all over the process. The Post rightly notes that the Prince George's Democratic Central Committee's appointment decision, in which Harrington was chosen over former Del. Rushern Baker by one vote, was a proxy battle between Johnson and Baker himself, who almost defeated Johnson in the County Executive race in 2006. What I didn't expect is for Johnson to crow about his victory so openly: Just after the vote, Johnson indicated he had worked to ensure Harrington's selection, a potentially surprising alliance given that Johnson and the County Council have clashed frequently in the six years since both Johnson and Harrington were elected. "Rushern Baker doesn't want to work for the people -- he just wants to run for office," Johnson said after the vote. "I don't want to call him a loser, but that's basically what he is." Baker said he still plans to run for executive in two years and dismissed Johnson's comments.
I think I've said this before, but Johnson is Al Wynn's political twin: brazenly corrupt, and totally unconcerned with clean, open government; the kind of guy who treats as a "mandate" a reelection fight he barely won, and in which a series of county charter amendments were passed that sharply curtailed his power, because he had been abusing it so egregiously. This latest action, combined with his sore winner attitude, isn't raising my opinion of him. Of course, as Adam notes, Johnson's actions were one facet of a particularly raucous selection process. |
