Montgomery County Executive-elect Marc Elrich has released the names of those on his transition team, and the list of more than 180 people includes a mix of politicians, civic leaders, business people, former campaign staff and other influential players in Montgomery County.
Leading the transition team is Andrew Kleine, the former budget director for the city of Baltimore, according to a press release sent Tuesday by transition team spokesman Scott Peterson. Elrich has already said he plans to name Kleine as his chief administrative officer, subject to confirmation by the Montgomery County Council. Here are some other notable figures that will be part of Elrich’s transition team, according to the press release.
- Term-limited County Council members Roger Berliner and George Leventhal, who both lost to Elrich during the June 26 Democratic primary;
- Outgoing state Del. Bill Frick of Bethesda, who also ran against Elrich during the primary;
- Several mayors, including Gaithersburg’s Jud Ashman, Rockville’s Bridget Donnell Newton and Takoma Park’s Kate Stewart;
- From the Montgomery County Board of Education, outgoing member Jill Ortman-Fouse and student member Ananya Tadikonda;
- Joy Nurmi and Charles Short, special assistants to Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett;
- Business leaders Tricia Swanson and Marilyn Balcombe. Swanson is the vice president of government relations for the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and Balcombe is the president of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce;
- Montgomery County NAACP President Linda Plummer;
- Gino Renne, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994 MCGEO, a union that represents thousands of county service employees. MCGEO was one of several unions that endorsed Elrich during his campaign;
- Diego Uriburu, executive director of Identity Inc, which works with Latino youth in high poverty areas of the county;
- Tufail Ahmad, chairman of the Montgomery County Muslim Foundation;
- Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington Executive Director Ron Halber;
- Activist and former state delegate Saqib Ali. Ali is a leader in the group Freedom2Boycott in Maryland, which is aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] movement against Israel. Elrich himself denounced BDS during a candidate forum; and
- Elrich’s campaign chair Debbie Spielberg and treasurer Dale Tibbitts.
Elrich will work with his transition team over the next few weeks to help formulate detailed plans for tackling a number of priorities during his upcoming administration. Those priorities include expanding early childhood education, increasing affordable housing, making the county more environmentally friendly and creating more sustainable government, among others. Elrich said in an interview last week that he also plans to begin naming department heads in his administration this week. He will be sworn into office Dec. 3.
Absent from Elrich’s transition team list was Potomac businessman David Blair, who Elrich defeated during the primary by 77 votes. Elrich said during an interview with Montgomery Community Media following his win on election night that he would consider naming Blair to the transition team. In an email, Peterson wrote that Blair’s name was on a previous list of transition team appointments that was sent erroneously Tuesday, and that Blair was not available to work on the team.
As expected, outgoing council member Nancy Floreen, one of Elrich’s general election opponents, also was not listed. In that same interview, Elrich said he would not consider naming Floreen to the team.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media