How the Democrats vying for Anne Arundel County executive differ, in their own words

James Kitchin relies on public campaign financing. Allison Pickard has a deep bench of political allies. And Pete Smith literally walked across Anne Arundel County.

The next county executive will have to work with a bipartisan County Council, grapple with state budget problems, and tackle the affordability crisis and housing shortage.

The three Democratic candidates have been knocking on doors and crisscrossing Anne Arundel to pitch themselves to groups of voters at forums and debates.

At a series of forums in late May, they agreed, repeatedly, in broad strokes. All said the county fire department needs more money; all said the county should speed up the permit process; all said the county should support young residents in ways that keep them out of the criminal justice system.

Kyle Nembhard — a community activist and regional planner for Amtrak who’s since dropped out of the race and endorsed Kitchin — even said that the Democrats agree on “95% of the issues.”

At a different forum earlier in the month, all three said they’d at least consider the idea of a tax on luxury second homes in the county.

In a Democratic primary where the leading candidates mostly agree on most of the issues, voters may have to decide based on personal style or granular policy details.

Top priorities

Kitchin, a special assistant to outgoing County Executive Steuart Pittman, said there’s “so much” to accomplish early on and that he wants to focus on making government more transparent. One way of doing that, he said, would be to establish a citizen planning committee to bring people into the process by which development projects advance through the county.

Pickard, the County Council member who represents Glen Burnie and parts of Severn, said she’d be “wholly focused” on building a strong leadership team. That way, she said, her administration could begin working on affordability issues and “deliver the housing that so many families really need right now.”

Smith, who represents Brooklyn Park, Jessup, Linthicum and Hanover on the council, said he’d also prioritize putting a team together and focus his early work on planning and zoning. The permitting process, he said, is key to making sure communities, businesses and other organizations “are all thriving.”

Work they’re most proud of

Pickard said she’s most proud of the funding she’s helped direct toward the county school system as a council member. She also said she’s proud of “driving the housing conversation” in Anne Arundel and her work pushing for redevelopment of the Glen Burnie Town Center.

Getting involved with and listening to communities across the county during rezoning is one of the things Smith said he was most proud of, along with voting for higher education funding.

Kitchin said he’s proud of being part of the administration “that opened government up.” He pointed to the Pittman administration’s practice of holding budget town halls and sending out newsletters for residents as examples.

In their own words

Smith often highlights his military experience — 28 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He also spent one day earlier this year walking from the southern tip of Anne Arundel County to the Baltimore City line.

“That was intentional, to show the sacrifice we’re willing to do, to do hard things, even though it hurts,” Smith said. “We’re going to take that mantra to county government.”

Kitchin said his time in Pittman’s cabinet is what most differentiates him from the other candidates. He also noted that he is the only candidate using the public campaign finance system.

“For a county executive, you almost can’t get closer to the job than what I’ve done,” Kitchin said.

Pickard said her combined experience on the county Board of Education and the County Council gives her a unique perspective.

And she has a “very solid team” of endorsers at multiple levels of government who trust her to lead, Pickard said.

“There’s so many things that we need to do together, we all have to work together. I think those relationships set me apart,” she said.

Budget priorities

Whoever becomes the next county executive will quickly have to begin work on the budget.

Pickard said there are concerns that the county could receive less funding from state and federal sources, but she thinks the budget may be similar to this year’s.

She’d want to continue investing in police and fire services and make sure capital improvement projects (parks, infrastructure, community centers) are spread throughout the county.

Smith said he’d look at capital spending and make cuts to free up funds for the operating budget. He said he’d go line by line and look at what the county is building.

“If we’re able to mitigate and reduce the costs that are assigned to those, we can free up money in the long term to invest in human capital,” he said.

Kitchin said he thought the county did a great job budgeting during the Pittman administration, so his priorities would depend on what funding is available in the next fiscal year.

One difference he highlighted, though, was adding “community-level” projects to the capital budget to help parts of the county cope with climate change — like raising roads to handle flooding.

“We have to start investing in that kind of stuff now, otherwise it’s going to be too late in 10 or 20 years,” he said.

Early voting is underway until June 18, and the primary election is June 23. The Democratic winner will then face Republican Dave Crawford, who is unopposed for his party’s nomination.