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The Montgomery County Council's internal squabbling over who will become the next council president demonstrates a lack of unity at a time when politicians should be pulling together to prepare for long-term revenue losses and lagging economic improvements.

As a new, relatively pro-growth majority on the council — made up of Nancy Floreen, Valerie Ervin, Nancy Navarro, George Leventhal and Mike Knapp — has formed, some council members have argued that the next president should be a representative of that majority. Such a move would break with decades of tradition of selecting the council's vice president, but a bigger problem is that it would set a precedent that would encourage year-round politicking.

The presidency is important in that he or she is able to speak from a bully pulpit and draw the public's interest to key issues, said council President Phil Andrews. One recent example was a proposal to allow some police officers who live out of the county to drive county vehicles to their homes. The attention given the presidency helped defeat that proposal, he said.

One of the most curious elements of this sideline soap opera is that most council members tend to agree on a great deal of the legislation that is proposed — staff members estimate that 90 percent to 95 percent of the bills have little, if any, dissension. Were this a council divided along deeply-held beliefs, the argument to break tradition would have more strength, but that's not the case.

The current vice president, Roger Berliner, seems perfectly capable of fulfilling the most significant role played by Andrews — that of a solicitor of opinions to develop compromise positions. Andrews points to a proposal to add reversible lanes on Interstate 270 as an example of collaboration led by the president. Berliner, who is not seen as an ideologue by any means, could ably perform this function.

The council is expected to vote on the presidency next month, so the issue will be settled for the coming year within weeks. Changing the well-intended and functional succession process, however, would likely create a hostile environment for elected leaders for years. With the county facing a $400 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year, putting aside politics will help foster collaborative decisions.