Former star reflects on a darker Annapolis

Hurson says lucrative offer trumped power in capital

Friday, Dec. 2, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette John A. Hurson is now a Washington lobbyist for the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Fragrance Association. He left the House as Montgomery County’s most powerful delegate.

Why would Hurson — Montgomery County’s most influential member of the General Assembly — give up his powerful chairmanship in the House of Delegates? Why leave right before an election-year session of the General Assembly?

The way Hurson tells it, his decision was not based on some complicated political calculus. He left for the same reason millions of people leave their jobs each year: He got a better offer, and he was getting a little tired of the politics in Annapolis.

‘‘A lot has changed, and I don’t think it’s a change for the better,” said Hurson, 51, a Democrat from Chevy Chase who is now director of government relations for the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, a Washington trade organization.

In an interview near his office on L Street, Hurson reflected on his legislative career that began in 1990, included a quick rise through the ranks and ended officially in October when he gave up his chairmanship of the powerful Health and Government Operations Committee and left the legislature.

His decision almost certainly means that Montgomery County will not have a speaker of the House any time soon.

A new era

Hurson talked fondly of a time in Annapolis when policy drove the discussion, when legislative leaders sat down with the governor to hammer out comprehensive solutions that had the double-pronged benefit of helping people and playing well politically.

But that shifted in 2002 when Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was elected governor and the voters of Allegany and Washington counties ousted longtime House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr.

The election meant a new speaker, a Republican governor for the first time in a generation and new leadership styles that have collided in spectacular fashion over the past three years.

Hurson had an almost ‘‘father-son relationship” with Taylor. He was Taylor’s majority leader from 1995 to 2001, a trusted adjutant who was the last delegate to talk to the speaker at night and the first to talk to him in the morning.

Taylor and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis rule the House in very different ways, Hurson said. Taylor relied on a handful of trusted lieutenants — Hurson being one of the most influential — to shape policy, communicate the Democratic Party’s message and whip up votes on key initiatives.

Busch governs through the 98-member Democratic caucus, a style that Hurson said breeds dysfunction and political division.

‘‘This speaker is very different than the last speaker,” he said. ‘‘The caucus is the driving force in the chamber. Previously, it was up to a small group of chairmen.

‘‘It makes a world of difference in how things work.”

In a memorable example of the differing leadership styles, Busch, a former football coach, held a caucus meeting at the end of the 2004 session where delegates wore ‘‘Team Busch” T-shirts. That was the same year that the Busch-led House killed slots, and passed a $1 billion tax initiative that splintered the House and was roundly criticized as a political blunder.

Hurson acknowledged that Busch met with his chairmen on the tax bill, which raised the sales and corporate taxes and cut property taxes, but the bill became an intractable wedge between Democrats and Republicans.

Politically, Hurson said, he could justify voting for the bill to his Montgomery County constituents while Democratic delegates from more conservative counties were pilloried for the vote.

‘‘It probably wasn’t the best way of doing things,” he said.

Hurson said he remains a close friend of Busch and respects him as speaker, but they differed on how to govern the House.

‘‘Mike Busch has street smarts that I’ll never have,” he said, adding that Busch has been extremely effective in lining up support for key initiatives.

Busch has said repeatedly that he and Hurson are close, and he makes no apologies for how he governs.

Reflections

The divisive battles between Democrats and Republicans were inevitable, Hurson said, because at some point, one-party rule had to end.

And as chairman of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Hurson said, he has seen evidence that State Houses across the country have become as divided as the nation has.

The atmosphere in Annapolis today is toxic, a factor that has led several lawmakers to leave the legislature for other work.

Veteran House members George W. Owings III and Van T. Mitchell, both Democrats, left to join the Ehrlich administration. Both men say the partisanship in Annapolis made their decisions to leave the legislature easier.

Hurson had some kind words for Ehrlich, adding that the governor appreciated that Hurson included Republicans in discussions.

‘‘I came out of an era where he was my colleague,” Hurson said of Ehrlich, a former delegate from Baltimore County. ‘‘Our philosophy was cooperating together to get things done. There were plenty of times to stick it to the administration, but I didn’t take that opportunity.”

Hurson speculated that Ehrlich is going to face an uphill re-election battle because of the state’s demographics — Democrats outnumber Republicans by 2-1 and the state’s population centers are largely in Democratic jurisdictions — and because the governor ‘‘has no crowning achievement of his first term.”

As for the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls, Hurson said, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley can best compete with Ehrlich in the pivotal Baltimore suburbs.

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan has the managerial skills to be a good governor, he said, but has to cope with the negative perceptions many voters have of Montgomery County as being too rich, too liberal and too willing to throw money at problems.

‘‘There is an inherent bias that people have towards us,” Hurson said.

The stakes for Ehrlich next year are big: If Ehrlich wins re-election, Hurson said, he may be in line for a spot on the 2008 presidential ticket.

Hurson compared Ehrlich to Massachusetts’ Republican governor, who is eyeing a run for the presidency.

‘‘Mitt Romney is the canary in the mine for Ehrlich,” he said.

In the end, Hurson said his decision to leave the State House was based on what was best for his family and getting his two children through college. The offer he received from the CTFA — a dollar amount that is a staple of State House cocktail gossip — was ‘‘too good to pass up” and too personal to share.

‘‘I’m not a public official anymore,” he said with a laugh.

Not that Hurson is ruling out a return to politics. Just not in Annapolis, he said.