text: isiah leggett isiah " ike " leggett ( born july 25 , 1944 ) is an american politician from the u.s. state of maryland , currently serving as the executive of montgomery county , maryland . he is a member of the democratic party . born in deweyville , texas , leggett attended southern university in baton rouge , louisiana and , after serving in the vietnam war with the u.s. army , earned a law degree from howard university in washington , d.c. in 1986 , he became the first african - american elected to the county council in montgomery county , maryland and served on the council through 2002 . he remains the only african - american ever elected to that body at - large . for two years , leggett served as the chairman of the maryland democratic party before leaving that position to run for office once again . leggett was elected county executive of montgomery county in 2006 , the first african - american to hold that office . since taking office , leggett has worked to put the county ’ s fiscal house in order while strengthening critical county services in education and public safety , and helping the most vulnerable . in the four years before leggett took office , county spending grew by over 40 percent . in his first five years in office , montgomery county 's spending was held to zero percent . responding to the worldwide recession that hit in 2008 , leggett closed budget gaps of over $ 2 . 6 billion , eliminating 10 percent of county government positions , while imposing furloughs ( including himself ) , wage freezes , and changes in retirement and health benefits to save the county money . at the same time , leggett put tens of millions of dollars into building and preserving thousands of units of affordable housing in the county , establishing a office to ensure “ real time ” performance of county services , and set up a multi - agency positive youth development initiative to ensure positive programs for at - risk youth . leggett worked to strengthen montgomery county 's biotechnology and life sciences sectors and also established the " 311 " customer service as a single point of entry via phone and the internet for residents seeking county services . during leggett 's first eight years , serious crime went down in the county by 24 percent and the fire and rescue service 's response times to montgomery county 's fires improved dramatically . leggett was reelected to a second term in 2010 and to a third four - year term in 2014 . early life and education leggett was born on july 25 , 1944 in deweyville , texas and grew up with twelve siblings in alexandria , louisiana . in alexandria , he played football for peabody magnet high school . he attended southern university in baton rouge , working through school as a groundskeeper in a work - study program and graduating in 1967 . in his time as an undergraduate , he was a student leader in the civil rights movement and twice met dr. martin luther king , jr . he led the on - campus civil rights movement while at the same time commanding the southern university reserve officers ' training corps ( rotc ) unit . he was elected president of his class during his senior year and is a member of alpha phi alpha fraternity , the first intercollegiate fraternity established for african - americans . in 1968 , leggett served as a captain in the united states army during the vietnam war , first in combat with a military advisory unit attached to the army of the republic of vietnam and then as a public affairs officer with the 7th support battalion / 199th light infantry brigade . he was awarded the bronze star for service . in 1974 , he received master of arts and juris doctor degrees from howard university in washington , d.c. , graduating first in his law school class , followed soon after by a master of laws degree from george washington university . he returned to howard as a professor in their law school in 1976 , and continued teaching at the law school through his election as county executive in 2006 , with the exception of a stint as a white house fellow under president jimmy carter in 1977 . leggett is currently married to his second wife , catherine . career leggett 's first participation in county government was as an appointed member of the montgomery county human relations committee , on which he served from 1979 to 1986 . he was later named chair of the committee . in 1986 , he was elected as an at - large member of the montgomery county council , becoming the first african - american ever to serve on the council . to this day , he is the only african - american ever elected to county office at large . he was re - elected to the seat three more times , and served three one - year terms as council president . during his time on the council , he chaired the council 's transportation and environment committee and played a role in passage of a county living wage law and a public smoking ban . in 1992 , a former county council aide of leggett 's accused him of sexual harassment in a widely publicized case , but the accusation was dismissed by a jury . in 2002 , leggett declined to run for re - election to the county council . he was widely viewed as a potential running mate for democratic nominee kathleen kennedy townsend in that year 's gubernatorial race . however , townsend chose admiral charles r. larson instead . townsend and larson lost in november when maryland elected robert ehrlich to be its first republican governor in 40 years and lieutenant governor michael s. steele as its first african - american statewide elected official . when his term on the council was completed in december of that year , leggett was elected as chairman of the maryland democratic party . leggett 's chairmanship was seen by some democratic activists as important to maintaining the african - american base of the maryland democratic party and rebuilding the party 's strength following the 2002 gubernatorial loss . 2006 campaign for county executive following the election of 2004 , maryland politicians started announcing their intentions for the 2006 elections . among them was three - term county executive doug duncan , who was in the early stages of a run for governor . in december 2004 , leggett left his position as chair of the maryland democratic party to begin a campaign to replace duncan as montgomery county executive . in the democratic primary election leggett squared off against a former colleague from the council , steve silverman . leggett and silverman engaged in a long series of debates beginning almost a year before the election . but despite being outspent by silverman by more than five to one , leggett won the democratic nomination for executive by 61 . 3 percent to 35 . 5 percent in the primary election on september 12 , 2006 . he then faced republican nominee chuck floyd and independent anti - tax advocate robin in the general election . leggett easily won the november election with 68 percent of the vote to floyd 's 22 percent and 10 percent for . he carried 239 of the county 's 241 voting precincts . first term as county executive in the early days of his administration , leggett took the lead on a number of controversial issues . to help alleviate transportation funding difficulties and move county transit projects forward , he proposed a statewide gas tax increase , a position he first articulated in his race for county executive . this proposal , which happened in the midst of a state budget crunch and in response to high levels of traffic congestion in the county , was supported by the county council but largely ignored by incoming governor martin o 'malley . leggett continued to advocate for the increase throughout his term . leggett also solved a vexing problem involving a hiring site for day laborers from the city of gaithersburg and the surrounding area . during the term of leggett 's predecessor doug duncan , gaithersburg had struggled to find space within the city limits that the county could lease for use as a location where the day laborers could wait for employers . the owners of virtually all of the more than 30 sites considered by the city government had refused to grant a lease for this purpose , and in the one case where the property owner was willing to consider the use , the county 's efforts to lease the property fell through after the property owner backed out . the debate became caught up in a larger national debate about the role of illegal immigrants in american society . leggett located a site for day laborer center on county - owned land with his first several months in office .. despite opposition from anti - immigrant voices , the center has served hundreds of workers and employers without incident . during his first term leggett reduced county spending increases to 14 percent in the year before he took office to , first , 7 percent and then 1 . 6 percent in his first two years . he increased the county investment in preserving and creating affordable housing while also creating one of the nation 's most aggressive campaigns to combat and track home foreclosures . he won approval of the right of the county to have " first refusal " on properties to preserve affordable housing and established a first - ever tenants work group to identify and advocate for the county 's 100 , 000 renters . his project tracked county departments ' performance in real - time , saving $ 7 million in overtime pay in its first year . he also opened a 311 call center to improve access to county services by providing a single number to call . responding the growing national economic recession , leggett closed budget gaps of more than $ 1 . 2 billion in his first term , eliminating hundreds of jobs and , in 2008 , increasing property taxes beyond the county charter limit . his 11 - point economic package sought to help county businesses hit by the recession by easing regulatory burdens . he launched his smart growth initiative , a bold program to leverage and swap county - owned properties to update county facilities while opening up economic development and transit - oriented housing around the shady grove metro and in the heart of the county 's biotech industry . leggett also put down blueprints for the future with biotechnology and green business task forces . other business expansion was pursued in county missions to israel , india , korea , and china . leggett also held the county 's first " senior summit " to focus attention on the county 's growing older population , expanded county recycling programs to the broadest in the region , and won approval of a new fillmore music and entertainment center in silver spring . a broad program of code enforcement reforms sought to limit commercial incursions into the county 's residential neighborhoods and a first - ever " road inventory " evaluated tens of thousands of miles of county roads . he established a county veterans commission to reach out to the estimated 50 , 000 veterans and their families and worked closely with the state , the federal government , and surrounding neighborhoods to deal with the impact of the consolidation of walter reed medical center into the bethesda naval hospital as called for under the base realignment & closure commission . under leggett 's leadership the county responded aggressively to the outbreak of the h1n1 virus in 2009 . when the county 's traffic management computer went down for 36 hours in november 2009 , snarling traffic throughout the county , leggett advanced needed funding for a new system . during his first term , he sought and won council approval for an emergency medical services transport fee that would allow the county fire & rescue service to bill insurance companies for the cost of ambulance transports at no cost to county residents . leggett argued it would earn the county up to $ 15 million more annually to devote to fire & rescue . county volunteer fire departments took the measure to voter referendum in november 2010 and overturned the law with 53 percent in favor of repeal in a bitter campaign that pitted leggett and career county firefighters versus volunteers . second term as county executive leggett was unopposed in the 2010 democratic party primary for county executive . in the general election , he was opposed by republican party candidate douglas rosenfeld . in the november balloting , leggett won reelection with 66 percent of the vote to 34 percent for rosenfeld , carrying 227 of the county 's 252 precincts . leggett began his second term with the county still deeply in the shadow of the great recession . he continued to hold down county spending and county government employment while his fiscal stewardship helped the county maintain its aaa bond rating , despite federal cutbacks and sequestration . he continued to give priority to education , public safety and help for the county 's most vulnerable . among his initiatives was the formation of a blue - ribbon pepco work group to critique the utility 's performance shortfalls during summer and winter storms and suggest improvements . the 400 - page report supported efforts by the maryland public service commission to require greater infrastructure , emergency response , and communication capabilities . leggett and the county also fought a series of pepco rate requests , helping to limit increases for consumers . responding to the upsurge in need with the recession , leggett 's health & human services department established three new neighborhood opportunity centers to reach out to at - risk families in county neighborhoods . leggett boosted the number of police assigned to county schools , but failed in his 2011 effort to protect children and youth with an overnight youth curfew , with the county council not allowing the proposal to come to a vote . following an increase in the state gas tax , for which leggett was a longtime advocate , leggett win more than $ 1 billion in state funding for county transportation projects . he also led an effort , working with prince george 's and baltimore counties to establish a new county / state matching fund program to boost school construction to meet rising demand . he opened five new fire stations in his first eight years , compared with only three opened in the 12 years before he took office . he won council approval once more for an emergency medical services transport fee and , after securing support from volunteer fire companies who defeated it in the 2010 referendum , the program went into effect . leggett supported an increase in montgomery county 's minimum wage to $ 11 . 50 an hour in 2013 . between 2010 and 2014 montgomery county outperformed neighboring fairfax county and the district of columbia in job growth . in 2011 , montgomery county leased farmland owned by the public school system in potomac in order to build soccer fields to meet a critical shortfall in such fields in the down county area . this public / private partnership was challenged by residents of the brickyard road neighborhood , who earlier had opposed affordable housing on the site and now opposed the public / private partnership leggett advanced to build and maintain the fields . in 2013 the county abandoned the effort and returned the land to the school system . in 2013 leggett was elected president of the county executives of america . in spring of that year , he unveiled a joint county / state / federal effort to build the cybersecurity center for excellence in which he said would establish montgomery county as a national center for civilian cybersecurity work . in 2013 , leggett visited china to advance economic development cooperation and established a " sister city " relationship with the city of xi 'an . a similar business development trip in 2014 to india included visits to high - tech firms , embracing hyderabad as a sister city , and included a visit on the way back to taiwan . over leggett 's first eight years , county taxes as a percentage of county residents ' income went down by 10 percent . third term as county executive leggett easily won the democratic nomination for a third term , gaining 45 percent of the vote to 33 percent for former county executive doug duncan and 22 percent for councilmember phil andrews , and winning 80 percent of county precincts . in the fall general election leggett defeated the republican candidate james by 65 - 35 percent , winning 212 of 245 voting precincts . in his inaugural address , leggett outlined a six - point economic plan designed to encourage investment and job growth in the county , touching on filling vacant office space , boosting start - up tech ventures , guaranteeing a 30 - day turn - around time for permitting of ready new projects and development , improving work - force development , and introducing a new , high - speed fiber network . the proposal also included the development of an independent transit authority to expand transportation options , enhance job growth from planned projects and grow the county 's tax base . leggett was elected as president of the maryland association of counties in january 2015 .