MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5, at American University, in Washington, welcome to "The Politics Hour," starring Tom Sherwood. I'm Kojo Nnamdi. Tom Sherwood is our resident analyst. He's a reporter at NBC 4 and columnist for the Current Newspapers. Tom, shall we invite our studio guest to join us as we discuss various and sundry topics before we get to him?

MR. TOM SHERWOODI think we have to call Andy Harris and ask him if it's okay to proceed.

NNAMDIExactly right, since we have to get permission from him to do just about everything. And since our guest is from the same state as Andy Harris, Ike Leggett is the county executive of Montgomery County, Md. He's running for reelection and he won a primary on Tuesday. So he is the Democratic nominee in this November's general election. Isiah Leggett, congratulations. Welcome.

MR. ISIAH LEGGETTThank you very much. I'm delighted to be back.

NNAMDIAnd good luck in the general.

LEGGETTThank you.

NNAMDIWe're going to start off talking about one of the members of the U.S. Congress, who happens to be from your state. Andy Harris represents Maryland's Eastern Shore. He attached an amendment to a major spending bill this week that would block the District of Columbia from implementing a new law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

NNAMDIThat amendment or rider on a multi-billion dollar spending bill would preclude the District, according to the Associated -- from the -- according to the Washington Post, from spending any money to enact to carry out any rule or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use or distribution of any federal control substance. What's up with that?

SHERWOODWell, maybe Dr. Harris could call us and tell us what he was thinking, drinking, smoking, whatever, when he -- you know, Eleanor Holmes Norton immediately pointed out that several members of Congress who were voting for this intrusion into city politics were from states themselves that had decriminalized or were decriminalizing marijuana, including Maryland.

SHERWOODDavid Catania, the at-large Council member and candidate for mayor, went up this morning -- although, you know, nobody, everyone knows that Congress doesn't meet on Friday -- to…

NNAMDIHe went to his office anyway.

SHERWOODAnd there's been a lot of Twitter exchanging about that. And Catania said he wanted to confront the Congressman about his interference with city regulations. You know, once again, this is -- fortunately it happens it less and less -- that, you know, the Congress didn't interfere with same-sex marriage. It hasn't interfered with a number of things, in part because Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has been pretty good at getting the Senate to shut it all down.

SHERWOODSo I think that's where we are now. She said that, you know, Harris has had his little moment of glory and that she will try to get the Senate to make certain that this is not part in parcel of what comes out of the Congress.

NNAMDIIke Leggett, he couldn't get it done in your home state. He couldn't get it done in his home county, but he seems to want to get it done in the District of Columbia where he neither lives nor does anything else.

LEGGETTThat's unfortunate and I hope that Congressman Harris would reconsider his position. I think he's made his statement, but I think when you look at the merits of this it is something that I think the District is well within its rights to proceed. And this is just really very tedious in terms of interference. And I would hope that he would back away from this.

SHERWOODWe have something like 650,000 citizens here. What does a Congress person represent? About 500,000?

LEGGETTJust a little bit over 500.

SHERWOODMaybe we should all move over to his district…

NNAMDI800…

SHERWOOD…where we could actually vote.

NNAMDI800 -- or go to his house, since he seems so interested in interfering in ours. 800-433-8850. If you have comments or questions for County Executive Isiah Leggett, he is our guest. We're going to discuss just a couple of more topics. The race for governor in the state of Maryland, Tom Sherwood, in the primary, was won by Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown by a huge margin. I don't know if you have comments on that. But it looks as if the negative campaigning between him and his Republican opponent, Larry Hogan, has already begun.

SHERWOODWell, you know, given that he was blessed by every political person that seemed to have two feet in the state, he actually didn't do that well, in terms of winning. He certainly won 50 percent of the vote, but given the thoughts that he was being -- going to a coronation, you know, his opponents, Doug Gansler and Heather Mizeur, they got 49 and something percent of the vote. So it was disappointing for each of them, that they canceled each other out.

NNAMDIWe are live streaming this video at kojoshow.org, our website. So if you want to watch the show in addition to listening to it you can go to it there. Isiah Leggett, Doug Gansler was from Montgomery County, Heather Mizeur is from Montgomery County. Montgomery County, in a way, got smacked down in this gubernatorial election.

LEGGETTWell, you've got to keep in mind that Brian Frosh, the attorney general candidate is also from Montgomery County.

NNAMDIYes.

SHERWOODProbably the biggest win of the election.

LEGGETTThat's right. Then Nancy Kopp, the state treasurer is also from Montgomery County as well. And we have a very strong recommendation from the Democrats for our nominees in both Lieutenant Governor Brown. So I think that -- and Peter Franchot is from Montgomery County.

NNAMDISo Montgomery County…

SHERWOODYou know, ignored Kojo's question, which is the general election is already started with Larry Hogan putting out a -- have you seen the internet-only ad that the Republicans put out…

NNAMDIApparently they were looking for photos to use in an ad mocking the lieutenant governor. They found a picture of him and his running mate flexing their muscles. And it became a web photo, a web commercial that calls Brown the most incompetent man in Maryland, which is a spoof on that beer commercial featuring the most interesting men in the world. However, it turns out that he and his running mate were in that pose…

LEGGETTRight.

NNAMDI…because of surgeries to Zach Lederer, the University of Maryland student and then basketball team manager who died in March after a battle with brain cancer. That could backfire, right?

LEGGETTWell, I think it already has. I think that they need to do some more -- better opposition research than that because I think we are looking at Mr. Hogan coming out of the gates swinging, rather than to address the substantive issues that I think people in Maryland want to hear at this time.

SHERWOODYou know, and Mr., you know, it reminded me when I saw this flap -- and that's what it is, an embarrassing flap for the Republicans to start this way with using (unintelligible) someone who just died ever so recently.

LEGGETTRight.

SHERWOODIt's not like it was 5 or 10 years ago. It reminded me of the early stumbles in the Gansler campaign for governor. He was ahead in the polls, ahead in -- not in the polls, but he was ahead in money and organization. He seemed like he was going to be the next governor. But then he had the flap about the state police detail and about his son's or his children's beach week party.

SHERWOODI mean, but given the internet now -- and you know this. With the internet and the social media, there's no debt on this moment-to-moment news. These things can really blow up in your face.

LEGGETTThey certainly can. And you have to be ever minded about the challenges that you face and the fact that people are trying to exploit different things. But in this case, this was just simply, I think, poor taste and not proper research and not a substantive matter to be bringing up so fast in the campaign.

SHERWOODAnd it hasn't happened yet, unless it's happened momentarily ago, they have not yet really apologized for it. So…

LEGGETTWell, I hope that they will. And I hope that we'll get back to the issues so that the people of Maryland can have an opportunity to discuss. And I think those kinds of things also have a negative impact on turnout. And you see negative campaigning like that is not likely to generate the kind of turnout that people want. They want to see debates on substantive issues. And this does not get off to a good start...

NNAMDI800-433-8850 is the number if you have comments or questions for Ike Leggett. He's the county executive of Montgomery County, Md., running for election in the general election in November. You were up against two challengers in Tuesday's Democratic primary, including the man who held your job for three terms before you did, Doug Duncan.

NNAMDIBut not only did you hold off those challengers, every single incumbent running on the Montgomery County Council survived the primary. To what do you attribute both your success and the success of all of these incumbent candidates in this race?

LEGGETTI think when you look at the performance overall in the midst of a great, great recession, and for the County to emerge as well as it's done so far, the fact that we now have the highest financial reserves in the history of the County, and we're in a much better position than we were some years ago, I think people have difficulties making a case that you should have a major change. And I think that we reflect that across the board, both at the Council at large and many in the District, that you did not have a great enthusiasm for change at this time.

SHERWOODThere was a pitiful turnout in Montgomery County, as in the state.

NNAMDI16 percent.

SHERWOODSo people were satisfied and didn't care to vote, they were disgruntled and disappointed and didn't want to vote because they thought it wouldn't make a difference. But in your own campaign, I mean, you also just got over 50 percent. And you opponents, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Duncan split the other vote. Did that mean anything to you?

LEGGETTWell, keep in mind what has happened over the last eight years. I've governed under some of the worst economic challenges in the history of the County. And it takes its toll after a period of time. Eight years governing through great recession and making those very tough decisions. We had difficult fights with the unions, difficult fights with employees across the board. Tough decisions that ultimately would take its toll.

LEGGETTSecondly, you're running against some very competent campaigners. Doug Duncan, that held the office for 12 years, a very good campaigner and an outstanding public servant. And Phil Andrews has been in the office for -- at least a councilmember. So these are no slouch. This is tough competition. And so you do that -- I look at it the other way around. Having worked through a great recession against tough opponents and to come out as well as we did, I think is a complement to our leadership, as opposed to looking at it in terms of the reduction in the overall vote.

SHERWOODMr. Andrews put out a statement today acknowledging your -- and congratulating you on your victory. I thought that maybe he would try to work with you to maybe get some partial public financing of campaigns to maybe get people more -- more resources to get more people involved in elections. Have you actually spoken to Mr. Andrews?

LEGGETTYes. We've had a couple -- we had a conversation yesterday and as well as Doug Duncan. Let me, first of all, congratulate them on a very spirited, hard-fought campaign. They're two outstanding public servants. Doug Duncan has done great for Montgomery County. Phil Andrews has done well for the Council in position and a great work and a great public servant.

SHERWOODAnd there was no real personal attacks. I mean…

LEGGETTNo.

SHERWOOD…it was decent -- it was Virginia-like election.

LEGGETTWell, I like both of them. They're both good public servants. They've done well for Montgomery County. I just think that at this point in time, in terms of where we are today, that my leadership was probably more important and more useful at this point in time. But these are very good public servants.

NNAMDIHere is Ellen, in Olney, Md., who has a question about these elections and primaries. Ellen, you're on the air with Ike Leggett. Go ahead, please.

ELLENThank you, Kojo. Ike, good morning. It's -- we're really happy that you won. Congratulations.

LEGGETTThank you.

ELLENPhil Andrews, also in his announcement this morning, talked about having an open primary in Maryland, similar to what they have in California where all the candidates run, everybody, you know, anyone who's registered to vote can vote for any of the candidates and the top two winners proceed to the general. Given the conversation about the low turnout, what do you think about that idea?

LEGGETTI'm not sure that I'm quite at that point. I'd like to look at it a little bit more carefully to evaluate it. It's something that has proven to be beneficial in some places, but even in places where you have open primaries, it's not proven to be an overwhelming success in terms of voter turnout. There is some interest in some places of the United States, but I need to evaluate that a little bit more before I come to a conclusion about it. And I will sit and talk to him and evaluate it. And if it's something that can increase turnout and increase participation, it's something I would certainly like to consider.

SHERWOODAnd Mr. Leggett is the former state party chairman for the Democrats, I believe.

LEGGETTThat's right.

NNAMDIThere's been a fair amount written about where unions fit into the picture in this campaign. The Post endorsed you, but said it wanted you to be tougher with unions. Some of the candidates, backed by a number of unions, came up short. How would you describe the dynamic at work and where do you feel county government can best work with unions to move forward here?

LEGGETTWell, I was really curious about that comment from the Post, when the unions look at that same issue, they said I'd been overly tough. They did not -- at least some of them did not endorse me because, A, we reduced county government size by 10 percent. We furloughed people. We eliminated cost (unintelligible) adjustments. We did a number of things that I think unions found somewhat challenging. So it was pretty tough, according to them.

LEGGETTNow, I think that there are some places which we could sit down and talk and hopefully look at the long-term picture, in terms of overall costs to the county, but there are some challenges that are out there. And the unions -- we were able to make these adjustments for Montgomery County that I talked about earlier, because of the sacrifices that the unions gave up during the bargaining and challenging we had. So it was not as though they got away free in this. They paid a great deal in these endeavors.

LEGGETTSo I'm prepared to go back to the table to look at it, but in the long term we have to do what is right for the interest of Montgomery County. And we have something that is acceptable, balanced and I'm prepared to look at it.

SHERWOODLong-term, a lot of unions, teachers and others, police, across the country feel like with the increasing internet use running things and not needing as many people as you used to need that they unions are under assault to just keep the jobs and the benefits they have.

LEGGETTI think that the power of the unions have certainly waned to some degree. And when you find other ways in which to address campaigns in terms of workers, the internet, the technology you have out there today, it reduces the impact that unions may have had, but they are still a pretty powerful force. And in this case, I think if you look at it, they were challenging a number of incumbents (unintelligible) and that's a pretty difficult road to overcome.

NNAMDIHere's Nicky, in Bethesda, Md. Nicky, your turn.

NICKYHello. Good afternoon. Mr. Leggett, I had two quick questions. One being that Maryland, especially Montgomery County, as a perception of not being very business friendly. Especially when you compare it to Northern Virginia. We don't attract as many young, single people who would pay taxes, but maybe not utilize as many of the countywide services. And I'm just wondering if you had any plan to change that perception, like changing the tax code or…

NNAMDII was about to ask where do you feel is the lowest-hanging fruit for you to make the county more competitive, economical?

LEGGETTWell, I think we've already started on that. It is, in fact, a perception. When you look at the changes that we've already made from permitted service to land use development to transit oriented development across the board, but that perception has been out there a long period of time. And it will take a while before you get through what the changes are and how they impact people.

LEGGETTSo, at this point in time, you cannot simply change your perception by saying it is changed. People have to go through it. They have to feel it. They have to see it. And what we are doing now is allowing people to go through them. And I think that will begin to change. We made a lot of changes and we addressed the question of some of the younger workers, and make certain that we have transit oriented development of jobs that will be attractive to them, and a number of things that we're working to address that issue. But I think it's, right now, more of a perception than a reality.

SHERWOODAnd across the river where the Silver Line is opening up next month, and there's -- in Virginia, they're looking, really, to draw even more businesses to those five new Metro stops and, of course, Montgomery and the District of Columbia are ripe for pickings of companies that could easily move into Northern Virginia.

LEGGETTWell, that…

SHERWOODNo competition there.

LEGGETTThere's great competition in the entire region, but I think if you look at the overall situation in Montgomery County, from cyber security, right down to our affordability of housing, to the jobs that we've attracted in the county, I think we're going to hold our own. Virginia has been a very strong competitor, but I think that we're going to be right there in terms of our ability to compete with them.

NNAMDIThank you very much for your call, Nicky. We move on to Andre, in Bethesda, Md. Andre, your turn. Hi, Andre.

ANDREThank you, Kojo.

NNAMDIGo right ahead.

ANDREHi. Good afternoon. Thank you. Mr. Leggett, I own a small business here in the county. We are on the LSDR program. It's a professional services business, specifically a translation firm. I'll be frank with you. I get constantly frustrated by the county. We have developed great past performance and it is my experience with the county, a couple of things. On the LSDR program, unfortunately, most of the opportunities that come out are not for professional jobs or skilled jobs, but there's construction jobs.

ANDREAnd obviously, as a minority owned business that discourages competition because a lot of the proposal that come out for competing on the county level, you find yourself competing against two different (unintelligible). The first one is you compete with not-for-profits that do great work with the Hispanic community and other minorities, but don't specialize in our technical services. But from a price competition we just can't even…

NNAMDIAnd what's the other group?

ANDREYes. And the other group is the large, really large companies that certainly have the ability and all the resources to come up with fantastic proposals.

NNAMDISo you find yourself in between. You want to know what the LSDR program can do for you, how it can be improved?

ANDREAbsolutely.

NNAMDIOkay. Here's Ike Leggett.

SHERWOODAnd what is the LSDR program…

NNAMDIThank you.

SHERWOOD…for those who might not know.

LEGGETTWell, we're looking at…

NNAMDIWhich includes us.

LEGGETTSmall…

SHERWOODLocal, Small, Disadvantaged?

LEGGETTSmall and minority businesses and we have a…

NNAMDIOkay. This includes me.

LEGGETTWe have a set aside that addresses those. And I think what he's asking is that in the areas in which he's working in that there be greater attention to it. I would have to look precisely at your case in that area, but overall, the program has really expanded by leaps and bounds. And it may mean that we have more in the contractual areas, construction work and other areas, as opposed to your area. But we need to look at that to make sure that it is a little bit more comprehensive and get to the challenges that we see.

LEGGETTThere is a problem with the non-profits. And non-profits out there offer much of the service that you're asking about. And if the county's in a position of bidding that, and they have a non-profit that is going to offer similar services at a low price, and I'm not sure how we addressed it, but I'm willing to go back and look at it.

NNAMDIYou mentioned that in an interview with the Washington Post about the recession affecting the turnout in this last primary campaign. Can you elaborate on that?

LEGGETTYeah, what I meant by that is that in the past we have been divided in Montgomery County by two things, A, education, and B, growth and development in the county. And growth and development really divided the county almost in half. And so you had a great deal of interest coming out as a result of that. With the recession and many people feeling that we need jobs, we need to grow, that issue is basically taken off the table.

LEGGETTAnd as a result of that, the recession has removed a big issue, in terms of growth, development in the county that had been there, the generator of interest and development. If you go back years before, every candidate has addressed issues of growth and development. The recession basically eliminated that issue.

NNAMDI800-433-8850 is the number. Our guest is Isiah Leggett, county executive of Montgomery County. He's running for reelection. Won a primary on Tuesday to become the Democratic nominee in this year's November's general election. Tom?

SHERWOODI know this is not specifically a Montgomery County question, but I want to go back to Brian Frosh because I -- did you endorse him?

LEGGETTOh, yes.

SHERWOODI'm sorry. I figured you did. If you didn't, you wouldn't be sitting there. You know he was way behind. Jon Cardin had the family name, his uncle, was running pretty strong. He was on this program. Had kind of a difficult time I -- but, then the editorial pages in the Post and the…

NNAMDIThat's probably why he lost.

SHERWOODYeah, I'm sure that started the downfall. But I think the Baltimore Sun endorsed Mr. Frosh, and the Washington Post did. What is it about Brian Frosh that you think will be good for -- as an attorney general, if he wins in November?

LEGGETTFirst of all, when you look Brian Frosh, I think he's a gold standard of public service. This is an outstanding person in terms of credentials, ethics, work, dedication and leadership. You get the entire package.

SHERWOODPersonality.

LEGGETTPersonality, as well. Secondly, many people did not know his record because he has never run and presented himself like a politician who has gone out and tallied his record. So they didn't know it. So it took a while for people to understand fully the comprehensive record this guy's accomplished over the years. And if you look at the vote in the earlier polls, there was a large number of undecided voters. So as the end of this process started to come forth, many people turned to look at the race at the final three or four weeks, and so forth.

LEGGETTAnd looked the comparison and said, "This is the right guy." So it took a while for all of that to come together, but by the time the people paid attention to the race, recognized the differences, looked at his qualification, his background, experience, all of the endorsements, then it was a runaway train at that point in time.

NNAMDIAnd if they looked at Jon Cardin's record they would have found, A, that he didn't have as long a record to stand on, and B, that it was marred by some, I guess he would call them, silly things that he did.

SHERWOODYeah, the proposal on the boat. Actually, I tweeted election night. You were too busy recording results. I tweeted that somebody needed to send a helicopter to get him because he needed a desperate rescue.

NNAMDIHe certainly did.

LEGGETTBut we've elected -- at least the Democrats -- an outstanding person for attorney general. And I could not be more elated than his nomination.

SHERWOODI want to ask -- because you are a statewide figure, Gansler, Doug Gansler, he -- what's next for him? He gave a -- he was quite the gentleman in the concession speech that night. He's a -- wished well for the Party and all of that. He didn't go to the unity gathering this week with the Women's Democratic Club because he was out of town apparently. But his mother went.

LEGGETTHis mother was there.

SHERWOODSo what next for him? He's such a -- I can't just imagine him drifting away to a private job.

LEGGETTNo. He would not drift away. And it's unfortunate that he was not there the other day. But I take him at his word that he clearly indicated he had a prior commitment and he is fully behind the ticket. He's indicated that very clearly. I think that this is great talent. And that you've not heard the last of Doug Gansler. You know, I think that we'll see Doug again, hopefully running for some office in the foreseeable future. But he has a, I think, a still a ways to go. And I hope that we'll see him again, running for public office.

NNAMDIBrian Frosh says this is it for him, attorney general. He's never going to be seeking any office higher than this, that this is the office he wanted. Sorry, I didn't have you on hand to kind of push him so more.

SHERWOODWell, you know, it's good for him to say that. And if he said it on camera -- but, you know, people are entitled to change their opinions. You know, David Catania said that he would run for one full term and that would be it.

LEGGETTAnd so did I. I changed mine.

SHERWOODWell, you changed your mind. And then, you know, Carol Schwartz, you know, last time she ran for mayor, the fourth time she ran for mayor she said she -- she started out by saying, "This is it, folks. If you don't elect me this time, I'm done." And now she's running again. So I think, you know, people believe what they believe at the time. And you can change your mind.

NNAMDIIf you want to look this broadcast, in addition to listening to it, we are doing a live video stream at our website, kojoshow.org. You can go there. Now, here is Kayla, in Gaithersburg, Md. Kayla, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

KAYLAHi. Thank you for taking my call. I first wanted to congratulate you on the new animal shelter. It was very much needed. The question I had is do you have a plan or stance in action to help get the unknown feral cats neutered or spade and then released to their outdoor environment?

LEGGETTThank you for your question. And thank you also for the comment in reference to the animal shelter. It is an outstanding shelter and I think that the county's done a great job and we really pushed hard to make sure we get it open on time. We're looking at the reference to the cats that you've made -- that you've mentioned. This is tough call for us, but I do not want to see the county eliminating or putting to death any of the cats if we can avoid that.

LEGGETTAnd we're going to sit down next week and I think try to work out what the proper protocol would be so that we would not have the kinds of potential challenges that you've addressed. It is my hope and expectation that we could work something out that everyone is satisfied with to insure that we're not putting those to death that otherwise we can save. And that's my intent.

NNAMDIWe got a tweet from Chris who says, "Please ask Ike Leggett why he thinks moving government offices to Wheaton will help revitalize that area? This disenfranchises upper Montgomery County."

LEGGETTWell, first of all, the offices that we are moving are already in other parts of the county, in Silver Spring and in Rockville. The most -- two-thirds of it is in Silver Spring. So it's only moving about a mile or so away.

SHERWOODWhat agencies are we talking about?

LEGGETTWe're talking about the Park and Planning Commission and a couple of county officers, Permits and Services, and Environmental Protection, and maybe one or two others. They're relatively small. And we will concentrate a number of jobs in that area. And I think that will help us to provide jobs in an area where we are now developing a great deal of housing.

LEGGETTAnd so the point here is to help the revitalization by increasing jobs, in that we have to retrofit those buildings that they're currently in anyway, and we are leasing space, why not increase the size of the overall footprint that we have there to provide county offices there to hopefully bring in additional businesses as well. But it's not replacing things that are up-county. The offices that we're talking about are currently down-county, Silver Springs, which is two-thirds of it. And the other 20 percent of it is in Rockville.

SHERWOODWill it cost less or more to do this consolidation?

LEGGETTIt'll cost less long-term because we will eliminate the leased space and we'll put everything in the government space.

SHERWOODAnd a lot of permitting can be done online now or are you doing this?

LEGGETTOh, certainly. We moved a great deal of it online, but still there's a fairly significant workforce that we have in Rockville that will move to Wheaton.

NNAMDIAnd for this last question from Nelson, in Annapolis, Md., I'm going to ask you to put on your law professor hat because Nelson has what I think is a question of Constitutional law. Nelson, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

NELSONThank you, Kojo. I'm just responding to a mention earlier that the Congress was trying to embarrass the District with regard to marijuana laws. And I wanted to say that I think that there's a reasonable argument that the laws are unconstitutional. I mean, I meant -- just for example, when alcohol -- which certainly is a dangerous drug, accounting for more than 25,000 deaths each year in this country -- was outlawed it required a Constitutional amendment.

NELSONPerhaps it didn't, but we did have one in order to outlaw it. Other drugs, like marijuana, which are arguably no more harmful, might require a Constitutional amendment, too.

NNAMDIWell, allow me to have Ike Leggett.

LEGGETTThat's not correct. You do not need a Constitutional amendment.

SHERWOODWell, don't be so fuzzy in your answer.

LEGGETTThat's not correct. You don't need a Constitutional amendment to -- the authority is within the people who have it already at a level, at state, and in some cases even local, but you don't need a Constitutional amendment to address this.

SHERWOODProhibition was, of course, what he's talking about.

LEGGETTRight.

SHERWOODAnd it didn't work out so well.

LEGGETTIt certainly did not. And keep in mind, why we are looking at this in terms of decriminalization. One is stigmatized people for an exuberant period of time. Secondly, we have overcrowding in jails. And we really are using a great deal of law enforcement resources in something that I think could be dealt with in a civil matter. And that's the basis for this. And so we need to look at this more realistically.

SHERWOODI thought the caller was going to bring up what is a legitimate point, is that the Constitution gives the Congress full legislative authority over the District of Columbia.

LEGGETTYeah, that's where I thought he was going.

SHERWOODAnd so those 535 members, foolish or not, can inject themselves into our local government, which they created back in the '70s. But the question is should you, not can you, but should you. And I think that's what irritates so many people in the District, that they should not.

NNAMDI(unintelligible) foolish when they interject themselves. Ike Leggett, thank you so much for joining us.

LEGGETTThank you, Kojo. Thank you, Tom.

NNAMDIIsiah Leggett is the county executive of Montgomery County, Md., currently running for election. Won the primary on Tuesday. So he's the Democratic nominee in November's general election. Tom Sherwood is our resident analyst, NBC 4 reporter and columnist for the Current Newspapers. Tom, there is now a new caucus in the Virginia State Legislator (sic). It is called the Redskins Pride Caucus.

NNAMDIYesterday, we had a conversation with Delegate David Ramadan, whose idea it was to put together the caucus. He says they object to the U.S. Patent Office ruling against the Redskins trademark. And they object to members of Congress who are interfering in the business of the Washington Redskins. They say this is a business. This is a business based in Virginia. It's a private business. They have absolutely no right to interfere.

SHERWOODWell, you know, Congress really hasn't interfered. I mean, the Senate -- half the Senate sent a letter, but, you know, they can send a letter. They haven't moved, like, Mr. Harris has done in Maryland, moved some legislation to interfere with this. No one's passing any legislation. But I don't know -- the Redskins Pride Caucus is what it's called from state Senator Chap Petersen of Fairfax City and Delegate Jackson Miller from Manassas, in addition to Delegate Ramadan from Loudoun -- I don't know what they all do.

SHERWOODBut it just seems that every time this comes up and somebody starts a "Let's Support the Skins" kind of movement, it just creates a chance for the backlash to revive itself. I mean, if I don't want to give any advice here as public relations, but if I were on -- wanting the team name to stay as it is, I simply would stop talking. And just see how much can be generated without me adding fuel to the fire. And that's what this Pride Caucus seems to me to have done.

NNAMDIJoining us in studio now is John Foust. He's a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, running for the seat currently occupied by Rep. Frank Wolf in Virginia's 10th District. He's currently a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. John Foust, thank you so much for joining us.

MR. JOHN FOUSTThank you very much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.

NNAMDIIf you have questions or comments for John Foust, give us a call at 800-433-8850. You can send email to kojo@wamu.org, or you can go to our website, kojoshow.org, enjoy a live video stream of the broadcast and ask a question or comment there. Tom?

SHERWOODWell, first, is this your first appearance on "The Kojo Show?"

FOUSTIt is my first appearance.

SHERWOODBecause you're all dressed up. You know, this is Friday.

NNAMDIWe dress down on Fridays.

SHERWOODEven though you're on the internet website there.

FOUSTI appreciate that.

SHERWOODYou want to turn…

NNAMDIHe's dressed for television, you see.

SHERWOODYou want to turn a red district blue, right? What kind of polling have you done?

FOUSTWell, our -- we have done polling. And it suggests that we will turn a seat that's been held by a Republican for 34 years, it will -- I have a very good shot of winning that.

SHERWOODFrank Wolf had a lot of respect across both sides of the aisle in his time in Congress. Did you have specific criticisms of him or now that he's retiring you don't really need to do that?

FOUSTI have a lot of respect for Frank Wolf and his 34 years of service. I didn't always agree with him on the issues, but there are certain things he did that were very good. But this race, obviously, is going to be about my record, working on behalf of the middle class and trying to, you know, make government more efficient and more effective versus my opponent's right-wing agenda.

SHERWOOD(unintelligible) I'd like to bring up what Tom Davis, a former Congressman from Northern Virginia always says now about Northern Virginia. I love to quote him on this. He says, "Northern Virginia, it's much more like New Jersey now, than the rest of Virginia." That the demographics have changed, the focus has changed, the governments have changed. Do you agree with that? That this is not old Virginia, southern style, commonwealth of Virginia politics?

FOUSTI definitely agree with that. Typically…

SHERWOODAnd you're growing by -- or you're -- 2,000 people a month, or something like that, are moving into Northern Virginia. Huge.

FOUSTRight. And I believe that I've captured and represented the values of the new Virginia and, you know, my opponent's still representing the right-wing extreme past.

SHERWOODAnd this district, we should tell people, it goes all the way out to Berryville and Gore, Patsy Cline is from.

NNAMDIYou can find in that district a yoga studio, or organic market right across the street from a gun shop or Evangelical church in areas like Winchester. How do you think those kind of changes are effecting what kind of leadership people need for the district on Capitol Hill?

FOUSTWell, the changes are awesome. I mean we have such a diverse district. And we like to say that that diversity is our strength. So I think it's a good thing the way the district has changed. I think that the district is looking for leadership in Washington. They share my disappointment with the -- what is happening in Washington and the extreme partisanship that you see down there. I think these are people who want to solve everyday problems and are looking for leadership that will do that.

FOUSTWell the changes are awesome. I mean, we have such a diverse district. And we like to say that that diversity is our strength. So I think it's a good thing, the way the district has changed. I think that the district is looking for leadership in Washington. They share my disappointment with the -- what is happening in Washington and the extreme partisanship that you see down there. I think these are people who want to solve everyday problems and they're looking for leadership that will do that.

NNAMDIOur guest is John Foust, Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives running for the seat in Virginia's 10th district that Representative Frank Wolf is retiring from. John Foust is currently a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. If you've got questions or comments for him, the number is 800-433-8850. Here's Tom Sherwood.

SHERWOODThis question makes some people uncomfortable, but I know that running for Congress and the way Congress works or when it does work, seniority is a huge deal. What is your own thought about -- I think you're 63, is that right?

FOUSTI think I'm 62. I was born in 1951.

NNAMDIWell, he will be 63 some time this year.

SHERWOODWell, you'll be 63...

FOUSTThere you go.

SHERWOOD...before December.

FOUSTI will be 63. I feel like I'm 21, but I...

SHERWOODWell, 63's the new almost 64. Since I'm older than you, I can say this. What about the odd concept that, you know, you send someone to Congress for him or her to become involved in the national government and it takes time to build up to that subcommittee chairmanship or committee post that has some real impact on your district. Is there any concern at all about you and your age? Your opponent, I know, is like 10 years younger than you, which is not really significant in the long term.

FOUSTNo. No, I'm certainly not concerned about my age. I have a lot of good productive years ahead of me and I believe that to be really productive in Washington, you've got to be willing to work across the aisle. And that's what I do and my opponent doesn't. And, you know, we have a tremendous team in Virginia, with Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, Congressman Connolly. So we're going to be productive from day one, in my opinion.

NNAMDIBarbara Comstock, your opponent, is not considered to be a Tea Party candidate by most people, but she's rather a kind of Beltway conservative with a lot of establishment support. How do you plan to build a case against her candidacy while you build a case for your own?

FOUSTWell, first of all, for my own, I have a demonstrated record on a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors of focusing on the types of fiscal challenges that we're also facing on at the national level. We balance seven budgets in Fairfax. I've been chairman of the audit committee. We've found millions of dollars, ways to save money and save taxpayers money and make investments in the things that are important to people.

FOUSTBarbara Comstock, on the other hand, has, you know, presents as a moderate in order to get elected, but she has a voting record that is extreme right wing.

SHERWOODFor example.

FOUSTI will give you numerous examples. She voted against the transportation solution, which was a bipartisan bill that was the first significant investment in transportation in Virginia since 1986. That bill...

SHERWOODThis is the big Governor McDonnell's, the...

FOUSTGovernor McDonnell's bill and it's a game changer. It will help address the issues that people face every day with congestion. She voted against this. On women's health issues, she's as extreme right as you can get. She's gone on television and said she'd like to see Roe vs. Wade overturned. She's voted for transvaginal mandatory ultrasounds. She's voted for personhood amendment.

FOUSTSo this is a woman who is extremely right wing, partisan, will fit into the Washington crowd, which is not a good thing at this point. We need to change the type of people we're sending to Washington. She would be more of the same in terms of the Republican caucus in Washington.

SHERWOODIt sounds like it'll be a great opportunity for a debate. Have you had yet or do you have something schedule you can announced now where we can all come, a debate with her yet? Is there one scheduled?

FOUSTThere are three debates scheduled and I would hope that there will be a lot more before the campaign's over.

SHERWOODWhen's the next one? I'm already intrigued. I may have to go over to Northern Virginia. This could be a first. We could have a historic -- no, I actually go a lot. But where is the -- do you know what the first debate is?

FOUSTI don't know. I apologize.

SHERWOODIs it soon? Is it soon?

FOUSTIt's in September. I think there's three in September, yeah.

SHERWOODOh, it's not till September. Oh.

NNAMDIWell, we'll find a way to monitor it or be there. Here's Lily in Fairfax, Virginia. Please don your headphones, gentlemen, so that you can hear what Lily has to say. Lily, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

LILYHi, Kojo. Hi, Mr. Foust. I'm a current student in Fairfax County Public School system. I'm a rising senior and my parents and I are already worried about the rising cost of college. Mr. Foust, what do you think you can do to help us and students like me?

FOUSTI think there are a lot of things that can be done. You know, one of the reasons we're facing such an outrageous increase in college tuition costs is the fact that states like Virginia, under the leadership of people like my opponent, have cut back on the support for education. So we need to do things like create incentives for universities that will control costs and keep tuition under reasonable control in order to get support from the federal government.

FOUSTWe also need to look at how student loans are currently financed. The interest rates are too high. We should have programs that allow students who can't otherwise go to college without those loans, but who can then, after college, provide public service for a number of years and have portions of their loans forgiven. There are numerous things we can do and they're the types of things we've got to do because the important thing is for people like yourself to get to college and that's the only way, you know, we're going to improve our own situation as a country, in my opinion.

NNAMDILily, thank you very much for your call. I'd like to throw right into the middle of one of the most controversial issues the Congress is dealing with now, immigration. There's an increasing minority presence in your district. Some areas, like Clark County, still 90 percent white, but Prince William County, home to the second largest school district in the state, is over 40 percent black and Latino alone.

NNAMDIFairfax County's population is 20 percent Asian. You have said that discrimination should be eliminated from our society. The more diverse we become, and we see it in Northern Virginia, you say the better we become. How does that affect your perspective for what Congress should be doing, especially the House, on immigration?

FOUSTWell, I would be an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. I think we, you know, I think we all agree that we have to close the borders so we get the situation under control, but we have upwards of 12 million people living here in the United States who want to make a contribution, fear of being deported every day. I think we have to give them a way to become legalized, legal status and then also I think if we're going to become the type of nation that I think we were and should be, we have to give them an opportunity to earn their citizenship.

FOUSTSo I believe we have to go there.

SHERWOODWell, the current controversy is, you know, the parents and families are sending children by themselves...

NNAMDIFrom Central America, 50,000.

SHERWOOD...the youngest of 10 and 12 into the border. But when you say secure the borders, I mean, there's a lot of controversy about the fencing going up and the patrolling and -- how do you control -- I mean, we don’t have a fence on the Canadian border. But how do we control illegal immigration? How does one do that? I've seen so many -- it's an endless bottom of money it would require to seal the border to the United States, given that border's around the entire country by boat or land?

FOUSTYeah. I believe, you know, we don't have a fence across the Canadian border because we don't have the same immigration issues. I think in the southern border, yeah, it is appropriate to take much, you know, very firm stand against crossing the border illegally and to ensure that we minimize to the extent we possibly can. Once we do that, we've got to deal and should deal with the 12 million undocumented residents who are here and we should...

NNAMDIAnd you believe this would be a path to citizenship for those 12 million.

FOUSTI absolutely believe it should. I think that we need, you know, we don't want two tiers of residents in the United States. These are people who are willing -- ready, willing and able to make a significant contribution. Right now, they're held back. They have to be underground. We need, I mean, almost from a selfish standpoint, from an economic standpoint, we need their help.

FOUSTWe need their input. We need them to be as productive as they can be. And the one big thing that's holding them back right now is the fact that they're undocumented.

NNAMDIAnd you're not worried when you look at what happened to Eric Cantor in his primary earlier this month? You don't think that can happen in your district, people coming at you from the right saying that you favor just giving all of these people, making all of these people in the country legal?

FOUSTWell, first of all, I said that I believe they have to earn their citizenship, but I am not afraid of that at all. I hope to take, as I campaign and as I serve in Congress, I hope to take and be -- stand behind positions and the things I believe in and I believe in this. And if somebody doesn't agree with me, then they'll let me know, I'm sure.

SHERWOODIn the District, undocumented immigrants can now get a license. It's not valid for federal purposes or for entering federal buildings or for travel and airports, but it does allow them to get insurance. It allows them to travel legally in the city and take children to school and go to groceries and all those types of things. I don't believe in Virginia you have an undocumented license, do you?

FOUSTI don't believe we do.

SHERWOODBut can there -- in short of getting an immigration agreement, 'cause you look at all the news and people say this is not even going to be settled until after the next presidential election, if then. Are there some short term steps just to make the lives more comfortable for undocumented immigrants, like a drivers license?

FOUSTYeah. I would have to study that. You know, I believe that we're really dropping the ball as a nation. Congress is failing us by not dealing with this issue. It's a huge issue. It's why we sent people to Washington and they're failing us.

SHERWOODEvery person who gets elected almost say, I'm gonna go and stand for, I believe in, and I'll work across the aisle, although some of them don't say that, but the fact is they get there and they get stuck in this bog up there that's almost impossible to move. And when Howard Baker died this week and everybody says, you know, how he able to have intense, strong support for this or that, but could speak human to human, to people in all sorts of political positions, you just don't see it anymore.

SHERWOODI don't know that we ever get it back. Won't it be frustrating for you to get there and be in the minority maybe, probably and have to face that? You sound like you're a person who speaks your mind very easily.

NNAMDIWhy would anybody want a job like that?

SHERWOODThat's what I was trying to say.

FOUSTWell, you know...

SHERWOODWhat type of work do you do anyway? What kind of work do you do?

FOUSTI currently serve on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

SHERWOODThat's your job.

FOUSTThat is my job. People ask me if it's full-time and I tell them, no, it's way more than that. It's a huge...

SHERWOODBut you have professional training.

FOUSTYes.

SHERWOODI apologize. I don't know your...

FOUSTYeah, I am a lawyer by trade.

SHERWOODYou used to work for telephone companies or something, right?

FOUSTI'll give you the brief thumbnail.

SHERWOODThe 20 second one.

FOUSTYeah. I was the first member of my family to go to college and I paid for it by working at steel mills and on the railroad. So I then graduated, got a job, but I couldn't afford to go to law school so I worked full-time, got my MBA at night, my law degree at night. So that's my educational background. And then, I went to work, I was working for a utility doing cost studies, investment studies.

SHERWOODA utility?

FOUSTC&P Telephone.

SHERWOODAll right. C&P Telephone, right.

FOUSTFor eight years while I went to school. Then, I've been a lawyer for 25 years and since then, I've been spending 10 years...

SHERWOODThat's just what we need on Capitol Hill, another lawyer.

NNAMDIHere is Gary in Winchester, Virginia. You cannot talk Northern Virginia without talking traffic. Right, Gary?

GARYAbsolutely. Hi, Kojo. Thanks for taking my call.

NNAMDIYou're welcome.

GARYMr. Foust, I commute from Winchester every day so traffic is a huge issue for me. It's something that affects my life every day. And I'm wondering what you'll do in Congress to fix traffic congestion in Northern Virginia.

FOUSTWell, I will definitely work to find funding, additional federal funding, for projects in Northern Virginia. We have -- I'll work with the state and local government. As you probably know, we have a game changing opportunity with the passage of the Virginia Transportation Funding bill. You'll see many improvements along your commute to get into the Beltway area, including widening of Route 7.

FOUSTAnd if you're using the toll road, that bill will help reduce your toll rates by $300 million dollars that's being put toward reducing tolls. So these are the things that government should be doing. These are the things that my opponent, Barbara Comstock, voted against, one of only two, I think, members of the Northern Virginia delegation to turn her back on the commuters like yourself and refuse to support the Transportation bill.

NNAMDIThank you for your call, Gary. A week ago, the governor in Virginia, Terry McAuliffe said he was intent on figuring out how Medicaid can be expanded in Virginia now that it's clear that the Republicans in the general assembly in Richmond are not going to allow it. What do you see at stake for districts like yours in all of this?

FOUSTThere's an awful lot at stake. First of all, the fact that there's 400 million hard-working Virginians -- these are people who are working, but working poor who are in that coverage gap who are not getting insurance.

NNAMDI400,000.

FOUSTYes. I'm sorry. 400,000. These are people in that coverage gap who are not getting insurance because the Republicans in the Virginia House turned their backs on them. But they also turned their backs on our economic development in Virginia. There's $5 million a day the federal government wants to send to Virginia to provide this coverage. There's 30,000 jobs that we're not gonna get in the healthcare industry because they've refused to do the right thing. So it's a huge, huge impact on Virginia and I just hope that there's a way we can solve this problem.

SHERWOODThe Republicans in the House and the general assembly, they say that this is an almost bait and switch because you only get this money for, like, three years at 100 percent, then it drops down to 90 percent just as costs maybe are rising, that the state will be one the hook for a lot of money. Is that not a serious concern, that the Medicaid payments would drop to 90 percent as opposed to 100 percent?

FOUSTWell, that is not a serious concern. We know that going in. It's still an extraordinary deal. It's still extraordinarily foolish, in my opinion, to leave this money on the table and to leave these 400,000 people uninsured and not to grow the economy with 30,000 new jobs. It's bad policy and it needs to change.

NNAMDIYou list women's issues at the top of your campaign site. Where do you see them fitting into this debate about healthcare that’s going on in Virginia right now?

FOUSTWomen's issues are a very significant concern in my district because of people like Barbara Comstock in Virginia who are constantly trying to take away a woman's right to choose, constantly trying to come between a woman and her physician. So I see that issue as being a major, major part of the discussion that we'll have going forward to November.

SHERWOODShould we point out that we -- I think the station has been in touch with Barbara Comstock to invite her on this program.

NNAMDIOh, yes. So that if you are wondering why she is not here yet, she will be here. We can absolutely assure you of that. At least we have extended the invitation to Barbara Comstock. John Foust, thank you so much for joining us.

FOUSTThank you. I really appreciate the opportunity.

NNAMDIJohn Foust is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. He's running for the seat currently occupied by Representative Frank Wolf in Virginia's 10th district. He's currently a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Tom, we have not had a chance to discuss the hearing held in the D.C. City Council's finance committee chaired by Jack Evans over the stadium for D.C. United, but this is just the beginning. They had the good sense to hold a hearing during the World Cup in which the U.S. was participating.

SHERWOODD.C. United had food downstairs. I will say that, you know, this was a very long hearing. It had over 120 witnesses. They had to cut some off. Chairman Phil Mendelson says there will be more hearings. The good news is the council is fully engaged in trying to figure out what this soccer stadium deal is and what the costs really are 'cause it is complex, even from the mayor's position.

SHERWOODBut the bad news is that this may take so long that there may not be a vote until very late this year. And then, by the time we get really late into the year, it may not be until early next year before we know what the resolution is for D.C. United.

NNAMDIAnd one more guilty plea in the ongoing investigation by the U.S. attorney of corruption related to Jeffrey Thompson, this one coming from Jeff Smith who apparently got more than $140,000 in off-the-books from Thompson when he was running to unseat Jim Graham back in 2010.

SHERWOODRight. And Jeff Smith was big on education and school reform and I suggested in my column that he should've read, had to have taken a class on ethics. He asked for, in an email of all things, I couldn't believe it, $140,000 in illegal money and now he's going to pay the price for it.

NNAMDITom Sherwood, he's our resident analyst. He's an NBC full reporter and a columnist for the Current Newspapers. Tom, always a pleasure.

SHERWOODYou know, I beat Bruce DePuyt and Patrick Madden last week in golf.

NNAMDIOh, really? They must be really bad. Thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.