Pittman's transition leaders a good start for Anne Arundel County executive-elect

If you judge a new administration by the people it surrounds itself with, County Executive-elect Steuart Pittman just started off with a bang. Janet Owens and Chris Trumbauer are two people who represent the best of the Democratic Party in Anne Arundel.

Owens, of course, was the only woman elected as county executive — so far.

She was the political candidate no one assumed could win, a former director of the county department of aging who ran an unsuccessful bid for clerk of the court — against Bob Duckworth, who is retiring this year after 24 years on the job — before announcing a run for county executive.

She shocked the political peanut gallery in 1998 by unseating John Gary, a Republican with friends in the development community who many suspected would cruise to a contested, but predictable win in November. Sound familiar?

As a county executive, Owens governed as a center-right Democrat, who had a reputation for conservative politics and a commitment to constituent service. Perhaps most importantly, she led the county through the 2000 general development plan update and the subsequent comprehensive rezoning.

It was Owens who had teams of planners sit down with 16 small area committees for lengthy discussions about growth, quality of life and community priorities. Those who took part look back on it as one of the best examples of grassroots government.

That many of the recommendations were subsequently left out of the GDP and rezoning, and that her successor abandoned the model in 2010, didn't matter. The concept is so embedded in the collective memory of Anne Arundel's body politic that Pittman and his supporters were able to tap the concept as a ready alternative to County Executive Steve Schuh's plans for the process in 2020.

Owens dabbled with a return to politics after she left office, but was never able to catch on at the state level. Yet her tenure remains one that many civic activists of a certain age look back upon fondly.

Trumbauer, meanwhile, is the outgoing county councilman from Annapolis. Elected as an accomplished environmental activist, he opted to leave elected office rather than go after what many thought would be an easy reach for House of Delegates.

More than any other councilman in the last eight years, Trumbauer evolved in his time on the council. He became a respected voice on budget matters and an effective legislator who was a role model for how to get along with those whose ideas seem diametrically opposed to his own.

Together, they bring a wealth of experience in running county government in a different fashion than the outgoing executive. They have a record of putting into practice the ideals that drove Pittman's successful campaign for executive: a government that is responsive to everyone and not just those with insider access, a conservative approach to growth and development and — because this is Anne Arundel County — an eye on the bottom line.