On Monday night, "Democrat" Allison Pickard voted against an inclusionary zoning bill for affordable housing in Anne Arundel County despite broad, public support for the measure. Pickard claimed to vote her "conscience" on Bill 78-23 which she said did not provide enough incentives for real estate developers - some of whom donated to her political campaign. Three Democrats voted for the measure. Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman lashed out at Pickard's vote in an official statement decrying the influence of developers. He called Pickard's vote, and those of the three Republicans, a "slap in the face to the large part of our workforce that is priced out of most of the new homes and apartments being built today."
Pittman said that he would seek executive administrative remedies to address affordable housing in the county and will revive a bill to ban campaign contributions from developers with official business pending with Anne Arundel County. The defeat of the affordable housing bill is an astonishing political defeat for Pittman who introduced the measure with a 4-3 Democratic majority on the County Council.
An annotated, viral version of Pittman's statement has made its way around the Internet.
