When an appointed government body isn't doing the bidding of the elected leaders, a politician's first instinct is to change its size. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed increasing the number of justices on the Supreme Court. In 1995, albeit on a smaller scale, Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown is following a similar strategy with the Carroll County Planning Commission.
President Roosevelt ultimately failed in his attempt to "pack the court" to make it more sympathetic to his New Deal reforms. Mr. Brown, on the other hand, has succeeded in adding two members to the planning commission, which makes recommendations on land use issues. Increasing the commission from five to seven members is but the first step in Mr. Brown's attempt to more firmly control Carroll's growth. The second is appointing members who will more critically examine new residential development.
President Roosevelt's plan ran into great political opposition, and he eventually dropped the idea. Mr. Brown, however, seems willing to suffer a little public condemnation because he feels a larger board will dilute the influence of current members Robert H. Lemmon and Robin B. Frazier, who were appointed by commissioner Donald I. Dell. Mr. Lemmon, who has served as Mr. Dell's attorney, and Ms. Frazier, who was his campaign treasurer, are perceived as sympathetic to developer interests.
The politics of managing growth in Carroll has changed greatly in the past several months. The candidates who received the most votes in last fall's election -- Richard T. Yates and Mr. Brown -- also favored measures to slow the county's building boom. Mr. Dell, the candidate most closely identified with developers, came in third.
In return for supporting Mr. Yates' appointment as the county commissioner on the planning body, Mr. Yates supposedly allowed Mr. Brown to name two new members. Mr. Yates now says he does not recall such an agreement.
Whether Mr. Brown names one or two planning commission members, developers' proposals are apt to get a much sharper review. How critical depends on the two new appointees. Once planning commissioners take their seats, they -- like many a Supreme Court justice -- may prove to be more independent than the commissioners wish.