I have been a lifelong Democrat and have voted for a Democrat in every election for county executive since I first was able to vote in 1986. However, in the upcoming election, I intend to vote for Republican Doug Rosenfeld and feel all county residents should do the same.

One would think that during these trying budget times, County Executive Isiah Leggett would pursue more austere programs when it comes to development. Yet Leggett caves in to developers time and again. Giving away the entire farm to a company to develop a Silver Spring concert venue when a competing company agreed to pay their own way, or using $4 million dollars of county money to subsidize building a Costco in Wheaton, when Costco could very easily afford their own construction, are just two of the more outrageous examples.

I could go on citing example after example where developers have benefited on the backs of county taxpayers from Leggett's horrible dealings. With such sweetheart deals to developers costing county taxpayers millions upon millions of dollars, no wonder Leggett also supports the elimination of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. With the commission out of the way, he can gain control of county parkland in order to sell it off to make the county's fiscal ends meet.

Even if I could gloss over the multitude of fiscal transgressions, the one thing I can not excuse is Leggett's treatment of the county's first responders. Our society has a longstanding tradition when it comes to our first responders: in exchange for them putting their lives on the line for our community, we do our best to make sure that they are taken care of. Leggett has shown that he is willing to violate this tradition and alienate those whose job it is to protect us.

One example was when Leggett tried to foist an unworkable merger between the park police and county police on the unsuspecting public. Even though this merger was thankfully shelved for fiscal 2011, Leggett damaged this fine department. The fact that park police has been able to carry out its mission without a noticeable decline in service in the face of the merger proposal is a testament to the dedication of these officers.

Most recent has been Leggett's attack on fire and rescue concerning the ambulance fee referendum. Even though not a single dollar of the ambulance fee is specifically earmarked for fire and rescue, if the referendum rejects the ambulance fee, Leggett is holding fire and rescue responsible for coming up with the money that would be lost from these fees. This will not only affect the brave men and women of fire and rescue who serve our community, it will affect the safety of all county residents.

One may think that I am voting more against Leggett than I am for Rosenfeld. That is not the case. Rosenfeld's positions on these issues are similar to mine, and likely in step with the vast majority of the county voters. The Gazette itself said it best when it endorsed Rosenfeld in the Sept. 14 primary: "Rosenfeld, an attorney from Potomac, demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of county issues and has a hawk-like focus on reducing spending..."

That is what the citizens of this county need right now. I hope the citizens of Montgomery County will join me in making Leggett famous for being the first incumbent county executive to lose to a Republican in the history of this county.

David Cohen, Gaithersburg