Montgomery County, which is trying to fill a $1 billion budget shortfall, is spending $360,000 a year on four bodyguards to provide security for County Executive Ike Leggett and more than 100 public buildings.
“Such a protective detail is not unusual in the region,” said Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield. “It’s nothing new.”
The guards divide their time between protecting Leggett and supervising security for county facilities.
“There is no 24-seven protection. It is provided on an as-needed basis,” Lacefield said. He wouldn’t detail the guards’ shift frequency or length, citing policy and security concerns.
The guards, who each earn $90,000 a year, are paid wages and benefits consistent with county police officers who have “a number of years’ service,” he said.
It would take a county police officer 20 years to earn a $90,000 salary, said Walt Bader, the chief negotiator for the Fraternal Order of Police union.
The starting salaryfor county officers is typically $47,000, with a 3.5 percent annual raise for the first 15 years. At 20 years, officers get a “final” raise, Bader said, adding that police officers typically make more than security guards.
Lacefield said using security guards for the county executive precedes Leggett by four years. The county began hiring bodyguards during the October 2002 sniper attacks.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty employs bodyguards. But Fairfax County, which rivals Montgomery in wealth and crime rates, does not. Lacefield pointed out that Fairfax’s county executive is appointed, and elected officials such as Leggett require increased security. Leggett’s elected counterpart in Fairfax, Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, does not use bodyguards.
Leggett told The Washington Examiner recently that he continues to get death threats, many racially motivated, though neither he nor Lacefield would say how many he receives.
“Leggett is hiding behind this security excuse,” Bader said. “I don’t buy it for a minute. It’s just a way to get a perk without being held accountable.”
Bader said he has never heard of any violence against a Montgomery County elected official.
“It’s a benefit of a lot of money to protect one individual from nonexistent threats,” he said. Leggett’s job isn’t so critical to the county’s functioning that the government would collapse if something happened to him, he said.
“I don’t think they would scramble for fighter jets and put NATO on high alert.”
But Lacefield said the need is “real.”
“If there was not a need, the county would not have established the security detail in the first place or continue it to the present,” he said.
