Leaving the legislature, part 3: Bill Bronrott

By Len Lazarick
Len@MarylandReporter.com

Del. Bill Bronrott says he “never intended to run for political office.” The 55-year-old Bethesda Democrat was a “behind-the-scenes guy,” trained in political communications. He worked the media for Congressman Michael Barnes for eight years.

He was convinced to run 12 years ago, and next week, he’s resigning from the House of Delegates after three terms to become deputy administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Highway safety is a field he’s been associated with for three decades, since he first got Barnes interested in a drunk-driving incident that left a five-month-old girl paralyzed. In 1980, Bronrott organized the first national press conference at the U.S. Capitol for a new group called Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

When he met that baby paraplegic, her limbs withering, “it was one of those moments that changes your life,” Bronrott said.

The delegate represents one of the most liberal districts in Maryland – Judicial Proceedings Chairman Brian Frosh is its senator.

“Bethesda and proud,” Bronrott laughs. “I’m in synch with my people.”

Like other legislators, he agrees that the Maryland legislature has become more divided along party lines.

“[It's] more partisan, but not as partisan as Congress or many other states that I have read up on," Bronrott said. "Maryland is still primarily divided on geographic boundaries and philosophical boundaries, conservative versus liberal, for the most part, rural versus the more urban areas.”

“I’ve worked on issues that I think haven’t had a political label on them,” Bronrott said. “I’ve been able to focus on issues that have brought people together.”

For a decade, he’s served on the special committee on drug and alcohol abuse, eventually heading the panel. For years, he has tried to get the alcohol tax increased to fund addiction services and the developmentally disabled.

As he likes to point out, “Elvis hadn’t been discovered the last time we did it” – hiked the liquor tax. He has seen a support grow for the tax increase, and “it’s not just my hope, it’s my belief that it’s going to happen in the next year or so.”

For years, he’s also been working on what he called “the greening of Maryland, which at first was this sort of crunchy granola, hippy dippy, you know – [embraced by] those far left-wing environmental groups.”

But he said people have come around on the issue over the past several years, as advocates talked more "about sustainable, livable, transit-oriented, walkable, bikable communities."

“The business community has come in and said this makes sense. We can create better buildings that are more energy efficient, that save us dollars, that create better working and learning environments.”

Bronrott said his goal has been to help people take a longer view of policy choices.

“That’s one area that I have spent a lot of time working on and breaking down political boundaries to make people think of what’s good for the long term, and not just for the next election,” Bronrott said.

Is he going to miss the House of Delegates?

“Yeah, very much,” Bronrott said. “I think this House is like a lot of houses. You don’t always like what everybody is doing inside the family on any given day. But you love the institution, and I have loved most moments inside of State Circle.”