Michael Sanderson of MACo on County Power

Most of what you count on each day doesn’t come from Washington. It comes from your county: the roads you drive, the schools your kids attend, the health services that protect communities, the recycling system you expect to work, and the local decisions that shape what your neighborhood becomes. On the latest episode of the Pittman and Friends Podcast, County Executive Steuart Pittman sits down with Michael Sanderson, Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo), and they get straight to the pressure points of Maryland politics and public policy and how they impact local government. We walk through how MACo represents county leaders in Annapolis, why an open public hearing process can prevent bad legislation, and how a truly bipartisan organization still finds common ground when the rest of American politics feels stuck. Then we tackle two issues that define daily life for residents: transportation funding and housing. Michael explains why Maryland’s local road funding never fully recovered after the Great Recession, why that gap squeezes county budgets, and why so many people misunderstand what gas taxes actually pay for. From there, we get into the housing shortage, zoning, smart growth, environmental limits, and the “Smith Island cake” problem: layer after layer of approvals that can make building painfully slow. We also debate the toughest question underneath it all, when state preemption is a necessary tool for progress and when local control is the wiser path for land use, infrastructure, and community trust. We wrap with grounded advice for leaders making hard budget calls and a rare note of optimism rooted in local accountability. Subscribe for more practical conversations about how government really works, share this with a friend who cares about roads or housing, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. If you like the stories and insights in Pittman and Friends, be sure to follow the County Executive on social media and sign up for his Weekly Letter using the links below. Weekly Letter: https://www.aacounty.org/county-executive/steuart-pittman/pittmans-pen/weekly-letterFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AACoExecX (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/AACoExecInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/AACoExec/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArundelTV