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Politics & Government

City of Bowie Elections 2011: District 4 Candidate Profile: Isaac 'Ike' Trouth

For Trouth, governing is in the details.

Editor’s Note: In Tuesday’s Bowie city elections, there are four contested races – , , and . Continuing today and through the weekend, Patch is running profiles on the nine candidates in the four contested races. For mayor and District 1, the incumbents are running unopposed. Today, Saturday: The two District 4 candidates.

During a recent Bowie City Council meeting, Council member Isaac “Ike” Trouth for three days after Tropical Storm Irene.

Trouth said what BGE officials were saying about the utility’s storm performance didn’t jive with the reality of the forced closure of Church Road, effectively cutting off a major entrance to south Bowie. “There was a definite disconnect.”

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BGE officials profusely apologized. Church Road, they said, was not on the priority road repair list provided by the Prince George’s County government.

Trouth switched gears, going from critic to problem solving mode: In the future, Bowie’s relatively new emergency operations center would need to establish constant direction communications with the county’s operation to avoid a repeat situation.

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A small detail, but one that Trouth, who by networking and study has arguably made himself the council’s expert on emergency operations, immediately saw.

“You don’t have to act like you're super smart and all that,” said Trouth in an interview. “But you do have to make sure you know what’s going on. If you don’t know what’s going on, you won’t know the rules of engagement, and if you don’t know the rules of engagement, people will take advantage of you.”

Trouth, 64, is a renal care specialist with Abbott Laboratories who is seeking his third term as the District 4 city council member.

As a council member, he said his major accomplishments have been to help youth and seniors, including major renovations to the and the creation of the senior summit. Trouth also notes that he has set aside a large portion of his net council salary for charitable donations, including a $10,000 contribution for playground equipment at .

Trouth said one of the greatest assets he will bring to the table if re-elected is his rolodex of connections with municipal, county and state officials. His web page touts his slew of endorsements.

As an example, Trouth said he as a council member has no direct power over how the county or school system spends funds. But by making sure he has established strong working relationships with other elected officials, successfully asking for assistance is possible.

“As a municipal leader, you have to know you are dependent upon levels of government higher than you,” he said.

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