Biography

 
George Leventhal has lived in Montgomery County most of his life and is serving his second term as an at-large member of the Montgomery County Council.  He was first elected to the Council in 2002, served as Council President in 2006, and was re-elected to a second Council term in 2006, winning more votes in the Democratic Primary Election than any other at-large Council candidate.

As chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, Councilmember Leventhal supports and oversees programs for Montgomery County's neediest residents: the elderly, the sick, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, and abused and abandoned children. He has developed a variety of comprehensive programs to address the concerns of this population, including:

• Montgomery Cares, a signature initiative of Councilmember Leventhal, provides access to primary health care for uninsured County residents through a network of "safety net" clinics.
  
  
• The Housing First initiative seeks to reduce homelessness by aggressively matching the homeless with permanent stable housing instead of temporary shelter, including supportive services to help clients address the issues which contributed to their homelessness.
  
  
• The Domestic Workers Employment Contracts Act requires employers of certain domestic workers to negotiate and sign a written contract that specifies the terms and conditions of employment.

Councilmember Leventhal believes passionately in caring for our environment and living sustainably.   As a member of the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee, he has created and championed many County programs that foster those goals:

• The Clean Energy Rewards Program provides rebates to residents and businesses choosing to buy clean energy. As a direct result, Montgomery County avoided 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. To sign up, click here: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/deptmpl.asp?url=/content/dep/rewards.asp

• The County’s Green Buildings legislation protects and improves the environment by requiring privately-constructed buildings over 10,000 square feet to be LEED certified, and county-constructed buildings to achieve a LEED-silver or equivalent rating. 
  
  
• Bethesda Green is a public-private partnership that provides a living model of sustainability, promoting energy-efficiency, public recycling, public transportation and cycling and a community-wide environmental ethic.
  
  
• The Biodiesel Task Force is exploring how waste vegetable oil from county restaurants can be refined into biodiesel, a biodegradable, nontoxic fuel that emits less pollution than petroleum diesel.

The Purple Line – an east-west transit link which will connect both legs of Metro’s Red Line, the Green Line and the Orange line, three MARC train lines and AMTRAK – is Councilmember Leventhal's top transportation priority. As a founder and ex-officio board member of Purple Line Now!
(http://www.purplelinenow.org/), he tirelessly promoted the Purple Line light rail alternative and works diligently with community groups, the County Executive, and County Council colleagues as well as state and Prince George's County officials to ensure support for the Purple Line throughout the State of Maryland.  In January 2009, light rail received the unanimous endorsement of the County Council and the County Executive as the preferred alternative for the Purple Line.

Councilmember Leventhal is active in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), and serves on its Greater Washington 2050 Committee, a regional initiative to improve the quality of life for Washington area residents.  Councilmember Leventhal has also served as the Chair of, and remains a member of, COG’s Health and Human Services Policy Committee.

Councilmember Leventhal received a number of awards for his efforts and leadership in 2008:

1. The Sharan London Distinguished Service Award by the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless for his exceptional leadership and commitment to ending homelessness in our community;
   
   
2. The Mary C. Jackson “Good Works Done Well” by the Primary Care Coalition in recognition of his accomplishments in providing health care to the county’s uninsured;
   
3. An award from Proyecto Salud Clinic in recognition of his efforts to provide health services to minorities in Montgomery County.

From 1995 to 2002, Leventhal was employed as Senior Federal Relations Officer for the Association of American Universities (AAU). Prior to working at the AAU, Leventhal served as legislative director and legislative assistant for U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, and as a research assistant on the tax staff of the Senate Finance Committee under its then-chairman Lloyd Bentsen of Texas. From 1996 to 2001, Leventhal served as chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee.  He played a leading role in many other political and community activities in the Takoma Park-Silver Spring area and throughout Montgomery County.

Leventhal received a Master’s degree in public administration from the Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in Takoma Park with his wife, Soraia P. Leventhal, and their two sons, Daniel, fourteen, and Francisco, ten, who both attend Montgomery County Public Schools.  He is a member of Shirat HaNefesh synagogue.