By Cara Williams,
Special to the AFRO
Moisette “Tonya” Sweat, 49, is an attorney who has never run for public office. She says she understands the DMV political environment well because of her work with the local, state and federal government.
Sweat says she is infuriated with what she sees as the “lack of leadership” coming from the Office of the County Executive, evidenced in the “condition of our public schools system” and “infrastructure, crime, and lack of access to health care.”
Sweat came to Prince George’s County in 1999 after serving seven years in the U.S. Air Force as a judge advocate. She earned a bachelor’s in computer science, her Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina, and an MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus.
A lawyer by trade, Sweat, worked in the federal government for 20 years as a federal financial regulator.
She feels her experience with fair lending positions her perfectly for the office of Prince George’s County Executive.
“I have led and managed people and government resources, and I am well versed in federal, state, and local government affairs,” Sweat said.
She is passionate about ending the influence of special interests in the county and plans to overhaul the way developers do business with the county.
“The decisions made in the county right now, whether by the county executive or by the county council, from my perspective, are largely influenced by special interest groups,” Sweat said, adding that the zoning ordinances and changes in ordinances were produced mainly by developers.
Sweat sees long-time Prince Georgians being pushed out of their homes and communities for the sake of developers.
Moreover, Sweat said she has not seen improvements in the school system and disagrees that public-private partnerships have the county’s best interest at heart.
In October 2021, the Prince George’s County Public School Board voted to approve a public-private partnership to finance, design and build the schools and maintain them for 30 years. In exchange, the school system will pay $1.2 billion over 30 years.
The public-private partnership plan was endorsed by current County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
“Literally, they are going to bleed us out of tax dollars at the cost of 30 to 35 million dollars over the next 33 years,” Sweat said. “That’s a huge tax debt we cannot afford,” she continued.
She will closely manage the flow of special interest money into the county. It has not proven to be for the betterment or benefit of Prince Georgians, Sweat indicated.
Another vital topic for Sweat is the well-being and future success of the children in the county.
She plans to work with the County Board of Education and the Department of Recreation and Parks to improve the school system and build recreational activities for the youth to meet the needs of the county’s diverse population.
As the Prince George’s County Executive, Sweat plans a thorough review of county revenue and expenditures to determine the availability of cost savings.
“The county has provided no qualitative or quantitative data, except monetary amounts, in support of the monies spent,” Sweat said.
Sweat pledges to ensure the citizens of Prince George’s County are safe.
As violent crimes and gun use soar across America, Sweat will implement safety tactics such as body-worn cameras within the departments to keep officers safe and prevent excessive force and deaths at the hands of police officers.
She will build a partnership between the Prince George’s County police department and the Sheriff’s Office to increase patrols, reduce response time, and stress on both departments.
“Reducing crime in Prince George’s county requires more than an up “lock them up response,” Sweat said.
“I will work to ensure the recidivism rate does not increase,” she pledged.
Sweat lives in Prince George’s County with her husband, two children, and dog Taz.
Sweat is currently the managing member of Sweatsim Consulting, LLC and is affiliated with several bar associations, including the Supreme Court of the United States Bar, District of Columbia Bar Association, and the South Carolina Bar Association.
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