High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Isiah "Ike" Leggett (born July 25, 1944) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Deweyville, Texas, Leggett attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and, after serving in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Army, earned a law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.. In 1986, he became the first African-American elected to the county council in Montgomery County, Maryland and served on the council through 2002. He remains the only African-American ever elected to that body at-large. For two years, Leggett served as the chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party before leaving that position to run for office once again. Leggett was elected County Executive of Montgomery County in 2006, the first African-American to hold that office. Since taking office, he has become involved in a number of controversial issues, including proposals to increase the Maryland gas tax, place a moratorium on new development in Montgomery County, and create a new hiring location for day laborers in Gaithersburg, Maryland.