Central Committee Member Chris Bradbury has dropped his bid to fill the delegate vacancy in District 14. He has also resigned from the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC):
This email is to officially retract my application for delegate in district 14.
It’s is further more to be considered my official resignation from the MCDCC effective immediately.
Christopher D. Bradbury
Looks like MCDCC will have yet another vacancy to fill.
Maryland NARAL PAC has endorsed Central Committee Member Pam Queen for the delegate vacancy in District 14. While they also commend Central Committee Member Chris Bradbury for his support for choice, MD NARAL has less than kind words for former Del. Herman Taylor:
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC believes there are far better choices to represent District Fourteen than Mr. Herman Taylor. Any representations by him or his supporters that we have ‘resolved’ our differences over his anti-choice legislative record are false. Mr. Taylor’s legislative record and any subsequent claims of settlement reinforce the fears we have for peril of transparency and choice in Maryland.
Screenshot of Bradbury’s Fake Official-Looking Webpage
UPDATE: Chris Bradbury has defended his creation of the fake official-looking webpage because:
David’s claim that competing candidates are not allowed to decide how to represent their opponents is factually incorrect. For example attack ads and other political advertisements used during a regular campaign to promote a candidate. This is protected by the bill of rights. Also, it should be mentioned that I have not “attacked” any of the candidates in this race.
Misses the point entirely, as the problem is that he cast the page as a “Montgomery County Democratic Party” page. Looks like MCDCC agreed with me, as Chris has had to take down the page. Chris also claims falsely that I wrote my post “at the direction of the Annapolis power brokers.” My words in posts that appear under my name are my own unless otherwise indicated.
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Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) Member Chris Bradbury, a candidate for the vacant delegate seat in District 14, has now removed the fake official-looking Montgomery County Democratic Party webpage he created on his own website. The page solicited opinion on behalf of MCDCC as to who should be appointed to the vacancy.
The page was created without authorization from MCDCC. Yesterday, Bradbury’s response had been solely to correct his misspelling of “Caldwell Banking” to “Coldwell Banking” but the page was entirely gone by this morning. I imagine that MCDCC demanded that the unauthorized page be taken down.
Obviously, Bradbury did not understand that an MCDCC Member who is also a candidate should not go rogue and create an unauthorized official-looking page that presented information about his opponents as well as himself.
As of now, Bradbury is still listed as a Central Committee Member on the MCDCC website. I do not know whether Bradbury plans to remain a candidate for the vacancy or a member of the Central Committee in the wake of these disqualifying actions demonstrating astonishing poor judgement.
Screenshot from Facebook
The selection of Del. Craig Zucker to fill the Senate vacancy caused by the retirement of Sen. Karen Montgomery (D-14) has opened up a vacancy in the House of Delegates. The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) will select Zucker’s replacement.
Four candidates are in the race. Pam Queen is Professor of Business at Morgan State and a MCDCC Member. Herman Taylor is a former delegate as well as President and CEO of Deskmate Office Products. Mark Feinroth is the Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Maryland Association of Realtors and worked previously at the Maryland Department of Labor.
MCDCC Member Chris Bradbury has also jumped into the race–a surprise as he had previously said he was going to support Queen, who also has the backing of the D14 legislative delegation. While Bradbury’s Facebook page says he is a real estate broker at Magnolia Realty, that fact is oddly not mentioned on his bio created specially for the race.
Even more strangely, Bradbury appears to have placed what is designed to look like an official MCDCC form on his personal webpage. The form links to bios of the candidates, and looks like an official place for voters to give their recommendations for who should fill the delegate vacancy:
Why is this form on Bradbury’s website? I cannot imagine that MCDCC sanctioned the bad judgement of placing a form that asks voters for input on the website bearing the name of one the candidates–and mentioned on his Facebook page. Indeed, his website redirects to the delegate selection form.
This decision alone should disqualify Bradbury from being on the MCDCC let alone the House of Delegates.
Here is Bradbury’s bio from the same “official” MCDCC webpage:
Under work experience, Bradbury says impressively that he specialized in “preventing foreclosures” as an asset manager of $30,000,000 for an unnamed (!) private equity firm. Bradbury, who graduated from Blake HS in 2001, also reports that he is “enrolled” in Business Administration at Thomas Edison State College, located in Trenton, New Jersey.
Though his bio doesn’t mention his work in real estate, Bradbury states he attended the Caldwell (sic) Banker School of Real Estate last year. In the past, he sold cars at Koons Ford and worked as an organizer for Impact Silver Spring.
Craig Zucker
The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) voted 25-2-1 to nominate Del. Craig Zucker to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Sen. Karen Montgomery. Central Committee Members Venattia Vann and Loretta Garcia voted instead for former Del. Herman Taylor. MCDCC Vice Chair Arthur Edmunds, who lives in District 14, abstained.
Once Gov. Larry Hogan formally appoints Zucker, MCDCC will once again have to fill a vacancy, this time in the House of Delegates. The current delegation is supporting Central Committee Member Pam Queen for that spot. Herman Taylor left open the possibility of seeking the seat when I spoke to him prior Zucker’s appointment.
Craig Zucker may well become the first person ever to vote to override the Governor’s veto in both chambers of the General Assembly. Earlier this week, he joined with the House majority to overturn the veto of the bill to restore the voting rights of ex-felons. The Senate has delayed the override vote until after the Governor fills the District 14 vacancy. Of course, all of this is perfectly legal and ethical but will make for an interesting bit of political history.
Congratulations to Craig Zucker. He already represents the same people in the House of Delegates so his set of constituents will remain the same. Former Del. Herman Taylor may not have won support from MCDCC but merits thanks for putting himself forward as well as his past work in the House of Delegates.
I spoke earlier tonight with former Del. Herman Taylor, who confirmed that he plans to move forward with his bid for the District 14 Senate vacancy caused by the retirement of Sen. Karen Montgomery. The current District 14 delegation has endorsed Del. Craig Zucker for the seat.
Taylor won election to the House of Delegates in 2002 and 2006. He was among the first African Americans to win election from a majority white district, a path since followed by current County Executive Ike Leggett (UPDATE: though I am reminded Ike won election to an at-large seat on the County Council much earlier) and County Councilmember Craig Rice.
The race will be decided by a vote of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee. Taylor raised concerns to me about the process, likely amplified by the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee’s lack of posting about on its website, though I did receive an email requesting applications.
Zucker remains heavily favored to win the appointment, having received the backing of County Executive Ike Leggett, the African-American, Latino and Asian county Democratic clubs as well as the delegation. Taylor left open the possibility of seeking the delegate seat seat should Zucker win the appointment to the Senate.
Herman Taylor for Senate?
Former Del. Herman Taylor is working behind the scenes to build support for a bid to fill the Senate vacancy in District 14 caused by Sen. Karen Montgomery’s retirement. Taylor served two terms in the House of Delegates until he ran in a lopsided losing primary against Rep. Donna Edwards in 2010–Taylor won 9% of the vote.
The leading candidate for the Senate vacancy is Del. Craig Zucker, who has the support of retiring Sen. Montgomery as well as Dels. Anne Kaiser and Eric Luedtke. Zucker is now serving his second term in the House of Delegates.
Taylor will have an uphill battle to win support from a majority of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee. Beyond his colleagues, Zucker recently gained support from African American Democratic Club, Latino Democratic Club and Coalition of Asian Pacific American Democrats. Former NAACP Leader Ben Jealous has also endorsed his candidacy.
The adroitly planned rollout of Zucker’s bid for the appointment has aided his effort to secure the Senate seat. The delegation supports filling the delegate vacancy created by Zucker’s move to the Senate with African-American Pam Queen, a current member of the Central Committee, helping to alleviate concerns about maintaining the representation of women and expanding minority representation.
A pro-life moderate, Taylor will have trouble gaining support from a party identified solidly with abortion rights. Taylor’s run against Edwards no doubt earned him the ire of increasingly assertive progressives who celebrated her defeat of Al Wynn.
Last week, Sen. Karen Montgomery and Dels. Anne Kaiser, Eric Luedtke and Craig Zucker expressed their support for the appointment of Zucker to replace Montgomery who will step down at the end of the year, and Pam Queen to fill Zucker’s seat.
Why Zucker for Senate instead of the more experienced Kaiser, or Luedtke who was elected at the same time as Zucker?
I imagine Del. Kaiser, who has served in the House since 2003, could have had the appointment easily if she wanted it. However, she has advanced too far in the House to want to start over the Senate. Besides chairing the Education Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee, Kaiser is part of the leadership team as the House Majority Leader.
Zucker v. Luedtke would have been an interesting battle and I could well envision either having won. They’ve clearly worked it out among themselves and are comfortable with Zucker getting the seat. For what it’s worth, Zucker is six years older than Luedtke.
Why endorse Zucker and Queen simultaneously?
Democrats are very interested in racial and gender balance. When potential candidates differ little on issues, it is not surprising that people to focus on group representation. When the Senate vacancy occurred in District 15, the appointment of well-respected white Jewish Del. Brian Feldman encountered opposition due to the desire for greater non-white representation in the General Assembly.
In the end, MCDCC nonetheless appointed now Sen. Feldman and then appointed Latino David Fraser-Hidalgo to the House of Delegates. Recommending African-American Pam Queen for the House as the same time as Zucker for the Senate heads off backlash over the question of minority representation.
Why Pam Queen?
Queen brings qualifications to the job. She is a professor of Finance at Morgan State University has a Ph.D. from GWU in Business Administration–not a bad background for someone who will spend much time focused on the state budget. Queen also has a B.S. in Mathematics from Tuskegee and and an M.S. in Computer Science along with an M.S. in Management from Johns Hopkins.
She also has political experience, having been elected to the MCDCC. Support from within the delegation along with the MCDCC would make it very difficult for someone else, including any other MCDCC members eyeing the seat, to defeat Queen for the appointment.
Queen also possesses another virtue: she’s not former Del. Herman Taylor. He served two terms until he ran a lopsided losing race against Rep. Donna Edwards in 2010–Taylor won 9% of the vote. D14 has a solidly progressive delegation and my guess is they would prefer not to see the return of a pro-life moderate.
I received the following press release from both Del. Anne Kaiser Del. Eric Luedtke:
District 14 Team Announces Recommendations to Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (December 4, 2015) – Earlier today, State Senator and District 14 member Karen Montgomery announced that she will retire upon the appointment of her successor, saying that she will notify Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. on January 1 of her intent to resign.
The District 14 delegates, Majority Leader Anne Kaiser, Craig Zucker and Eric Luedtke, want to thank Karen Montgomery for her leadership, dedication and commitment to a career serving Montgomery County and the State of Maryland.
“Senator Montgomery has been a champion for our district and a wonderful member of the team,” said Del. Craig Zucker. “She has been a leader of progressive values in Annapolis and we thank her for her service.”
To fulfill the vacancy that will be created by her retirement, Sen. Montgomery has recommended Del. Zucker as her successor.
“While serving with Delegate Zucker in Annapolis, I have had the privilege to know him as a father, a legislator and a leader,” said Montgomery. “Along with Delegates Anne Kaiser and Eric Luedtke, the District 14 Team is putting its full support behind Delegate Zucker to be our next State Senator.”
After Sen. Montgomery’s letter of resignation is received by Senate President Miller, the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee will have up to 30 days to submit a name to the Governor to serve as the next District 14 Senator.
Although she will submit her intent to resign on January 1, Montgomery will continue to serve her constituents, and will not vacate her seat, until a new senator is appointed.
“Let me be clear, I will not allow my district to be without representation in Annapolis during this transition to my retirement,” said Montgomery. “We have fought hard to move Maryland forward, and I will continue that effort as an elected official until the day my successor is sworn-in.”
Del. Zucker, who was first elected to represent District 14 in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, serves on the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee, where he is Chair of the Health and Human Resources Subcommittee.
“I am proud that she is recommending me to the Central Committee as the successor to finish her term in the Senate,” said Del. Zucker. “I intend to formally submit my name to the Central Committee as a candidate when Senator Montgomery’s resignation becomes official.”
Del. Zucker will also have the support of County Executive Isiah Leggett.
“I congratulate Karen Montgomery for her service to District 14 and our community,” said Leggett. “I know Delegate Zucker will do an admirable job filling her shoes. That is why he has my enthusiastic support. There is no one who works harder than him.”
If Del. Zucker is recommended and there is a vacancy for his current seat, the District 14 Team is recommending longtime community activist, educator and Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee member, Pamela Queen.
“I have known Pam for many years, and I have admired her strong-minded passion for District 14 and her community,” said Del. Anne Kaiser. “Delegate Luedtke and I look forward to the opportunity to serve alongside her.”
Pamela Queen is a Professor of Finance at Morgan State University in Baltimore. She uses her expertise and training as a certified project management professional and her Ph.D. in finance to enhance operations of non-profit, community and civic groups. A mother of one, Pamela is married to Retired Naval Captain Gregory Queen and lives in Olney.
The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee is scheduled to meet on January 12, 2016.
In District 14, Sen. Karen Montgomery is currently unopposed for a second term. Sen. Montgomery served two terms in the House of Delegates before knocking out incumbent Sen. Rona Kramer in one of 2010’s top-tier Democratic primaries.
On the House side, Dels. Eric Luedtke and Craig Zucker are also seeking second terms, while senior delegation member Del. Anne Kaiser is running for a fourth term. The four incumbents in the General Assembly are hanging together and have formed a slate that will campaign and do coordinated mailings.
The House incumbents face one challenger, John Paul Evans of Gaithersburg, a 24 year old graduate of Damascus High School . He explained why he was running in a Gazette profile:
The issues that most concern him are civil rights and government transparency.
“I don’t think we have enough transparency in the slightest,” he said.
Evans said he is reluctant to single out one civil right to focus on.
“We’ve had the gun issue, with assault weapons, and we’ve had issues with the [National Security Agency],” he said.
Evans said gun laws should be based on guns’ functionality, not whether they look like assault weapons.
Those topics have been “a driving force” behind his decision to announce his candidacy, he said.
Evans’ oblique campaign announcement further refers to pro-gun and anti-NSA surveillance stance:
I think our government is not treating our civil rights with the respect they deserve. It’s time someone “stands his ground” to solemnly defend our civil rights. I want to do my part to protect our inalienable rights. I want to be there on the ground floor to say, “No, we cannot violate the people like that”, before a bill ever becomes a law. I want to be the first line of defense and give our community a strong and active voice.
“Stands his ground” sounds more like George Zimmerman than John Lewis. In the Sentinel, Evans made more explicit his opposition to Maryland’s new gun laws on Second Amendment grounds. A member of the Snowden generation, it will be interesting to hear more about how Evans plans to rein in the NSA from Annapolis.
The delegates are comparatively well positioned financially if not incredibly flush based on their last pre-session bank balances with Del. Kaiser at $36K, Del. Luedtke at $26K, Del. Zucker at $42K. Sen. Montgomery has $43K (error corrected from previous version).
Free Citizens for John Evans filed an affidavit attesting the he “does not intend to receive contributions or make expenditures in the cumulative amount of $1000 or more.” (Information gathered from the most recent 2014 reports in the Maryland Campaign Finance Database.)
All four incumbents are solid liberals and I’d be shocked if they did not collect the usual round of endorsements from unions and progressive groups. Evans seems most likely to gain support from Free State DINOs, a group encouraging Republicans to register to vote in Democratic primaries to unseat incumbents like Montgomery, Kaiser, Luedtke, and Zucker for supporting the gun laws adopted by Maryland in the wake of Newtown shootings.
John Paul Evans is a frequent flyer in the Maryland Judicial Database due to traffic offenses but none contributed to an accident. He drove on a suspended license in 2009 at the age of 19. The prosecutors declined to prosecute and did the same when Evans repeated the offense in 2011. In 2012, he plead guilty to driving without proper vehicle plates. Just last year, Evans plead guilty to failure to display his license when demanded by a police officer and still lacking the proper plates. The latter appeared related to continued problems with a suspended license.
These problems strike me as not life disqualifying from public service but it would be nice if they were further in the rear view mirror. Regardless, the easy choice for Democrats is to go with the incumbents. They should win easily in any case but face a more vigorous challenge in the general election. Though District 14 has more Republicans than most Montgomery districts, effective campaigns should assure victory in that race too.
