Tag Archives: Julian Haffner

MCDCC

MCDCC Conflict of Interest Concerns

The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee has a six members running for office this year:

  • Emily Shetty (Vice Chair), Delegate District 18.
  • Julian Haffner (Treasurer), Delegate District 17.
  • Loretta Jean Garcia, County Council At-Large.
  • Danielle Meitiv, County Council At-Large.
  • Marlin Jenkins, Delegate District 19.
  • Brenda Wolff, School Board.

Additionally, MCDCC Chair Dave Kunes is also the Chief of Staff for Councilmember Tom Hucker. Chris Bradbury sought the appointment to the District 14 vacancy. He quit the committee in a huff when he realized he wasn’t going to win but then managed to withdraw his repented resignation. MCDCC appointed Pam Queen, another one of its members, instead.

These candidacies present a problem because MCDCC is meant to promote turnout and run the precinct organization for both the primary and the general elections. How can candidates possibly have the time to carry out these functions or do so in a neutral manner?

MD VAN Access

Additionally, MCDCC members have access to the VAN vote database, which contains valuable information on voters that normally costs money to buy. I have asked the MCDCC members running for office if they have purchased access to the VAN. Marlin Jenkins, Emily Shetty and Danielle Meitiv purchased it in the Fall, assuring that there is no conflict between their use of it for MCDCC and their own campaign.

Loretta Garcia communicated via email that she has not purchased VAN access for her campaign. Brenda Wolff says she plans to purchase it this week “in preparation for February door knocking.” I have not heard from Julian Haffner, who recently jumped from running for the County Council to the delegate contest.

Proposed By-Laws Change

A change to MCDCC’s by-laws has been proposed that would require candidates to resign from the committee if they are  candidates for office in the Democratic primary.

 

MCDCC has yet to consider the change, which would go into effect for this year’s elections. All of the candidates, except Wolff who is running for a non-partisan office, would have to resign. It will be interesting how the candidates vote on it if MCDCC takes it up.

Ambition is healthy and politicians of all stripes often use their offices to their political benefit – often being responsive to the electorate as a result. However, in this case, MCDCC members shape the raw political process rather than public policy and it’s ripe for conflicts of interest. MCDCC also needs members focused on Democrats more broadly, rather than their own campaign, as turnout will be key to defeating Hogan.

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Adam Pagnucco, Ariana Kelly, Bill Frick, Cheryl Kagan, District 16, District 17, Jim Gilchrist, Kumar Barve, Marc Korman, Susan Lee

Campaign Finance Reports: Districts 16 and 17, January 2018

By Adam Pagnucco.

District 16

First, the easy part: all three incumbents – Senator Susan Lee and Delegates Ariana Kelly and Marc Korman – are running as a team and are headed to reelection.  Lee has historically been one of the delegation’s best fundraisers (although Korman surpassed her by a little bit this cycle).  Kelly is beloved by advocates for families, women and children for her work on their issues and has emerged as a leader on ridding Annapolis of sexual harassment.  Korman is a rare bird: a lawyer who is good with numbers.  Metro riders everywhere should thank him for his tenacious work to improve WMATA.  Great things are predicted for Korman so long as he does not return to blogging.

Attorney Sara Love and MCPS teacher Samir Paul are the top non-incumbents vying for the seat being vacated by Delegate Bill Frick, who is running for County Executive.  Love and Paul would be great candidates in any part of the county, but unfortunately for them, they are running in the same district.  Love fits in well with the progressive female voters who dominate District 16 primaries.  Paul is a teacher who has been active in MCEA (which has endorsed him), but his message is much bigger than education as he draws links between all public institutions that confer benefits but require investment, especially WMATA.  Love and Paul had super fundraising performances and are essentially equal in cash on hand.  Those who have met them are impressed with both of them, but sadly, there is only one open seat.

The Big Question: will Frick, who filed a disappointing January report, drop back down to the House race?  We know Frick does not enjoy that question, but since he withdrew from the Attorney General’s race and refiled for Delegate at the last hour in 2014, this is on everybody’s mind.  Such a move by Frick would probably result in all four incumbents being reelected, wasting huge time and effort by Love and Paul.

District 17

This district is a mess.  The only certainty here is that Senator Cheryl Kagan and Delegate Kumar Barve will be reelected, assuming that Kagan is not picked up by a gubernatorial candidate as a running mate.  As for everything else… well.

At the root of the mess is Delegate Jim Gilchrist.  By all accounts, he is a nice guy who never causes trouble.  His defenders describe him as a studious, intellectual workhorse who gets into the weeds and doesn’t claim credit for anything.  But he has little tangible to show for three terms in office.  He has passed no signature legislation.  His website is inactive.  His Facebook page has not been updated since 2014 as of this writing.  And his fundraising is weak.  Consider this: since 2006, Gilchrist has raised a total of $83,217 from others, an average of $27,739 per cycle.  (He has also self-financed $11,120 over that period.)  MoCo has a bunch of candidates who can raise $27,000 in a month.

The search result for Gilchrist’s website less than five months from election day.

So why does he keep winning office?  He has a guardian angel: Barve, who is his committee chair and likes him.  Barve slates with him regularly and appears in joint mailers with him.  Gilchrist would be a goner in most districts, but with Barve helping him, he survives.  And that has caused grumbling in some parts of District 17.

This time, Rockville City Council Member Julie Palakovich Carr decided to run for Delegate in July even when it appeared that all three incumbents (Barve, Gilchrist and Andrew Platt) were running for reelection.  Six months later, Platt dropped out and Barve and Gilchrist quickly decided to slate with Palakovich Carr.  That’s when simmering tensions erupted into the open.

Kagan, who is no fan of Gilchrist, announced that she was not endorsing the Delegate slate, at least not yet.  This is almost unheard of; in virtually all cases when incumbent Delegates form a slate and none of them are challenging the sitting Senator, the Senator participates.  And when Kagan posted her decision on Facebook, the Mayor of Gaithersburg and two Gaithersburg City Council Members voiced their displeasure with the slate.

Open dissatisfaction with the Delegate slate surfaces on Kagan’s Facebook page.

The nominal reason expressed by some for their unhappiness is that with the inclusion of Palakovich Carr, all three slate members are from Rockville and none are from Gaithersburg.  (The two cities are roughly equal in size.)  But lurking underneath is festering discontent with Gilchrist’s performance in office.  Some would prefer open competition in part because it might lead to Gilchrist’s defeat, but instead they got another slate designed to protect him.  Two Gaithersburg House candidates – school board member Rebecca Smondrowski and attorney Julian Haffner (who is married to a City Council Member) – have now entered the race.  Barve is the only Delegate candidate with any real money, so all the others have a lot of work to do.

The Big Questions: will the Gaithersburg grumblers step up and organize for one or more of the House candidates from their city?  Or will they cut their losses and make their peace with Barve and his slate-mates?  And what, if anything, will Kagan do?

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MCDCC

Hucker Aide Leads MCDCC Slate

Dave Kunes and other candidates on a recently formed slate for the leadership of MCDCC have issued the following press release. In it, the group promises focus on maginalized groups and party building oriented toward GOTV.

Kunes is an aide to County Councilmember Tom Hucker and very tight with the unions. In the wake of union unhappiness over MCDCC supporting the all-Democratic County Council’s unanimous position on effects bargaining (further supported by the voters), he played a key role in putting together the 2014 organized slate for MCDCC. Several were Montgomery County Young Democrats, an organization he helped revitalize.

Kunes, the slate candidate for chair, had a spot on the MCDCC slate in but failed to win enough support from primary voters to gain a seat in 2014. He was named to MCDCC to fill a vacancy. Emily Shetty, the slate candidate for vice chair, joined the committee as a gender balance member.

If this slate is elected, neither the chair or the vice chair will have been elected by Democratic voters to the committee. I have also learned that there is some debate as to whether gender balance members can also serve as MCDCC officers.

Regardless, MCDCC is currently very fractious and badly needs leadership oriented toward the goal of re-energizing the local party. As Adam Pagnucco has pointed out, Democratic turnout in general elections has been steadily declining. Both Kunes and Shetty have campaign experience–Shetty lost a primary for delegate but ran a good race–that could prove very useful.

NEW LEADERSHIP SLATE ANNOUNCED FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE ELECTION

December 10, 2016 — Understanding the challenges and embracing the opportunities that lay before the Democratic Party in Montgomery County, the slate has been formed to ensure the Party’s success in 2017 and beyond.

The slate is as follows:

Chair – Dave Kunes
Vice Chair – Emily Shetty
Treasurer – Julian Haffner
Assistant Treasurer – Erin Yeagley
Secretary – Johntel Greene
Assistant Secretary – Mimi Hassanein

If elected, the slate will be focused on strengthening the Party’s fundraising apparatus, identifying and supporting the next generation of party leaders with particular focus on marginalized groups, and ensuring the Party’s focus on diversity and inclusion, which in light of the recent Presidential election, is more critical than ever.

“Our current Executive Committee has maintained a strong foundation including an open office and staff, successful major events in the Brunch and Spring Ball, and precinct organization. If elected, I will work to re-direct and maximize our existing resources towards our mission: inspiring more Democrats to vote.” said slate Chair candidate Dave Kunes.

“Now, more than ever before, our Committee needs to be committed to transparently and actively engaging voters in the community, to ensure that the hard work of our Democrats elected across the county and state is heard. We must engage in sustained, modern outreach to ensure that we continue to build up our party from the ground up. We are fortunate to have years worth of state, county, and federal campaign experience on our team, and hope to utilize our skills to benefit our party’s efforts.” said slate Vice Chair candidate Emily Shetty.

“The County’s rapidly changing demographics present challenges, certainly, but also provide our Party with a tremendous opportunity to amplify voices which historically haven’t been heard. I believe this is the group that will usher our Party into the future, and I am excited by the prospect of serving with them.” said slate Treasurer candidate Julian Haffner.

The election of officers will be held December 13, 2016 at 7:30 pm at Central Committee Headquarters located at 3720 Farragut Ave, Suite 303. Kensington, MD 20895.

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