Robin Frazier, the singing, defeated, blogger bait county commissioner who is also the Carroll County Republican Central Committee (CCRCC) choice for Carroll’s vacant senate seat, is already getting thrown under the bus in the first bipartisan act of the incoming Hogan administration.
Len Lazerick at Maryland Reporter has the story (quotes below are from him). Key updates:
1. Governor-Elect Larry Hogan is already looking for ways not to have to appoint Robin Frazier to Carroll’s vacant Senate seat:
“We think there could be more transparency,” Hogan told reporters Tuesday. “We’d like to encourage them to make the process more transparent.”
“Our hands are not tied” by the central committee actions so far, Hogan said. “They’re supposed to send three names.”
While the three names claim seems to be a work of fiction, it speaks volumes to Hogan’s sensible desire to find another candidate without having to say it aloud.
2. Senate President Mike Miller doesn’t want her. He has also given the CCRCC an out by pointing out that the vacancy does not exist yet, as no one has resigned their seat. Sounds like an even better excuse for a mulligan.
3. Outgoing Sen. Joe Getty has been tasked to solve the problem:
Two of those sources also indicated that Hogan has told Getty to “fix” the problem prior to his appointment.
Getty said given his role in the Hogan transition, “my position is whatever the governor’s position would be” and he would not comment further.
Interesting response by Getty.
Sen. Getty and Del. Justin Ready, who lost the CCRCC vote to Frazier by 5-4, do not get along. For Getty, a Frazier appointment has two virtues. It would keep out Ready and fill the seat with a very weak incumbent. If Getty should leave the Hogan administration, he would be well positioned to seek his old seat again in 2018. So I wonder if Getty is now having to work to undo something he supported–or at least did not discourage.
4. Republican Del. Krebs has publicly condemned the process:
Four-term Carroll County Republican Del. Susan Krebs, the top vote-getter in the general election for three-member District 5, said, “I did not apply for the vacancy because I knew it was going to be a sham. I want people to know that I did not apply.”“This central committee did not support Hogan,” Krebs noted.
