Robo Calls Urge Voters to Write-In Dougherty

George Wenschhof

This morning, I received a call from a friend who informed me they had received a robo-call over the weekend urging they write in Jennifer Dougherty for mayor in the City of Frederick, Maryland election on Tuesday. I suspected that the call was from Neal Wirth who earlier in the week had his letter to the editor published in the Frederick News Post and Gazette.

In this letter, Neal, a long time Dougherty supporter, was trying to make a point concerning allowing unaffiliated registered voters the ability to cast their votes in the primary election. Mr. Wirth argued that by writing in Jennifer Dougherty for mayor in the general election, a voter could lodge their protest for allowing open primaries.

I called Mr. Wirth to ask him if he had made the robo-calls and in a brief conversation he said he had done so and had clearly indicated who he was on the calls. He further stated the calls had gone to ten thousand voters and that he had individually paid for the calls. He also stated Ms. Dougherty was unaware of his action.

I also placed a call to Ms. Dougherty and we were unable to actually connect for a conversation. In a message left on my phone, Jennifer indicated she was not aware of the robo-calls made by Neal Wirth and could not comment further until she was able to actually read the text of the message.

Open primaries are typically not supported by members of political parties due to they allow voters from outside of their political party to weigh in on who their candidate in the general election will be. It also opens up the possibility of nefarious actions by certain individuals who would support a weak candidate in an opposition party in the primary, only to turn around and support their party nominee in the general election.

This action by Mr. Wirth comes right before the general election of what promises to be a close election between Democrat Jason Judd and Republican Randy McClement for mayor.

Four years ago, charges surfaced Ms. Dougherty had urged supporters to vote for Republican Jeff Holtzinger. This following her defeat by Ron Young in the Democratic primary. In spite of an overwhelming voter registration advantage by Democrats in the City of Frederick, Republican Jeff Holtzinger won the election.

Will these robo-calls placed by Mr. Wirth further muddy Ms. Dougherty's reputation among Democrats or impact the results of this election? Time will tell on that matter, but it appears obvious this was an action taken by an individual and not on her behalf. Perhaps Mr. Wirth would have been better served to use his own name as the write-in candidate for voters to use to lodge a protest for open primaries.

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