MD Delegate Replacement Process for District 3-B has it's Shortcomings

George Wenschhof

Local Republican Central Committees were unable to reach agreement on the replacement for the vacant state delegate position from district 3-B. Instead, they have sent two names to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and left the decision to him.

Who would have ever thought that questionable procedures to be followed to replace vacant state elected Delegate positions would ever touch the southern tip of Frederick county, Maryland.

Yet, it should not have been a surprise as this decade began with counties in the state of Florida counting "hanging chads" as the country struggled with determining the 2000 presidential election outcome.

The 2008 Democratic primary, aided by 24/7 News and Internet reporting, further provided a civics lesson when the convoluted process used by the Democratic Party to determine their nominee went on display.

Voters learned a state could hold a Caucus or the traditional voting procedure in their primary, each state could have a two step and sometimes three step process for awarding state delegates to the candidate, states were stripped of delegates due to holding their primary too early, and on top of all of those differences between states, candidates had to win over superdelegates who were not answerable to the voters.

All the nuances in procedure played important roles as the close and hard fought contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama played out. Fortunately, the Democratic presidential primary process is currently under review by the Democratic National Committee.

In Maryland, when a state delegate position becomes vacant, the process to fill the position is for the local central committee representing the political party held by the individual when they were elected to office, is charged with determining a replacement which is then confirmed by the Governor.

This is important, as Delegate Rick Weldon who resigned to take a position with the City of Frederick, was elected as a Republican and switched to "Unaffiliated" a year prior to leaving office. Some have questioned why the replacement should be a Republican.

Another part of the selection process for the replacement came into play as the state delegate from district 3-B represents voters in both Frederick and Washington counties. Which leads to the central committees in both counties having an equal say in the nomination process for the replacement per the state constitution.

Some have questioned the fairness of this as the voters in Washington county make up about 6% of the district. The argument, which is valid, is the Washington County Republican Central Committee should only have 6% of the vote in determining the next delegate.

Nonetheless, that is the process, with each central committee being able to submit a name to the Governor if the two committees do not agree on one individual. Which is exactly what happened when the Frederick County Republican Central Committee selected Michael Hough and the Washington County Republican Central Committee selecting Frederick county Commissioner Charles Jenkins.

Additional questions that have been asked pertain to if a member of the central committee who is under consideration for the vacant position can also vote. This was allegedly the case with Mr. Hough who as a member of the Frederick county Republican Central Committee, voted for himself.

Further aggravating to some Republicans was the vote by the central committees were secret with one strong rumor indicating Mr. Hough won by one vote (his own) in Frederick County. Also angering some Republicans were the interviews held by the central committees were held in private and not open to the public.

Now that both names have been submitted to the Governor, it is left to him to make the decision. Not necessarily a good position to put your Governor in, especially if he is a Democrat and you are a Republican.

It is already clear, that if the losing candidate is Michael Hough, he will use the appointment choice by Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley of Charles Jenkins against him. He will say he is running against the liberal Democratic Governor's choice for the district.

The 2008 presidential election and subsequent White House appointments by President Obama also pointed out differences in the filling of vacant U.S. Senate and House of Representatives positions by state. Some could be appointed and then subject to a special election, some were held vacant until a special election was held, and some could be appointed immediately.

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich hastened his already destined departure from office by talking about how the vacant Obama Senate seat was "fu..ing golden" in apparent reference to how valuable the position was to him as it was he was who would name the replacement.

Over in Delaware, Vice President Joe Biden's Senate seat was replaced by a placeholder (a long time family friend) who would hold the office until the next election when Beau Biden (yes, Joe's son) was back from serving in Afghanistan and would run for the position.

The late Ted Kennedy, prior to his death, appealed to have the Massachusetts law requiring a special election changed to be a Governor appointment as he knew this one vote in the senate would be crucial to the passage of health care reform. His appeal was successful in the state and that one vote did make a difference in the senate passing health care reform.

I wrote back in a column dated December 18, 2009 what the possibilities may be in replacing Rick Weldon, who has just made public his resignation. I was correct in predicting Michael Hough and Charles Jenkins as the main competitors for the position and pointed out the Republican central committees had the possibility of naming a placeholder until the general election on November 2. It made sense for if they chose Jenkins, they would have to go through another contentious process of naming his replacement and by not choosing Hough, they would avoid splitting their party.

As a Democrat, I am disheartened by Republicans being able to give a leg up in the Elections this Fall to one candidate, let alone two if Frederick County commissioner Charles Jenkins is selected. It is also questionable, if Jenkins, who has not filed to run for delegate or raised any significant funds, would run if he did not receive the interim appointment. However, I am no supporter of Mr. Hough.

I look forward to the Democrats fielding a competitive candidate(s) for Delegate in District 3-B, a district that is winnable for Democrats. There are about 31,000 registered voters in the district with the approximate breakdown being: Republicans-13,000, Democrats-12,000 and Unaffiliated/Others-6,000. A strong moderate Democrat would do well in this district.

Let's now hope the discussion moves to what the candidates propose to do for the voters in district 3-B.

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