By Adam Pagnucco.
Update: A spokesman for the Moore-Miller campaign sent us this statement. “The Lt. Governor is focused on the job she was elected to do —- delivering results for Marylanders. She has not involved herself in this local committee race.”
Original Post
Nathan Feldman, a member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC), has called for the resignation of committee chair Saman Qadeer Ahmad. Feldman’s statement repeats allegations he made against Ahmad in a bombshell article in Salon in which he claimed that she pressured him to vote against a candidate for appointment to the committee at the behest of Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller. Ahmad denied Feldman’s account in the article.
MoCo360 has written about Feldman’s allegations and Ahmad has again denied them. MoCo360 carried this quote from Ahmad:
Ahmad told MoCo360 she denies all the allegations Feldman made in the letter and registered surprise.
“Nathan and I have had a working relationship. He could have raised this issue at any time, but until now it’s never really come across my attention, or the attention of anybody on the central committee,” Ahmad said. “And so I’m a little bit confused what the motivation is behind this, because ultimately, our work is really to build the party.”
Ahmad, who has been chair since the beginning of 2023, said she was not entertaining the idea of stepping down.
“Why would I resign based on a false allegation?” Ahmad said. “I was elected to this position, and I have worked hard. This is not just about the work of one person, but the work of a committee.”
I am not taking any position on Feldman’s allegations right now. And let’s repeat that they are allegations, not proven facts. At 2:45 PM today, I emailed Ahmad and the lieutenant governor asking for on-the-record comment. When I receive a statement from either of them, I will print it. In the meantime, Feldman’s statement – which has circulated all over MoCo’s political community – is reprinted below.
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Toxic Work Culture: MCDCC Needs New Leadership
Dear Fellow Members of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee:
I am writing to you today to talk about an incident that occurred involving me and our Chair, Saman Qadeer Ahmad, earlier this year. In February, our committee determined two appointments, one for the state senate and one for the MCDCC seat from District 19. Before this meeting, I received a phone call from Chair Ahmad that left me feeling very uncomfortable and threatened. Her conduct contributes to a toxic work environment that is demoralizing the Democratic Party, as noted in Montgomery Perspective, Moderately MoCo, MoCo360 & the Baltimore Sun. Below, I will try my best to summarize chronologically what happened, and explain my now-and-afterwards feelings for the record. I have confided in several members of the central committee what transpired previously, shortly after the events documented below. I now share them with all of you.
Back in February, we selected Ariana Kelly for the D16 state senate vacancy, and CeCe Grant to fill the District 19 spot on the MCDCC. Susan Kerin was one of the candidates seeking the D19 vacancy.
On February 10 at 12:15pm, Chair Saman Qadeer Ahmad telephoned me for an hour. We spoke at length about the upcoming appointments for state senate and D19. In particular, the chair spoke in an aggressive and menacing way, insisting that I not vote for Susan Kerin for D19. I am now aware that Chair Qadeer Ahmad and Susan Kerin previously knew each other, and had worked together on several issues campaigns in local politics. The Chair informed me on our call that apparently, the Lieutenant Governor herself was following the D19 vote closely, and had instructed Chair Qadeer Ahmad to speak to me to ensure that I would not be voting for Kerin for the D19 vacancy.
At issue, per the Chair, was Susan Kerin’s outspoken criticism of Lt. Governor Miller’s ties with far-right Hindu Nationalist donors. Kerin has reportedly helped get articles published (Huff Po, The Intercept, Salon.com, etc.) about these ties. Reporters have focused on Miller’s long relationship with Hindutva donors and leaders. On one website, Kerin is identified as the point of contact, and in another news article, Kerin’s research videos about the Lt Governor were instrumental in highlighting what has become a growing issue in progressive circles about her relationship with Islamophobic and far-right organizations. Per Saman (who again claimed to be speaking to me directly on behalf of Lt Governor Miller), Kerin’s high profile involvement in highlighting the Lt Governor’s apparent ties to Hindutva disqualified her from being an MCDCC member.
By way of explanation: Aruna Miller’s former campaign treasurer is on the national board of several Hindutva groups. Moreover, according to Yale University‘s South Asia Center, he is a member of the US wing of the RSS, an organization banned in India three times as a terrorist group–in part for playing a role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi). You can learn more about the RSS from this link published by Georgetown University. Sekhsaria remains a major donor & public supporter of the Lt Governor. It appears the failure by Lt Governor Miller to return his and other Hindutva leaders’ donations is where most of the criticism of her stems from. Hindutva is a far-right nationalist movement, with extensive ties to the Nazis (past and present) and whose first leaders supported the Holocaust.
The Chair then intimated that the Lieutenant Governor was “watching” me in particular, and would be “taking names” of people who voted for Kerin. Taken aback, I asked to have the Lt Governor call me personally, as I found it very difficult to believe that she would pay such close attention to a local vacancy on an all-volunteer board. The Chair told me that she did in fact speak with the authority of the Lt Governor, and that “in politics, people have long memories”. She then told me essentially that if I wanted to have a future in electoral politics, I had best get in line and vote against Susan Kerin—and that the Lt Governor was too important, and that I was too unimportant for Aruna Miller to call me herself. Please recall that I represent D15 (where Aruna Miller lives) on our central committee.
I have no firsthand knowledge of Lt Governor Miller knowing me by name, or having any idea who I would vote for. I do know, however, that there is clearly a culture problem in an elected body where the chair feels it necessary to threaten members into doing their bidding and directs them how they are expected to vote. This is how democracy dies in darkness.
Again, this conversation lasted almost an hour. It was, to say the least, very inappropriate, and a gross abuse of power. It also made me question the legitimacy of the chair’s tenureship, as no one should feel free to threaten or claim to speak on the authority of our elected officials except for their own staff.
I am sharing these events for the record, so that our committee members can judge for themselves whether or not they feel we as a collective body are living up to our elected mandate. I for one feel my experience above strongly suggests that we are not, and it is time for us to consider how we can right our ship while we’re still afloat.
Aside from a written apology (I personally do not feel safe to be alone or on the phone with Chair Qadeer Ahmad any longer), I think it is time for the Chair to submit her resignation from the Central Committee.
Sincerely,
Nathan Feldman
District 15 Male Member (Potomac, North Potomac, Darnestown, Germantown & Ag Reserve)