By Adam Pagnucco.
Recently, I wrote about allegations made by Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) Member Liza Smith concerning the committee’s recent delegate appointment in District 16, in which it awarded the seat to Teresa Woorman, one of its own members. I published both Smith’s email to the state party requesting an investigation as well as responses by Woorman and MCDCC Chair Saman Qadeer Ahmad.
Let’s take a broader view of this.
Under Maryland’s constitution, when a vacancy occurs for an office in the General Assembly, the governor “shall appoint” a successor picked by the central committee of the prior occupant’s party and county. In Montgomery County, that means when a Democratic senator or delegate (and all of them right now are Democrats) leaves, MCDCC picks the replacement. MCDCC has been busy under Governor Wes Moore, who has recruited several MoCo state legislators for his administration. Since the start of 2023, four state senators and eight delegates (soon to be nine) have been appointed to office across the state. Of these appointments, MCDCC has accounted for two state senators and five delegates.
In the past, MCDCC has often but not always appointed its own members to the House of Delegates. Examples include Pamela Queen, District 14 (2016); Jheanelle Wilkins, District 20 (2017); Linda Foley, District 15 (2021); and now Woorman, who was awarded an open seat in District 16 last week. Additionally, MCDCC appointed another one of its own members, Aaron Kaufman, to fill a District 18 House ballot slot in 2022.
Wilkins has emerged as the principal defender of legislative appointments in the House with MoCo360’s Lou Peck exposing her role in killing the alternative of special elections last April. Maryland’s undemocratic system of appointments, which Virginia does not use, persists in part because party oligarchies ferociously defend it – including their right to appoint themselves to office.
Last week’s District 16 appointment was controversial not only for the appointment of Woorman, an MCDCC member who was County Executive Marc Elrich’s campaign manager in 2022 and now works in his public information office. It also featured the anonymous distribution of arrest records pertaining to Diana Conway, one of Woorman’s rivals for the appointment. This prompted MCDCC Member Liza Smith, who has crusaded in the past to clean up the committee’s appointment process, to request an investigation of the appointment by the state party. I printed her email and responses to it in my prior post.
At this moment, it’s difficult if not impossible to know what transpired behind the scenes during this appointment. I have seen no evidence of “dirty tricks” by Ahmad, Woorman or any other MCDCC member. But this much is clear: legislative vacancies are filled according to an Iron Law of Oligarchy that empowers local party officials at the expense of voters. While this recent appointment was more seamy than most, it’s actually business as usual when it comes to suppressing voter rights.
Many thousands of Americans have protested, fought and been jailed in pursuing the right to vote. That right has forever been a key goal of the civil rights movement. This has special resonance in Maryland, a stronghold of legendary Black suffragist leaders like Estelle Hall Young, Augusta T. Chissell and Margaret Briggs Gregory Hawkins. What would these heroes think of what is happening today?
Maryland voters have already expressed their opinions by voting for special elections instead of appointments many times in the past. Last year, a poll by Gonzales Research found, “Among Maryland voters, 13% favor the continuation of local political party recommendation, while a towering 85% prefer that a special election be held.”
And so Maryland’s leaders have a choice. They can stick with the boss system that regularly results in party officials appointing themselves to high office. Or they can respect the demands of the voters and LET THEIR PEOPLE VOTE.