By Adam Pagnucco.
Last Friday, mailers purporting to represent a “Montgomery County Democratic Team” and characterizing themselves as a “sample ballot” landed in mailboxes across the county. Each state legislative district had a different version.
Here is the one from District 18.
And here is a version from District 20.
Democratic activists immediately began asking about what these mailers are, where they came from and who paid for them.
In examining the two above, one can see that they carry the names and images of multiple candidates and many different authority lines, including one belonging to Governor Wes Moore. They also make recommendations in many different races, although some are omitted. These recommendations vary by version.
Upon seeing them, many folks – including elected officials – began crying foul. District 18 Delegates Emily Shetty and Jared Solomon said they had chosen not to participate in their district’s version of the mailer. Council Member Kate Stewart and council candidate Scott Goldberg acknowledged that they contributed to the cost of the mailers but did not know of their candidate lists before they went out. Council Member Kristin Mink, who was listed on the District 14 version, said she was “disappointed and frankly angry” at the “misleading mailers.” The county Democratic Party denied that they had produced the mailers, branding them “misleading.” And Council Member Will Jawando, who is running for executive and was not included in any of the “Democratic teams,” put out this statement:
*****
A warning for every Montgomery County voter: that “sample ballot” arriving in your mailbox is NOT from the Democratic Party.
Read Councilmember Will Jawando’s full statement
A mailer is circulating across Montgomery County titled “Montgomery County Democratic Team, Your MoCo Sample Ballot.” It is built to look like an official Democratic Party slate. It is not one, and I condemn it.
Multiple state senators sent these mailers across their districts. They use party-style logos, an official sample-ballot layout, and the names and images of elected officials to make voters believe the Party has chosen these candidates. The Party has not. These are individual senators’ personal endorsements dressed up as a party slate, packaged to look like something far more official than they are.
Some officials whose names were used are speaking out against it. Delegates in District 20 say their names and images were used without their authorization. They are right to be alarmed, and every voter should be too.
There is no honest explanation for designing a mailer this way. It is a shameful, deliberate effort to mislead voters, unfortunately reminiscent of attempts to confuse and discourage voters going back to the Jim Crow era. These tactics have no place in a Democratic primary in Montgomery County. As a civil rights lawyer, I have spent my career working to make voting clearer and more accessible, not more confusing.
I am asking every voter to do one thing: read your mail closely, and trust each candidate’s own words about who they actually support.
Early voting is open through June 18. Election Day is June 23. The voters of Montgomery County deserve the truth, and they deserve better than this.
*****
The most disturbing comment about the mailers came from the three delegates in District 20 (Lorig Charkoudian, Jheanelle Wilkins and David Moon), whose names, likenesses and authority lines appeared on the District 20 version above. They put out a statement saying that they had not approved the mailer and had not granted permission for their authority lines to be used. District 20 Senator Will Smith blamed the mistake on the mailhouse.
The statements by the District 20 delegates and District 20 Senator Will Smith.
So what on Earth is going on?
These “Democratic Team” mailers originated with the nine state senators who represent parts of Montgomery County. They are similar to team mailers produced by senators and other candidates in other parts of the state, such as in Prince George’s County. Mailers of this kind were once common in Montgomery County. Printed below is an extract from a sample ballot mailer sent out by District 20 Senator Ida Ruben in 1986. This mailer did not work out well for Ruben since two of her endorsed delegate candidates lost, and one of the winners – Dana Dembrow – became a thorn in her side for many years. But that’s a fun old graybeard story for another day.
I asked District 14 Senator Craig Zucker for a comment on these mailers. This is what he wrote to me.
*****
In keeping with Montgomery County’s past political practices and ballot programs currently running in other jurisdictions, the Montgomery County Senators organized a ballot program for their districts. The Senators appreciate the teamwork of participating candidates, including Governor Wes Moore and other respected elected officials, for their contributions and support of the program. Consenting, participating candidates who appear on political mailers are listed with their authority lines. In one specific legislative district, the mailhouse erroneously listed additional, non-participating candidates’ authority lines; the mailhouse is actively working to rectify this.
*****
Former Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett also told me, “Many organizations, unions, and elected officials have their own sample ballots. Throughout my years in elected office, I appeared on many ballots in different legislative districts. This is no exception.”
My Take
I get why MoCo’s activist community is unhappy about these mailers – and this is not limited to Jawando supporters. While they may be common practice elsewhere, they have not been common in our county for a long time. We often see team mailers from candidates running as slates, but they don’t suggest that they represent the Democratic Party. If our senators choose to issue mailers like this again, they should more clearly label that they reflect their own preferences.
That said, let’s think about why these mailers went out in the first place.
MoCo’s senators do not operate in a vacuum. They talk to their colleagues around the state. In many other parts of Maryland (like Baltimore City and Prince George’s County), the senators are the most powerful people in their areas. Years ago, a Baltimore City senator described his city to me as a set of geographic turfs run by himself and his counterparts. That’s not the case in Montgomery County, with activists who hate anything that looks like machine politics and prominent, full-time county elected officials who enjoy large staffs and media coverage. It’s understandable that our senators would like to have at least some of the influence enjoyed by their colleagues from elsewhere.
It’s also true that our senators are concerned about the direction of the county. They read the same things the rest of us do about our economy, our budgets, our schools and our position in the region. One senator (District 20’s Will Smith) has endorsed Evan Glass for executive. Another (District 19’s Ben Kramer) has not endorsed in the executive race. The rest of the senators are supporting Andrew Friedson. This sample ballot, however clumsily worded, reflects their effort to weigh in on a hugely important election. It won’t be the last thing they do.
It’s also jarring to see Governor Moore’s authority line on mailers supporting executive candidates who are running against his endorsed candidate, Will Jawando. But Senator Zucker stated on the record that Moore helped pay for them. If I were on Team Jawando, I would ask the governor about that.
Finally, many of our activists are in a foul mood about this election and I don’t blame them. We have seen a big screw-up with mail ballots, the most negative race of all time in Congressional District 6, mudslinging in the executive race and a witches’ cauldron of Super PACs at a time when taxpayers are paying millions of dollars for public financing to preserve “clean elections.” That comes on top of the toxic fumes belching out of the nation’s capital and rising anxiety about the cost of living.
Let’s all agree on one thing.
However it turns out, it will be good for this primary election to finally be over.