By Adam Pagnucco.
Liza Smith, a member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC), has filed a formal complaint with both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Maryland Democratic Party alleging that she was bullied and threatened by state party chair Yvette Lewis. The allegations concern Lewis’s appearance at an MCDCC meeting on April 11.
First, let’s go over some history. Maryland’s state constitution requires that state legislative vacancies be filled through appointments by county political party central committees rather than special elections. Last November, I explained how one-third of our county’s state legislators had been appointed to either the State Senate or the House of Delegates by MCDCC. That was before Governor Wes Moore hired four MoCo state legislators – Senator Susan Lee (D-16) and Delegates Eric Luedtke (D-14), Kumar Barve (D-17) and Kirill Reznik (D-39) – creating a chain of five appointments by MCDCC. (Since Delegate Ariana Kelly was appointed to fill Lee’s senate seat, a new appointee was designated to fill Kelly’s house seat.)
As I stated in November, MCDCC had a longstanding practice of appointing its own members to the General Assembly, a clear conflict of interest compounding the anti-democratic practice of using appointments rather than special elections. Let’s remember that Virginia uses special elections to fill state legislative vacancies. Liza Smith has a problem with this and introduced a proposal to require MCDCC members to resign before pursuing appointments to the General Assembly. That proposal was tied up in MCDCC’s rules committee until it was amended to require MCDCC members to recuse themselves from voting for themselves for an appointment and was subsequently reported out. At this moment, an MCDCC member is running to succeed Reznik and at least one other member may run to succeed Barve.
Smith talks to the media and was quoted by MoCo 360 on December 8, December 14, March 13, April 11 and April 13. Her advocacy for reform has aroused pushback in MCDCC and beyond. At that night’s meeting, state party chair Yvette Lewis showed up and discussion ensued. Smith tweeted many times during that meeting and a sample is reprinted below.
Smith did more than tweet – she has filed a complaint against Lewis with both the DNC and the state party. Smith’s complaint is reprinted below.
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At the MCDCC public meeting on April 11, 2023, I was publicly bullied and threatened by Yvette Lewis, chairperson of the MDDCC. Ms. Lewis said, “We speak with one voice…what happens in our house stays in our house,” and then proceeded to launch a verbal attack against me. I told her I did not wish to interact with her in an argument and wanted to say nothing.
Our meeting was not accessible remotely, so I was tweeting what was happening at the meeting. Although Teresa Woorman, also a member of MCDCC, had tweeted, Ms. Lewis singled me out. She further threatened that someone “higher up” would punish me if I continued to tweet, speak in public, and talk to the media. The other people who participated in the verbal attack against me are as follows:
Saman Qadeer Ahmad
Pam Luckett
Teresa Woorman
Rebecca Rosales Castillo
Arthur Edmunds
After 20 minutes of being bullied, Michelle Whittaker intervened on my behalf; however, that did not stop Ms. Lewis. She continues on a rant against me. Ms. Lewis felt that my advocating for appointment reform was hurting the party. Minutes later, to stop the situation, Sarah Brand-Wiita intervened to end the bullying. Seth Grimes reminded Ms. Lewis and her team twice that this was a public meeting. It was clear that Ms. Lewis wanted to argue with me verbally; however, I did not give her that pleasure: it angered her more.
When we returned to our original agenda, Ms. Lewis and Mr. Gregory Pecoraro intervened aggressively and told our members that we acted immaturely and could not legally have a recusal statement in our rules. I felt the only reason those two individuals were invited was to intimidate and stop us from voting on an issue we’d discussed for four months. Neither Ms. Lewis nor Mr. Pecoraro offered any documentation of proof to their argument. It was just a scare tactic.
This behavior is entirely undemocratic and unacceptable in any setting, particularly in a public forum. I believe such bullying tactics should not be tolerated and addressed immediately by all involved parties. In the interest of fairness and democracy, I call upon the DNC to investigate this incident and take appropriate action.
This incident needs to be reported to hold Ms. Lewis accountable for her behavior and ensure that similar instances do not occur in the future. It is our responsibility as members of a democracy to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals, regardless if they agree with us. All people should feel safe and secure expressing their opinion without fear of repercussion. We must take action against public bullying such as this to continue living in a democratic society that values every voice equally.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Liza Smith
MCDCC Member/Attendee at Meeting on April 11, 2023
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I asked the state party and the other MCDCC members for comment. We will see what they had to say in Part Two.