Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Montgomery County and Maryland state Democratic leaders joined together in Gaithersburg to support John Delaney and President Barack Obama in the November election.
Montgomery County and Maryland state Democratic leaders gathered in Gaithersburg Monday night to show unified support for the state’s Democratic ticket, particularly 6th Congressional District candidate John Delaney and President Barack Obama. A raucous crowd at the Casey Community Center welcomed County Executive Ike Leggett along with Gov. Martin O'Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and Attorney General Doug Gansler, among others, to cheer on their Democratic Party representatives. After thanking the crowd for its tremendous support on a rainy evening, O’Malley quickly turned his attention to the 6th Congressional District. “I am 100 percent for John Delaney,” the governor said. “He’s going to be a great congressman not only for the 6th …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Join us at 2 p.m. Friday for a live blog with David Moon, the blogger behind Maryland Juice.
The special session. Ike Leggett's future. Doug Duncan's future. Presidential politics. Gubernatorial politics. It's an exciting time for Maryland. Join us at 2 p.m. Friday where Patch editors and Maryland Juice's David Moon discuss Free State politics. What topics should we cover? Let us know in the comments ...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A suit filed by Democratic senators says the plan violates the Maryland Constitution.
UPDATED (1:13 p.m.)—Two Baltimore County state senators have filed suit in the state Court of Appeals seeking to overturn Maryland's recently enacted legislative redistricting plan. Democratic Senators Jim Brochin and Delores Kelley, in a suit filed Tuesday, claim the new districts violate the Maryland Constitution and a 2002 Court of Appeals ruling that governs redistricting. Read a copy of the lawsuit by clicking the PDF above. The suit is one of four seeking to overturn Gov. Martin O'Malley's redistricting plan. At the heart of the 17-page complaint are allegations that the commission that redrew the state's 47 legislative districts unfairly protected the city's political power in Annapolis, while diluting the county's representation. "…
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Focus for now is Delaney's congressional bid, former county executive says.
Douglas M. Duncan said Tuesday nothing has changed as he contemplates his political future. “I’m looking at all my options,” Duncan said in a telephone interview. His comments followed a NewsChannel 8 report that he is narrowing his focus on a run for state comptroller or a bid to return as Montgomery County Executive. “I’m not running for governor, not running for Congress,” Duncan, the county executive from 1995 through 2007, told Rockville Patch. Duncan said he’s not particularly focused on the crowded field of potential candidates for comptroller, but is “exploring things” to see “where I’d be the best fit.” He said he has not conducted any polling, nor does he have any immediate plans to do so. “I’m going to a lot of events, talking …
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The former Rockville mayor could be part of a crowded field for comptroller.
Douglas M. Duncan is mulling a comeback. The former Rockville mayor, former Montgomery County Executive and one-time gubernatorial candidate told NewsChannel 8’s Bruce DePuyt that he is considering a bid for state Comptroller or for a return as county executive. Get daily and breaking news email updates from Rockville Patch by signing up for newsletters here. Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot is expected to run for governor in 2014, a prospect discussed in this piece in The Washington Times in September. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said last year that he would not seek re-election to the post that Duncan held for three terms. Maryland Juice reported rumors in January that Duncan was considering a run for comptroller. The blog noted …
Thursday, April 5, 2012
The former county executive expressed frustration with Annapolis while working the polls for John Delaney on Tuesday.
Douglas M. Duncan went through the familiar motions of a candidate on Election Day on Tuesday evening at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville. The former Rockville mayor, former three-term Montgomery County executive and one-time gubernatorial candidate greeted voters and answered questions. But this time his name wasn’t on the ballot. Duncan announced in November that we would not seek elected office this year after some speculation that he might run for Congress, The Washington Post reported. Instead, he backed John Delaney, who won the Democratic nomination for the 6th Congressional District on Tuesday. “If the idea was to get another Democrat in Congress, he’s by far the best for that,” Duncan said of Delaney on Tuesday. Delaney, a …
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Volunteers at polling places on Tuesday solicited signatures on a pledge to support the recently passed law.
In front of Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, Sharon Vignati and Denise Woodard, armed with clipboards and pens, asked voters Tuesday evening to support an issue that wasn’t on the primary election ballot. In February, the Maryland General Assembly voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Vignati and Woodard want to make sure that stays in place. Opponents are attempting to collect 55,736 valid signatures from Maryland voters by June 30 to block the new law from taking effect on Jan. 1, The Washington Post has reported. If they get the necessary signatures, voters would be asked on the November ballot whether to repeal the law. “We’re asking people to sign a pledge that if it goes to the ballot, that they’ll vote not to let (the repeal…
Participation in Tuesday's election was particularly low—even for a primary.
Did you vote on Tuesday? If not, why not? It was slow going at polls in the early hours at many polling locations. Patch reported low turnout at precincts in Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Kensington, North Potomac, Potomac and Rockville. Voter turnout picked up at some polling places in the evening hours, but remained less than usual. Primary election turnout is traditionally much lower than that of general elections. But elections officials and campaigns alike pinned the especially low turnout in Montgomery County in Tuesday’s primary—14.79 percent of all registered voters vs. 20 percent for typical primary elections—on timing. Maryland’s 2008 presidential primary was held in February. Previous primaries were held in March. The …
In the Montgomery County Board of Education primary, Morris Panner took the No. 2 spot for the At-Large ballot; Fred Evans and Rebecca Smondrowski took the top spots for District 2.
Although the Republican presidential primary bolstered Maryland into national headlines Tuesday, locally Montgomery County voters also narrowed the field for the Board of Education’s general election in November. The unofficial results show that Phil Kauffman and Morris Panner beat out the two other candidates on the ballot to advance to the general election for the at-large seat. Kauffman received 60.3 percent of the vote, and Panner received 17 percent of the vote. The next runner-up, Lou August, received 11.9 percent of the vote. "I am really honored to have received the support I did," Panner, a resident of the Town of Somerset in Chevy Chase, told Chevy Chase Patch. "It is such an important time in our [c]ounty's history and a …
Republican Roscoe Bartlett seeks an 11th term in the 6th Congressional District, while Democrat John Delaney hopes to knock off the incumbent in his first political campaign.
U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, a 20-year veteran of the 6th Congressional District, will return to November’s general election ballot seeking an 11th term. Bartlett, 85, claimed the Republican nomination with 43.8 percent of the vote, more than doubling Maryland State Sen. David Brinkley’s 19.8 percent. “I’m obviously humbled and honored by the vote of confidence people have given me,” Bartlett told Patch. “I’m going to continue to work, work, work and win in November.” Joining the incumbent on the November ballot is Potomac’s John Delaney. The 6th District's Democratic nominee won 54.3 percent of the vote after a contentious campaign against State Sen. Rob Garagiola of Germantown. “We are extremely excited by tonight’s results but we’re going…
George Williams
4:34 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
@Billy As far as how Delaney got to be one of the 1%, from what I have read in the Washington Post and other sources, is that he exploited (not in the negative context) the financial needs of certain middle-tier financial markets to make his fortune. This is not about class envy, it’s about what kind of people do we want representing us. It was very clear from Delaney’s endorsements, that most of… more ›