Youth movement brings different ideas to Annapolis

And it could mean doing away with the idea of putting in your time on the way to the top.

New lawmakers ‘‘want to make a difference now, and influence policy now,” said Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D), 46, who joined the legislature in his late 30s.

Brown said there was a ‘‘collective gasp” in the House of Delegates when he became vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee in his second term.

Younger politicians have an ‘‘interest in being involved in weighty decisions sooner rather than later,” Brown said. ‘‘There’s certainly less of a feeling of ‘I’ve got to pay my dues.’”

For Del. Jeffrey D. Waldstreicher, 28, getting to Annapolis in his mid-20s meant having the ‘‘energy to get elected,” to knock on 9,000 doors during his campaign.

For Del. Alfred C. Carr Jr., 42, it means balancing a family with two young children back home in Kensington with a career in Annapolis.

For Del. Saqib Ali, 33, it means transformation in how technology factors into campaigns. And for his office, it means young staffers.

One political observer said there are benefits and drawbacks to having new legislators enter Annapolis on the younger side.

‘‘Young legislators view the institution newly, and bring in new ideas, there’s no question about that, so that may be having some effect,” said Michael J.G. Cain, who heads St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s political science department. ‘‘They take junior positions as well, so they’re less able to influence politics.”

Waldstreicher (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington said an emerging youth movement in Annapolis affects legislative priorities, focusing on environmental legislation and more progressive views on gay rights.

‘‘Listen, when you grow up in the ’70s and ’80s, and you have friends and family members who are openly gay, it is much easier to come up with [gay rights] legislation,” he said.

But even if the legislature looks younger, the breakdown suggests the General Assembly is aging. Almost a third of the legislators, or 61, are 60 or older. Only 15 percent, or 27, are under 40.

In 1996, lawmakers skewed younger. Thirty-five were 60 or older and 70 were younger than 40.

But a noticeable portion of new delegates have been young, especially recent appointees.

Del. Kirill Reznik, 33, jumped last fall from the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee into the House seat that opened when Nancy J. King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village went to the state Senate.

Carr (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington was appointed last year to the seat previously held by Jane E. Lawton, who died suddenly at age 63.

Susan Heltemes, who has been active in Montgomery County Democratic politics for decades, said Carr’s experience in local politics as a Kensington Town Councilman and his prior candidacy for the seat were likely reasons for his appointment. Heltemes noted that youth wasn’t a factor in the District 39 appointment, since both candidates, Hugh Bailey and Reznik, are relatively young.

Del. C. William Frick (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda, a 33-year-old lawyer, was also nominated for his spot by the Montgomery central committee last year. He was nominated to replace 80-year-old House veteran Marilyn R. Goldwater.

‘‘I was told in the case of District 16 that they just wanted someone fresh,” Heltemes said.

Frick ran for the nomination against older candidates with prior candidacies under their belts. And Frick was already well-acquainted with some of the younger House members, including Waldstreicher and Reznik.

‘‘There are probably higher opportunity costs” initially, Frick said of joining the legislature so early in his career. ‘‘But there are also higher rewards over time.” Junior lawmakers theoretically have more years ahead to advance into leadership positions, he said.

Frick said any changing of the guard, age-wise, could be because his generation sees that ‘‘government affects our daily lives now more than before,” and ‘‘wants to have a say in that.”

Ali (D-Dist. 39) of Gaithersburg said he thought he’d be the youngest lawmaker when he arrived in Annapolis last year.

Instead, he said, ‘‘There’s plenty of people younger than me.”

One advantage young candidates have is that they speak the language of young voters — the language of the Web.

‘‘A lot of younger people have a campaigning edge because they use the Internet,” Ali said. ‘‘Some of the more established legislators haven’t harnessed that technology.”

Youth is the operative word in Ali’s Annapolis office as well, where Chris Wilhelm, 21, and Ahmed Qadeer, 18, serve as aides.

‘‘I wanted people who I know,” Ali said. ‘‘I needed people who could work hard, who could work day and night, who were willing not to be prima donnas.”

Wilhelm and Qadeer could be paying their dues with an eye toward bigger things. ‘‘Both these guys want to run for something,” Ali said.

Qadeer is not so sure about a future in politics, but he is considering a career in government. He joined Ali’s campaign when, as a 16-year-old, he met the candidate knocking on doors in his Gaithersburg neighborhood.

Wilhelm is a government and politics major at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is in charge of putting together coalitions to support legislation introduced by Ali, drafting testimony for bill hearings and tending to constituents’ needs, on top of being ‘‘chief sandwich-getter,” he said.

Jennifer Kramer, president of Young Democrats of Maryland — made up of 18- to 40-year-olds — said youth voter turnout in the presidential primaries is having a ‘‘huge effect.”

‘‘There’re so many young people interested in getting involved because the campaigns have interjected so much enthusiasm,” she said.

Young people’s interest in politics ‘‘comes a lot from the parents and the grandparents,” said Kramer, a 31-year-old Olney resident.

And young people also are ‘‘very issues-oriented,” she said.

‘‘It’s not just college affordability,” Kramer said. ‘‘We are worried about Iraq. We are worried about the mortgage crisis. ... We can’t afford to buy homes with the way mortgages are.”

One of the major differences some people noted was that young Democrats and young Republicans are making efforts to reach out and repair party divisions.

‘‘The newer legislators are unburdened by New Deal and New Society ideology,” Waldstreicher said, adding that his and other young legislators are trying to do away with competitiveness and distrust between Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.

Del. Benjamin S. Barnes (D-Dist. 21) of College Park is a 32-year-old who speculates that the new crop of young lawmakers is making the House more progressive.

Heltemes objected to that idea.

‘‘I think that’s an insult to older voters and elected officials,” she said. ‘‘As many of us who are more mature are as forward-thinking as anyone else.”

She said, however, that young people ‘‘need to take over” the political sphere and ‘‘learn how to fly, because soon it will be theirs.”