More News

After long wait, Dems start slow

Friday, May 12, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Gansler Has raised more than $1.4 million Click here to enlarge this photo Perez Former federal prosecutor

ANNAPOLIS — After months of speculation about the retirement of Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., the actual announcement this week left leading Democrats somewhat at sea.

Neither Montgomery County State’s Attorney Douglas F. Gansler nor Montgomery County Councilman Thomas E. Perez — both of whom have been doing early campaigning for months — got a quick boost in the days following Curran’s decision.

Instead, Democratic leaders responded to Curran’s retirement with muted messages of support for Gansler or Perez. Discussions have centered on who is not running, who may run or who should run.

Curran himself said he would like to back another candidate who has already announced he will not join the race: Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey.

Ivey, an African American and a former top aide to U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D) of Baltimore, was seen as a great candidate to balance the Democratic Party’s statewide ticket. But Ivey’s plans were hampered by Curran’s long indecisiveness, and he announced he will seek re-election.

Some Democrats were also hoping that Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith (D), a former judge who has raised more than $1 million for his re-election, would run for attorney general. Like Ivey, Smith is running for re-election and those close to Smith said the county executive does not want to leave Towson and allow Republicans to mobilize and make a concerted bid to retake the seat.

Joseph F. Murphy Jr., chief judge of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, was mentioned a potential candidate, too. He told The Gazette on Tuesday that he was happy staying on the bench and would not be running for attorney general.

Gansler is the perceived front-runner in the race. A two-term prosecutor, he has raised more than $1.4 million as of January. He brushed off any notion that the Democratic Party establishment was acting lethargic to his or Perez’s potential candidacies. He said the discussions this week were about Curran’s 50-year legacy in public service and there will be time for the party to coalesce around a candidate.

Gansler did say that the announcement by Frederick County State’s Attorney Scott Rolle that he will run for Curran’s seat means the Republican Party is taking the race seriously. It should be a ‘‘wake up call” to the Democrats that Rolle, with the support of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), is mounting a credible campaign.

Rolle’s candidacy ‘‘changes the stakes for our party,” Gansler said.

Gansler is expected to announce his candidacy on Monday, with Perez to follow sometime before the end of the month, but speculation remains that a candidate from the Baltimore legal establishment will emerge.

‘‘Someone from the Baltimore region will get into the race,” said Edgar P. Silver, a lobbyist and former delegate from Baltimore.

One top Democratic leader in Annapolis mentioned Thursday that former House Majority Leader D. Bruce Poole, a Democrat from Hagerstown, would make a good candidate. Poole was unavailable on Thursday afternoon.

Senate Judicial Proceedings Chairman Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda is also keeping his name in the mix for attorney general. A seasoned lawyer who has built a strong resume on environmental and consumer advocacy in Annapolis, Frosh said that he will take the next few weeks to decide whether to launch a campaign.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., a lawyer and top Democratic Party leader, said several members of the party are keeping their options open because they are not wild about either Gansler or Perez.

Miller said he and ‘‘many others” would back Frosh if he decided to launch a campaign.

Frosh faces difficulty in mounting a campaign because both Gansler and Perez are from Montgomery County, Miller noted.

‘‘Nobody knows Perez outside of Montgomery County and there are concerns about his qualifications to run,” Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said. ‘‘Gansler has his supporters, but he has just as many detractors. People are looking for someone who would better balance the statewide ticket.”

Perez is a first-term councilman from Takoma Park. Questions have been raised about whether he meets the constitutional requirements to run.

The constitution says only those who have practiced law in the state for 10 years are eligible for the office. Perez, a member of the Maryland State Bar Association since 2001, said he is eligible based on his work as a federal prosecutor and deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice in the Clinton administration.

Gansler, also a former U.S. attorney, has been a member of the Maryland Bar since December 1989.

Perez, who has prosecuted civil rights cases around the country, laid out his eligibility requirements in a nine-page letter to the attorney general’s office on Monday. In extensive detail, Perez outlined his professional background to make the case that he meets the qualifications to run.

‘‘If others want to delve into extraneous matters, I can’t stop them,” Perez said this week. ‘‘I’m going to focus on my vision for the office. I welcome any debate about my qualifications.”

Robert Zarnoch, an assistant attorney general and 30-year veteran of the department, said an opinion on the matter is expected next week. He would not comment directly on Perez’s case but said that department has been lenient on these matters in the past.

‘‘In the past we have bent over backwards to be quite generous in our interpretation of the law,” Zarnoch said. ‘‘We’re not trying to knock people out of running for office.”

Still, even if Perez is cleared to run, this week’s worth of questions has been damaging politically, analysts said.

‘‘A constitutional dispute with lawyers battling out whether you qualify to run for an office is not the best way of kicking off a campaign,” said Thomas F. Schaller, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with ties to the Democratic Party.

Schaller said that because Perez and Gansler are not widely known outside of Montgomery County, a candidate from outside the DC suburbs could mount a credible campaign.

‘‘The race is wide open at this point,” Schaller said.