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Maryland politics after Duncan

Monday, June 26, 2006

When I heard Doug Duncan was withdrawing from the governor’s race due to clinical depression my mind skipped back to a Friday afternoon in April 1982 when another Montgomery County executive quit politics.

‘‘Liquorgate” had bedeviled Charlie Gilchrist since his 1978 election as county executive. Seems Gilchrist tried to have a supporter’s relative hired by the county’s liquor department. I was Gilchrist’s lobbyist to Annapolis and when I explained this to lawmakers from other counties they looked at me incredulously saying, ‘‘Blair, don’t bulls_ _ _ us, what’s the real story?” Only in Montgomery.

Gilchrist’s political rivals on the County Council launched several Liquorgate investigations complete with special outside prosecutors. For 18 painful months Gilchrist’s name was dragged through the mud daily by the media. By the spring of 1982, Charlie Gilchrist was an exhausted, beaten man running for re-election more to vindicate himself than to stay in office. Meanwhile, a media savvy young delegate, Lou Simmons, filed against Gilchrist hoping to ride Liquorgate to victory.

Then, the Washington Post published an editorial exonerating Gilchrist, putting the ‘‘scandal” to rest. But, instead of celebrating, the weary, disillusioned county executive called each of us into his office saying, ‘‘There’s no longer a need to run, I’ve been exonerated. I’m dropping out of the race on Monday.” He wanted out and he was resolute. Nothing we said or did could change his mind. In fact, I don’t think he even heard our voices.

So we all spent the weekend thinking about where we’d find our next jobs. Luckily, for us, however, Sunday’s Post carried an attack by Simmons blasting Gilchrist’s integrity, which made Gilchrist so mad he was back in the race by Sunday evening. By the way, one of Gilchrist’s campaign workers was a Rockville kid named Doug Duncan.

In fact, that’s how I first met Duncan, who quickly rose to Rockville City Council, mayor and, then, county executive. I supported him in each race and supported him this year for governor. Over the past few months we talked almost daily including after the Post ran some very unfair, very damaging front-page stories linking him to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Duncan was despondent. Why was the Post (and no one else) making a front-page scandal out of a somewhat routine campaign contribution that took place seven years ago? And why now, just when Duncan was closing the gap on Martin O’Malley after months and months of grueling political toil? Without saying it, we both knew the answer; the Post was supporting O’Malley. And without his hometown newspaper, Duncan didn’t have a chance.

After that, Duncan’s telephone calls abruptly stopped. I wondered why but I didn’t call because I don’t like pestering politicians. Later I was relieved to read that it wasn’t me. Duncan’s depression had isolated him from almost all his admirers and supporters.

Funny, for two years the Democratic legislature tried advancing the 2006 primary election from Sept. 12 to the third week in June to give the party more time to heal after the expected bloodlettings. The gambit failed only because too many lawmakers feared it threatened their own re-elections.

Our opinion Mr. Duncan’s bravery Gazette editorial Barry Rascovar Duncan makes the Ôright moveÕ Related coverage * Between applause and smiles, a politician bows * Colleagues, constituents, neighbors saddened by DuncanÕs withdrawal * Stresses of campaigning can bring on depression for some * A legacy built on a Ôcan-doÕ attitude * Reaction to Duncan's withdrawal * Transcript of Duncan's statement Multimedia Photo gallery: Doug Duncan in pictures Graphic: Timeline of a political career

Yet, lo and behold, Duncan’s drop-out creates the same effect — a single nominee with lots of time to unify the party. O’Malley avoids the time, expense and negatives of a Duncan vs. O’Malley primary.

Equally important, O’Malley is spared having to go left. Typically, Dems pander to the party’s liberals in the primary and run to the center in November. Duncan outflanked the mayor’s left on slots and cigarette-tax-hikes-to-fund-poor-folks-healthcare. And O’Malley lost ultra-liberal Progressive Maryland’s endorsement because he couldn’t afford being tied to the group’s far out positions in the general election. Now O’Malley can be a centrist because the liberals have no place else to go.

I bet the mayor’s switchboard was busy Thursday afternoon as scores of ex-Duncanites telephoned their allegiance to the new king. Even William Donald Schaefer, who detests O’Malley, voiced his support although he couldn’t bring himself to pronounce O’Malley’s name.

But the only Democrat that O’Malley needs right now is Stu Simms, Duncan’s ex-running mate who will probably file for attorney general by next Tuesday’s deadline (Duncan did Simms a favor by quitting before the filing deadline). Making nice to Simms is a perfect way for O’Malley to graft himself to the remnant Duncan loyalists. That’s bad news for Tom Perez, the Montgomery councilman who was O’Malley’s favorite AG candidate until last Thursday. With Duncan out, the mayor doesn’t need anti-Duncanites anymore. God, politics is a cruel game.

Finally, the impact of Duncan’s drop-out reaches beyond the governor’s race. With Duncan vs. O’Malley off the card, the September primary’s main event becomes the U.S. Senate tilt between Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume. Most of the media attention scheduled for the Democratic governor’s race will now shift to the Senate primary.

That’s good news for Mfume, the underfunded, underexposed, underdog because it generates some free coverage. How long can the party and the media continue ignoring what just became the state’s premier primary? Answer: the party and the media can do whatever they feel like doing!

But the biggest loser last Thursday, by far, was Montgomery County, the state’s only major jurisdiction to never produce a governor. Duncan — bright, likeable, qualified — was our best hope. Now he’s gone.

Blair Lee is CEO of the Lee Development Group in Silver Spring and a regular commentator for WBAL radio. His column appears Fridays in The Gazette. His e-mail address is blair@leedg.com.