It is ironic that the final thoughts of Don Praisner included a recommendation to appoint his successor. That goes against one of the greatest achievements of his predecessor, the great former County Council Member Marilyn Praisner.
Section 106 of Montgomery County’s charter provides that the County Council will appoint new members to fill vacancies. In 1997, Republican County Council Member Betty Ann Krahnke (R-1) called for a charter amendment (Question C) to allow special elections for Council Members. Mrs. Praisner, then in her second term, supported the idea. The voters passed Question C in 1998 by a 190,283-21,615 (90%-10%) vote.
It now fell to the council to draft implementing legislation. The task became urgent as Krahnke was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1998 and was having trouble performing her job by early 1999. Krahnke and Mrs. Praisner then began to draft the special election process. One item of contention was whether to have one election or two (a primary and a general). The Washington Post reported the following on 3/17/99:Krahnke has argued that primaries should be eliminated in a special election, saving the county as much as $400,000. But a council majority intends to keep the primary because that is the way Montgomery elections have always been staged.
Mrs. Praisner agreed with Leggett and her implementation bill called for two elections. It passed by a 7-2 vote, with Krahnke and Republican Nancy Dacek (R-2) voting against it. Leggett (who now wants an appointment), freshman Phil Andrews and Mrs. Praisner voted in favor.
Council President Isiah Leggett (D-At Large) yesterday called the single-ballot system the “David Duke ballot,” after the former Ku Klux Klan official who has done well in Louisiana elections run that way. When a council colleague noted that Duke is not planning to run in Montgomery, Leggett shot back:
“But we have Robin Ficker.”
In January 2000, Krahnke announced she was leaving the council. Republican Howard Denis then defeated Democratic primary winner Pat Baptiste in the special general election. One of Krahnke’s aides, Joy Nurmi, later became Chief of Staff to both Marilyn and Don Praisner. Montgomery would not go on to have another special election until the 2008 District 4 race.
Mrs. Praisner was the champion of special elections in Montgomery County. She designed the system that operates today. And the concept of special elections was approved by 90% of the county’s electorate. Any call for appointments goes against the legacy of Marilyn Praisner – and the will of the voters.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Special Elections and the Legacy of Marilyn Praisner
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Blago Reax Comes Home
Saqib Ali has introduced a bill in the General Assembly to require special elections in the event of a U.S. Senate vacancy.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Will There Be Another Special Election in District 4? (Updated!)
County Council Member Don Praisner, who won a special election to replace his wife last spring, is now in the hospital. There is no indication from the media of the seriousness of his health problems. But if Mr. Praisner left the council prior to the expiration of his term in 2010, would that automatically trigger a special election?
The answer is that it depends on the date he leaves the council. In a December 2007 post on special elections in Montgomery County, I found the following:When a council vacancy occurs, a special election must be held if the vacancy “occurs before December 1 of the year before a year in which a quadrennial state election will be held.” (County code, Chapter 16, Sec. 16-17(a)(4)) So, if a county council member stepped down on 11/30/09, a special election would have to be held. But if a council member stepped down on 12/2/09, the rest of the council would appoint a replacement who would serve out the rest of the term (County charter, Sec. 106)...
The same Gazette article on Mr. Praisner's hospitalization indicates that his daughter, Alison Klumpp, is considering running for the District 4 seat. If she does, she will join a crowded field whenever the election is held.
The last time a county council vacancy occurred was when District 5 council member Derick Berlage stepped down in June 2002 to become the county’s Planning Chairman. As the date was too late to trigger the special election requirement, the county council appointed Donnell Peterman to serve out the remaining months of Berlage’s term. Peterman was appointed on the condition that he not leverage his appointed incumbency to seek office that year. Peterman honored that commitment in 2002, choosing instead to run (unsuccessfully) for an at-large seat in 2006.
Update: The Gazette's Janel Davis reports that Mr. Praisner will undergo surgery for colon cancer next week.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
WaPo writer complains about turnout; does not look in mirror
Boy this one rates as dumb. Today's Maryland Moment (WaPo blog on MD politics) has writer Ann Marimow with a headline of How Low Can They Go in MoCo that highlights the 8% turnout in yesterday's election.
Ms. Marimow mentions that the turnout was around 8%, true. But my question is how can a reporter for WaPo point a finger at the low turnout when her paper did next to nothing to promote the race. Too busy letting us know what is going on in Iraq and on the Presidential campaign trail but consistently fails to cover local events.
Another Round of Being Punked by the Post
I mentioned this during the primary race between Al Wynn and Donna Edwards. There they have the most important test of mainstream Democrats and left Democrats as any race in the country and we got third rate coverage.
This time the race to replace Marilyn Praisner was decidedly smaller than the Wynn-Edwards race and the coverage reflected that. But the real complaint is the WaPo did next to nothing to cover the special election (the time between the primary and yesterday) and much of anything. I never saw an editorial from them. The Gazette had an editorial and it was less than three column inches buried in the lower right hand corner of the editorial page.
The WaPo was even worse. Tuesday's paper had a mention of the race in the Metro section on page 2 in the upper right hand side. It was not the lead story. Total length was two paragraphs.
So for Ms. Marimow to put a headline on her blog about how low the turnout can go in MoCo when her paper did next to nothing in covering the race I have to laugh. Then I wrote a blog piece how stupid the Maryland Moment blog post she wrote is.
Next time look in the mirror WaPo. I think we have be in Iraq or someplace in Europe for the Post to care about us.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Council Election Update
Update 2: 10:00 PM The BOE has 43 of the 45 precincts reporting and the figures are holding at 66% to 33%.
The victory garden in the front yard of Alison Praisner Klumpp's house.
Alison Praisner Klumpp and her dad and new Council member, Don Praisner, outside of her home.
Update 9:32 PM: With 26 out of 45 precincts reporting and Praisner leading 66% to 33% over Fennel, Mark called to concede to Don. Picture is below. More information to follow as I get it.
Long time no post. But I tried to get you some mid-day reports on turnout. This should hold you over until the results comes over at the MoCo BOE.
The 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM counts are listed below:
What this table points out is that the Others (Non-Affiliated) voters were not voting. And that the turnout by party is matching the turnout by party that is in the district.
In short, unless Mark Fennel can take 27% of the Democratic vote our next Council member will be Don Praisner.
More to follow....
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Don Praisner Is In
Here is some news that should get the juices flowing if you like politics. Marilyn Praisner's husband, Don, is set to announce his candidacy on Monday. It will be noon at the Stella Warner Building (that's the County Council Building) in Rockville. He is expected to have some well known elected officials standing behind him as he speaks.
So the list of candidates reads as follows: Don Praisner, Nancy Navarro (one of two candidates a working web site), Pat Ryan, Steve Kanstoroom, and Cary Lamari (the other). Cary ran for an At Large seat in 2006 and he has been active in Aspen Hill. Cary has former Council member Blair Ewing endorsing him.
Still only rumors about Delegate Ben Kramer getting into the race. Same goes for 2006 Primary challenger, Mike Jones. If either Jones or Kramer gets in we will announce it.
Currently, Navarro leads in the endorsements with Congresswoman-to-be Donna Edwards, Council member Valerie Ervin, Del. Tom Hucker, Sen. Rich Madaleno, and former Del. Gareth Murray. Navarro also claims the endorsement of the Coalition of Asian Pacific American Democrats (CAPAD) which is interesting since I would think that a group would not endorse until they have gotten back all of the surveys from the candidates. So if you are a candidate and you get the CAPAD survey I guess you can save time by not filing it out since they have their candidate already selected.
Where You Can Meet the Candidates
There are several Debates (or Forums as we like to call them in the 21st Century) that are in the planning stages that will be announced in the coming week as well. The firm events are:
The Aspen Hill Civic Association is going to host a candidate forum at the Aspen Hill Library on March 19 (Wed) evening. They will probably be several other groups cosponsoring the event.
The Greater Silver Spring Democratic Club will be sponsoring a forum on Wednesday April 2 in the White Oak area. Details to follow later.
The Leisure World Democratic Club, which is one of the largest Democratic clubs in the state, will be hosting their own Democratic Forum on Thursday April 10.
There will probably be another couple of events. I am working with some folks to get an event for the East County folks. Once a date and place is selected I will share it here. Several Democratic clubs are eager to sponsor an event. So they might add to the list of events or become cosponsors.
If any readers know of other events that are going on please post a comment here or just send me an email (look at my profile to find my email address). I will get the word.
Note: As a voter in District 4, I will be an active supporter of one of the candidates. According to our policy here at MPW, when that happens I will clear all posts with someone who is neutral. If I do post anything on this race I will tell you who I support in the post. We here at MPW will be up front and clear about who we support and why.
Key Dates
Filing deadline is March 24. Special Primary is tax day April 15. Special general is May 13.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Council Special Election Date Set?
Looks like the MoCo Council will meet on Tuesday February 19 at 1:30 pm to set the date for the special primary election and the special general election for Marilyn's Praisner's seat.
The County Council sets the dates for both. The staff recommendation is for the special primary election April 15 (tax day) and the special general election of Tuesday May 13, 2008.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Central Committee Defends Status Quo
As Paul Gordon previously outlined, Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-18) is working on a bill to bring special elections for state legislative vacancies to Maryland which occur before the presidential election. (I believe that he and Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-20) are working closely together on this.) Appointments occurring before a certain date would expire after a special election held in concert with the regularly scheduled elections held in presidential years.
Regular readers of MPW know that this has been a hot topic around here due to the spate of vacancies in Montgomery County. The proposal is similar to a reform proposal I outlined briefly here.
The Central Committee, or at least its spokesman, appears to prefer the status quo. A New Year's Eve article in the Examiner reported:The replacement process has received extra attention this year due to an unusually high number of vacancies in Montgomery County. Before the current crop, the county had seen only four vacancies since 1997.
I'm not certain how well this reflects the view of either individual members of the Central Committee or the Central Committee as a whole. At least some members of the Central Committee have expressed a desire to focus more on other issues.
Even so, the county’s Democratic Central Committee spokesman Milton Minneman believes his team is best equipped to make the selections. Because the group’s purpose is to get Democrats in office, and because it spends time interviewing potential replacements and hosting public forums, it is far more knowledgeable than average voters of each candidate’s suitability.
“Special elections are often held rapidly, and voters don’t have time to get to know the candidates,” Minneman said. “We think we’re more representative.”
I don't think the proposal is meant as an attack on the job that the Central Committee has been doing. After all, they are merely performing one of the functions which they were elected to do when they select people to fill vacancies. Neither Sen. Madaleno nor Sen. Raskin has any ax to grind with the Central Committee as far as I am aware.
On the contrary, I imagine that Sen. Madaleno is reasonably pleased that MCDCC picked his choice, Al Carr, to fill the vacancy in his legislative district. Additionally, Del. Al Carr endorsed the idea of special elections in the District 18 forum.
The main purpose of the idea is simply to make sure that appointments don't last too long before the appointees have to face the voters. Appointments would still occur and reduction in the Central Committee's authority would be quite small.
Friday, December 21, 2007
How MoCo Does Special Elections
Montgomery County Council vacancies are filled by special elections. So why shouldn’t we do the same for state legislator vacancies?
Here’s how the county process works. When a council vacancy occurs, a special election must be held if the vacancy “occurs before December 1 of the year before a year in which a quadrennial state election will be held.” (County code, Chapter 16, Sec. 16-17(a)(4)) So, if a county council member stepped down on 11/30/09, a special election would have to be held. But if a council member stepped down on 12/2/09, the rest of the council would appoint a replacement who would serve out the rest of the term (County charter, Sec. 106).
When a special election is held, it “must be conducted in a manner consistent with provisions of state law that govern special elections to fill vacancies in the office of representative in Congress.” (County code, Chapter 16, Sec. 16-17(c)(1)) The council must adopt a resolution that sets the dates of both the special primary and the special general election.
However, “if the Council vacancy occurs during the period beginning 120 days before the next regular or special primary or general election conducted in the County under state law and ending 40 days before that election, the special primary election provided for by this Section must be held on the same date as the other election. If a second regular or special primary or general election conducted in the County under state law is held more than 30 but less than 60 days after the special primary election referred to in the preceding sentence, the special general election held under this Section must be held on the same date as the second other election.” (County code, Chapter 16, Sec. 16-17(d)(2))
So by using the same dates as other elections, the cost of special elections can be reduced and turnout can be elevated.
The last time a county council vacancy occurred was when District 5 council member Derick Berlage stepped down in June 2002 to become the county’s Planning Chairman. As the date was too late to trigger the special election requirement, the county council appointed Donnell Peterman to serve out the remaining months of Berlage’s term. Peterman was appointed on the condition that he not leverage his appointed incumbency to seek office that year. Peterman honored that commitment in 2002, choosing instead to run (unsuccessfully) for an at-large seat in 2006.
Now doesn’t this sound a lot better than the appointment process for state legislators, which brought us this and this and this?
The excuses for why we should not hold special elections for state vacancies are rapidly disappearing.
