The race to fill an open seat in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District is too close to call, according to an independent poll released Thursday.

Republican Neil Parrott, a former state delegate, holds a slim 2-point lead over Democratic rival April McClain Delaney, the wife of former Rep. John Delaney, well within the margin of error. Pollster Patrick Gonzales, who conducted the poll, said the campaign could be decided by one county.

“In my opinion, this thing is going down to Frederick,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales surveyed 317 registered voters in Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett Counties who said they are likely to vote in November. The small sample poll, conducted between Aug. 24-30, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6%.

Earlier this week, Gonzales released polls detailing bumps in job approval for Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Vice President Kamala Harris. A poll released Wednesday looked at the slim lead for Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) in her race against former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) for the U.S. Senate.

According to the survey released Thursday, Parrott leads Delaney 41%-39% with 20% undecided. The support for each candidate comes from different areas.

Delaney holds a 42-point lead on Parrott in Montgomery County. Parrott holds a 60-point advantage over Delaney in what Gonzales referred to as the “WAG” area of Maryland — the western Maryland counties of Washington, Allegany and Garrett.

Both candidates hold commanding leads among voters in their respective parties. Parrott holds a 3-point advantage — 34%-31% — among independents.

“What’s really making the difference is that Parrott is snatching 17% of Democratic voters. Delaney is only getting 7% of Republicans,” said Gonzales.

“That is a tight, tight race,” he said.

That leaves Frederick County.

“No matter what, this election will, in my opinion, be decided in Frederick County,” he said.

Four in 10 voters in the district reside in Frederick County.

Currently, Delaney leads Parrott 44%-29% in Frederick County, according to the poll.

But with two months to go, 51% of voters said they do not know who Delaney is.

“That is a challenge, and it is also an opportunity. You’re going to introduce yourself to people with no personal preconceptions,” Gonzales said. “If I were Delaney, I’d be OK with that — especially if I am already getting this reflexive party vote.”

But it also leaves open the potential for Parrott or others to negatively define Delaney before Election Day.

The race’s close nature may also entice some outside groups to put money into the district to swing control of Congress, Gonzales said.

“I have to believe I’m not the only one seeing this,” he said. “I’ve got to believe that those in the position to direct monies and stuff like that, they’re all taking a look at District 6 in Maryland.

“Congress is plus four seats for the GOP. There are close districts all over the country that they’re dealing with. But I’ll tell you one thing, Maryland’s 6th Congressional District ought to be right near the top of the list for both parties,” he said.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.

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Democrat Angela Alsobrooks holds a 5-point lead over Republican Larry Hogan in their campaign for U.S. Senate, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The newly released Gonzales poll shows Alsobrooks leading Hogan 46%-41% with 11% still undecided.

“I wouldn’t call in the dogs. The hunt’s still on, and it’s absolutely still a race,” said pollster Patrick Gonzales.

Gonzales surveyed 820 registered voters who said they are likely to vote in November. The poll, conducted between Aug. 24-30, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.

On Tuesday, Gonzales released a poll that included updated job performance numbers for Gov. Wes Moore (D), whose job approval was improving, as well as look at the state of the presidential campaign in deep-blue Maryland, where Vice President Kamala Harris (D) holds a wide lead over GOP nominee Donald Trump.

The Gonzales poll on the Senate race contrasts with a recent survey suggesting a tighter race: Last week, a poll conducted for AARP, showed Alsobrooks and Hogan in a dead heat. That poll sampled 600 voters in mid-August and had a 4-point margin of error.

Alsobrooks, the two-term Democratic executive of Prince George’s County, and Hogan, just the second two-term Republican governor in Maryland history, are vying to succeed Sen. Ben Cardin (D). The three-term senior senator announced his retirement more than a year ago.

If elected, Hogan would become the first Republican to hold a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland since Charles McC. Mathias Jr., who retired in 1987.

Alsobrooks and Hogan enter the final 60 days of the campaign with distinctly different levels of name identification among those polled.

For Hogan, 98% of voters said they recognized his name including 50% who said they have a favorable impression of the former governor. Another 19% had an unfavorable opinion and 29% said they were neutral.

Alsobrooks’ name was recognized by roughly 67% of voters surveyed, including four in 10 who said they had a favorable opinion of the county executive. Another 7% said they had an unfavorable opinion of Alsobrooks.

More than three in 10 people surveyed did not recognize her by name.

“It means regular people have lives that don’t revolve around politics,” Gonzales said.

The high number of those who do not have an impression of Alsobrooks could be an opportunity for her, but it also leaves open the door to be defined by her opponent if she does not do so herself, Gonzales said. He said Alsobrooks has a “blank slate” when it comes to how voters see her that allows Alsobrooks to define herself to voters or be defined by her opponent who “can paint whatever they want on it.”

Gonzales said many voters are not yet paying close attention to the race.

Democratic voters in Maryland outnumber their Republican counterparts by a roughly 2-1 margin. The poll shows Hogan has the support of a sizable number of Democrats – 21% said they would vote for Hogan, compared to 72% for Alsobrooks – but Gonzales said Hogan has a math challenge — namely his ability to get to 30% support from Democratic voters.

“Larry’s got to get to 30% of Democrats, no matter what,” Gonzales said. “He’s got to get 90% of Republicans, 55% of independents, and he’s got to get to 30% of Democrats. Mathematically, that’s the only way it adds up to a victory.

“So, is that possible? Of course, it’s possible. But when you look at the numbers (the poll), it’s not possible because there’s only 6% of Democrats undecided,” he said.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.

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Worcester County officials are scrambling for options — and money — after learning that state transportation officials are pausing a top transportation priority — the widening of Route 90 and the replacement of its two bridges.

Worcester is just one of the counties given tough news in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s release of an updated draft of the Consolidated Transportation Plan, the state’s six-year transportation plan.

“The way it was explained is they’re telling everybody to stop immediately wherever they are in the design process, the planning process, like hard stop,” said Worcester County Administrative Officer Weston S. Young. “It sounds like they’re heading towards a fiscal cliff with what their projections are now.”

Worcester County leaders were told the Route 90 project will be “paused” when the state releases its draft plan for fiscal years 2025-2030.

“Route 90 was the one that was mentioned. We don’t know of the other projects that they were proposing to do in Worcester, which ones are getting stalled as well,” said Young.

“We were told when the draft CTP comes out … it will have this project along with a whole bunch of projects throughout the state — I don’t know if the word is paused or deferred — because they can’t afford it based on their projections,” he said.

Young and Worcester County are not alone in the disappointing news. County leaders from around the state met with Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld and his staff during the four-day Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City.

The news on the transportation front was not good.

“It was not as bad as we thought,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “You could say it another way: It was better than we thought, but it’s not good. I mean, basically, unless you’ve got a shovel in the ground, you’re not going to see money to put shovels in the ground.”

Elrich said it is not clear what projects will take a hit in Montgomery County.

“We didn’t get a list of specific projects,” he said. “Their basic message was, if there’s a shovel in the ground that we made an investment in, that funding is what we’re going to be able to continue. They may not be able to continue planning for a project.

“If you delay planning, you just further delay even the time you can put a shovel in the ground. It was pretty clear that even shovel-ready projects aren’t going in the ground with the amount of money they have,” Elrich said.

Maryland continues to struggle to find funding for road and transit projects. Gas taxes and other revenues that make up the Transportation Trust Fund lag behind a seemingly endless supply of projects.

In December, Gov. Wes Moore and Wiedefeld delivered dire news at the winter MACO convention in Cambridge: A $3.3 billion projected structural gap over six years between requests for transportation projects and available money meant tough cuts were coming and soon. Gobsmacked county leaders left Cambridge worried about priority road projects and funding for local transportation networks.

Requests for transportation projects — roads, bridges, sidewalks, and transit — always outpace federal, state, and local funding sources. That $3.3 billion estimate in December, while eye-popping, was always based on an unrealistic expectation that every jurisdiction would get every project over the six-year period. Multiple sources with knowledge of current fiscal projections say the shortfall this year is much closer to $1.3 billion.

Moore and the legislature added $150 million from the state’s rainy day fund to ease pressures on the transportation trust fund. The General Assembly also passed several targeted fee increases this spring meant to bolster the flagging fund, but the one-time infusion and targeted revenues were not expected to fully solve the issue.

I mean, basically, unless you’ve got a shovel in the ground, you’re not going to see money to put shovels in the ground. – Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich

“The Maryland Department of Transportation continues to face significant budgetary challenges due to slow economic growth, which places downward pressure on transportation revenues, alongside increased costs for materials and labor,” Wiedefeld has said. “Last year, the Maryland Department of Transportation was able to balance the budget thanks to Gov. Moore’s one-time $150 million in funding and additional revenue sources passed by the General Assembly.”

A blue-ribbon panel is expected to meet this year to develop recommendations before the start of the 2025 legislative session.

Elrich that with the state worried “about the ability even to fund preliminary planning for projects, not knowing what the basis of funding is going to be,” the situation is “kind of what we expected.”

“You know, there’s no reason to believe that they suddenly saw a massive infusion of money into the state that would enable them to build the trust fund back up. So, you know, there are going to be efforts to put money into the trust fund, but it’s not going to be the trust fund that they thought they had,” Elrich said.

Wiedefeld said “stagnant economic growth combined with revenue forecasts for several important funding sources for the Department being revised downward leaves the Maryland Department of Transportation with limited state dollars to leverage federal funding for highway, transit, and aviation projects.”

“Despite these challenges, the Maryland Department of Transportation continues to prioritize safety, maintaining the current system for Maryland families and businesses and reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads,” Wiedefeld said.

On Tuesday, county leaders will get their first look at a draft of the state’s Consolidated Transportation Plan. The document, updated annually, shows spending for projects in the pipeline and what will be funded over the next six years.

Wiedefeld and his staff then head out into the counties for feedback on what is most important to each jurisdiction.

In Worcester County, the Route 90 project remains their top priority.

“It’s one of multiple requests we’ve given the state,” Young said. “If we had to prioritize it, it’s our No. 1. Gov. Hogan helped get it started, but we’ve always known we were going to have to fight to keep it in. So, this news is disappointing.”

The highway and its bridges are nearly 50 years old. Worcester County officials want to “dualize” the highway and its bridges. An additional east and west traffic lane will likely mean replacing the existing spans over the St. Martin River and Assawoman Bay.

“I call it a Hail Mary project,” said Young. “It’s going to be really expensive for us. When you compare it to mass transit, it’s probably going to be a fraction of that, but it’s a big request for the county to have. But if you’ve heard any of our statistics, 8 million unique visitors every year. That road is used frequently, and when there’s an accident or like the sinkhole we had, or we need to get on or off the island for any reason, that is a choke point.”

Young and other county leaders said state officials did offer a ray of hope — projects that require a match to leverage federal aid might move forward. But to do so, already cash-strapped counties will have to come up with the match.

“For these types of projects, we don’t usually pay towards them,” Young said.

“So, we’re in an information gathering phase at this point, I would need to bring it to my commissioners,” Young said. We haven’t budgeted for this. We’re two months into our fiscal year ’25 budget. We would need to figure out how we would identify funding sources.”

It’s unclear how much of a match the counties would be required to contribute. Young thinks it could be as high as 25%.

“This is a new process for us,” he said. “We just want to know, is it 20%? Is it 25%? What’s the state’s estimated costs are in our match, and then would the commissioners be willing to prioritize that over something else?”

Young said there is also the concern that in picking up the match, it sets a precedent of shifting project costs to the counties that were previously paid for by the state.

“I’m a professional civil engineer. The bridge section is just, it’s going to be expensive. It’s not just expanding a road,” he said, adding that not finding the local funding may also be a poor option.

“There’s also the project doesn’t happen for a decade now because they stopped it,” he said.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.

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Maryland is one of two states, with California, to pass a so-called Kids Code law — legislation aimed at providing privacy and other protections to children using online platforms.

But a federal appeals court’s decision this month to uphold much of a lower court’s injunction of the California law – on which Maryland’s law is based – is raising new fears about the vulnerability of the Maryland law to court challenge.

“There’s definitely, for those of us who are constantly looking at the legality of these provisions, there are some open questions,” said Meetali Jain, director of the Tech Justice Law Project — an organization that has supported the passage of Kids Code laws.

The Aug. 16 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held some positives for Kids Code supporters: It said a lower court may have gone too far when it issued a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds.

But the appellate court largely agreed with the lower court that tech firms were likely to succeed on their claim that the law violates free speech protections, by requiring them to review products they believe would be used by children looking for content that could be harmful. Those portions of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act amount to a restraint on speech, the court said.

That was the claim made by NetChoice, a tech industry group that has aggressively opposed state efforts to impose regulations. The group has lobbyists in more than two dozen states. The effort in Maryland is in addition to lobbyists hired by individual members including Google, Facebook parent company Meta, and Amazon.

Maryland passed its Kids Code law this year, and advocates consider it an evolved, upgraded version of the California law.

“I think a lot of people believe that the district court in California got it wrong, but just because they got it wrong doesn’t mean that folks can’t try and strengthen the bill against a legal attack in Maryland,” said Nichole Rocha, a California-based data privacy rights attorney who worked on both the California and Maryland laws. “So absolutely, there was a lot of consideration given to amendments to make it legally stronger.”

A similar bill passed this year in Vermont, but Gov. Phil Scott (R) vetoed it and lawmakers there were unable to override his veto.

The Maryland bills — House Bill 603 and Senate Bill 571 — were signed into law in May and take effect in October. It will require default privacy settings and safety measures for children. The law limits the collection of data,  including geolocation data, from minors by social media and other companies, as well as the sale of that data. And it requires that companies complete assessments in 2026 of new features, focusing on the effects on children.

I think a lot of people believe that the district court in California got it wrong, but just because they got it wrong doesn’t mean that folks can’t try and strengthen the bill against a legal attack in Maryland. – Nichole Rocha, California-based data privacy rights attorney

Negligent violations of the law are punishable by a fine of $2,500 per child per instance, while intentional violations carry a fine of $7,500 per child per instance.

The legislation was sponsored in the Maryland General Assembly by Del. Jared Solomon (D-Dist. 18), who represents Chevy Chase and Kensington, and Sen. Ben Kramer (D-Dist. 19), who represents Silver Spring. 

“It will be sort of an entire new framework for the way in which companies are supposed to look at their products,” Solomon told MoCo360 in May. “That’s through the use of data protection impact assessments, which will really require them to analyze their products for the potential harm that they might cause to young people. When weighing those harms, the harms have to weigh more than the potential profit.”

Attorney General Anthony Brown, in a letter to Moore, said that while the law was “not clearly unconstitutional,” there are “potential constitutional issues” within the act.

Key among them were the state’s data privacy provisions. Brown wrote that there is risk that “a reviewing court will construe some of the Maryland Act’s provisions … to regulate speech or other expressive conduct, and as such, subject them to heightened scrutiny under the First Amendment and find those provisions unconstitutional.”

But Brown concluded that any individual provisions struck down by the court could be severed from the rest of the law.

So far, there has been no legal challenge.

Rocha said she and others believe NetChoice could be biding its time in Maryland while awaiting a final decision on the California law.

“They’re just waiting to see what happens so they can position themselves,” Rocha said.

A spokesperson for NetChoice said the group does not publicly discuss legal strategy.

Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the House version of the bill, said in May that he was confident the Maryland law would  be the first to withstand judicial scrutiny. Solomon did not respond to a request for comment on the impact of the California ruling.

A key change in the Maryland law is language making it clear that there is no intent to censor content or limiting access to content, Rocha said. Additionally, Maryland more clearly defines “best interest of the child” and includes physical, financial and psychological harm.

And advocates point out that Maryland included language that prevents the entire law from being struck down if a court finds one or more provisions are unconstitutional.

Appeals court strikes down part of California law

California passed its version in 2022. NetChoice – whose members include Amazon, Google, Meta, Netflix and X – sued in federal district court on Dec. 14, 2022, and it asked for a preliminary injunction of the law on Feb. 17, 2023.

The district court agreed with NetChoice, temporarily blocking the law on Sept. 18, 2023, sparking the appeal to the 9th Circuit.

The appeals court ruling was, in some ways, a setback for supporters of the California law. In a 44-page decision handed down on Aug. 16, a three-judge panel agreed that a required data protection impact assessment in California law violated the First Amendment.

The assessment’s requirement that “covered businesses opine on and mitigate the risk that children may be exposed to harmful or potentially harmful materials online … facially violates the First Amendment,” the court panel said.

The appellate court remanded the case back to the lower court for additional review. In the opinion, the panel said it was “unclear,” based on the initial court review, if other challenged provisions of the California law “violated the First Amendment.”

Lawsuit watch in Maryland

The lack of litigation against the Maryland law so far does not mean it is in the clear.

Jain said the appeals court ruling in the California case leaves four open constitutional questions: Are data privacy protections and design safeguards constitutional; can the rest of the law stand if the court finds data privacy impact assessments unconstitutional; can social media platforms be required to verify or estimate the age of a user; and are duty of care provisions constitutional?

The Maryland law goes into effect in October. A legal challenge could still come when Maryland implements the law.

“Maryland’s law is very similar to (the California law), especially the Data Protection Impact Assessment provision, which the Ninth Circuit focused on as likely unconstitutional under strict scrutiny. That is an even higher standard than the District Court reviewed it under,” Krista Chavez, a spokesperson for NetChoice, wrote in an email response to questions.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.

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The House of Delegates is one vacancy shy of a full chamber following the swearing-in Monday of a new delegate from Montgomery County.

Newly minted Del. Teresa Saavedra Woorman (D-Montgomery) was sworn-in during a ceremony in the House chamber. The aide to Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) is just the most recent in a string of vacancy-related appointments to the legislature over the last two years.

“Today is the second greatest honor in my life, and I’ll explain why. I was born in Mexico, and as many of you guys know, I moved here when I was 9,” Woorman, 32, said following Monday’s ceremony. “I went to these awesome schools like Northwest High School and Montgomery College and University of Maryland, and those were great honors.

“But the first great honor of my life was to become a U.S. citizen,” she said. “I was jumping up and down at my naturalization ceremony. I’m jumping up and down inside right now because my ankle is still healing.”

Woorman was appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) roughly a week ago, after the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee nominated her to fill the open seat in the three-member District 16 delegation on July 12.

She fills the vacancy created when Del. Sara Love was tapped to fill the district’s seat in the state Senate that was vacated by Sen. Ariana B. Kelly (D) – who, herself, moved from the House to the Senate to fill the vacancy left by District 16 Sen. Susan Lee, who was chosen by Moore to serve as secretary of State. Love was sworn into the Senate on June 13.

One opening currently remains in the House, a vacancy created in District 38B by the departure of Del. Carl Anderton (R-Wicomico), who recently accepted a job with the Moore administration.

Last week, the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee nominated Salisbury businessman and county GOP Chair Barry Beauchamp, to replace Anderton. That nomination awaits final approval by Moore.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.

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Political central committees in Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions are charged with filling legislative vacancies and vetting the candidates to see if they’re eligible for the offices they are seeking. Those reviews, however, do not always include scrutiny of public records — including court records.

A whisper campaign against one candidate seeking to fill a House of Delegates vacancy has spotlighted the vetting procedures of state central committees charged with filling the positions. It is a process currently underway in Montgomery County, where the Democratic Central Committee on Thursday will recommend a candidate to Gov. Wes Moore (D) to fill a vacant House of Delegates seat.

Two of nine Democrats seeking to fill the District 16 seat vacated last month by now-Sen. Sara Love (D) were found to have had some contact with the courts involving criminal charges or other proceedings.

The criminal charges — and in one case a conviction nearly a decade ago — raise questions about how thoroughly political parties vet candidates. It also adds another wrinkle in an ongoing debate in Annapolis over moving to fill vacancies with special elections instead of an insular process involving party insiders.

In many cases, central committees do not ask about such matters. And when they do come up, it is rare that they are discussed in public forums.

Saman Qadeer Ahmad, chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, declined to discuss the specific candidates seeking the District 16 seat, or the degree to which the central committee has vetted the applicants. As a general rule, she said, the central committee checks whether applicants for legislative seats are eligible to serve — their age, whether they have been residents of the district for at least six months and whether they are registered Democrats.

“We’re looking at Article 3 of the Maryland Constitution, which lays out all the qualifications the candidates have to meet for a gubernatorial appointment,” said Ahmad, adding that the central committee, when needed, occasionally refers additional questions about candidates to lawyers for the Maryland Democratic Party.

‘A deep bench’

Nine Democrats declared their candidacy for the District 16 House of Delegates vacancy last month.

“We have an excellent slate of candidates,” Ahmad said in an interview Tuesday. “Montgomery County has a deep bench.”

Maryland Matters decided to review court records for all nine applicants after the publication received records related to a nearly 10-year-old case involving one of the nine.

Those certified court records, delivered late Monday to Maryland Matters, were collected by an unknown person in April — before the House seat was vacated, but when there was a pending District 16 state Senate vacancy that Love was expected to fill.

The identity of the person who retrieved the Frederick County court records, their motivations and reasons for holding the records for nearly three months — until days before Thursday night’s scheduled central committee vote — are unknown.

An unknown figure pulls a decade old case

In total, Maryland Matters found two of the nine candidates have been the objects of criminal or civil court cases in Maryland. The only other court record found was a recent speeding ticket for a third candidate.

Court cases are often fodder in heated campaigns. Even so, Diana Conway, one of the leading candidates for the District 16 House appointment, expressed surprise that a decade-old conviction for drunken driving would be raised now as an issue by an anonymous source.

Conway and her husband, Bill Conway, are civic and political activists who live in Potomac. (The couple were also early financial contributors to Maryland Matters and hosted two fundraisers in their home for the publication, in 2016 and 2022.) Diana Conway has twice been president of the Women’s Democratic Club of Montgomery County, one of the most influential groups in local politics, and is also a high-profile environmentalist in the county.

Bill Conway, an attorney, ran unsuccessfully for a Montgomery County Council seat in 2018.

The couple are also financial supporters of the county Democratic Central Committee and several other politicians, progressive causes and civic groups.

When offered a chance to review the records provided to Maryland Matters, Conway declined.

“It’s all true,” she said at the beginning of a brutally frank interview Tuesday night, which included a discussion of her 2014 arrest, her mental health and substance abuse issues — she said she is an alcoholic in recovery — and what has transpired in the nine-plus years since that incident.

Conway said she had not initially disclosed the incident to the central committee, but she expects it will now come up.

“This is not something I trumpet. It’s also not something I hide from,” said Conway, who said she practices “rigorous honesty” as part of her ongoing sobriety efforts.

In 2014, Conway was charged with driving while intoxicated, two counts of assault and two counts of malicious destruction of property related to an incident at a Frederick County car dealership.

Conway was accused of ramming a gate to a fenced-in lot at the Carmax in Urbana. She was also accused of ramming a golf cart employees used to keep her from leaving the parking lot before police arrived.

At least two employees had to flee the golf cart to avoid injury as Conway allegedly rammed it, according to court records. She also allegedly used her SUV to ram a fence several times, according to court records.

No one was seriously injured in the incident.

Court records showed her blood alcohol level at the time was 0.28%, more than three times the legal limit of .08%.

Conway later pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol. The agreement resulted in the dismissal of the other charges. She was sentenced to supervised probation, but violated probation when she unsuccessfully attempted to drive after consuming alcohol. Her vehicle had an ignition interlock device that stops the car from operating if the driver tests positive for alcohol.

The court then sentenced her to 12 months in jail with all but two days suspended.

“It was a terrible incident that taught me something and gave me a community that I can turn to at any moment, and I urge others to take advantage of that community,” said Conway, adding that it was a moment when she realized she needed to get help for both her alcoholism as well as what was then an underlying but undiagnosed depression disorder.

“My goal here is not to minimize my record but to turn it into an opening for others” to seek help, Conway said.

Conway said she had no idea who would go to the trouble of pulling the court records in April and circulating them months later.

“If the intention was that I’d back out of the race, it backfired,” she said.

But such charges can have an effect on lawmakers’ committee assignments in Annapolis.

In 2013, then-Del. Don Dwyer (R-Anne Arundel) was removed from the House Judiciary Committee after he was charged with operating a boat under the influence of alcohol. A year later, his conviction on that charge resulted in his being stripped of all committee assignments.

In 2015, then-Del. Jay Jalisi (D-Baltimore County) was moved off the Judiciary Committee after his daughter was granted a protective order following an altercation with her father. The disciplinary action came two months after Jalisi was sworn into office.

If Conway were to be appointed the House, her background could potentially be considered in any committee assignment.

“That’s not up to me to decide,” she said Tuesday.

Another candidate who has run afoul of the law

Another candidate seeking the District 16 appointment is Scott Webber, a licensed Realtor and vocal progressive activist in Montgomery County. Court files show he has an assault charge against him and is also the target of four foreclosure cases on property he owns in Bethesda. Those cases have been consolidated into one case.

Webber, who has been associated with myriad progressive organizations and causes in Maryland for years, acknowledged the legal cases against him and said the assault charges in 2007 came about because “I was involved in a messy domestic situation.”

“I was an abused spouse for 36 years,” he added.

Those charges currently have a “stet” status, which means they remain on file but are listed as inactive. A stet is not a conviction, guilty plea, acquittal or dismissal but is merely an indefinite postponement of prosecution where the charges remain on file.

Webber, who also applied to the fill the vacancy when former District 16 Sen. Susan C. Lee (D) resigned in early 2023 to become Moore’s secretary of state, said he sent emails Monday seeking meetings with the 23 central committee members because he felt the candidates did not have enough time to make their cases during last week’s candidate forum and the upcoming central committee meeting.

Webber said insider candidates and current elected officials have an unfair advantage when they apply for legislative vacancies, because they have easy access to the decision-makers.

“To me, there’s a problem with choosing the candidates before [all] the candidates are known,” he said, adding that he expected to have private conversations with half a dozen central committee members before Thursday evening’s vote.

Webber has been highly critical of certain Democratic leaders and has been part of a group of activists who have shadowed Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D) at public events, suggesting she has ties with brutal leaders in India.

“It puts a big target on your back as an individual,” he conceded.

Webber said the foreclosure cases against him have made him one of Maryland’s leading experts on foreclosure law. He acknowledged that he is a long shot for the appointment but said he was unsure about running for the legislature in the 2026 election.

Leave the vetting to the governor

While the governor has the final say on approving replacements for legislative victories, the party central committees currently hold most of the power in the process, as their nominees are usually approved. And such appointments are common.

Of the 188 legislators in the Maryland General Assembly, nearly 25% were initially appointed to their seats. Many go on to be re-elected. Some appointed to the House are later appointed to fill a Senate vacancy.

The person who is picked to replace Love in the House will become the 15th Montgomery County lawmaker — in a 35-member delegation — who first won their seats through the appointment process.

Under current law, when a vacancy arises, the central committee of the party that held the seat interviews candidates and recommends a replacement to the governor. An effort to move away from that system to one that relies more heavily on elections died in a House committee this year.

The current process has also resulted in some candidates with questionable backgrounds being sent to the governor for approval.

In 2013, the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee recommended Gregory Hall to fill the vacancy left by then-Del. Tiffany Alston (D), who was ousted after being sentenced for misconduct when she stole $800 from the General Assembly to pay an employee at her law firm.

Then-Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) rejected Hall because of a conviction years earlier related to a shooting incident that left a middle school student dead.

Alston was re-elected to the House in 2022.

Similarly, then-Gov. Larry Hogan (R) rescinded the appointment of Democrat Gary Brown Jr. to a Baltimore City House seat. The former aide to disgraced former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh (D) was indicted on state campaign finance charges two days before he was to be sworn in.

Ahmad said it is unusual for Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee members to routinely examine court cases involving applicants for legislative seats. If cases are brought to her attention, she will share them with colleagues. The central committee also looks at letters of support and opposition to the candidates, though those are not made public.

“Our main concern is, will that candidate be able to carry out that work with full integrity?” Ahmad said. “Our mandate is to try to focus on what their experience has been and their leadership abilities.”

Ahmad said the fact that the governor’s office also vets the central committee’s recommended candidate adds another level of scrutiny.

“At the end, it really is up to the discretion of the governor and the due diligence that his office does,” she said.

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Cannabis taxes paid to the state for the first three months of 2024 grew by less than 1% even as collections fluctuated sharply on a regional basis.

Maryland collected nearly $14.7 million in taxes on sales of recreational cannabis in the first quarter of this year, an increase of less than 0.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the Office of the Comptroller. The data released Wednesday is just the third quarterly report since  July 1, 2023, when Maryland residents 21 and older could legally purchase cannabis for recreational use.

“The growing cannabis industry holds immense potential for economic growth for Maryland.” Comptroller Brooke Lierman said in a statement. “Reinvesting the revenue from adult-use cannabis sales into communities that were damaged by misguided policies allows us to further create a more equitable, resilient, and prosperous future for all Marylanders.”

Maryland imposes a 9% sales tax on recreational cannabis products. There is no sales tax on medical purchases.

The Maryland Cannabis Administration divides the state into five regions — Capital, Central, Eastern, Southern and Western.

Currently, there are 96 dispensaries spread across the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore City. A comptroller’s spokesperson declined to release county-by-county tax collection data Thursday, saying that doing so could potentially lead to the identification of individual businesses and violate tax privacy laws.

Tax collections in some regions have fluctuated over the first nine months of recreational sales. Officials in the comptroller’s office and the cannabis administration could not immediately account for the variances.

The Capital Region, comprising the two most populous counties in Maryland — Montgomery and Prince George’s — accounted for more than $6.7 million in taxes, a 76% increase over the previous quarter. The amount represented 46% of all cannabis taxes collected in the first three months of the year, the first time the region has led the state in cannabis taxes remitted.

The $3.7 million remitted by shops in the Central Region, meanwhile, was a drop of nearly 44% from the previous quarter. The region comprises Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties.

In the Eastern Region, which includes nine Eastern Shore counties stretching from Cecil to Worcester, sales tax collection grew to nearly $1.6 million. That is 15% more than in the previous three months, and it marks the second consecutive quarter of increased collections for the region.

Sales tax collections in the Western Region grew by more than 29% quarter over quarter. It was also the second consecutive quarter of growth for that  region, which includes Allegany, Garrett, Frederick and Washington counties.

The  Southern Region remitted $618,218, a decrease of more than 40% over the last three months of 2023. The amount is also lower than the more than $760,000 collected in the first three months of legal recreational sales. The region includes Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties.

Taxes from the sales of recreational cannabis are divided among the counties, the state and the Maryland Cannabis Administration, which got nearly $2.8 million in this quarter. The rest of the money is divided between jurisdictions.

Areas disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition laws prior to last July receive 35% of the taxes collected each quarter, after the administration takes its cut. That fund will receive nearly $4.2 million from collections in the first quarter.

Five percent of the total tax collected in a quarter is earmarked for the state’s 24 major political subdivisions. This quarter the counties and Baltimore City will split more than $593,000. The split is based on the percentage of taxes collected by each jurisdiction. Those jurisdictions then share 50% of their respective cut with municipalities that have cannabis dispensaries that contributed to the sales and use tax collection.

Another 5% goes to a fund to help address health effects of recreational cannabis use.

A fund established to help small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses enter the adult-use cannabis industry also receives 5%. That earmark continues through fiscal 2028.

The state receives the balance. More than $5.9 million in taxes collected in the first three months of the year will go directly to the general fund, according to the comptroller’s office.

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The Maryland Senate is back to a full 47 members following the swearing-in Thursday of Sara Love (D-Montgomery).

The swearing-in ceremony in Annapolis came after Gov. Wes Moore (D) approved the June 3 nomination of Love by the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee to fill the District 16 vacancy created by departure of Sen. Ariana B. Kelly, who resigned earlier this year to lead the Maryland Commission for Women.

Kelly left the seat after a year in the Senate. She had been appointed in 2023 to fill the vacancy created when Moore appointed Susan Lee as secretary of state.

Love was serving her second term in the House of Delegates when she was elevated to the Senate.

A former director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Love was first elected to the House in 2018. She was serving on the House Environment and Transportation Committee and chaired that panel’s Motor Vehicle and Transportation Subcommittee.

Love took the oath of office at the Senate rostrum where Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) presides.

“You have a nice view up here,” Love joked with Ferguson.

In brief remarks after the ceremony, the newly minted senator thanked her mother, children, friends and new colleagues.

“I am excited for this opportunity and am deeply humbled,” she said.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.

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Four House and Senate committees are planning joint hearings into the death of a parole and probation agent in Montgomery County last month, the first agent killed in the line of duty.

Leaders in both chambers said members of the House Appropriations and Judiciary committees will join with Senate Budget and Taxation and Judicial Proceedings to review issues related to the May 31 death of Agent Davis Martinez, including budget and staffing, and policies governing supervision of offenders on release.

It comes as leaders of the union that represents correctional and parole and probation officers expressed a lack of confidence in Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs and issued a list of demands they said will improve safety.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City) said it’s “important for us to understand” what’s happening at the agency.

“We need to ensure that people working at parole and probation are safe when they’re doing their jobs,” Clippinger said. “We need to understand better what didn’t work here … and get a better understanding of how these problems have been ongoing for some time and how they’ve been raised to many different administrations, and we haven’t been able to solve these issues.”

Clippinger said he expected his committee and its Senate counterpart, the Judicial Proceedings Committee, to focus on policies related to people released into the supervision of Parole and Probation. The two budget committees will likely focus on issues like staffing levels, hiring and vacancy rates. The hearings could result in legislative action in the 2025 session.

“A lot of this sort of overlaps, so we’ll have to work together on it,” said House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s).

Union officials said last week they had no faith in vacancy rates provided by Public Safety. Barnes said the legislature does not have an “independent ability” to collect that sort of data and that he has no reason “to believe that numbers being reported by agencies would not be correct or accurate.” But he also said he is not dismissing workers’ concerns.

“Listen, if people representing the employees believe that these numbers aren’t accurate, I think that is part of the charge when we’re looking into the stuff globally is to find out what is accurate,” said Barnes.

“Are they accurate numbers? What are the staffing levels? And then, what are the policies in place in terms of best practices for safety and to make sure that these personnel are safe?” he said. “We do know, it’s not a big surprise, that correctional services have been understaffed for some time.”

A spokesperson for Senate President Bill Ferguson confirmed the two committees will participate. A joint announcement from Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones is expected later this summer.

It is expected that the joint panel will be limited in size and include senior lawmakers from the four committees.

Martinez, a six-year veteran of the agency, was found dead after visiting the home of Emanuel Edward Sewell, 54, a sex offender who was released from prison in 2021. Martinez’s body was found inside Sewell’s residence by Montgomery County Police who were sent to the Chevy Chase address after the agent failed to check in at work.

Police said Martinez died as the result of multiple injuries, including blunt-force trauma.

Sewell was arrested in West Virginia and extradited to Maryland. He is being held without bail on a charge of first-degree murder following a Monday hearing in Rockville.

Since Martinez’s death, the state has temporarily suspended in-home visits by agents. An internal investigation is ongoing.

Last week, leaders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees state council and the local chapter representing parole and probation officers demanded the firing of three top officials. Included on the list were Scruggs, Division of Parole and Probation Director Martha Danner and Deputy Director Walter E. Nolley.

Danner and Nolley have since been replaced, according to a departmental memo from Scruggs.

“The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is dedicated to ensuring the safety and security of its staff and the community and is committed to working closely with the union to bring about meaningful change,” according to a statement issued by the department. “In the wake of the recent death of Division of Parole and Probation (DPP) Agent Davis Martinez, the Department has taken immediate and decisive action to reassess and enhance our current policies and practices.”

The shakeup has done little to assuage the anger of union leaders and rank and file members who rallied Tuesday outside a Parole and Probation field office in Catonsville.

“We are sad. We are angry and we are frustrated,” said Rayneika Robinson, president of AFSCME Local 3661, which represents parole and probation agents. “It’s clear we have a problem to fix regarding health and safety and well-being of our agents, monitors and office professionals. This tragedy could have been prevented had the agency listened to our many attempts to discuss health and safety in caseloads.”

Robinson said union leaders took their concerns to department leaders in meetings dating back to September.

“We tried to discuss our concerns, and time and time again, our concerns were ignored. And on May 31, just over a week ago, our cries and concerns became our reality,” said Robinson. “As we continue to process the loss of agent Martinez, we remember his legacy and everything he stood for. It should not have taken this tragedy for our concerns to finally be heard.”

Union leaders issued an 11-point list of demands that includes independent reviews of internal safety policies and procedures as well as problems that led to Martinez’s death. The union also demanded better protective equipment, more agents and suspension of all in-home visits until a new policy is negotiated with the union.

“When your staff raises an issue with you or has a concern around health and safety, you must address them, you must listen, you must work out a solution and take next steps for everyone safety before it is too late,” said Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Council 3.

“The governor and his team have committed to meeting with us to change policies and procedures, and to address health and safety issues that actually members have been raising over the last year time and time,” Moran said. “Again, the governor’s office is now directly engaged to ensure there is follow through accountability and action.”

Moran last week called for Gov. Wes Moore (D) to fire Scruggs. On Tuesday, he said the final decision was Moore’s to make but added that he had not softened his position. Moran said he is no longer dealing directly with Scruggs or the agency.

“I will deal with the governor’s office. We’re going to deal with people that want to get stuff done,” Moran said. “I’m going to the boss and I’m going to the governor’s office, these people, everyone ultimately works for the governor so that’s who we’re dealing with. And the governor has made some decisions that we think are good steps forward, and we are embracing those decisions. But you know, we have a long way to go.”

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Union leaders representing state parole and probation agents are calling for the immediate firing of Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs and two others following the line-of-duty death of an agent last week.

Parole and Probation Agent Davis Martinez, 33, died Friday while conducting a home visit with a client in Chevy Chase. Martinez is the first parole and probation agent to die in the line of duty.

The incident launched an internal investigation and the temporary suspension of in-home visits by parole and probation agents.

Patrick Moran, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3, and Rayneika Robinson, president of AFSCME Local 3661 which represents state parole and probation agents, said the death was foreseeable and preventable.

“I’m not going to stand idly by when people are put in harm’s way or, unfortunately, make the ultimate sacrifice,” Moran said during a phone interview Monday. “Someone has been murdered while doing their job. That’s what happened, and that is on the administration. That is on the agency. That’s not on us. That’s not on the agents or their coworkers. That’s on the agency that was told time and time again that there are problems, and you need to address them, and their response is: We’re not discussing that, or we have no comment, or we’re not going to address something.”

Moran, during the interview, said Gov. Wes Moore (D) should fire Scruggs as well as Parole and Probation Director Martha Danner and Deputy Director Walter E. Nolley.

Moran called for firings shortly after a brief meeting that included Robinson, Scruggs and other state officials that he said was cut short.

Martinez died May 31 while visiting the home of Emanuel Edward Sewell, 54, a sex offender who was released from prison in 2021.

Martinez, a six-year veteran of the agency, failed to report in at work following the visit.

Montgomery County Police said they were asked to do a welfare check at Sewell’s address. Police found Martinez’s body inside Sewell’s residence. Sewell was not there when officers arrived.

Martinez died as the result of multiple injuries, including blunt-force trauma.

Sewell was later arrested in West Virginia. He awaits extradition to Maryland to face second-degree murder charges.

Inquiries to a Moore spokesperson about the incident and safety issues raised by the union were forwarded to a spokesperson at the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Moore’s office did not directly respond to questions nor the union’s call for firings.

Internal investigations and suspended home visits

In a statement, the department said it was “deeply saddened” by Martinez’s death.

“The safety and well-being of department staff are paramount concerns for Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs, who has personally faced the challenges of handling justice-involved individuals during her 29-year career as a corrections professional,” the department said in a statement Monday. “Addressing staffing levels and reviewing safety protocols are critical to fulfilling the department’s mission both to ensure public safety and promote restorative justice.”

An internal review and investigation of the incident is ongoing. The department has suspended in-home visits. Agents will “conduct both virtual home visits and in-office visits” pending completion of the review, the agency said.

Moore on Saturday ordered that state flags be flown at half-staff until further notice in honor of Martinez.

Union officials expressed frustration over what they see as an ongoing lack of concern for the safety of agents.

Robinson, who is herself a parole and probation agent, said agents lack proper safety equipment. Many go on home visits in what she called “loaner” body armor that is not fitted to individual agents.

The lack of an individual fit makes the vests less safe, she said.

“The agency has this habit of having us wear vests that aren’t fitted to us. We asked them to stop doing that, but they refused to do it,” Robinson said.

In other cases, the body armor is “expired,” she said.

Body armor technically has no shelf life. The National Institute for Justice recommends a minimum five-year warranty on body armor. Industry standards warn that products used daily face wear and tear that will require replacement outside the warranty period.

“So, not having the resources that we need, because even the tools — the tools we’re provided and the tools that we have — aren’t enough,” she said. “We’re going out in the community with a bulletproof vest and pepper spray.”

When asked if she believed agents should carry firearms, Robinson said: “that’s a complex issue.”

Robinson said increased staffing would allow for a pair of agents to conduct in-home visits where violence is a concern.

“That’s the one of the best defenses that we have — just having someone else there who can make a call to get us to help,” she said.

Caseloads a concern

Recommended caseloads for each agent vary and are based on the types of clients, according to the American Parole and Probation Association.

The group recommends a ratio of 20 cases per agent for clients that require intense supervision, 50-1 for moderate supervision clients and a 200-1 caseload for low-risk clients.

The average ratio statewide in Maryland was 67 clients per agent in 2023, according to a recent analysis by the Department of Legislative Services. The number is well below the 82 cases per agent using the American Parole and Probation Association standard, according to the analysis.

The capital region where Martinez worked reported a ratio of 87 clients per agent — the highest ratio in the state.

That same analysis showed that while the number of people requiring supervised release increased 7% in fiscal 2023, the total was still below pre-pandemic levels.

Currently, the agency has nearly 700 agents and 300 support staff and investigators supervising about 43,000 people statewide, according to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Legislative budget analysts reported a job vacancy rate of about 8.5% as of January within Public Safety, a figure the analysts said was “greatly improved from 16.6% in January 2023.”

Analysts said similar improvements were seen “when looking solely” at the division that includes parole and probation agents and other monitors. In those cases, “vacancies improved from 13.8% in January 2023 to 7.8% in January 2024,” analysts wrote.

In its statement, the department noted efforts to fill vacant positions, saying it has continued to make improvements.

“‘Under the secretary’s leadership, the department has made substantial strides to improve staffing levels,”  the statement said. “Upon taking office, the department faced a significant vacancy rate of 17%. Through strong efforts and strategic initiatives, the rate has fallen to 10.4% as of May 31. And among parole and probation agent positions specifically, the vacancy rate has fallen to five percent.”

Moran said he and others are wary of statistics from the department.

“The agencies have consistently played with the numbers in order to look good in front of the administration and in order to look good in front of the legislature,” Moran said.

“So, do I trust the numbers that the agency has put forward?” Moran asked. “No, not at all, because when we did a survey in the Department of Corrections at every single facility, the numbers were in the thousands when they were telling us the numbers were in the hundreds. So, their numbers are to be questioned.”

‘No, we can’t trust you.’

Both Robinson and Moran said union officials met repeatedly with the department for more than a year on safety concerns. Those issues were restated in numerous emails, they said.

Those same concerns arose Monday when union officials said they briefly met with the initial intention of discussing Martinez’s death.

Moran said agency officials during that meeting rebuffed attempts to discuss ongoing safety concerns. He said agency officials in the meeting complained that the meeting had become confrontational when those concerns were raised on Monday.

“These are people that are running departments of an agency, a major agency, one of the largest departments in the state of Maryland, who have supposedly been working in corrections for over 30 years and can’t handle a little confrontation — what they call in their words, not ours — some real talk about a tragedy that has occurred. Their way of handling it is dismissing it and walking out of the meeting, closing down the meeting. ”

The agency, in its statement, did not respond to the union’s characterization of the meeting Monday.

“The department is committed to working in partnership with employees, leadership, our and all of our stakeholder partners as we continue to evaluate and improve upon vacancies and professional policies and procedures,” the statement said.

Moran said union leaders are growing frustrated with what they see as a lack of cooperation.

“You can’t continuously go to people to say let’s work together and then refuse to work with them. You just can’t do that,” Moran said. “At some point you’re just going to say, ‘No, we can’t trust you, and we’re going to take other measures.’”

Rare union criticism of an ally

Comments from Moran represent a rare instance of public confrontation between the union and the governor.

The union endorsed Moore in the 2022 general election. Since Moore’s swearing-in as governor in January 2023, the union has enjoyed having what it saw as an ally in the governor’s office.

Prior to Moore, the union and then-Gov. Larry Hogan (R) were locked in a contentious, if not combative, relationship.

Moore campaigned on rebuilding state government. That promise included reducing state vacancies, improved pay and hiring more union workers.

The governor vowed to cut 10,000 state government vacancies — his own estimate — in half by the end of his first year in office.

That effort fell short.

Moran said the agency has to follow through on its promises.

“Look, you can work with folks, but if they don’t want to work with you, then you don’t leave us much of a choice,” Moran said when asked why he and Robinson were publicly calling for the firings.

“The Department of Corrections … parole and probation show no willingness to work with us,” he said. “They’ll meet with us, but then they’ve got to fulfill their obligations. They haven’t been willing to fulfill their obligations, whether that’s dealing with things on the ground in the prisons or dealing with things on the ground out in the community where the agents are out there doing this work. The concerns have been largely ignored.”

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