Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron was honored in both the House of Delegates and Senate Tuesday, a week after resigning his post. Barron served six years in the House of Delegates before becoming the first Black U.S. Attorney in Maryland. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
Erek Barron added another “former” to his resume last week, but apparently that didn’t matter to one set of his former colleagues.
Six days after announcing his resignation as U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Barron, a former delegate from Prince George’s County, was feted by both the House and the Senate during a visit to Annapolis on Tuesday.
The House presented Barron with a resolution honoring his “trailblazing career at the first Black U.S. attorney for Maryland and your commitment to safeguarding our communities.” Barron, who represented Prince George’s County’s 24th District from January 2015 to October 2021, was then mobbed at the speaker’s rostrum by every delegate from Prince George’s, along with Del. Heather Bagnall (D-Anne Arundel).
After a group photo with the delegates and House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), Barron walked across the hall to the Senate chamber, where he received more hugs and pats on the back from nearly all the senators. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) remarked on Barron’s “unbelievably effective service” and his “incredible and historic service as U.S. attorney,” before the Senate unanimously voted to present him with a resolution.
“These are friends and family and former colleagues. They know more than most the journey that I’ve gone through,” Barron said in a brief interview Tuesday.
He declined to comment on what he’s been through as U.S. attorney, a job he held from Oct. 7, 2021, until he resigned last Wednesday. Barron was nominated to the U.S. attorney’s job by former President Joe Biden (D).
He offered a few words in a statement released by the attorney’s office last week, when he called his service “the honor of a lifetime.”
“The office’s career attorneys and administrative staff are public servants of exceptional caliber. In support of our mission, they perform their responsibilities with excellence while maintaining the highest standards of professional conduct, and working with them has been a great privilege,” the statement said. “I am immeasurably proud of the justice we have done together.”
Do they cost more because they’re special?
Musical chairs apparently comes with a $4.2 million price tag.
That’s how much it will cost to run special and general elections this year in Prince George’s County for the open county executive and county council District 5 seats. County Election Administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey confirmed in an email the special primary and special general elections will cost about $2.1 million each.
Eleven candidates — eight Democrats and three Republicans — are in the race for executive, which had candidate forums on Saturday and again on Monday. The job came open when former County Executive Angela Alsobrooks was sworn in to a seat in the U.S. Senate that she won last fall, with two years left in her county term.
But some county voters this year will also be choosing a new council member for District 5, which includes Cheverly, Fairmount Heights and Glenarden. It came open when County Council Chair Jolene Ivey (D) sought the at-large seat of former County Councilmember Mel Franklin, who was sentenced last year to one year in jail for theft of campaign funds.
After Ivey’s special election victory in November, she announced plans in December to run for executive, but dropped out of the race last week, leaving the field of 11.
Meanwhile, six people are running for Ivey’s old District 5 seat. (There were seven, but Cheverly Mayor Kayce Munyeneh, a Democrat, wrote to tell residents this week that she had dropped out of the race and would focus on serving as mayor instead.)
The five Democrats currently vying for the council seat – Shayla Adams-Stafford, Theresa Mitchell Dudley, Kendal Gray, Ryan Middleton and Christopher Wade – faced off in a candidate’s forum Monday night at the Cheverly American Legion Post 108. The forum was co-hosted with Progressive Cheverly.
The lone Republican candidate, Fred Price Jr., didn’t attend.
The Democrats were asked about topics ranging from housing and economic development to immigration and illegal dumping. They were asked about what to do with the site of the Washington Commanders stadium in Landover if the team moves back to Washington, D.C. Here are their responses.
In a series of yes/no questions, all but Gray committed to putting $475,000 toward the county’s fair election fund next year, despite the county’s current financial straits. Gray was also the only candidate to say no when asked if she supported ranked-choice voting for county offices.
Early voting starts next week for the special March 4 primary, with the special general election for the executive and District 5 seats scheduled for June 3. The winners will serve out the remaining two years left on the terms for those two seats.
Well, that was awkward…
Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) said he wanted to get it on the record — but he didn’t appear to be all that enthused at the prospect.
Hershey asked the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics on Monday how it is that Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) does not face a conflict of interest between his job as Senate leader, where he may consider — or control — legislation relating to solar power, and his day job as senior legal adviser to CI Renewables. The company develops commercial-scale solar power projects and calls itself a pioneer in “agrivoltaics,” or combining farmland with solar power projects.
Ferguson, who took the job as senior vice president and counsel CI Renewables last year, disclosed that fact in his “Disclaimer of an Apparent or Presumed Conflict of Interest” form filed with the Ethics Committee.
The form said there could be an appearance of a conflict on issues “related to solar or renewable energy generation in Maryland, including issues related to generation incentives and project siting.” But the form went on to say that, despite the appearance of a conflict, Ferguson would be able to “participate in legislative action relating to the above fairly, objectively, and in the public interest.”
Hershey, who is a member of the Ethics Committee, took pains to say that he was not questioning the integrity of Ferguson, but that other people had been asking him about it and he thought it was appropriate to get it on the record with the committee.
“Whether it’s fair or not, he’s the president of the Senate,” Hershey said Monday. “This one just seems a little close to home.”
Ethics Counsel Deadra Daly said that in a “citizen legislature” like Maryland’s, it’s unavoidable that lawmakers will face issues that touch on their work lives. But committee guidelines say famers can still vote on agricultural measures and physicians can take part in debate on health care issues. It’s only when their action would involve a “very direct and personal financial interest” that lawmakers have to recuse themselves from an issue.
That did not appear to be the case with Ferguson’s job, Daly said. That was good enough for Hershey. “OK, I checked the box. I asked,” he said.
CEO stepping down
The Maryland Food Bank announced Tuesday that CEO Carmen Del Guercio is stepping down after eight years of leadership. Del Guercio will remain in the role through June 30 while the organization conducts a national search for his replacement.
During his tenure, Del Guercio guided the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic and directed efforts to ensure food was provided when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last year. The food bank now distributes 52 million pounds of food a year, which equates to 43 million meals for the year, or 119,000 per day.
“Leading the Maryland Food Bank has been the greatest honor of my career,” Del Guercio said in a statement. “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished together and am confident the organization will continue to thrive in the years ahead.”