Secret ballot questioned in Dems’ nominating process

Montgomery, Charles counties’ central committees use rules that contradict state party bylaws

According to Maryland Democratic Party bylaws: ‘‘Meetings held by a local Democratic Central Committee for the purpose of filling [vacant elective offices] shall be open to the public, and votes for the purpose of filling the vacancy shall be conducted by roll call.”

Robert’s Rules of Order defines a roll call vote as when ‘‘each member answers ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as his name is called. This method is used when a record of each person’s vote is required.” This definition is also used by C-SPAN’s Congressional Glossary.

Montgomery County Democratic Party Secretary Elliot Chabot, a lawyer, contends that state party bylaws are ‘‘silent” on whether the votes must be made public.

‘‘... It requires the meeting to be open to the public, that the roll be called for the vote so that it can be recorded,” Chabot said. ‘‘This does not require how they voted to be recorded.”

That’s not the Calvert County Democratic Central Committee’s interpretation.

The central committee nominates replacements by a public roll call vote, ‘‘by voice so that all could see and hear who voted for whom,” said Christopher Reynolds, the Calvert committee’s chairman.

Any rules the committee adopted would have to be in line with the state party’s bylaws, he added.

‘‘That’s why the world is filled with lawyers,” said Reynolds, a lawyer.

In Montgomery, the central committee’s rules for filling legislative vacancies say its members may meet to discuss candidates in executive session, but votes must be cast in public by secret ballot.

Chabot said the committee called roll to record who was present, then voted privately when it nominated Dels. Susan C. Lee (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda, Jane E. Lawton (D-Dist.18) of Chevy Chase, Charles William ‘‘Bill” Frick (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda and Kirill Reznik (D-Dist. 39) of Germantown and Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village.

Charles County’s central committee used secret ballots to nominate Del. Murray D. Levy (D-Dist. 28) of LaPlata and several county commissioners, said its chairwoman, Virginia Benedict.

‘‘That’s how we’ve always done it, and I’ve been on the committee 18 years,” she said.

‘‘Our own bylaws are very skimpy, as are most county central committees’,” said Gene Davies, a member of the Charles County Democratic Central Committee for 20 years and a former chairman and vice chairman.

State Democratic Party officials require local central committees to file copies of their bylaws but do not always review them, said David Paulson, the party’s communications director.

‘‘The party doesn’t require prior approval, it leaves it to local committees — it’s essentially their business,” he said.

Some state party staff think rules governing local committee procedures should be reviewed before they are implemented, Paulson said.

Local central committees are not required to file their rules with the state party, although some do, Paulson said.

No one recalled Montgomery County submitting its rules, and no complaint has been filed, he said.

In any case, lawyers for the state party said the state party cannot change appointments after nominees are sworn in.

Once they’re sworn in, appointees could be removed only if the legislative body decided it was warranted, Paulson said.

‘‘In an era of well-deserved transparency, it’s the wrong direction to go in,” said Herb C. Smith, a political science professor at McDaniel College in Westminster.

Jane Lawton agreed, saying central committees that name replacements by secret ballot should consider changing that practice.

‘‘As public officials — and they are, too — they should err on the side of having open votes,” she said.

Asked why Montgomery Democrats decided to choose nominees by secret ballot, Chabot replied, ‘‘It helps us to move on, normally.”

Meanwhile, Nancy King said she has new fairness concerns because seven at-large seats that skew the committee toward more liberal east county members.

She plans to sponsor legislation that would create a 27-member committee made up of three at-large members and three from each of eight legislative districts. The bill would go into effect in 2010.

Staff Writer Janel Davis contributed to this report.