Four men and one woman, what a shame. The last two open house seats in MoCo were filled by men appointed to replace women. Thank goodness the lone woman, Roz Pelles, is an outstanding candidate. I hope the Central Committee does the right thing in replacing Jane Lawton with another woman. And I hope in the future, more women in Maryland throw their hat in the ring. The Maryland General Assembly is 2/3 male. And the number of women is dropping.

Yes Ariana!

All our politics should be governed by a quota system.

Forget about merit.

As a long-time District 18 activist, I am more concerned that the decision is not the voters to make.

To have sex or race or religion be the main point on the message tells more about the poster than about the candidates. And we have several very good candidates based on their qualifications.

The voters of District 18 have done a very good job of selecting people based on qualifications regardless of their gender, race, religion or orientation. In 2002, we had 3 women and a man represent us. Among that group we have selected an openly gay man to represent us as well as the first Hispanic in Annapolis. In 2008, we will have either 2 women or 1 woman in our delegation but gender has not been the main topic inside the boundaries. I am far more concerned when people outside the district (and I don't know where you live) determine the "best" candidate by gender only.

Let the voters decide, not under this horse feathers system we have now.

Look here for more:
http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2007/12/blowback-in-district-18-vacancy.html

Kevin, I totally agree with you. My main point is that when the Central Committee rushes to appoint someone, few qualified women generally apply. Women candidates fare better in open elections than they do in these rushed vacancy appointments. The Montgomery County Democratic Party registered voters are 59% female, and only one of the five candidates is a woman.

"Women candidates fare better in open elections than they do in these rushed vacancy appointments."

Oh yeah??

Last 5 MCDCC Appointments:

Delegate Susan Lee (Female)
Delegate Jane Lawton (Female)
Senator Nancy King (Female)
Delegate Kirill Reznik (Male)
Delegate Bill Frick (Male)

3 out of the last 5 appoinments were women.

Gee, where was this comment when there was the vacancies in District 39 (three men) or District 16 (IIRC 11 candidates and 3 or 4 women) a mere two months ago?

Tell me why gender should be ahead of any other criteria? Such as these minor things: qualified, knowledgeable (on county issues, state and federal issues), and heck even maybe local District 18 issues? Include gender -- sure but be sure to include ALL factors. This coming back to gender is offensive. Reverse things and say "we should elect someone because they are a male, or white, or straight." See how fast the PC police will hit this blog if your statement was reversed.

Let's get beyond race/ gender, which has been the nasty undertow of this race, and talk about the issues that are important to the people who live there. The residents of 18 do not talk about people and classify them by gender or race. Why start here?

If you look at this election cycle, which is only fair, since the MCDCC is an elected position, there appears to be the beginings of a trend of appointing men to replace women. It really depends on what they do with this next appontment.

Nancy King (replaced Sen. Hogan)

Kirill Resnick (replaced Nancy King)
Bill Frick (replaced Marilyn Goldwater)
___________ (replacing Jane Lawton)

The next delegate will be chosen by skin color and body parts.

I think it is great that the two most qualified candidates are also both African American.

But I also think as Democrats, we are still allowed to support affirmative action. That means that among two equally qualified candidates (which I think is the case here) we really should consider sex, race, economic background, etc.

The Maryland Democratic Party Primary is February 12 and almost all Democrats will be voting in District 18. So why put a few party people, almost all of whom do not live in District 18, above the people in District 18? State legislative seats that become vacant before the Presidential Primary should be filled for the remaining 33 months by the voters in that district and everybody above who blogged in knows it.

And of course a question that Ann should havfe addressed is, "Who has the Governor told the Central Committee he wants to fill the seat?" That person is going to be one who can best serve the Governor's purpose of financing the state government with Montgomery County tax dollars.

"The Maryland General Assembly is 2/3 male. And the number of women is dropping."

What, are they getting sex changes, too?

As for the 18th District, does it really matter which one of these MoCo leftist clones gets the seat? At least the tranny would have been entertaining - they could have sat him next to Don Dwyer!

Where is the Post reporting on this vacancy? The Post writes that there has been a "crush of calls and e-mails," but the Post knows that there is only one call that matters---that of the Governor. Why hasn't Ann asked that question around? Is she a naive school girl? I don't think so. Are her editors not asking that question because they know the Governor will continue to use Montgomery County as his personal slush fund in financing the state government as the editors have said in numerous editorials they want? This whole situation is a democratic (small d) travesty. We have an election on February 12 where all Democrats will be voting just after the largest tax increase in state history. All the legislators from District 18 voted down the line with the Governor on every one of his tax increases. So who gets to say, "is that is the way the people of District 18 want their legislators votiing?" The people of District 18? NO! Party people who do not even live in District 18, who have their own political axes to grind and who know that the Governor has the patronage to give them what the want! And the Post sits there content to see O'Malley milk us dry. I went down to Annapolis and may have been the only person who got to actually testify against the 20% increase in the regressive state sales tax. Nat McFadden was on the committee, a Senator from Baltimore. You should have seen how agitated he got when I suggested that instead of dispersing Thornton money to a State Board of Education that was substituting R & R projects for graduation tests on the 3Rs, we get new Michelle Rhee-type leadership on the State Board of Education! He and Chairman Currie from PG County almost blew a gasket. Currie and McFadden are down in Annapolis with one purpose in mind---to get more money for their districts and they know where to get it just as the Governor does----MONTGOMERY COUNTY. The 16% of Marylanders who live in Montgomery County are paying more than 50% of the huge increase in the state income tax with the help of all the legislators from District 18. And now when there is a vacancy where voters could have their say on these important tax issues, the voters are left out and party people who want to please the Montgomery County-soaking Governor are making the pick the Governor has told them to make. The Post, which shortly will start running editorials saying that the county should exceed the charter property tax limit, is silently applauding while walking around patting themselves on the back telling themselves that they are an investigative newspaper because they have said "there has been a crush of phone calls and e-mails" on this vacancy. The Governor has already made this pick, just as the Montgomery County taxpayers have already gotten soaked and, because of this pick which ignores the voters of District 18, will continue to get soaked.

Why did Senator Madelano vote for extending the sales tax to computer services? Does he want us to move to Virgnia? I thought he was a tax expert.

The comments above by "Baltimoron" show exactly what this ignoranti has in his head - not much, and what there is - crap, plain and simple.

Forgive me I don't have a better word that doesn't border on profanity even more.