frederick county
The Frederick News-Post - 07/30/2017
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fredericknewspost.com Vol. 134 No. 289 6 sections
SCHIFFERSTADT
Museum receives historic designation
OF THE PEOPLE CITY OF FREDERICK
(Mayor and Board of Aldermen) RACE Representatives Population
GENDER Representatives Population (6)
(67,421)
(6)
(67,421)
(6)
(67,421)
9% Other*
52% female
33% female
ETHNICITY Representatives Population 16% Hispanic
6% Asian
By CAMERON DODD [email protected]
19% Black
Area residents and descendent’s of the original owners of Frederick’s Schifferstadt Architecture Museum gathered Saturday to see the property honored with one of the country’s highest historic designations. The Frederick County Landmarks Foundation hosted a plaque unveiling ceremony Saturday to celebrate Schifferstadt Architecture Museum’s recent designation as a National Historic Landmark. About 50 descendants of Joseph and Caterina Brunner, the original owners of the property, joined the celebration. Schifferstadt is the second National Historic Landmark in Frederick County. Monocacy National Battlefield also has the same designation. “The National Historic Landmark is a very elite designation,” Frederick County Landmarks Foundation President Carrie Albee said. “The celebration is a chance for us to reconnect with our foundation members and the community, and to hopefully encourage more interest in preservation in Frederick.” The house that is now the Schifferstadt Architecture Museum was built around 1758 by Elias Brunner on 303 acres of farmland his father Joseph Brunner bought in 1746. The Brunner family named the property after their west Germany hometown of Schifferstadt. Elias constructed the large stone house beside his father’s cabin, which was
67% male
65% White 48% male 100% White
84% non-Hispanic
100% non-Hispanic
FREDERICK COUNTY
(County Executive and County Council) GENDER Representatives Population (8)
(241,373)
RACE Representatives Population (8)
(241,373)
ETHNICITY Representatives Population (8)
(241,373)
5% Other* 38% female
51% female
63% male
49% male
8% Hispanic
4% Asian 9% Black
(See SCHIFFERSTADT A5) 100% White
81% White
92% non-Hispanic
100% non-Hispanic
BOARD OF EDUCATION GENDER Representatives Population (7**)
(241,373)
RACE Representatives Population (7**)
(241,373)
14% Asian 57% female
51% female
43% male
49% male
ETHNICITY Representatives Population (7**)
(241,373)
5% Other*
8% Hispanic
4% Asian 9% Black
Staff photo by Bill Green
Christopher Creger, 21, returns shopping carts as rain falls in the Wegmans parking lot Friday afternoon.
86% White
81% White
100% non-Hispanic
92% non-Hispanic
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*includes those who identify as more than one race, as well as American Indians/Alaskan Natives and Hawaiian Pacific Islanders **does not represent full board because one or more members declined to participate Figures may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2015 population estimates and current elected officials' answers to how they fill out the Census
Exploring representative democracy in Frederick County
By ALLEN ETZLER
[email protected]
As rain spits down in the Wegmans parking lot, Christopher Creger gallops through parked cars gathering a train of carts. He hooks a strap to the first cart and moves to the end of the carts dragging the train of nearly a dozen carts back inside the grocery store. As he approaches the building, a woman exits the store and walks around the corner. Creger stops the train of carts on a dime — narrowly avoiding running into her. “Whoa,” Creger, 21, says as he stops. “I’m sorry about that.” The woman nods and apologizes as well. “Have a great day,” Creger smiles. He picks up an empty soda can and throws it in the trash. Aside from the occasional facial expression, you wouldn’t be able to tell anything that Creger has autism. His smile and friendly nature make him the perfect fit for a job in (See SUCCESS A2)
Good morning!
By NANCY LAVIN, ALLEN ETZLER, DANIELLE E. GAINES and MALLORY PANUSKA
The fact that former Frederick city Alderman Bill Hall was black did not mean he exclusively catered to the needs of the city’s African-American community. “There were African-American issues I was probably geared to but that wasn’t my sole purpose,” Hall said of his time on the board from 1997 to 2005. “My sole purpose was to make Frederick city, if I could, a better place for the citizens at the time.” But, he also acknowledged that his skin color added some value to certain policy considerations. “One thing I know about life, and it works not only in politics but in life, if you sit at the table you’re able to structure the conversation,” Hall said. “Just by sitting there as an African-American…it makes you a part of the action.” There have been no black officials on
the board since Hall decided not to run for a third term 12 years ago. But that could change in the upcoming 2017 election, which features four African-American candidates vying for a spot at the City Hall dais. “In a diversified America, you ought to have diversity throughout your organization, regardless what the organization is,” Hall said. “Although we’re all American, we all don’t think alike.” The gender, racial and ethnic makeup of Frederick’s elected officials has been a topic of discussion among local and state advocacy groups amid continued diversification of the general population and upcoming elections in 2017 and 2018. The racial and ethnic makeup of the county — within the city of Frederick in particular — show a shift in demographics from the time of the 2000 census. (See REPRESENTATIVE A3)
EDITOR’S NOTE The Frederick NewsPost asked elected officials at all levels in Frederick County how they identify on the census to compare demographics with the general population. Two school board members did not return multiple phone calls and emails: April Miller and Colleen Cusimano. The News-Post recorded them as white, female and non-Hispanic for the purposes of data comparison and graphic illustration.
He who is different from me does not impoverish me - he enriches me. Our unity is constituted in something higher than
ourselves -07/30/2017 in Man... For no man seeks to hear his own echo, or to find his reflection in the glass. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post August 7, 2017 7:23 pm (GMT +4:00) Books................................ F3 Dear Abby .........................E9 Neighbors ................... F5, F6 Sports............................C1-5 Business........................D1-3 Classifieds....................D4-6 Comics ......................... E5-8 Commentary ................. E1-3
Employment.............. D4, D5 Fun & Games ..............E4, E9 Local ............................B1, B2 Lotteries ...........................A2
Obituaries.........................B3 Travel ................................ F4 Outdoors ..........................C6 TV best bets .....................E4 Pets .................................E10 Yesterday ......................... F2 Real Life.........................F1-4
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The Frederick News-Post - 07/30/2017 SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017
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FROM PAGE ONE
THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
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A3
DESCRIPTIVE REPRESENTATION IN FREDERICK COUNTY MUNICIPALITIES Jurisdiction*
Number of people
Gender
Race**
Ethnicity
Male
Female
White
Black
Asian
Other**
Hispanic
non-Hispanic
city of Frederick (mayor and board of aldermen)
6
66.67%
33.33%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
city of Frederick (general population)
67,421
47.95%
52.05%
65.42%
19.18%
6.22%
9.17%
16.07%
83.93%
Frederick County (County executive and county council)
8
62.50%
37.50%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Frederick County (Board of Education)
7
42.86%
57.14%
85.71%
0
14.29%
0
0
100%
Frederick County (general population)
241,373
49.32%
50.68%
81.44%
9.01%
4.26%
5.29%
8.10%
91.90%
Brunswick (elected body)
7
85.71%
14.29%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Brunswick (general population)
6,055
49.18%
50.82%
89.88%
4.86%
0.15%
5.12%
4.91%
95.09%
Burkittsville (elected body)
4
25%
75%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Burkittsville (general population)
50%
99.33%
0
0
0.67%
0
100%
150
50%
Emmitsburg (elected body)
6
83.33%
16.67%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Emmitsburg (general population)
2,951
49.24%
50.76%
89.36%
3.19%
5.63%
1.72%
0.85%
99.15%
Middletown (elected body)
6
83.33%
16.67%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Middle (general population)
4,432
53.96%
47.04%
90.25%
1.71%
4.24%
3.79%
4.87%
95.13%
Mount Airy (elected body)
6
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Mount Airy (general population)
9,353
47.26%
52.74%
93.03%
1.53%
1.70%
3.74%
2.28%
97.72%
Myersville (elected body)
6
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Myersville (general population)
1,812
49.12%
50.89%
92.60%
2.54%
1.88%
2.98%
5.96%
94.04%
New Market (elected body)
5***
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
New Market (general population)
951
48.26%
51.74%
91.27%
1.47%
2.94%
4.31%
9.57%
90.43%
Rosemont (elected body)
5
100%
0.00%
100%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
100%%
Rosemont (general population)
360
54.17%
45.83%
97.78%
0.83%
0.00%
1.39%
0.56%
99.44%
Thurmont (elected body)
5
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Thurmont (general population)
6,392
50.14%
49.86%
96.43%
0.75%
.69%
2.31%
3.75%
96.25%
Walkersville (elected body)
6
66.67%
33.33%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Walkersville (general population)
5965
46.71%
53.29%
90.66%
4.26%
1.66%
3.42%
2.78%
97.22%
Woodsboro (elected body)
4***
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Woodsboro (general population)
1,168
47.52%
52.48%
91.35%
2.74%
0.60%
5.31%
8.48%
91.52%
Maryland
5,930,538
48.44%
51.56%
57.60%
29.52%
6.03%
6.84%
9.00%
91.00%
*Elected bodies’ demographics were based on what individuals self-identified as. General population estimates and demographics came from the U.S. Census Bureau 2015 population estimates. **includes Native American, Alaskan native, Hawaiian Pacific Islander and multi-racial ***does not reflect the total number of elected officials because one or more declined to identify their gender, race and ethnicity for this project.
Representative (Continued from A1) In 2000, the county was 89.3 percent white, while racial minorities comprised the remaining 10.7 percent. The Hispanic population, an ethnicity that could be encompassed by multiple races in Census reporting, comprised 2.4 percent of the county. Compare those demographics to the 2015 Census estimates, and change is apparent. As of 2015, the county was 81 percent white, 9 percent black and 4.3 percent Asian, with the remainder comprised of other minority races and people who identified as more than one race. The Hispanic population — classified separately under Census reporting — also grew to 8.1 percent. City of Frederick residents are even more diverse. As of the 2015 estimates, the city was 65.4 percent white, 19.2 percent black and 6.2 percent Asian. Hispanics comprised 16.1 percent of city residents. The gender of city and county residents has not changed as drastically. The city and county populations have remained split nearly equally between men and women, both in 2000 and in 2015, estimates show. Gender representation among the current slate of officials — the County Executive and County Council, Board of Education, city mayor and aldermen — closely matches the general population. But racial and ethnic minorities have seldom served on the same groups of elected officials, both current and prior.
City of Frederick election information Dates Primary election: Sept. 12 (early voting Aug. 25 and 26) General election: Nov. 7 (early voting Oct. 27 and 28) Mayoral candidates Shelley Aloi (R) Randy McClement (R) Jennifer Dougherty (D) Michael O’Connor (D) Aldermanic candidates Bruce Blatchley (R) Katie Bowersox (R) Hayden Duke (R) Alan Imhoff (R) Nate Power (R) Todd Anderson (D)
lished by the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, “adding even a single minority voice to the deliberations of a small body can help the members better understand issues from the perspective of the minority community.” Increasing minority representation locally creates a pool of experienced candidates that can then advance to state and national office, ensuring minority representation at those levels of government too, the report stated. Willie Mahone, president of the Frederick County NAACP, framed it differently. Mahone emphasized that a candidate’s agenda mattered more than race, ethnicity or gender. Former Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski — the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress — had a famous catchline: “It’s not Importance of representation about gender. It’s about the agenda.” According to a 2015 report pubMahone pointed to the remov-
Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post 07/30/2017 August 7, 2017 7:28 pm (GMT +4:00)
Jeannette Bartelt (D) Antonio Bowens (D) Kris Fair (D) Donna Kuzemchak (D) Ben MacShane (D) Kelly Russell (D) Derek Shackelford (D) Kim L. Williams (D) Roger Wilson (D) More information All five aldermanic seats and mayor’s seat will be on the ballot Two Republicans and two Democrats will appear on mayoral ballots Ten aldermanic Democratic candidates will appear on the ballot, will be narrowed down to five Republicans will not have an aldermanic primary, all five candidates are set to move on to the general election ballot
al of the Roger Brooke Taney bust from outside Frederick City Hall as example. It was a white woman, Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak, who introduced the resolution that eventually led to the successful removal of a bust. The city has long debated removing the tribute to the former chief justice of the United States from outside its building because of his affiliation with the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that African-Americans were not entitled to the same rights as white citizens. Racial or gender representation doesn’t always translate to political power, either, said former Maryland Secretary of State John Willis, who now serves as an executive in residence for the University of Baltimore’s School of Public Affairs. However, Willis added, descriptive (See REPRESENTATIVE A4)
Is Frederick unique? Asked if Frederick was unique in it’s descriptive representation, or lack there of, Andra Gillespie answered in a single word: “No.” Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Georgia, has focused her studies on African-American politics and candidates. African-Americans elected officials are noticeably absent in local and state governments nationwide, Gillespie said. Other racial minorities and women face similar underrepresentation to varying degrees. The problem is most acute at the local level, according to a 2015 report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Based on the most recent data at the time the report was published, African-Americans comprised 12.5 percent of the voting-age population, yet comprise just 5.7 percent of city councils, and 8.5 percent of state legislatures. Latinos and Asian-Americans were similarly statistically underrepresented, the data showed. Eleven percent of the voting-age population identified as Latino, yet Latinos were 3.3 and 5 percent of city councils and state legislatures, respectively. And the 3.3 percent of Asian-Americans among the voting-age population
translated to .4 and 2 percent representation at the city council and state legislature levels, respectively. Women make up 20 percent of Congress, 24.9 percent of state legislatures in the country, 24 percent of statewide elected executive positions and 20.7 percent of mayors in cities with populations of more than 30,000, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Compared to other states, Maryland’s General Assembly is more representative than most, said former Maryland Secretary of State John Willis, who now serves as an executive in residence for the University of Baltimore’s School of Public Affairs. A 2015 analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures found that roughly 18.1 percent of state lawmakers across the country are racial or ethnic minorities. In Maryland, 33 percent of lawmakers were minorities, making the State House the fifth most diverse in the country, behind Hawaii, New Mexico, California and Texas, according to NCSL. In 2017, Maryland ranked tenth in the country in terms of women legislators, with 31.9 percent of the General Assembly seats being held by women. — Staff reports
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A4 | FROM PAGE ONE Representative Why are there fewer women and racial and (Continued from A3)
ethnic minorities among local elected bodies?
representation — a term used to describe having elected bodies mirror their constituents on multiple measurements of demographics — can make policies more readily accepted. He named as an example the all-male U.S. Senate working group tasked with writing a new health care bill. Even before a policy was made public, critics questioned if an all-male group would care about or prioritize women’s health. Hood College political science professor Carin Robinson engages her students regularly in a discussion about descriptive representation versus substantive representation. A typical question: Would Hillary Clinton represent the Republican women in her classroom better than a conservative male lawmaker? “There’s usually a great debate,” she says, with students weighing the benefits of descriptive representation and tokenism. But, there is some empirical evidence that shows voters who feel their government is representative are more trusting in the institutions, she said. “If you see somebody who looks like you in government, you are more likely to be involved in government,” Robinson said. “The U.S. Congress does not look like the American public in many ways.” About 20 percent of the 115th Congress is women, including 21 women senators and 84 congresswomen, according to the Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics. The current Congress set a record for racial and ethnic diversity with 19 percent of lawmakers who are nonwhite (compared to 38 percent of the nation’s population), according to a January Pew Research Center report. While two black men, Representatives Anthony Brown and Elijah Cummings, represent Maryland’s two majority-black congressional districts, the state congressional delegation includes no women for the first time since 1973. “We’re doing pretty poorly right now,” said Diane Fink, Executive Director of Emerge Maryland, a candidate training pro-
Supply: fewer candidates run, particularly qualified ones Turnout: local elections often show lower turnout among minorities Election structure: at-large elections, versus those divided into geographic districts, often make it harder for women and minorities to win seats Ballot style: Winner-take-all style elections can create more challenges for women and minority candidates, compared with cumulative or ranked-choice voting. Cumulative voting lets a voter cast multiple votes for the same candidates, for a total number of votes equivalent to the number of available seats. Ranked-choice voting limits choices to one vote per voter, but permits for ranking of candidates in order of choice. Sources: “The Color of Representation” report published in 2015 by the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and “50 years of the Voting Rights Act: the state of race in politics,” report published in 2015 by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. — Staff reports
gram for Democratic women. “We have no women in our congressional delegation. We’ve never had a woman governor. Ever.” Fink said programs like Emerge Maryland are helping those who might not have been encouraged earlier in life to seek public office find their footing in the political environment. While her program is focused on Democratic women, Fink said she’d like to see a state-level Republican counterpart formed. “I think the more women elected, the better off we are. On both sides of the aisle,” Fink said. “I [also] would like to see more women of color involved,” Fink said. “There’s a lot of ground for women to make up, but there’s much more ground for women of color to make up.”
City of Frederick The current slate of elected officials, including the mayor and Board of Aldermen, are all white and non-Hispanic. There are four men and two women. Though the split between men and women more closely reflects the city’s general population — 52 percent female and 48 percent male as of 2015 — all but one of the city mayors have been men. Former mayor Jennifer Dougherty is the first and only female city mayor. She made subsequent, unsuccessful bids for re-election in the next three city election cycles, and is again vying for the post in the 2017 election. Yet, when asked for her gender, race and ethnicity in an effort to collect representation statistics for all of the 2017 candidates, Dough-
Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post 07/30/2017 August 7, 2017 7:24 pm (GMT +4:00)
erty declined to answer. “I see no value in this other than to further divide people into groups of whatever,” Dougherty said in an email. “I am happy to answer any questions on policy or the city’s direction, but this is not one of those.” The other three candidates running for mayor this year all identify as white non-Hispanics; two are male and one is a female. Of the 15 candidates for alderman, 11 responded when asked how they fill out their gender, race and ethnicity on the census. Of those, eight are male and three are female. Seven are white, and four are African-American. There are no Hispanic candidates. Preceding Hall’s tenure, two other African-Americans have sat on the city’s Board of Aldermen. The first was Claude DeLauter, who was elected as a Republican in 1973. He served two terms, including one term as mayor protem. DeLauter died in 2001. In 1986, Bill Lee became the second African-American elected to city office. He also served two terms. Hall was quoted in a News-Post article after Lee’s death in 2004 as saying that Lee was the person who got him into politics with a call asking him to join the city’s Planning Commission.
Frederick County In county-wide elected office, women hold two of seven seats on the County Council and Jan Gardner became the county’s first — and female — county executive. Councilwoman Jessica Fitzwater (D) graduated from Fink’s
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THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
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SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017
Other muncipalities New Market Although New Market’s mayor and council members are all men, there is a history of women serving on the board. New Market voters elected four female council members in 2001, including Kathleen Snowden. Snowden was also the town’s first black elected official. Currently, three of New Market’s five employees are female, including Karen Durbin, the clerk to the council. In Durbin’s experience, the council treats New Market residents concerns and opinions the same regardless of gender, she said. -Cameron Dodd Middletown Jennifer Falcinelli is the only female commissioner and is in her sixth term. Of Middletown’s 16 employees, five are female, including Town Planner Cindy Unangst and Financial Officer Lacey Gordon. The town commission recently appointed two women as alternates to its all-male planning and zoning commission. -Cameron Dodd Mount Airy Mount Airy, a town with a population nearing 10,000, has an all-male town council and mayor. In this year’s May election, Leslie Dickinson ran as the lone female candidate — missing out on a win by just over 200 votes. Dickinson said in a March interview that she felt it was important to have a woman on the council. “It’s not something I’m campaigning on,” she said at the time. “But I do think that women should be represented on the council. It’s something I feel like has lacked a little bit in the past.” Wendi Peters, Gov. Larry Hogan’s appointee for state planning secretary, served on the town council until 2010. In 2010, Peters lost her bid for mayor to current Mayor Patrick Rockinberg by 110 votes. -Allen Etzler
Emerge Maryland program in 2013, a year before her election. She and Keegan-Ayer are the 7th and 8th women elected to the county’s governing board, formerly the county commissioners. Gardner, a former commissioner, was the sixth woman, and the third who served as the board’s president. Rick Weldon — a former county commissioner and state delegate — couldn’t recall a racial minority serving on the former board of county commissioners during his 36 years in Frederick County. David Key — president of the Frederick AARCH Society, which tracks the African-American history and culture of the county — said he also couldn’t recall any county commissioner who was a racial minority. Neither could recall a minority member of the county’s delegation to the General Assembly either. Currently, the 16 elected officials representing Frederick County in Winchester Hall and the State House are white. Women hold three of the eight seats in the
county’s General Assembly delegation. The Frederick County Board of Education exhibits a near 50 percent split in terms of gender representation. Joy Schaefer, who is Asian, is the board’s lone minority member, but the numbers suggest the board is more representative of its constituents than other elected bodies. However, it still lacks any hispanic representation for a growing population. Other minorities have served on the board in the past. Indian-American Zakir Bengali failed to win his bid for re-election in 2016. The last black school board member was Daryl Boffman, elected in 2006. Jay Mason ran for election in 2016 but did not receive enough votes during the primary to make the ballot for the general election. Mason said his skin color factored into his decision to run for the board. He said many black students approached him and said (See REPRESENTATIVE A5)
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“So many people cared for this house over the years,” Covahey said. “I get warm I walk Copy Reduceda to 76%feeling from when original to fit letter page
Page : A07
Representative (Continued from A4) they felt like they weren’t being heard. “That’s not to say the school board can’t represent the interests of minorities, they can and they do,” Mason said. “But the hard part is knowing what it’s like having dark skin. You can say you care about their interests, and you can act like you do, but it’s just hard to know what it’s like unless you have dark skin.” Because the board can’t control who serves, President Brad Young said he doesn’t place much value on the makeup of the board. “As long as you’re electing good people who have the interests of everyone in mind then it should be OK,” Young said. “And I think we’ve done a good job of that.” Young pointed to the recent transgender policy the board passed last month. The board doesn’t have any transgender members serving, but still knew the importance of enacting a policy with transgender students’ interests in mind, Young said. The board’s strategic plan goals do include having teachers and staff mirror the diversity of the students in the school system. “We have a long way to go with this. We also are far from having a board that reflects the diversity of the County,” Board Vice President Liz Barrett said in an email. Descriptive representation among local governments isn’t the only way to ensure all voices and interests are heard, said Kim Propeak, political director for CASA in Action, an outreach and advocacy organization. CASA serves Hispanic and immigrant voters and candidates in Maryland and Virginia. Propeak named civic participation in public hearings and representation on appointed commissions and task forces as crucial ways to engage the Hispanic community, as well as women and racial minorities. But those efforts don’t let a jurisdiction off the hook when it comes to making it possible for minorities to win elected seats — Frederick County included. “There should be a Latino in elected office in Frederick County,” Propeak said. Despite his own experiences, Hall maintained that the bottom line is what officials contribute. “If you bring something to the table, you have a right to be there,” he said. “You don’t have to be African-American to support fairness and equality.” News-Post reporters Cameron Dodd, Samantha Hogan, Kelsi Loos and Kate Masters contributed to this report. Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post 07/30/2017 August 7, 2017 7:24 pm (GMT +4:00)
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fredericknewspost.com Vol. 134 No. 289 6 sections
SCHIFFERSTADT
Museum receives historic designation
OF THE PEOPLE CITY OF FREDERICK
(Mayor and Board of Aldermen) RACE Representatives Population
GENDER Representatives Population (6)
(67,421)
(6)
(67,421)
(6)
(67,421)
9% Other*
52% female
33% female
ETHNICITY Representatives Population 16% Hispanic
6% Asian
By CAMERON DODD [email protected]
19% Black
Area residents and descendent’s of the original owners of Frederick’s Schifferstadt Architecture Museum gathered Saturday to see the property honored with one of the country’s highest historic designations. The Frederick County Landmarks Foundation hosted a plaque unveiling ceremony Saturday to celebrate Schifferstadt Architecture Museum’s recent designation as a National Historic Landmark. About 50 descendants of Joseph and Caterina Brunner, the original owners of the property, joined the celebration. Schifferstadt is the second National Historic Landmark in Frederick County. Monocacy National Battlefield also has the same designation. “The National Historic Landmark is a very elite designation,” Frederick County Landmarks Foundation President Carrie Albee said. “The celebration is a chance for us to reconnect with our foundation members and the community, and to hopefully encourage more interest in preservation in Frederick.” The house that is now the Schifferstadt Architecture Museum was built around 1758 by Elias Brunner on 303 acres of farmland his father Joseph Brunner bought in 1746. The Brunner family named the property after their west Germany hometown of Schifferstadt. Elias constructed the large stone house beside his father’s cabin, which was
67% male
65% White 48% male 100% White
84% non-Hispanic
100% non-Hispanic
FREDERICK COUNTY
(County Executive and County Council) GENDER Representatives Population (8)
(241,373)
RACE Representatives Population (8)
(241,373)
ETHNICITY Representatives Population (8)
(241,373)
5% Other* 38% female
51% female
63% male
49% male
8% Hispanic
4% Asian 9% Black
(See SCHIFFERSTADT A5) 100% White
81% White
92% non-Hispanic
100% non-Hispanic
BOARD OF EDUCATION GENDER Representatives Population (7**)
(241,373)
RACE Representatives Population (7**)
(241,373)
14% Asian 57% female
51% female
43% male
49% male
ETHNICITY Representatives Population (7**)
(241,373)
5% Other*
8% Hispanic
4% Asian 9% Black
Staff photo by Bill Green
Christopher Creger, 21, returns shopping carts as rain falls in the Wegmans parking lot Friday afternoon.
86% White
81% White
100% non-Hispanic
92% non-Hispanic
SUCCESS PROGRAM
Students learn life skills, take on employment
*includes those who identify as more than one race, as well as American Indians/Alaskan Natives and Hawaiian Pacific Islanders **does not represent full board because one or more members declined to participate Figures may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2015 population estimates and current elected officials' answers to how they fill out the Census
Exploring representative democracy in Frederick County
By ALLEN ETZLER
[email protected]
As rain spits down in the Wegmans parking lot, Christopher Creger gallops through parked cars gathering a train of carts. He hooks a strap to the first cart and moves to the end of the carts dragging the train of nearly a dozen carts back inside the grocery store. As he approaches the building, a woman exits the store and walks around the corner. Creger stops the train of carts on a dime — narrowly avoiding running into her. “Whoa,” Creger, 21, says as he stops. “I’m sorry about that.” The woman nods and apologizes as well. “Have a great day,” Creger smiles. He picks up an empty soda can and throws it in the trash. Aside from the occasional facial expression, you wouldn’t be able to tell anything that Creger has autism. His smile and friendly nature make him the perfect fit for a job in (See SUCCESS A2)
Good morning!
By NANCY LAVIN, ALLEN ETZLER, DANIELLE E. GAINES and MALLORY PANUSKA
The fact that former Frederick city Alderman Bill Hall was black did not mean he exclusively catered to the needs of the city’s African-American community. “There were African-American issues I was probably geared to but that wasn’t my sole purpose,” Hall said of his time on the board from 1997 to 2005. “My sole purpose was to make Frederick city, if I could, a better place for the citizens at the time.” But, he also acknowledged that his skin color added some value to certain policy considerations. “One thing I know about life, and it works not only in politics but in life, if you sit at the table you’re able to structure the conversation,” Hall said. “Just by sitting there as an African-American…it makes you a part of the action.” There have been no black officials on
the board since Hall decided not to run for a third term 12 years ago. But that could change in the upcoming 2017 election, which features four African-American candidates vying for a spot at the City Hall dais. “In a diversified America, you ought to have diversity throughout your organization, regardless what the organization is,” Hall said. “Although we’re all American, we all don’t think alike.” The gender, racial and ethnic makeup of Frederick’s elected officials has been a topic of discussion among local and state advocacy groups amid continued diversification of the general population and upcoming elections in 2017 and 2018. The racial and ethnic makeup of the county — within the city of Frederick in particular — show a shift in demographics from the time of the 2000 census. (See REPRESENTATIVE A3)
EDITOR’S NOTE The Frederick NewsPost asked elected officials at all levels in Frederick County how they identify on the census to compare demographics with the general population. Two school board members did not return multiple phone calls and emails: April Miller and Colleen Cusimano. The News-Post recorded them as white, female and non-Hispanic for the purposes of data comparison and graphic illustration.
He who is different from me does not impoverish me - he enriches me. Our unity is constituted in something higher than
ourselves -07/30/2017 in Man... For no man seeks to hear his own echo, or to find his reflection in the glass. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post August 7, 2017 7:23 pm (GMT +4:00) Books................................ F3 Dear Abby .........................E9 Neighbors ................... F5, F6 Sports............................C1-5 Business........................D1-3 Classifieds....................D4-6 Comics ......................... E5-8 Commentary ................. E1-3
Employment.............. D4, D5 Fun & Games ..............E4, E9 Local ............................B1, B2 Lotteries ...........................A2
Obituaries.........................B3 Travel ................................ F4 Outdoors ..........................C6 TV best bets .....................E4 Pets .................................E10 Yesterday ......................... F2 Real Life.........................F1-4
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FROM PAGE ONE
THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
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A3
DESCRIPTIVE REPRESENTATION IN FREDERICK COUNTY MUNICIPALITIES Jurisdiction*
Number of people
Gender
Race**
Ethnicity
Male
Female
White
Black
Asian
Other**
Hispanic
non-Hispanic
city of Frederick (mayor and board of aldermen)
6
66.67%
33.33%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
city of Frederick (general population)
67,421
47.95%
52.05%
65.42%
19.18%
6.22%
9.17%
16.07%
83.93%
Frederick County (County executive and county council)
8
62.50%
37.50%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Frederick County (Board of Education)
7
42.86%
57.14%
85.71%
0
14.29%
0
0
100%
Frederick County (general population)
241,373
49.32%
50.68%
81.44%
9.01%
4.26%
5.29%
8.10%
91.90%
Brunswick (elected body)
7
85.71%
14.29%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Brunswick (general population)
6,055
49.18%
50.82%
89.88%
4.86%
0.15%
5.12%
4.91%
95.09%
Burkittsville (elected body)
4
25%
75%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Burkittsville (general population)
50%
99.33%
0
0
0.67%
0
100%
150
50%
Emmitsburg (elected body)
6
83.33%
16.67%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Emmitsburg (general population)
2,951
49.24%
50.76%
89.36%
3.19%
5.63%
1.72%
0.85%
99.15%
Middletown (elected body)
6
83.33%
16.67%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Middle (general population)
4,432
53.96%
47.04%
90.25%
1.71%
4.24%
3.79%
4.87%
95.13%
Mount Airy (elected body)
6
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Mount Airy (general population)
9,353
47.26%
52.74%
93.03%
1.53%
1.70%
3.74%
2.28%
97.72%
Myersville (elected body)
6
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Myersville (general population)
1,812
49.12%
50.89%
92.60%
2.54%
1.88%
2.98%
5.96%
94.04%
New Market (elected body)
5***
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
New Market (general population)
951
48.26%
51.74%
91.27%
1.47%
2.94%
4.31%
9.57%
90.43%
Rosemont (elected body)
5
100%
0.00%
100%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
100%%
Rosemont (general population)
360
54.17%
45.83%
97.78%
0.83%
0.00%
1.39%
0.56%
99.44%
Thurmont (elected body)
5
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Thurmont (general population)
6,392
50.14%
49.86%
96.43%
0.75%
.69%
2.31%
3.75%
96.25%
Walkersville (elected body)
6
66.67%
33.33%
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Walkersville (general population)
5965
46.71%
53.29%
90.66%
4.26%
1.66%
3.42%
2.78%
97.22%
Woodsboro (elected body)
4***
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
0
100%
Woodsboro (general population)
1,168
47.52%
52.48%
91.35%
2.74%
0.60%
5.31%
8.48%
91.52%
Maryland
5,930,538
48.44%
51.56%
57.60%
29.52%
6.03%
6.84%
9.00%
91.00%
*Elected bodies’ demographics were based on what individuals self-identified as. General population estimates and demographics came from the U.S. Census Bureau 2015 population estimates. **includes Native American, Alaskan native, Hawaiian Pacific Islander and multi-racial ***does not reflect the total number of elected officials because one or more declined to identify their gender, race and ethnicity for this project.
Representative (Continued from A1) In 2000, the county was 89.3 percent white, while racial minorities comprised the remaining 10.7 percent. The Hispanic population, an ethnicity that could be encompassed by multiple races in Census reporting, comprised 2.4 percent of the county. Compare those demographics to the 2015 Census estimates, and change is apparent. As of 2015, the county was 81 percent white, 9 percent black and 4.3 percent Asian, with the remainder comprised of other minority races and people who identified as more than one race. The Hispanic population — classified separately under Census reporting — also grew to 8.1 percent. City of Frederick residents are even more diverse. As of the 2015 estimates, the city was 65.4 percent white, 19.2 percent black and 6.2 percent Asian. Hispanics comprised 16.1 percent of city residents. The gender of city and county residents has not changed as drastically. The city and county populations have remained split nearly equally between men and women, both in 2000 and in 2015, estimates show. Gender representation among the current slate of officials — the County Executive and County Council, Board of Education, city mayor and aldermen — closely matches the general population. But racial and ethnic minorities have seldom served on the same groups of elected officials, both current and prior.
City of Frederick election information Dates Primary election: Sept. 12 (early voting Aug. 25 and 26) General election: Nov. 7 (early voting Oct. 27 and 28) Mayoral candidates Shelley Aloi (R) Randy McClement (R) Jennifer Dougherty (D) Michael O’Connor (D) Aldermanic candidates Bruce Blatchley (R) Katie Bowersox (R) Hayden Duke (R) Alan Imhoff (R) Nate Power (R) Todd Anderson (D)
lished by the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, “adding even a single minority voice to the deliberations of a small body can help the members better understand issues from the perspective of the minority community.” Increasing minority representation locally creates a pool of experienced candidates that can then advance to state and national office, ensuring minority representation at those levels of government too, the report stated. Willie Mahone, president of the Frederick County NAACP, framed it differently. Mahone emphasized that a candidate’s agenda mattered more than race, ethnicity or gender. Former Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski — the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress — had a famous catchline: “It’s not Importance of representation about gender. It’s about the agenda.” According to a 2015 report pubMahone pointed to the remov-
Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post 07/30/2017 August 7, 2017 7:28 pm (GMT +4:00)
Jeannette Bartelt (D) Antonio Bowens (D) Kris Fair (D) Donna Kuzemchak (D) Ben MacShane (D) Kelly Russell (D) Derek Shackelford (D) Kim L. Williams (D) Roger Wilson (D) More information All five aldermanic seats and mayor’s seat will be on the ballot Two Republicans and two Democrats will appear on mayoral ballots Ten aldermanic Democratic candidates will appear on the ballot, will be narrowed down to five Republicans will not have an aldermanic primary, all five candidates are set to move on to the general election ballot
al of the Roger Brooke Taney bust from outside Frederick City Hall as example. It was a white woman, Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak, who introduced the resolution that eventually led to the successful removal of a bust. The city has long debated removing the tribute to the former chief justice of the United States from outside its building because of his affiliation with the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that African-Americans were not entitled to the same rights as white citizens. Racial or gender representation doesn’t always translate to political power, either, said former Maryland Secretary of State John Willis, who now serves as an executive in residence for the University of Baltimore’s School of Public Affairs. However, Willis added, descriptive (See REPRESENTATIVE A4)
Is Frederick unique? Asked if Frederick was unique in it’s descriptive representation, or lack there of, Andra Gillespie answered in a single word: “No.” Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Georgia, has focused her studies on African-American politics and candidates. African-Americans elected officials are noticeably absent in local and state governments nationwide, Gillespie said. Other racial minorities and women face similar underrepresentation to varying degrees. The problem is most acute at the local level, according to a 2015 report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Based on the most recent data at the time the report was published, African-Americans comprised 12.5 percent of the voting-age population, yet comprise just 5.7 percent of city councils, and 8.5 percent of state legislatures. Latinos and Asian-Americans were similarly statistically underrepresented, the data showed. Eleven percent of the voting-age population identified as Latino, yet Latinos were 3.3 and 5 percent of city councils and state legislatures, respectively. And the 3.3 percent of Asian-Americans among the voting-age population
translated to .4 and 2 percent representation at the city council and state legislature levels, respectively. Women make up 20 percent of Congress, 24.9 percent of state legislatures in the country, 24 percent of statewide elected executive positions and 20.7 percent of mayors in cities with populations of more than 30,000, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Compared to other states, Maryland’s General Assembly is more representative than most, said former Maryland Secretary of State John Willis, who now serves as an executive in residence for the University of Baltimore’s School of Public Affairs. A 2015 analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures found that roughly 18.1 percent of state lawmakers across the country are racial or ethnic minorities. In Maryland, 33 percent of lawmakers were minorities, making the State House the fifth most diverse in the country, behind Hawaii, New Mexico, California and Texas, according to NCSL. In 2017, Maryland ranked tenth in the country in terms of women legislators, with 31.9 percent of the General Assembly seats being held by women. — Staff reports
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A4 | FROM PAGE ONE Representative Why are there fewer women and racial and (Continued from A3)
ethnic minorities among local elected bodies?
representation — a term used to describe having elected bodies mirror their constituents on multiple measurements of demographics — can make policies more readily accepted. He named as an example the all-male U.S. Senate working group tasked with writing a new health care bill. Even before a policy was made public, critics questioned if an all-male group would care about or prioritize women’s health. Hood College political science professor Carin Robinson engages her students regularly in a discussion about descriptive representation versus substantive representation. A typical question: Would Hillary Clinton represent the Republican women in her classroom better than a conservative male lawmaker? “There’s usually a great debate,” she says, with students weighing the benefits of descriptive representation and tokenism. But, there is some empirical evidence that shows voters who feel their government is representative are more trusting in the institutions, she said. “If you see somebody who looks like you in government, you are more likely to be involved in government,” Robinson said. “The U.S. Congress does not look like the American public in many ways.” About 20 percent of the 115th Congress is women, including 21 women senators and 84 congresswomen, according to the Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics. The current Congress set a record for racial and ethnic diversity with 19 percent of lawmakers who are nonwhite (compared to 38 percent of the nation’s population), according to a January Pew Research Center report. While two black men, Representatives Anthony Brown and Elijah Cummings, represent Maryland’s two majority-black congressional districts, the state congressional delegation includes no women for the first time since 1973. “We’re doing pretty poorly right now,” said Diane Fink, Executive Director of Emerge Maryland, a candidate training pro-
Supply: fewer candidates run, particularly qualified ones Turnout: local elections often show lower turnout among minorities Election structure: at-large elections, versus those divided into geographic districts, often make it harder for women and minorities to win seats Ballot style: Winner-take-all style elections can create more challenges for women and minority candidates, compared with cumulative or ranked-choice voting. Cumulative voting lets a voter cast multiple votes for the same candidates, for a total number of votes equivalent to the number of available seats. Ranked-choice voting limits choices to one vote per voter, but permits for ranking of candidates in order of choice. Sources: “The Color of Representation” report published in 2015 by the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and “50 years of the Voting Rights Act: the state of race in politics,” report published in 2015 by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. — Staff reports
gram for Democratic women. “We have no women in our congressional delegation. We’ve never had a woman governor. Ever.” Fink said programs like Emerge Maryland are helping those who might not have been encouraged earlier in life to seek public office find their footing in the political environment. While her program is focused on Democratic women, Fink said she’d like to see a state-level Republican counterpart formed. “I think the more women elected, the better off we are. On both sides of the aisle,” Fink said. “I [also] would like to see more women of color involved,” Fink said. “There’s a lot of ground for women to make up, but there’s much more ground for women of color to make up.”
City of Frederick The current slate of elected officials, including the mayor and Board of Aldermen, are all white and non-Hispanic. There are four men and two women. Though the split between men and women more closely reflects the city’s general population — 52 percent female and 48 percent male as of 2015 — all but one of the city mayors have been men. Former mayor Jennifer Dougherty is the first and only female city mayor. She made subsequent, unsuccessful bids for re-election in the next three city election cycles, and is again vying for the post in the 2017 election. Yet, when asked for her gender, race and ethnicity in an effort to collect representation statistics for all of the 2017 candidates, Dough-
Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post 07/30/2017 August 7, 2017 7:24 pm (GMT +4:00)
erty declined to answer. “I see no value in this other than to further divide people into groups of whatever,” Dougherty said in an email. “I am happy to answer any questions on policy or the city’s direction, but this is not one of those.” The other three candidates running for mayor this year all identify as white non-Hispanics; two are male and one is a female. Of the 15 candidates for alderman, 11 responded when asked how they fill out their gender, race and ethnicity on the census. Of those, eight are male and three are female. Seven are white, and four are African-American. There are no Hispanic candidates. Preceding Hall’s tenure, two other African-Americans have sat on the city’s Board of Aldermen. The first was Claude DeLauter, who was elected as a Republican in 1973. He served two terms, including one term as mayor protem. DeLauter died in 2001. In 1986, Bill Lee became the second African-American elected to city office. He also served two terms. Hall was quoted in a News-Post article after Lee’s death in 2004 as saying that Lee was the person who got him into politics with a call asking him to join the city’s Planning Commission.
Frederick County In county-wide elected office, women hold two of seven seats on the County Council and Jan Gardner became the county’s first — and female — county executive. Councilwoman Jessica Fitzwater (D) graduated from Fink’s
Page : A06
THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
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Other muncipalities New Market Although New Market’s mayor and council members are all men, there is a history of women serving on the board. New Market voters elected four female council members in 2001, including Kathleen Snowden. Snowden was also the town’s first black elected official. Currently, three of New Market’s five employees are female, including Karen Durbin, the clerk to the council. In Durbin’s experience, the council treats New Market residents concerns and opinions the same regardless of gender, she said. -Cameron Dodd Middletown Jennifer Falcinelli is the only female commissioner and is in her sixth term. Of Middletown’s 16 employees, five are female, including Town Planner Cindy Unangst and Financial Officer Lacey Gordon. The town commission recently appointed two women as alternates to its all-male planning and zoning commission. -Cameron Dodd Mount Airy Mount Airy, a town with a population nearing 10,000, has an all-male town council and mayor. In this year’s May election, Leslie Dickinson ran as the lone female candidate — missing out on a win by just over 200 votes. Dickinson said in a March interview that she felt it was important to have a woman on the council. “It’s not something I’m campaigning on,” she said at the time. “But I do think that women should be represented on the council. It’s something I feel like has lacked a little bit in the past.” Wendi Peters, Gov. Larry Hogan’s appointee for state planning secretary, served on the town council until 2010. In 2010, Peters lost her bid for mayor to current Mayor Patrick Rockinberg by 110 votes. -Allen Etzler
Emerge Maryland program in 2013, a year before her election. She and Keegan-Ayer are the 7th and 8th women elected to the county’s governing board, formerly the county commissioners. Gardner, a former commissioner, was the sixth woman, and the third who served as the board’s president. Rick Weldon — a former county commissioner and state delegate — couldn’t recall a racial minority serving on the former board of county commissioners during his 36 years in Frederick County. David Key — president of the Frederick AARCH Society, which tracks the African-American history and culture of the county — said he also couldn’t recall any county commissioner who was a racial minority. Neither could recall a minority member of the county’s delegation to the General Assembly either. Currently, the 16 elected officials representing Frederick County in Winchester Hall and the State House are white. Women hold three of the eight seats in the
county’s General Assembly delegation. The Frederick County Board of Education exhibits a near 50 percent split in terms of gender representation. Joy Schaefer, who is Asian, is the board’s lone minority member, but the numbers suggest the board is more representative of its constituents than other elected bodies. However, it still lacks any hispanic representation for a growing population. Other minorities have served on the board in the past. Indian-American Zakir Bengali failed to win his bid for re-election in 2016. The last black school board member was Daryl Boffman, elected in 2006. Jay Mason ran for election in 2016 but did not receive enough votes during the primary to make the ballot for the general election. Mason said his skin color factored into his decision to run for the board. He said many black students approached him and said (See REPRESENTATIVE A5)
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Page : A07
Representative (Continued from A4) they felt like they weren’t being heard. “That’s not to say the school board can’t represent the interests of minorities, they can and they do,” Mason said. “But the hard part is knowing what it’s like having dark skin. You can say you care about their interests, and you can act like you do, but it’s just hard to know what it’s like unless you have dark skin.” Because the board can’t control who serves, President Brad Young said he doesn’t place much value on the makeup of the board. “As long as you’re electing good people who have the interests of everyone in mind then it should be OK,” Young said. “And I think we’ve done a good job of that.” Young pointed to the recent transgender policy the board passed last month. The board doesn’t have any transgender members serving, but still knew the importance of enacting a policy with transgender students’ interests in mind, Young said. The board’s strategic plan goals do include having teachers and staff mirror the diversity of the students in the school system. “We have a long way to go with this. We also are far from having a board that reflects the diversity of the County,” Board Vice President Liz Barrett said in an email. Descriptive representation among local governments isn’t the only way to ensure all voices and interests are heard, said Kim Propeak, political director for CASA in Action, an outreach and advocacy organization. CASA serves Hispanic and immigrant voters and candidates in Maryland and Virginia. Propeak named civic participation in public hearings and representation on appointed commissions and task forces as crucial ways to engage the Hispanic community, as well as women and racial minorities. But those efforts don’t let a jurisdiction off the hook when it comes to making it possible for minorities to win elected seats — Frederick County included. “There should be a Latino in elected office in Frederick County,” Propeak said. Despite his own experiences, Hall maintained that the bottom line is what officials contribute. “If you bring something to the table, you have a right to be there,” he said. “You don’t have to be African-American to support fairness and equality.” News-Post reporters Cameron Dodd, Samantha Hogan, Kelsi Loos and Kate Masters contributed to this report. Copyright © 2017 Frederick News-Post 07/30/2017 August 7, 2017 7:24 pm (GMT +4:00)
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