Personally gaining from Wynn's resignation.

I live about a mile outside of Wynn's District (MD-4) (In MD-08, Chris Van Hollen(D)) and will likely be working as an election judge for the Special Election when they hold it.

Therefore, some of $1 Million dollars that the State of Maryland will be spending will likely end up in my pocket. What should I do with it?

•  Maryland law is deficient

  There should be provision for the Governor to appoint a replacement for a limited time. Perhaps that would have encouraged Wynn to delay his resignation, and spare us the expense of this election.

  How much are you getting paid, and where do I sign up?

  by FischFry on Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 01:39:43 PM PDT

  •  My guess is that...

    Wynn's early resignation is based on the same principles (lack of ethics) that have driven a number of Republican Congressmen to resign early rather than wait until the end of their terms (or face a difficult re-election).    

    If I remember correctly, doesn't that new Ethics legislation include a provision that prohibits Members of Congress from taking lucrative jobs in DC Lobbying firms for two whole years after they leave office?  And those new restrictions take effect when... the end of this Congress?

    So if he waited until the end of his term, he'd have to then wait two whole years to start raking in the big bucks (during which time his industry contacts might very well forget who he was and what he ever did for them -- ie, making him less valuable as a lobbyist in the first place).  

    I'm not 100% sure, but I'm thinking if that's the case, it wouldn't matter to Wynn how his successor was elected or appointed -- only his last chance to jump on the lobbyist gravy train. Since those corporate intersts were his true constituents all along.

    You can volunteer at the local Board of Elections, they ALWAYS need more judges. If not for this special election (since it's only one district), then definitely in November.

    by JanetT in MD on Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 02:22:47 PM PDT

    •  He wasn't waiting to the end of the term

      What I meant was that Maryland lacks a law like most states have -- one that would require a special election only if the seat was vacant for more than 75 days or 90 days, or 180 days -- but allow the Governor to appoint a replacement, if not. He wasn't going to wait until the end of the term, but he might have waited until it was closer to the end of his term, if that would have made a difference.

      by FischFry on Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 03:09:10 PM PDT

  •  Contact your board of elections

    They may not need people who haven't been trained yet since this is about a third of each of Montgomery County and Prince Georges County and they can pull from everyone they use in County wide, but if you want to know, check with MoCo at
    http://montgomerycountymd.gov/...
    or PGCo at http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov...

    I got paid $155 for the Presidential Primary, but that was with the $50 extra because of the extension of hours on polling (The state kept the polling open for an extra hour and a half due to the ice storm but told people to stay off the roads)

    Randy

    by naraht on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 05:26:07 AM PDT