The final run to the primary for the Maryland Attorney Generals race is filled with the usual war of words, yard signs, meet and greets but the interesting sidelight is the attempt by the Republicans to have Tom Perez,the only progressive Democratic candidate for AG, removed from the race.
Steve Abrams, a Republican candidate for the State's Comptroller position, is continuing to expend a great effort to have Democrat Tom Perez (www.tomperez.org)removed from the race for Attorney General in Maryland.
While there is some evidence that Abrams is acting as a surrogate for Perez's main challenger, conservative democrat Doug Gansler, (Abrams used Gansler's lawyer as a source of support for his lawsuits), there is a history of emnity between Perez and Abrams. Abrams fought Perez when Perez wanted to make cheaper Canadian prescription drugs available to county employees in Montgomery County. Perez prevailed but Abrams held a grudge against the "activist" Perez. He has attempted to have Perez removed because according Abrams, Perez lacks the correct qualifications to be Maryland AG.
Perez, a Harvard Law Grad, and current Law Professor at the University of Maryland, former assistant US Attrorney General for Civil Rights under Janet Reno and Head of the Civil Rights division Dept of Housing and Human Services under Donna Shalala, sought a legal opinion that he was qualfied based on his federal experience. Much of his Fed experience directly impacted Maryland and he litigated many cases in Maryland during his federal career. He asked that his Fed experience and five years of running a legal clinic with his Univerity of Maryland students in Baltimore's poorest neighborhoods count as having practised law in Maryland for 10 years. The current Maryland Attorney General issued an opinion supporting Perez saying his Federal service with jurisdiction Maryland plus his subsequent clincal work satisfied the constitutional 10 year requirement. Abrams refused to accept this and took it to District Court in Annapolis and lost in a directed verdict. He is now appealling to the Maryland Supreme court. Like a lot of Republicans these days, Abrams is unwilling to risk letting the voters decide.
All this because he does not want an "activist" Maryland Attorney General. You know, like Elliot Spitzer has been in New York, holding large companies to account, protecting consumers and civil rights.
Perez is running a Lamont style net/grassroots campaign against a much bettter funded conservative opponent. It seems that Abrams intention is to try and raise enough doubt about Perez to freeze his fundraising completely.
So far Perez has prevailed with almost universal support from the unions and progressive movements around the state. If he gets enough funding to get on TV in the three crucial counties in Maryland and continues his state wide effort he should be able to pull this off. A very crusty,cynical friend of mine said recently after I dragged him to Perez fundraiser said "I'm ready to give him the shirt off my back!" Let's hope Tom gets a chance to get his message to the rest of Maryland without being dragged into court every five minutes by the Republicans who hate everything he stands for.