The rapid transformation of Charles County's political leadership pushed forward on two fronts this week as Republican leaders chose Commissioner W. Daniel Mayer to fill a state delegate vacancy, and Democrat Edith J. Patterson was appointed as a county commissioner.
The state legislative opening came up last week after Del. W. Louis Hennessy (R-Charles) was appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) to be a District Court judge for Charles County. In making its nomination to replace Hennessy on Monday night, the county's Republican Central Committee chose not to interview any candidates. Instead, it deferred to the wishes of Ehrlich, who asked for Mayer (R-La Plata) to fill the seat, said Central Committee Chairman John Rutherford.
W. Daniel Mayer was nominated by Charles County Republican leaders to fill a state delegate seat.
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"The governor made a request, and we honored it," Rutherford said. "Mayer brings a lot of experience, he'll work really hard, and I think he knows how things work in Annapolis very well."
Mayer, 63, has served as a county commissioner since 1994. He describes himself as a close friend and political ally of Ehrlich's. He said he hoped he could help the governor push his agenda through a legislature with a solid Democratic majority.
The Central Committee forwarded Mayer's name to Ehrlich on Tuesday for approval. If accepted, Mayer plans to leave the board after Hennessy steps down, which is scheduled for the end of the month.
Mayer's planned departure is the latest in a series of Charles County political shifts that started when Del. Van T. Mitchell (D) resigned in September to take a post in the Ehrlich administration. Then-commissioners President Murray D. Levy (D) replaced Mitchell, and Levy's post was filled by Commissioner Wayne Cooper (D). That led to a vacancy in District 2 that was filled Tuesday, when Ehrlich approved the Democratic Central Committee's nomination of Patterson.
Patterson, 59, is an administrator at the College of Southern Maryland. She will be the first black commissioner in Charles County history. Patterson said she would join the board Jan. 24 after spending time familiarizing herself with issues and constituents in western Charles.
"I'm just looking forward to meeting with associations and various civic groups," she said. "I feel . . . very excited about this."
With Mayer on the way out, the Republican Central Committee will have to fill his District 1 commissioner seat. The committee set a deadline of Jan. 21 to accept résumés and applications. At a meeting three days later, it plans to establish a date for interviewing finalists, Rutherford said.
By Tuesday afternoon, two candidates -- Kevin Wedding and Jack Cheseldine -- had applied, and Rutherford said he expects several more candidates.
Wedding, 40, is the chief judge of the Charles County Orphans Court, a real estate agent and a manager of an automobile repair facility in Newburg. The La Plata resident was also the president of the Greater Waldorf Jaycees community center last year and is a former member of the Republican Central Committee. He said his major concerns are fully funding the school system, boosting economic development and easing congestion on roads.
"If anyone takes a drive in Waldorf on a Saturday morning, you can see there's a transportation problem," he said.
Cheseldine, 61, of Hughesville is retired and works part time as a cashier at the White Plains Golf Course. He owned a liquor store in St. Charles for two decades until 2000 and serves on the county's liquor board. He was emphatic about his biggest concern for the county.
"Definitely growth," he said. "We've got to contain growth. . . . We're getting almost like [Prince George's County] now, and we don't need it."
In addition, businesswoman Candice Quinn Kelly of La Plata has said she would be interested in the position, though she hadn't applied by Tuesday. Kelly, 49, is the president and chief executive of Waldorf-based Maredith Management, which manages neighborhood associations. She ran for county commissioner in 1994 and has served as executive director of a homeless shelter in Hughesville.
"I'm well aware of the needs of the poor and the disenfranchised," she said. "And I'm also well aware of how important the business community is and of keeping communities new and viable."
