Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.186) on August 22, 2001 at 10:41:
Md. Democrats Target Frederick Senator
Outspoken Conservative Battles Annapolis's Power Players as Redistricting Begins
Montgomery, Washington Post, August 20, 2001; Page B01
On the hottest day of the summer, with the next election 15 months away, the most controversial man in Maryland politics wheeled his Saturn sedan into a new Frederick subdivision, parked in the shade of a metal construction trailer and hopped out for a sweaty hour of hustling votes.
Dressed in shorts and a polo shirt, he jogged from door to door, introducing himself to those who answered, jotting notes for those who didn't: "Sorry I missed you! Thursday 4:22 p.m." Signed, state Sen. Alex X. Mooney.
By his own account, Mooney, 30, a clean-cut, Cuban-Irish, Dartmouth-educated, conservative Christian, has emerged since his 1998 election as Public Enemy No. 1 among the Democratic power brokers in Annapolis. Now they're coming after him, and Mooney said he'll have to knock on thousands of doors and raise a half-million dollars to survive in 2002.
In the decennial process to redraw legislative maps to reflect the latest census data, Mooney is among a handful of incumbent senators being targeted by Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) and State House leaders. Some, like Mooney, are conservative Republicans; others are liberal Democrats. What they have in common is demographic vulnerability and an insufficient willingness to ingratiate themselves with the governor and other Democrats who hold a monopoly on power.
"The bottom line with Parris Glendening is very simple: You either are with him or against him, and it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican," said Michael Steele, chairman of the Maryland Republican Party.
The Democrats who control the redistricting process say they have two goals as they redraw Maryland's political map. The first is to divvy up the state's growing population into fair, sensible districts of roughly equal size. The second is to protect incumbents and increase the number of Democrats in office, particularly in Congress, where Maryland's eight-member delegation is evenly split.
"If the minority party is not hurt by the governor's redistricting plan, it's certainly not going to be helped," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., who has traveled the nation as chairman of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee to promote Democratic control of state legislatures.
"The same thing happens all over," Miller said, noting that 11 incumbent Democrats in Virginia announced their retirement this year after Republican Gov. James S. Gilmore III revealed his redistricting plan.
Partisanship aside, having a good relationship with Miller, Glendening or House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. (D-Allegany) can be of critical importance, Miller and others said.
In Baltimore, for instance, the city's dwindling population guarantees the loss of at least one state Senate seat, maybe two. Whose ox to gore? Redistricting insiders say the top choice is Sen. Clarence Mitchell IV, a liberal Democrat and prickly backbencher considered untrustworthy by Senate colleagues. Last year, Mitchell angered Glendening by campaigning against a black judge whom Glendening had appointed to the Baltimore bench.
Similarly, loyal lawmakers expect to be protected and rewarded. State Sen. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Montgomery), for example, has been such a good soldier that state leaders may add a congressional district in Montgomery County so he has a clear shot at becoming the fifth Democrat in Congress.
"Absolutely, personality plays a part" in redistricting decisions, Miller said. "Personality and your effectiveness on behalf of your constituents are very important."
On either count, it would be hard to rank lower than Mooney. Even if he weren't a "mean-spirited, ultra right-wing, far-right conservative," as Miller put it, the senator from Frederick would be in trouble.
When he showed up in Annapolis in January 1999 after scoring a stunning victory over Sen. John Derr, a well-liked Republican moderate, Mooney, who had worked for conservatives on Capitol Hill, remembers being amazed by the bipartisan bonhomie.
"The Democrats were nice to me," he recalled.
He was assigned to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, where chairman Walter Baker, a conservative Democrat from rural Cecil County, took a shine to the bright, young Republican. Miller, too, said he offered Mooney advice.
But Mooney – a bachelor on the prowl for a traditional woman who will eschew birth control, quit her job and raise his children – won election as an uncompromising moralist. He beat Derr by criticizing votes in favor of partial-birth abortion, free needles for drug addicts and higher taxes. Mooney didn't want to "go along to get along" with Democratic leaders, and he soon began to lob grenades.
During the 2000 session, Mooney led a floor fight against Glendening's bill to mandate built-in trigger-locks on new handguns. This year, he bucked both Baker and the administration on two highly contentious bills, aligning himself with the black caucus in support of a death-penalty moratorium and leading the fight to block Glendening's proposal to prohibit discrimination against homosexuals.
Mooney lost those battles, and he did not lose graciously. In March, he publicly criticized Baker for failing to kill the gay-rights bill. Last month, Baker asked Miller to remove Mooney from his committee.
"I tried to work with him, tried to coach him," Baker said in an interview. "But in order to be successful in Annapolis, you've got to be a team player."
Miller is working to oblige Baker, but the Democrats who chair the other three Senate standing committees aren't eager to accept Mooney, either.
"He has this take-no-prisoners type of mentality. Shoot the wounded," Miller said. "When you have that type of mentality, you don't make a whole lot of friends."
Miller denied that he will target Mooney when he draws new lines for Senate District 3, which stretches from Frederick north through Washington County to the Pennsylvania border. But others expect the Democrats to lop off heavily Republican precincts in Washington County and tack on some Democratic areas near Brunswick to make Mooney's district friendlier to Del. Sue Hecht (D-Frederick), who said she is "seriously considering" mounting a challenge.
Hecht has accused Mooney of focusing on high-profile conservative issues at the expense of nuts and bolts local politics, noting that he failed to show up at a critical Senate hearing this year to request that three local programs be added to the state budget.
Mooney is ready. His last campaign galvanized the Christian right in the largely rural district. Bob Tansey, chairman of Frederick County's powerful Christian Coalition, counts the reelection of "young Alex Mooney" among his top priorities.
With his feisty reputation and conservative platform, Mooney has raised more money than any other Republican senator in Maryland. Last month, he sent out one of his famous fundraising letters, a six-page screed against "Trial Lawyers . . . Gun Grabbers . . . the Radical Gay Lobby . . . Environmental Extremists . . . the Abortion Industry . . . and our vengeful Governor." The letter included a photo of "my beloved mother, Lala," who was thrown in jail in communist Cuba and later taught Mooney "to thank God I was born in America."
The response: Hundreds of checks, for as little as $1.25, from admirers across the state. Already, Mooney has more than $100,000 in the bank for the 2002 campaign – including hefty contributions from the National Rifle Association and Americans for a Republican Majority. He is optimistic that supporters will help him raise at least $400,000 more.
"Alex is a strong advocate of issues that are important to the grass roots of the Republican Party," said Frederick barber Walter Mills. "Western Maryland is the forgotten part of this state. Why should Western Maryland have their views shoved aside and the people of the larger cities and larger voting blocs run over us?"
During Mooney's recent jaunt through the Frederick subdivision, potential voters echoed that view. From the stay-at-home mother watching her son sprint through a sprinkler to the medical office manager with a framed photo of former president Ronald Reagan on her living room wall, most greeted Mooney with a smile.
"Yes! How you doing? You're doing a good job!" effused Ahmad Coston, 40, a personal trainer and father of five, when Mooney introduced himself.
Mooney "votes for issues I feel strongly about and tends to buck the trend in Annapolis," Coston said, citing Mooney's opposition to "special rights for homosexuals" with approval. "Everyone toes the line up there. Anything that stirs the pot and gets the bees moving is good."
Mooney calls door-knocking "my favorite thing to do. For me, it's like going to Disney World." He introduces himself to everyone he meets, from grocery clerks to customers in the local barbershop. Even the young man who waits on Mooney at lunch gets a flier and a red, white and blue nail file. "Mooney," it said. "Working for you!"
"That guy's going to pick up a paper one day and read that I'm a racist and a hatemonger," Mooney said, predicting the Democratic line of attack in 2002. "But if I can make sure that he's met me just once, he's more likely to say, 'Wow. I can't believe what they're saying about that nice young man.'"