FCRCC: Inside the Most Controversial Selection Process

The FCRCC has gotten a lot of heat regarding their decision not to interview Wendi Peters for District 4’s vacant Delegate seat.    Accusations of Delegate Afzali and Senator Michael Hough’s involvement are easy to find, however what actually went on inside the committee meeting has been largely unknown, until now.

In a Red Maryland exclusive, an unnamed Committee member, whose named asked not to be revealed,  went on the record as to the happenings inside the FCRCC selection process.

The source’s overall feeling was that the FCRCC did uphold the selection process as per the bylaws even though Peters was not selected.

The source stated the process was so closely followed  that JoeyLynn Hough, Chair Person of the FCRCC and Senator Hough’s wife, nominated 9 people (all FRCC members) to the nomination committee instead of the minimum of three.  Our source indicated that even though the FCRCC was essentially a “Michael Hough Slate” (7 Hough, 2 Non Hough), that she did not have to include everyone, but she did.

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FCRCC process for nomination states that:

Within 3 days: Chairman of FCRCC will appoint a NC of 3 or more members, but always consisting of an odd number of members. All NC meetings will be closed to the public, but any member of the FCRCC who has not applied for the vacant seat may attend in any NC meeting. Members may be drafted from outside the FCRCC. However, if current FCRCC members are also competing for the vacant position they shall not be allowed to participate in this selection process except as that specified herein as a candidate for the vacancy. 

4. Within 3 days of #3: NC will review resumes and narrow the total submissions to the top three (3) most qualified contenders. If consensus cannot be reached verbally, secret paper ballots will be used and voting will continue until applications are narrowed to top three contenders.

5. Within 7 days of #4: Top three (3) applicants will be personally interviewed by FCRCC. FCRCC shall decide which applicant will be recommended to the Maryland Governor to fill the vacated seat. If majority consensus cannot be reached verbally, secret paper ballots will again be used and voting will continue until recommendation is decided. FCRCC will prepare recommendation to Governor and alert the nominee and verify continued interest in proceeding.  

Essentially JoeyLynn Hough, could have nominated ZERO of the FCRCC but instead she chose to select ALL 9 of the FCRCC members.

During this selection process there was a lot of seemingly odd things happening such as the location of the meeting being changed,  a candidate withdrawing and more.

The source claims that the normal FCRCC meeting place belonged to a business owner who provided the location  free of charge to the FCRCC.  The source states that the location was changed last minute when the owner of the location heard that protesters would potentially show up.  The owner did not want his business to be on the front page of the news due to protesters.

Upon the source entering the new location the police were present.  When asked as to who and why they were called, the source stated that another member claimed to have witnessed protesters banging on the windows.  The source stated that the new location’s owner was concerned about property damage.  When asked what the demeanor of the protesters were, the source stated that there was no problem getting into the building, the protesters were peaceful and  the protesters were not impeding foot traffic.   The source stated that there was no presentable reason for the police being present at the time of arrival.

Initial claims that Delegate Kathy Azfali was trying to “filter candidates” by stating during a FRCC meeting “that all applicants should see her” are untrue.  According to our source, Delegate Afzali was genuine in offering assistance in the process.

Our source also confirmed that Delegate Afzali and Senator Hough were never present in any of the closed door meetings.

Delegate Afzali claimed that Chris Glass withdrew from the selection due to badgering from the other side.  Wendi Peters provided a text message stating that Glass withdrew because he felt that if Peters was not being interviewed, that it was disingenuous.  Our source could not confirm or deny, however the source supplied two emails from Chris Glass.

From: Glass, Christopher
Date: Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 10:21 PM
Subject: Voice mail
To: joeylynnf
Cc: Good evening JoeyLynn,

It has been a very long day and I still have reports due to the government before midnight.

I am just getting back to my office now and received your voice mail and text message from earlier regarding the interview location. To be frank, this takes me by surprise given my clear communication to you on Monday evening that I had withdrawn my application from consideration.

My original email is attached below and to avoid any miscommunication, I have copied all committee members.

To be very clear, I no longer consider myself a candidate.

R/

Chris Glass Sr.

—–Original Message—–
From: Glass, Christopher
Sent: Mon 1/5/2015 7:00 PM
To: joeylynnf
Subject: District 4 Opening Application

Good evening Joeylynn and committee members,

It was by chance that I happened across the vacancy announcement for District 4 on December 23rd and decided to submit my name for consideration as a resident. As you know, I am not a politician, nor have I been involved in the politics of our party but rather have spent the majority of my adult life serving the nation both in uniform and as a businessman. Like you, I am a conservative and believe we must have a strong unified Republican party if we together are to advance and preserve the freedoms we cherish throughout the District and Maryland. I believe that united we will stand and succeed, but divided we fail and will remain forever the minority and accomplish little. I am grateful to the Frederick and Carroll county central committees for their honored consideration and to have received the news of my selection to move forward in the interview process with great excitement on Friday. However, my conscience wrestles over the current party division and the prospect of further division. My desire to serve cannot outweigh the possibility of splitting our party further and the common goals we all share if I were to be selected under the current process. Therefore, I believe it is in the best interests of the party that I withdraw myself from further consideration for the House of Delegates vacancy at this time. My hope is that my decision will benefit both committees and move us forward together.

Please know I will continue to support your leadership and provide as many resources as possible to support future Republican candidates and their campaigns. I wish Mr. Ciliberti and Mr. Stull all the best during the final selection process.

With my sincere respect and gratitude,

Chris

The source stated that this email was received less than one day before the interviews were to be conducted.  The source stated that it was unclear if the original email was sent to all members or if it was not.  Either way several members did not know about the withdrawal until the night before.  Upon the day of the interviews, the FCRCC legal council stated that the FCRCC did select three candidates and they had fulfilled their obligation even though only two were now to be interviewed.  The source stated that they did not have time to select a replacement since this all occurred on the day of the interviews.

Some claim that when Delegate Afzali went on WFMD she indicated that Peters was not pro life.  Our source claims that Peters stance on life was never in question during the deliberation period.  The source could not remember if Peters placing fourth ever came up in the deliberations.  The source stated that everyone was obviously aware, but could not recall if it was actually verbalized.