Meanwhile, in local politics just down the road from here: in place of the obviously qualified Del. Justin Ready or a number of other hopefuls, the Carroll County Republican Party Central Committee has chosen to fill the state senate vacancy of Hogan appointee Joe Getty with Robin Frazier, a former commissioner who 1) defied a court order on prayer before meetings, 2) was then roundly rejected for re-election in her GOP commissioner primary, and proceeded to 3) run an unsuccessful write-in campaign against her own party’s nominee. Coverage: Carroll County Times (2,000+ have already signed petition against pick), Michael Stewart/Red Maryland, David Lublin/The Seventh State, Baltimore Sun.
Also, this means the Frederick County Republican Central Committee can no longer claim the distinction of having run the most controversial vacancy selection process so far this year.
I wrote about the constitutional issue of prayer before local government meetings, and Anthony Kennedy’s carefully limited majority opinion for the Supreme Court in Town of Greece v. Galloway, in this post at Secular Right. More: a second helping from David Lublin.
Free State Notes 