Fuller v. Republican Cent. Comm. of Carroll Cnty.

• Decision Date: 21 August 2015
• Docket Number: No. 92, Sept. Term, 2014.,92, Sept. Term, 2014.
• Citation: 120 A.3d 751,444 Md. 613
• Parties: Kathy FULLER, et al. v. REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF CARROLL COUNTY, Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

444 Md. 613

120 A.3d 751

Kathy FULLER, et al.

v.REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF CARROLL COUNTY, Maryland.

No. 92, Sept. Term, 2014.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Aug. 21, 2015.

H. Mark Stichel (Jack L.B. Gohn, Gohn, Hankey, Stichel & Berlage, LLP, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Appellants.

Dirk D. Haire and Jessica V. Haire (Sean Milani-nia, Ryan D. Stalnaker, Fox Rothschild LLP, Washington, DC), on brief, for Appellee.

Brian E. Frosh, Esq., Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Julia Doyle Bernhardt, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, MD, for Amicus Curiae Brief of Atty. Gen. of Maryland.

Argued before: BARBERA, C.J., HARRELL^* , BATTAGLIA, GREENE, ADKINS, McDONALD and WATTS, JJ.

Opinion

BARBERA, C.J.

We granted certiorari in this case to consider the respective roles of the Governor and a party central committee in filling a vacancy created by the departure of a sitting member of the General Assembly. Those roles are spelled out in Section 13(a)(1) of Article III of the Maryland Constitution (“Section 13”). This subsection provides in pertinent part that, in the case of a vacancy,

the Governor shall appoint a person to fill such vacancy from a person whose name shall be submitted to him in writing, within thirty days after the occurrence of the vacancy, by the Central Committee of the political party, if any, with which the Delegate or Senator, so vacating, had been affiliated, ... and it shall be the duty of the Governor to make said appointment within fifteen days after the submission thereof to him.

Md. Const. art. III, § 13 (a)(1). The dispute in the present case centers on the proper construction of the text of this subsection.

Petitioners Kathy Fuller (“Fuller”), Melissa Caudell (“Caudell”), and Amy Gilford (“Gilford”) are registered Republican voters and duly elected members of the Respondent, Republican Central Committee of Carroll County, Maryland (“Central Committee” or “Committee”). Petitioners filed in the Circuit Court for Carroll County a complaint for mandamus, declaratory judgment, and injunctive relief against the Central Committee, seeking to enjoin the Committee from submitting more than one name to Governor Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr. to fill a vacancy in the House of Delegates. Petitioners later filed an amended complaint along with a motion for a temporary restraining order, which the court denied after a hearing. From that order and the order denying them injunctive relief, Petitioners noted an appeal, then sought certiorari.

We granted the writ and, upon motion of Petitioners, we issued a temporary restraining order pending final disposition of the appeal. On March 2, 2015, we heard arguments in the case. That same day, we entered a per curiam order affirming the judgment of the circuit court and lifting the temporary restraining order. We here explain the reasons for that order.

I.

Maryland law provides that “[e]ach political party shall have a State central committee that: (1) is the governing body of the political party; and (2) may be composed of the members of the central committees of the counties during their terms in office.” Md.Code Ann., Elec. Law § 4–201 (2002, 2010 Repl.Vol.); see also Suessmann v. Lamone, 383 Md. 697, 725 n. 14, 862 A.2d 1 (2004). Members of the county central committees are elected by the party at a primary election. Elec. Law § 4–202(a).

Central committees are not public bodies, and the members of those committees are not public officers, but rather, party officers. Capron v. Mandel, 250 Md. 255, 260, 241 A.2d 892 (1968) ; Dorf v. Skolnik, 280 Md. 101, 113, 371 A.2d 1094 (1977) (stating that, “although membership on a political committee is governed by statute, it is not a public office”). Under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, political parties have the right of free association, giving them the right to determine their own rules and internal operating procedures.

Eu v. San Francisco Cnty. Democratic Cent. Comm., 489 U.S. 214, 229, 109 S.Ct. 1013, 103 L.Ed.2d 271 (1989) (“Freedom of association also encompasses a political party's decisions about the identity of, and the process for electing, its leaders.”); Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin ex rel. La Follette, 450 U.S. 107, 121, 101 S.Ct. 1010, 67 L.Ed.2d 82 (1981) (holding that the state cannot dictate the process of selecting delegates to the Democratic National Convention). In Maryland, a political party's State central committee “shall determine its own rules of procedure,” so long as those rules do not conflict with the Election Law Article of the Code. Elec. Law § 4–201(c). The Election Law Article further provides that “each political party shall adopt and be governed by a constitution and all bylaws and rules adopted in accordance with the constitution,” id. § 4–204(a), and a county central committee, “[i]n accordance with the constitution and bylaws of a principal political party ... shall adopt a constitution, bylaws, and rules,” id. § 4–204(c).

The origin of the present legal dispute can be traced back to December 10, 2014, when the Chairman of the Central Committee received notification that Joseph M. Getty, the incumbent Senator for District 5,¹ would be resigning from the Senate in order to accept a position in the administration of Governor–Elect Hogan. Pursuant to Section 13, the Governor has the duty to appoint a successor “from a person whose name shall be submitted to him in writing ... by the Central Committee of the political party” of the vacating legislator. In anticipation of Senator Getty's upcoming resignation, the Central Committee undertook to perform its role in the selection process.

In December 2014, the Central Committee published a document entitled “Carroll County Republican Central Committee Process for Vacancy.” The document provided that “[o]nly one candidate will be selected, upon receiving votes of the [Committee] and forwarded to the Governor for appointment.” The Committee published instructions for applicants for the Senate vacancy, which likewise provided that only one candidate would be selected. The Committee received applications from 14 interested persons and interviewed five of those applicants. On January 9, 2015, the Central Committee, by majority vote, selected Robin Bartlett Frazier (“Frazier”) to submit to the Governor to fill the anticipated Senate vacancy. Soon thereafter, David Jones, Chairman of the Central Committee, signed a letter addressed to Governor Hogan post-dated January 22, 2015, evidently intending to submit Frazier's name to fill the anticipated vacancy.

On January 22, 2015, the Central Committee met in a public meeting. As of that date, Chairman Jones had not mailed the letter or otherwise formally submitted Frazier's name to the Governor. Following the public meeting, five members of the Committee (not including any of the three Petitioners or Central Committee member James Reter (“Reter”)) met privately with members of Governor Hogan's staff. Petitioners allege, based upon their belief, that the Governor's staff asked the Central Committee members attending the private meeting to submit three names for potential appointment to the District 5 Senate vacancy. Petitioners further allege that the Committee members present during that meeting with the Governor's staff submitted to the Governor a list of three names for potential appointment to fill the vacancy: Frazier; Delegate Justin Ready, who represented District 5 in the House of Delegates; and Dave Wallace. The next day, Petitioner Fuller delivered to the Governor's appointments office the letter previously signed by Chairman Jones submitting only Frazier's name to Governor Hogan.

On February 2, 2015, Petitioners filed in the Circuit Court for Carroll County a complaint for declaratory judgment as well as injunctive and mandamus relief, naming as defendants the Central Committee, Delegate Ready, and Dave Wallace. Specifically, Petitioners sought a declaration that Section 13 prohibited the Central Committee from submitting to the Governor more than one name for appointment to fill the vacancy; an injunction to preclude all defendants from pursuing the Committee's recommendation of three names; and issuance of a writ of mandamus compelling the Committee to comply with Section 13, as Petitioners alleged that constitutional provision must be construed.

Petitioners accompanied their complaint with a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. Later that day, the circuit court held a hearing on the motion for a temporary restraining order, at which counsel for Delegate Ready advised the court that Governor Hogan had issued a commission appointing Delegate Ready to the vacant Senate seat. The court denied the motion. That same evening, Delegate Ready resigned his seat as a delegate and immediately thereafter took the oath of office as Senator for District 5.

Senator Ready's resignation from the House of Delegates created a new vacancy to be filled. Pursuant to Section 13, the Central Committee had 30 days from February 2, 2015, to make a recommendation to the Governor. On February 4, 2015, the Governor's Secretary of Appointments, James Fielder, sent a letter to Chairman Jones asking him to “submit your recommended multiple candidates” for appointment. On February 9, 2015, the Central Committee announced that it was accepting applications to fill the vacancy.

The next day, Petitioners voluntarily dismissed Dave Wallace as a defendant. Petitioners also filed an amended complaint for mandamus, declaratory judgment, and injunctive relief, together with a second motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, seeking to enjoin the Committee “from sending to the Governor of Maryland the name of more than one person for appointment to the single vacancy” created by Senator Ready's resignation.

The circuit court held a hearing on the motion for a temporary restraining order, and denied the motion in a memorandum opinion and order. The court rejected Petitioners' argument that, under ...