Committee bungles Harrison replacement  3:00 PM EST, February
20, 2013   On Friday, Feb.15, the Baltimore City Democratic
State Central Committee convened at the Oliver Community Center
to select a candidate to assume the seat once held by Delegate
Hattie Harrison, a longtime political stalwart in East Baltimore
("Community leader picked to replace delegate," Feb. 19). Ten
candidates interviewed for the position, and three of the
candidates were also members of the committee conducting the
interviews. The oddity was that at no time did the chair or
committee members think it was inappropriate for them to
participate in deciding who should succeed Delegate Harrison. On
several occasions, Chairman Scherod C. Barnes was questioned
about obvious conflicts of interests to which he expressed
having no qualms. For those with the temerity to question the
process, they were told the Maryland Constitution allows such a
vote and the candidates were all known to the district and have
done good work followed by another tw