Sun article, 6 March 1996

The Sun

Howard judicial race gives sign of campaign style for fall election
New appointees win Democratic primary

by FROM STAFF REPORTS The Baltimore Sun

March 6, 1996 Page(s): 4B
Edition: FINAL
Section: METRO
Length: 501 words
Index Terms:
MARYLAND

Record Number: BSUN439416

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The bitterly fought primary battle for two Howard County Circuit Court judgeships ended yesterday with the strong prospect of a similar round of campaign hostilities this fall.

Both major slates of candidates -- one made up of two sitting judges appointed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening last fall and the other comprised of their two leading challengers -- survived the primary to run again in the fall general election.

With 83 of 85 precincts reporting last night -- all but absentee ballots -- the two sitting judges, Diane O. Leasure and Donna Hill Staton, took the county's Democratic primary.

Their two main challengers -- District Judge Lenore R. Gelfman and attorney Jonathan Scott Smith -- prevailed in the county's Republican primary.

In taking even one of the two party primaries from the incumbents, the Gelfman-Smith team claimed a big victory. "We have shattered the sitting judge principle in Howard County," Mr. Smith said. "They changed from sitting judges to sitting ducks."

The appointed incumbents -- Judge Leasure is the county's first female Circuit Court judge and Judge Hill Staton is the county's first black judge -- vowed to continue the fight.

"I don't think this is indicative of what we can expect in November," Judge Leasure said.

"I think we are only going to be stronger."

A third challenger -- Jay Fred Cohen, who ran a low-key campaign -- trailed in both primaries.

The split in the results between the two parties reflects the unusually contentious politics of the judicial race -- a race marked by repeated complaints and countercharges, particularly over television advertisements run by the Gelfman-Smith slate.

In part, Judge Gelfman and Mr. Smith -- with strong ties to the county's legal establishment -- campaigned against Mr. Glendening and County Councilman C. Vernon Gray, a Columbia Democrat, accusing them of fulfilling a goal of making the Howard bench more diverse by appointing lawyers inexperienced in criminal law.

In yesterday's vote to pick two candidates to vie for a single seat on the Howard school board in the fall, incomplete returns were running very close -- with three of the five candidates topping the balloting in this order: Francine Wishnick, Jane Schuchardt and Virginia Charles.

In Harford County, Circuit Judge Thomas E. Marshall, a Democrat, defeated Republican Steven J. Scheinin in both primaries. He will run unopposed in the fall.

In Anne Arundel County, four sitting judges -- Eugene M. Lerner, Martin A. Wolff, Clayton Greene Jr. and Pamela North -- swept to victory over Daniel C. Conkling, a Pasadena resident, who was criticized for his lack of courtroom experience.

Pub Date: 3/06/96