T H E G AZ ET T E
Wednesday, April 9, 2014 s
Poolesville attorney enters county Circuit Court race Connell, in his second try for the bench, critical of current selection process n
BY
TIFFANY ARNOLD STAFF WRITER
Growing up in a family of lawyers didn’t seal Daniel Patrick Connell’s fate as a steward of the law. For him, the “aha” moment arrived after serving with a reconnaissance unit during Operation Desert Storm. “You know who you are and you know a little bit about life when you are in life or death situations,” Connell said. “And you watch your friends die.” Connell, a 45-year-old attorney from Poolesville, is back after serving as a U.S. Department of State senior rule of law advisor in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has returned with a new personal mission: to become a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge. “I looked at who had challenged these judges while I had been serving in Iraq as the senior rule of law advisor for the U.S. government. Who has challenged [the judges] back home in my own county, this process that’s undemocratic?” Connell asked, rhetorically. “Election after election, no one.” Connell was a last-minute entry in the upcoming race. Three sitting circuit judges (Gary E. Bair, Nelson W. Rupp Jr. and Joan E. Ryon) and a fourth who is about to take the circuit bench (Audrey A. Creighton) are vying for four seats, along with one challenger, Connell. Connell described himself as “the people’s candidate” — opposed to the
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election process for circuit judges. “There is no good reason why judges should not be elected the same way we elect our legislators,” he said. Under Maryland’s constitution, Circuit Court judges are appointed by the governor, based on nominees generated by a 13-person panel in each jurisdiction. The appointees run in the next election af-
“There is no good reason why judges should not be elected the same way we elect our legislators.” Patrick Connell ter the appointment and in elections thereafter. They can be formally opposed by any candidate who is at least 30 years old and a member of the state bar and who meets residency requirements. The 13-person panel, known as the Judicial Nominating Commission, was created by executive order during the 1970s. Nine members are appointed by the governor and the other four are chosen by presidents of local bar associations. Connell said the panel invites cronyism and isn’t transparent. “[It] is simply designed to obfuscate the fact that we’re all supposed to be considered on our merits and to keep the power — which that panel not only covets but, for all intents and purposes, has already
usurped — in our hands,” he said. T h i s will be the first contested Circuit Court race since Connell 2 0 0 4 , when Connell ran for Circuit Court judge and lost, receiving about 11 percent of the vote. Raised in Chevy Chase, Connell is a lifelong Montgomery County resident. His father, his brother and sister, an aunt and most of his cousins are attorneys. Connell served in the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993, when he was honorably discharged. He is a decorated Marine Corps veteran. Connell obtained a degree in philosophy from the University of Maryland and a law degree from University of Denver in 1997. Connell was a senior rule of law adviser for the U.S. Department of State in Basra, Iraq, in 2009 and 2010, and in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2012 and 2013. His time overseas earned him two Expeditionary Service Awards from former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. If elected, Connell said, he would make impartiality and fairness priorities. He spoke of excessive bail and what he described as unfair sentencing. “I’ve seen a young African-American, 18 years old, get a year in jail for having half a joint of marijuana,” Connell said. “That could have been President Obama, President Clinton. A year? That judge does not empathize with that young man.”
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Rupp hoping voters return him to bench Judge founded Adult Drug Treatment Court program
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BY
TIFFANY ARNOLD STAFF WRITER
On Tuesdays, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr. takes off his “judge face,” steps out of the courtroom and enters the classroom to teach third-year law school students how to be trial lawyers. On Thursday nights, he’s back in court for his other “second job” as presiding judge for Montgomery County Circuit Court’s Adult Drug Treatment Court Program, which he founded in 2004. But come election day, the question of whether Rupp gets to keep his main job — one of Montgomery County’s 22 Circuit Court judges — will be left to voters. For the first time in 10 years, sitting Circuit Court judges up for election will face a challenger. Poolesville attorney Daniel Patrick Connell — the same person who sought judgeship a decade ago — has filed for candidacy for 2014. Maryland’s primary election is June 24. The general election is Nov. 4. Rupp, 64, is among the four sitting Circuit Court judges whose names will appear on the June primary ballot. The sitting judges are running as a team. “We hope the people will have faith in the system that has appointed us to Circuit Court,” Rupp said. In Maryland, Circuit Court judges are appointed by the governor from a pool of nominees chosen by a 13-member committee. But after the appointment, Circuit Court judges have to run in the nearest election to their appointments in order to continue for a 15-year term. Thereafter, the judges are up for election. Appointees can be formally opposed by any qualified candidate. To run as a Circuit Court
tarnold@gazette.net
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judge, a candidate must be 30 years old and be a member of the state bar, in addition to meeting residency requirements, according to the Maryland State Board of Rupp Elections. Circuit Court is the local trial court that typically handles more serious cases. Rupp was appointed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) in 1997. Prior to that, he was appointed as a Montgomery County District Court judge by Gov. William Donald Schaefer (D) in 1993. Rupp said he founded drug court in 2004 because there were defendants who were becoming known as “all-stars,” people with drug problems who kept appearing in the court system over and over again. Prior to drug court, judges didn’t have many options for offenders struggling with addictions, Rupp said. “The traditional system doesn’t sufficiently address addicted offenders,” Rupp said. The Montgomery County Circuit Court Adult Drug Court Program is a voluntary program that offers repeat offenders the chance to break the cycle of addiction and crime through intensive treatment and monitoring. A team made up of case managers, judges, therapists and attorneys work together to direct the participant’s evaluation and treatment for a minimum of two years, though the length of the program depends on the participant’s progress. Drug court sessions are held at night so that participants can keep a job, one of the requirements of the program. “It’s about changing the whole person,” Rupp said. “It’s not just about staying clean.” Since the program’s inception, 137 people have graduated from drug court. He became emotional when talking to The Gazette about some of the former graduates.
“Every one of these graduates has a story,” Rupp said. Outside the courtroom, Rupp deals with a different sort of aspiring graduates. He’s an adjunct professor for a civil and criminal practice at American University, where he’s taught since 1998. “I don’t have on my judge face on in there,” Rupp said. “It helps to see the judge is a real person.”
“We hope the people will have faith in the system that has appointed us to Circuit Court.” Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Nelson W. Rupp At the time of his interview with The Gazette, his students were preparing for the final — a staged trial on April 6. Rupp earned his law degree from AU’s Washington College of Law in 1974. He said he decided to go into law because he wanted to help people. “The world of academics is one thing, but when you get out in the real world, it’s a whole other thing,” said Rupp. The son of a dentist and a stay-at-home mother, Rupp graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in 1966. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1974 and has served as an assistant state’s attorney and as a public defender in Montgomery, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s counties, as well as working for private firms. Becoming a judge, Rupp said, gave him another avenue for helping improve the human condition—something he hopes voters remembers when they head to the polls. “I hope they look at my record, my history,” Rupp said. tarnold@gazette.net