Council president spent $46,000 for primary election legal challenge, reports show

Nov. 29—More than 11% of the money spent since July in the race for the Frederick County Council was for a lawsuit the council president filed in the primary election to challenge her opponent's eligibility, new campaign finance filings show.

The 14 candidates in the race spent a total of $403,000 between July 4 and Nov. 15, campaign filings show. The Democrats in the race spent about as much as the Republicans, on average.

But 11% of the money spent between the primary and general elections — and nearly a quarter of what Democrats spent — was from legal fees that Council President M.C. Keegan-Ayer paid Joseph Greenwald and Laake, a firm she hired after filing a lawsuit alleging that her opponent, Jazmin Di Cola, did not live in District 3 and was ineligible to run for the seat.

Keegan-Ayer loaned $46,000 to her campaign and spent $46,043 in legal fees from the primary election.

Since January, Keegan-Ayer has received $77,000 and spent $68,000.

Keegan-Ayer said she plans to host fundraisers beginning in February or March to recoup the money she loaned her campaign. She said the legal fees were double what she expected them to be.

"I wanted to let people get through this election and then through the holidays" before asking for money, she said in an interview on Monday.

She and the other six winning County Council candidates, along with County Executive-elect Jessica Fitzwater, are scheduled to be sworn into office on Dec. 5.

Keegan-Ayer lost the Democratic primary for the District 3 seat by one vote to Di Cola, a political newcomer, but a judge disqualified Di Cola after determining that she didn't live in District 3 when she ran for office.

District 3 covers the west side of Frederick.

Keegan-Ayer later won the Democratic nomination after the Democratic Central Committee picked her to take the place of the disqualified Di Cola.

She handily won the general election against Shelley Aloi, a former member of the Frederick Board of Aldermen, receiving nearly 65% of the vote.

Since July, Keegan-Ayer has raised and spent more on her campaign than the other six Democrats who ran for the County Council, though most of her spending was for legal fees.

Councilman Phil Dacey, who lost his bid for reelection, raised and spent the most on the Republican side.

Dacey, who was elected to one of the council's at-large seats in 2018, raised $35,000 and spent $113,000 between July 4 and Nov. 15, the last day the latest campaign finance reports cover. Dacey spent much of his campaign money on mailers.

The other three at-large candidates — Democrats Renee Knapp and Brad Young, and Republican Tony Chmelik — spent a combined $95,000 over the same time period.

The cash flow did not translate to a victory for Dacey, though. Young and Knapp were elected to the council's at-large seats, receiving 27.4% and 25.4% of the countywide vote, respectively.

Dacey got 23.7% of the vote and Chmelik received 23.4%.

Below are the campaign finance numbers between July 4 and Nov. 15 for all 14 County Council candidates:

At-large (voters elected two candidates)

— Young (D) raised $31,000, spent $58,000, has $2,800 remaining

— Knapp (D) raised $10,300, spent $15,000, has $1,900 remaining

— Dacey (R) raised $35,000, spent $113,000, has $1,100 remaining

— Chmelik (R) raised $23,000, spent $22,000, has $3,800 remaining

District 1

— Election winner Jerry Donald (D) raised $10,000, spent $29,000, has $5,000 remaining

— John Distel (R) raised $30,000, spent $22,000, has $11,000 remaining

District 2

— Election winner Steve McKay (R) raised $8,700, spent $16,000, has $470 remaining

— Lisa Jarosinski (D) raised $20,000, spent $21,000, has $740 remaining

District 3

— Keegan-Ayer (D) raised $55,000, spent $60,000, has $12,000 remaining

— Aloi (R) raised $6,500, spent $6,500, has $590 remaining

District 4

— Election winner Kavonte Duckett (D) raised $15,000, spent $11,000, has $13,000 remaining

— John Fer (R) did not file a campaign finance report before the Nov. 22 deadline. As of Monday, Fer had not filed a report for the latest deadline. Between Aug. 24 and Oct. 23, Fer raised $1,500, spent $1,200 and had $600 remaining, according to a filing from Oct. 28.

The State Board of Elections has fined Fer $120, so far, for failing to file a report for the latest campaign finance period. The State Board of Elections also fined him $245 for filing his last finance report 10 days late.

The State Board of Elections fines candidates $20 for each of the first seven days their report is late and $35 for each of the following seven. After that, the fee jumps to $50 per day until a candidate's outstanding balance reaches the maximum amount of $1,000.

A candidate who wins an election cannot take office if they have an outstanding finance report or a late fee, according to Maryland's campaign finance law.

District 5

— Election winner Mason Carter (R) raised $16,000, spent $19,000, has $2,300 remaining

— Julianna Lufkin (D) raised $9,800, spent $8,600, has $4,500 remaining

Follow Jack Hogan on Twitter: @jckhogan