Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake has appointed 11th District City Councilman Bill Cole to be CEO of the Baltimore City Economic Development Corporation. Through a needlessly arcane appointment process, adjacent city council members and various community members selected by the City Council President recommend a nominee to the City Council as a whole for an up or down vote.<\/p>\n
The Baltimore Sun<\/em> has the list<\/a> (which I’ve cut and pasted below).<\/p>\n It appears to me that, as outgoing Delegate Kieffer Mitchell is taking a pass, that it’s finally Bill Romani’s turn. After being bested by Del. Luke Clippinger in 2010 and Democratic Delegate Nominee Brooke Lierman in 2014, it looks like Mr. Romani is the far-and-away leader for the appointment in my opinion.<\/p>\n The only real danger in the appointment process that I see for Mr Romani is that there may be a push for an African-American appointee in this downtown Council District which stretches from trendy, white Federal Hill far into West Baltimore.<\/p>\n However, while he has not confirmed this to me, I envision Baltimore City Young Gun\u00a0Ben Smith<\/a> giving\u00a0Bill Romani a hell of a fight in the 2016 Democratic Primary for this seat.<\/p>\n Ben is wicked smart and charming to a fault. While the insider appointment processes of Maryland doesn’t favor a young idealistic law student, the electorate in a competitive Democratic presidential primary does. My spidey sense tells me this will be a marquee Democratic primary in 2016.<\/p>\n Appointment Rating:\u00a0<\/strong>Likely Romani<\/strong><\/p>\n 2016 Democratic Primary Election: To Early to Say.\u00a0<\/b> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake has appointed 11th District City Councilman Bill Cole to be CEO of the Baltimore City Economic Development Corporation. Through a needlessly arcane appointment process, adjacent city council members and various community members selected by the City Council President recommend a nominee to the City Council as a whole for … Continue reading South Baltimore Showdown<\/span> \n
\nRead more:\u00a0http:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/news\/maryland\/politics\/blog\/bal-15-apply-for-vacant-city-council-seat-20140918,0,5037544.story#ixzz3DpFFQ0Lo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n