Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith?s senior adviser will resign to create and chair a “government affairs” practice at a prominent development-based law firm, officials announced Wednesday.
Effective Friday, departing aide Damian O?Doherty will chair the new department for the Baltimore firm Gildea & Schmidt LLC. The county released a statement hailing O?Doherty as a rising star in Democratic political circles and a critical county link to the administration of Gov.-elect Martin O?Malley.
Firm partner David Gildea described O?Doherty?s new role as Annapolis-based. Once registered as a lobbyist, he said O?Doherty will capitalize on the network of connections he?s established across jurisdictions.
“On the forefront of the next generation, no one in the state has better relationships with the new leadership in Annapolis,” Gildea said in the statement.
Rumored to be on O?Malley?s short list for a state position, O?Doherty sifted though offers from the public and private sector before accepting a position at Gildea & Schmidt, according to county spokesman Don Mohler.
Ethics regulations will require O?Doherty to abstain from lobbying on behalf of Baltimore County for one year. The firm?s partners are linked closely to Smith and county government: Gildea worked as a law clerk under Smith during his tenure as a circuit court judge and served on his transition team after his 2002 election. Lawrence Schmidt resigned as the county?s longtime zoning commissioner in 2004.
The firm donates to the campaigns of O?Malley, Smith and several Democratic County Council members.
O?Doherty began his career working for the Baltimore City delegation.
Mohler said he will assume at least one responsibility of the senior adviser ? the executive?s liaison to the County Council ? until Smith hires a new adviser.
“I?ve learned a lot from Jim Smith,” O?Doherty said in the statement. “He?s a leader who knows how to get things done, and I know that experience will help me bring a fresh perspective to Annapolis.”
