The Maryland Democrat political complex

Published



Towson Patch has an excellent article on the politically connected Maryland public relations firm, coordinating an allegedly grassroots campaign to secure passage of Baltimore County legislation to add more speed cameras on behalf of the camera vendor.

But the grassroots effort to win council support has a powerful friend not found on its Facebook page: ACS State and Local Solutions, the company that holds the county’s speed camera contract and stands to financially benefit from the pending legislation.
Kearney O’Doherty (KO) Public Affairs, the politically connected strategy firm hired by ACS, has helped Slow Down for Baltimore County Schools communicate with County Council members and expand its base of support by establishing a separate website that sends e-mails to the elected officials and drives more “likes” to the Facebook page.
Damian O’Doherty, a KO Public Affairs partner and former county government official, told Patch in December that his political strategy firm has been working with ACS and a coalition of “educators, parents and elected officials to bring (speed cameras) to Maryland.”

O’Doherty was a top aide for former Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith, and his partner Steve Kearney is Governor Martin O’Malley’s former communications director.  O’Doherty’s brother Ryan is the spokesman for Baltimore Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings Blake.  Longtime Maryland political watchers know Ryan O’Doherty by his nom de cyber MD4Bush.

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