Maryland RNC delegates ready to start

GREGORY SELTZER, 53, of Fallston, is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Harford County Public Library.

WILFRED BLEAKLEY JR., of Arnold, could not be reached.

Alternates:

DELPHINE PECK, 80, of St. Michaels, is a retired writer. Peck attended previous conventions, but never as a delegate. In 1948 in Philadelphia, she attended the first convention with television news coverage while working for the Philadelphia Bulletin.

CHARLES PECK, 83, of St Michaels, is the retired chairman and chief executive of the Ryland Group. He has an extensive volunteer background including time spent with the Maryland Republican Party. He’s attended previous conventions but never as a delegate.

JAMIE FALCON, of Annapolis, could not be reached.

Congressional District 2 consists of parts of Harford, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel counties, as well as small portions of the City of Baltimore

WALTER CUKIER, 54, is a salesman in Essex attending his first convention with the prospect of working with the Republican Party on a national level.

CHRISTOPHER PATE, 34, of Havre de Grace, is a lawyer with Venable LLP in Baltimore. Pate served on the Harford County Republican Central Committee from 1994 to 1998 and has campaigned for many previous Republican presidential candidates. This will be his fist time at a convention.

MICHAEL S. STORY, of Joppa, could not be reached.

Alternates:

JODY KAKACEK, of Baltimore, is a program manager at the Epilepsy Foundation. From 1998 to 2002, Kakacek worked for the American Diabetes Association.

DANIEL RICE, 82, of Reisterstown, is a retired marketing manager for Westinghouse and this is his first convention.

STEVE KLINE, of Baltimore, could not be reached.

Congressional District 3 consists of parts of Baltimore, Howard and Anne Arundel counties, as well as a significant part of the City of Baltimore.

NORM BEDNAREK, of Annapolis, is a retired Navy captain. He’s a 1959 graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy.

DAVID BLUMBERG, 52, of Baltimore City, is the chairman of the Maryland Parole Commission. He also spent 20 years as director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in the Baltimore City Detention Center.

BARBARA VIVENTI HOWARD, 67, of Edgewater, is the president of the MedStar Research Institute. She is a principle investigator for the National Institutes of Health Women’s Health Initiative.

Alternates:

MARK SUPPLE, of Columbia, is a member of McCain’s Maryland Statewide Leadership Team, a grassroots campaigning organization.

SAMUEL WHITE, of Odenton, is the director of the Sunshine House, an assisted living home in Odenton.

REBECCA PHILLIPS, of Baltimore, could not be reached.

Congressional District 4 consists of parts of Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.

GARY GUY, 55, of Derwood, is attending his first convention. A McCain supporter since he announced his 2008 presidential bid, Guy said he is particularly supportive of McCain’s foreign policy stances. Guy is an attorney and senior council for Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.

DON MICHELS, of Cheverly, has regularly donated to Republican entities including the McCain campaign and the Maryland Republican State Central Committee. Michels has worked as a solar physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and as a research professor of physics at Catholic University of America. He is also the Southeast Region President of the Air Force Association who’s Web site says is, “an independent, nonprofit, civilian education organization promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation.”

DANIEL SHERMAN WILLARD, of Derwood, is first vice chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee. In 1991, he founded a Rockville-based law firm, Daniel S. Willard P.C., and is now partners with his wife. He is also a member of the board of directors for the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Alternates:

HEATHER OLSEN, 37, of Hyattsville, is chairwoman of the Prince George’s McCain campaign and treasurer of the Prince George’s Young Republicans. In 2007, she received the Robert A. Yost Sr. award for volunteer work with the party. Her career has been in program management and fundraising, and she has worked for the American Red Cross, International Research and Exchanges Board, Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe and Women in International Security. Olsen earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from Washington and Lee University and a master’s in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. She is a first-time alternate delegate.

JUSTIN SHUY, 21, of Olney, founded Maryland Teenage Republicans in 2002 to increase youth involvement in the Maryland Republican Party. During 2005 and 2006, Shuy worked as a senior adviser and special assistant for Zubairi for U.S. Congress. He is an assistant coalitions chairman for the McCain campaign. In that capacity, he works as a bridge between the campaign and interest groups such as youth coalitions as well as ethnic and religious groups. He is a first-time alternate delegate.

JOHN TAHSUDA, 42, of Bowie, is a vice president of Navigators, a Washington lobby firm where he advocates Indian affairs pertaining to gaming, tax initiatives, tobacco sales and other issues. From 1997 until 2001, he taught federal Indian Law, policy and history at Cornell University. He attended the 2000 and 2004 conventions, but not in an official capacity. He has known McCain since Tahsuda was staff director of the Indian Affairs Committee during the 104th Congress and McCain was the committee’s chairman. Tahsuda is also co-chairman of American Indians for McCain.

Congressional District 5 consists of all of Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert counties, as well as portions of Prince Georges and Anne Arundel counties.

MELINDA FITZWATER, 59, of Deale, supported McCain during his 2000 presidential bid. A cousin of McCain’s and the wife of Marlin Fitzwater, former White House press secretary to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Fitzwater comes from a politically active family. A retired customer relations employee of Boeing Co., she decided to run as a delegate when prompted by a McCain campaign official. She is a first-time delegate although she has attended three previous conventions, including those at which former presidents Reagan and the first Bush were nominated.

BRIAN KERN, 47, of Clinton, is a self-described political outsider who has never participated in official party business until running this year as a McCain delegate in the 5th District. An attorney, Kern is assistant general counsel for a Virginia-based insurance company.

MEGHAN SOMMERS, 25, of Laurel, is working on a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has been a longtime McCain supporter, and at 17, she volunteered with his 2000 campaign. When she turned 18, she registered as a Republican in anticipation of supporting his 2004 bid.

Alternates:

ASHLEY REED, 24, of Churchton, is an elected member of the Anne Arundel County Central Republican Committee and vice chairwoman of the Anne Arundel Young Republicans. She is a first-time alternate delegate.

MARK STONE, 51 of California, is a long-time small donor to McCain. Stone, a Navy veteran, is a project manager for BAE Systems, a United-Kingdom based defense contractor whose U.S. subsidiary is based in Rockville. He is a first-time alternate delegate.

CRYSTAL ZORBAUGH, 32, of Huntingtown, was a registered Democrat until December. Zorbaugh, a legal assistant who also runs a Methodist Sunday school, said she has voted for and donated to various Democratic campaigns but decided to become a McCain supporter when she heard him give a speech in which he said he would rather lose the presidency than a war. She is expected to speak at the convention about her Methodist ties.

Congressional District 6 consists of all of Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick and Carroll counties, as well as portions of Montgomery, Baltimore and Harford counties.

CARMEN M. AMEDORI, 53, of Westminster, is the McCain campaign’s Western Maryland regional director overseeing activities in Carroll, Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties. She is on the national convention’s 2008 Platform Committee. In 2000, she vied for a slot as a McCain delegate but finished last behind four Bush delegates. Amedori is the Maryland Parole Commissioner, a post to which former Gov. Robert Ehrlich appointed her in 2004. From 1999 until her appointment, she served two terms in the Maryland House of Delegates where she sat on the House Judiciary Committee, the Joint Committee on Federal Relations and was the deputy minority whip. Before beginning her political career, she was an award-winning reporter first for The (Baltimore) Sun and then the Carroll County Times. Amedori is a member of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, the National Association of Legal Assistants, Citizens Against Government Waste, Citizens Against Big Charter Government and Americans for Tax Reform.

PHILIP BAKER-SHENK, 51, of Sharpsburg, has been active in state politics for decades. He is director of the Maryland Campaign Committee for McCain and worked as McCain’s general legal council in the Senate between 1995 and 1996. He now serves as chairman of the Washington County Central Committee of the Republican Party, and during 2000 and 2004, he headed the Washington County McCain campaign. He is a partner at the law firm of Holland and Knight. This is his first convention.

PHILIP GREENE, 36, of Frederick, was elected in 2002 to the Frederick County Republican Central Committee, and served two years of his four-year term as the committee’s secretary. He is president of the Ballenger Crossing Condo Homeowner’s Association. This is his first convention.

Alternates:

KELLY SCHULTZ, 39, of New Market, became active in politics when she moved to Maryland four years ago. After returning to school for a degree in political science at Hood College, she worked with Joe Baldi’s Frederick mayoral campaign. Later she worked with State Sen. David Brinkley and also directed the Steele for Maryland campaign coalition. She is an elected member of the Frederick County Republican Central Committee, secretary of the executive committee for the Maryland Federation of Republican Women and president of the Republican Women of Greater Frederick.

JOHN MOULTON JR. and PATRICIA MOULTON, both of Hagerstown, are the husband-and-wife team from this district. John is a captain in the Hagerstown Police Department and Patricia works as a detective in the same department.

           

Congressional District 7 consists of parts of Baltimore City as well as Baltimore and Howard counties.

DONALD MURPHY, 48, of Catonsville, is co-founder of Genn & Murphy LLC, a bipartisan lobbying firm in Annapolis. He served in the Maryland General Assembly from 1994 to 2002, and worked in commercial real estate before running for office. In 2000, he co-chaired the McCain presidential race in Maryland, and four years later, attended the Republican National Convention in New York City.

SHANDON PHAN, 29, of Baltimore, is a Vietnam native who immigrated to Louisiana at age 12, and is now entering his third year at University of Baltimore School of Law. Phan earned a computer engineering degree from Tulane University, and works as a Vietnamese translator for federal agencies and state and federal courts. Before law school, he worked for AmeriCorps and human rights groups, among other places.

ARNE SCHOELLER JR., of Baltimore, won a delegate’s seat with the second highest percentage of votes, at 13.4 percent.

Alternates:

PAUL DEMOS, of Laurel, donated $250 to the state’s Republican State Central Committee, but has not given to McCain as of Aug. 28. He is retired.

JOHN HENCKEN II, 27, of Catonsville, is a building contractor and neighbor of Don, Gloria and Kendall Murphy, all of whom are delegates or alternates to the convention. This is his first convention.

KENDALL MURPHY, 19, of Catonsville, attends Catonsville Community College, and works part-time as a waitress and auto shop receptionist. Her father, Donald, is a 2008 RNC delegate, and her mother, Gloria, is an alternate. Kendall has been politically active since 1994, helping on her father’s General Assembly campaign. She will miss the first week of classes to attend the convention.

Congressional District 8 consists of a large part of Montgomery County and a small portion of Prince George’s County.

EVERETT ALVAREZ JR., of Potomac, a former Navy pilot, was the first American prisoner of war in Vietnam. He was shot down in 1965 and held for eight years in the “Hanoi Hilton,” where McCain also was held, including one year in solitary confinement. Born in 1937 in Salinas, Calif., Alvarez earned an electrical engineering degree from Santa Clara University, in Santa Clara, Calif., in 1960. After Vietnam, he was deputy administrator for the U.S. Veterans Administration and deputy director of the Peace Corps. He is also founder of Conwal Inc., a management consulting firm in McLean, Va.

MICHAEL CRONIN, 67, of North Potomac, flew 175 missions as a Navy pilot in Vietnam. Shot down in 1967, Cronin was held as a prisoner of war for seven years. He resigned from active duty in 1976 but remained in the Naval Reserves, retiring in 1992 as a captain. Cronin, who was born in Boston, worked as a pilot for American Airlines for 25 years, until 2001, and often lobbied Capitol Hill on behalf of American’s pilots’ union. Cronin also took night classes at Georgetown University law school, and though he earned a degree, never practiced as an attorney. This is his first convention.

JAMES SHALLECK, 62, of Montgomery Village, was recently elected chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party. A New York City native, he moved to Maryland in 1989 to work for the U.S. Department of Justice. Before that he was an assistant district attorney in the Bronx, N.Y., for 12 years, and in 1977 prosecuted David Berkowitz, the “Son of Sam” killer, for three murders in the Bronx. Shalleck, who has been in private practice since 1994, has run unsuccessfully for the Maryland State’s Attorney in 1994 and 2006, and, in 2002, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge.

Alternates:

NELSON ROSENBAUM, of Bethesda, is chief executive and founder of Consumer Health Advisers Inc., a health care data management firm. In 1996, Rosenbaum launched ValuMed Systems, a health care firm that has since been bought out, and, in 1981, the Capital Research Group, a health care consulting firm. He has served on the boards of numerous health-related organizations, and in the 1970s was a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.

MARK UNCAPHER, 55, is the vice president and counsel at Stateside Associates, a lobbying firm in Arlington, Va. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Uncapher worked in the New York State Comptroller’s office from 1978-1983, and then worked in radio and television broadcasting until 1994. Uncapher moved to Maryland in 1995 to work for the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform. He is married with two children, including a son who’s a U.S. Marine recruit. This is his first convention.

DANIEL ZUBAIRI, of Bethesda, is the chief technology officer and a contributing columnist at Homeland Security Daily Wire, a news and analysis Web site about the homeland security industry. Zubairi, who lost a bid for Congress in 2006, has worked for years in the aerospace industry. He is also involved with Maryland youth GOP politics.

National Republican Party

JAMES PELURA III, 60, of Davidsonville, is chairman of the Maryland Republican Party. He has been a practicing veterinarian since 1981. He got involved with Maryland GOP politics in the mid-1990s, and in 2002 led Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s gubernatorial campaign in Anne Arundel. In 2004, Pelura was the state chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, and two years later was elected chairman of the Anne Arundel County Republican Party.

LOUIS M. POPE, 57, of Fulton is Maryland’s national committeeman. Pope moved to Maryland in the early 1960s. The Michigan native has worked in the real estate business for 34 years, and got his start in Maryland politics at age 16, working on Spiro Agnew’s 1966 gubernatorial run. Pope was chairman of the state GOP in 2002. He is married with five children.

JOYCE TERHES, 68, of Silver Spring, is Maryland’s national committeewoman. She was born and raised in Dunkirk, in southern Maryland. Terhes taught middle school and high school in Prince George’s for 25 years, until 1985. She was also chairwoman of the state Republican Party from 1989 to 1998. She served two terms as a Calvert County commissioner, and first got involved in politics in the early 1980s, with a voter registration drive. Terhes, who is widowed, has been a delegate to every presidential convention since 1984, except 2000, which she attended nonetheless.

At-large Delegates

CHRIS CAVEY, of Hampstead is the chairman of Maryland for McCain and first vice chairman of the Maryland Republican Party. He once coordinated former Sen. Fred Thompson’s Maryland presidential effort.

ANTHONY O’DONNELL, of Lusby, is the minority leader of the Maryland House of Delegates. He was first elected to the General Assembly in 1995 and attended the Republicans previous convention in New York City. He is a member of the Republican National Platform Committee.

JOHN R. LEOPOLD, 65, of Pasadena, is the Anne Arundel County executive. He served as a delegate for more than 20 years and attended seven conventions, the first of which was in 1976. He is on the Permanent Organization Committee, but has served on other committees.

MIKE GEPPI, of Bel Air, is a vice co-chairman for the Maryland Republican Party. He is also the Harford County Republican Party chairman.

PATT PARKER of Dunkirk is the president of the Maryland Federation of Republican Women. She holds a bachelor’s in education, a master’s in business administration and another master’s in national security from the National War College. Until 2005, Parker was the deputy director in the Office of Military and Federal Affairs, Department of Business and Economic Development and also served 20 years in the federal government.

COREY STOTTLEMYER, of Clear Spring, is the former political director of the Maryland Republican Party. He is a vice chairman for the Maryland Statewide Leadership Team for Sen. McCain’s campaign.

CHUCK GAST is a co-chairman of the Maryland Republican Party. Gast has worked in the insurance industry for more than 20 years with automobile and fire claims, personal injury and litigation.

ANNE MCCARTHY, 50, of Baltimore, holds a doctorate in strategic management from Purdue University and a master’s in business administration from the University of Connecticut. She studied economics at Georgetown University. McCarthy taught at Indiana University and is now an associate dean of the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. She recently became more active in the Republican Party.

TONY MCCONKEY, 44, of Severna Park, has been a member of the House of Delegates since 2003 and is the deputy minority whip. He is a member of the Environmental Restoration and Development Task Force. McConkey earned bachelor’s degrees in business management and government and politics at University of Maryland, College Park. He also holds a law degree from Maryland. He is a real estate broker and property manager.

LARRY HELMINIAK, 68, of Sykesville, graduated from Calvert Hall College High School in 1958. He retired from Carroll Insulation Co. Helminiak supported former Sen. Fred Thompson and later former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. After a recent television performance by McCain, Helminiak said his enthusiasm for the soon-to-be nominee was “kick-started” and he is now ready and willing to work for McCain.

Alternates

ERIK ROBEY, 30, of Pasadena, is the vice chairman for the Maryland Republican Party and was the youngest ever elected to that position in 2004. He contributes mainly to the party’s organization of events. When McCain came to Annapolis in March 2008, Robey helped organize Operation Welcome Home event at Baltimore-Washington-Marshall International Airport, where McCain greeted and thanked soldiers returning from Iraq.

MICHAEL PAPPAS, of Baltimore, is an attorney and first vice chairman of the Baltimore County Republican Party. He was a Fred Thompson delegate.

ASHLEY BARBERA, 20, of Eldersburg, was involved in the College Republicans during her undergraduate career at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and served as the chairwoman of the Maryland Federation of College Republicans this past year. She is a first-year law student at Catholic University of America. Barbera also is communications director for the College Republican National Committee.

NICOLEE WILKIN AMBROSE, of Baltimore, is a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Labor and chairwoman of the Young Republican National Foundation. She received a bachelor’s in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and another in vocal performance from its Peabody Conservatory of Music. Ambrose obtained her master’s in music from Arizona State University.

WILLIAM T. “REX” REED IV, 35, of North Potomac, is state party secretary and regional co-director of Future Leaders for McCain. He grew up on a horse farm in Gaithersburg. Reed is a life member of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair and serves as its official photographer. He is owner of Amberlea Photography & Design.

STEVE WRIGHT, of Churchville, is the communications director for the College Republican National Committee.

CHRISTOPHER SHANK, 36, of Hagerstown, is the minority whip in the Maryland House of Delegates, where he’s served since 1999. This is his second convention. Shank received a bachelor’s in history from Johns Hopkins University in 1994. He holds a master’s in political management from George Washington University.

KEVIN IGOE, of Owings, is a Maryland-based political consultant and former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party. He provides political analysis for Maryland Public Television and WUSA-TV 9 in Washington. He was political director of Ellen Sauerbrey’s 1994 campaign for governor of Maryland.

GLORIA MURPHY, 47, Baltimore, ran as a Huckabee delegate against her husband Don Murphy who ran as a delegate for McCain. Murphy also ran for the judge of Orphans Court in Baltimore County 2006. She attended the 2004 Republican National Convention as a delegate.

LORETTA SHIELDS is the chairman of the Howard County Republican Party.