For four months, a standard question posed to Doug Duncan was, “When are you going to name your running mate?” Duncan?s standard answer was, “Soon.”
“He who picks first does not always pick best,” Duncan said Wednesday as he introduced former Baltimore prosecutor Stuart Simms as his lieutenant governor candidate.
Politically, Duncan conceded, “it would have been better” to choose someone shortly after Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley picked Del. Anthony Brown. But “I felt the decision was too important to be rushed,” Duncan said.
Various names were floated from around the state in efforts to achieve geographic and racial balance for the ticket, but none had the visibility of Brown. Then two members of Duncan?s steering committee in Baltimore City began having “numerous conversations” with Simms about joining the ticket, according to Lawrence LaMotte, a former delegate who is now an energy consultant.
“I was reluctant,” Simms admitted. “Politics can be an ugly business” and “I did not want to be with the wrong person.”
But once the two men sat down and talked about issues, Simms came around. “I did not have to ask him twice,” Duncan said.
Simms has strong credentials as a criminal justice administrator and a prosecutor who has won city elections. “Stu has just got a lot of friends,” said ex-Mayor Kurt Schmoke. His connections with State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy and Schmoke give Simms a Baltimore political base outside the O?Malley camp.
The announcement at New Shiloh Baptist Church, attended by a number of black ministers, also shows Simms can open doors for Duncan in that politically influential community.
A spokesman for O?Malley welcomed Simms “to what we hope will be a positive dialogue about issues,” but the dialogue has gotten more intense as Duncan focuses on O?Malley?s vulnerabilities and accuses the mayor of ducking debates. But the two men are expected to find themselves on the same stage in coming weeks.
