BY KEN ROSSIGNOL
THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY
PRINCE FREDERICK, MD. –
Never let it be said that the only thing Maryland Democrats can do after kicking the bucket is vote. They can also donate money to their favorite candidates, and that is precisely what the late Maryland Senate President Mike Miller did in 2021, about four months after he died.
Maryland Campaign Finance records show that Thomas E. “Mike” Miller, of 4415 Camp Roosevelt Road in Chesapeake Beach, the residence shared by him and his wife Patricia for many years, is listed on contributions records of Mike Wilson, a Republican candidate for Calvert County Sheriff. Records show that Thomas Miller paid $1,000 by check to Wilson’s campaign on April 23, 2021.
Wilson was appointed the Chief of the Capitol Police by the late Senator and is a former Maryland State Police Trooper who lives in Calvert County.
Wilson is also a fellow card player with Melissa Miller in the Garage Poker Series run by Woodville Pines LLC, a gambling operation run by St. Mary’s Orphan Court Judge Michael White and his son, Maryland State Police Lt. George White.
TRADE SECRETS SCANDAL: Gambling Operation Laundering Millions in Waldorf Operated by Judge Michael White, Senior State Police Lt. George White, and Patronized by Prosecutors, Clueless Cops, and Lawyers Who Should Know Better
Melissa Miller, a former Prince Georges’s County prosecutor who plays a role in Calvert County politics as the heir to the kingmaking role filled by her late father is involved in the law firm headed by her father with offices in Dunkirk and Clinton.
MORE GIVING FROM THE GRAVE
The late Senator Mike Miller is not the only dead relative of a Maryland politician able to lend a checkbook to a candidate in the 2022 election. The Baltimore Brew reported on the dead relative, the father of Baltimore City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby donating to her campaign for States Attorney. Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby also has records of donations to his campaigns from dead relatives of his wife as well as from the accounts he supervised as guardian.
CONVICTED LOBBYIST CONTRIBUTED TO CHIEF MIKE WILSON’S RUN FOR SHERIFF
Gerard Evans was convicted of defrauding his clients of more than $400,000 in 2000 by a Federal Grand Jury. Evans was found guilty on nine counts of violating mail and wire fraud by posturing himself with his clients as being able to prevent legislation from being passed that would be detrimental to their interests.
Evans is a former chairman of the Prince Georges County Democratic Party. Evans was involved with Delegate Tony E. Fulton, a West Baltimore Democrat, in the scheme, but Fulton was not convicted. Fulton allegedly threatened to introduce the legislation feared by Evans’s clients in return for a commission on the purchase by Evans of an office in Annapolis.
The Maryland Court of Appeals included the following in a ruling on a “Bell Ringing” case brought by the Maryland State Ethics Commission against Evans:
Once Evans was released from federal prison, he obtained a new registration as a Maryland lobbyist and was quickly taken to task by the Ethics Commission, which brought the case to the Maryland Court of Appeals.
The court heard the case which included the following:
“The lack of clear ethical standards and effective administrative enforcement came dramatically to public attention when two prominent lobbyists who practiced before the General Assembly, the second being appellee, were indicted for, and ultimately convicted in U.S. District Court of, mail fraud based on conduct directly or indirectly associated with their lobbying activities. The essence of the nine wire and mail fraud charges of which Evans was convicted was that he had induced a member of the House of Delegates to commence the process for introducing legislation that would be detrimental to the economic interests of certain paint manufacturers, that he then, with some embellishment, presented that prospect to those manufacturers, falsely informing them that the Mayor of Baltimore intended to support that legislation, and that, through those false representations, he induced those companies to employ him as a lobbyist for the purpose of defeating the legislation. The parties inform us that “[s]chemes of this sort, premised on phony or outright phantom legislation, are colloquially known as ‘bell-ringing.’ ”
The case involved whether the General Assembly intended for the new law affecting lobbyists was to be retroactive.
“Because we find in this record no clear expression of an intent by the General Assembly to permit the revocation of a registration based on conduct that occurred before the effective date of the statute, it is not necessary for us to address the other issues raised by Evans.”
Evans was cleared by the court and allowed to continue in the lobbying business to the point that in 2021 he is the highest-paid lobbyist in Annapolis. In 2018, records of the Ethics Commission revealed that he was the top paid lobbyist with $2,434,333.32 in fees.
The term “bell-ringing” referred to the name given the practice of ringing the bell for an emergency that the fire department could be summoned to put out a fire, but in the case of Maryland politicians, a fearsome group of pirates, it meant a false alarm for a bill that the lobbyist would and could extinguish if given some loot for his effort.
Wilson is one of the GOP candidates vying for the Republican nomination for Sheriff of Calvert County. The others are Craig Kontra, Patrick “Dave” McDowell, Ricky Cox and Vaughn “Jay” Johnson is running as a Democrat.
MORE ABOUT MIKE WILSON
Colonel Wilson was appointed Chief of Police for the Department of General Services, Maryland Capitol Police in September of 2011. The Maryland Capitol Police is a full-service police department with 173 officers, which provide law enforcement and security services for over 30 State buildings, 10 parking garages, and 16 surface parking lots used by State employees and visited by over one million people per year. Maryland Capitol Police is responsible for security and law enforcement functions at the Annapolis Complex, to include the Maryland State Capitol, Governor’s Mansion, and House and Senate Buildings. Maryland Capitol Police are in charge of approving and organizing rallies and demonstrations that occur in Annapolis during the Legislative Session. Maryland Capitol Police is also tasked with operating and controlling one of the largest state identification card programs in Maryland.
ELECTION 2022: Politics, Campaign Finance
Campaign finance report for Mike Wilson for Sheriff filed for period of January 2022
MECHANICS WANTED
Senate President Mike Miller with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan at a bill signing.
