STANDING COMMITTEE MEMBERS C. RICHARD "DICK" D'AMATO, 61, of Annapolis is on the Credentials Committee. He is chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Until this year, he also worked as an aerospace consultant. He also is chairman of the Maryland Veterans for Kerry Steering Committee and counsel for NocasiNO Maryland, a group opposed to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s slot machine plan. He lost his seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in 2002. D'Amato is a retired captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, former Democratic counsel for the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. He earned a bachelor's in government from Cornell University in 1964, master's from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston in 1967, and a juris doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center in 1980. He is married to Dorothy Walsh, a Kerry delegate for District 3. He recently started taking flying lessons. This is his fifth convention. LYN FARROW, 41, of Gwynn Oak, is on the Democrats' Platform Committee. She works as a consultant. She attended the 1996 convention. She is a former vice chairwoman of Maryland's Democratic Party. GUY J. GUZZONE, 40, of Columbia, also is on the Platform Committee. This is his first convention. Guzzone is the coordinator for the Kerry campaign in Howard County, and he serves on the state steering committee. He is Howard County Council chairman and a former Maryland director of the Sierra Club. He holds bachelor's degrees in economics and government from the University of Maryland, as well as a master's degree in public management from University of Maryland. He is married to Pam Guzzone, an at-large delegate for Kerry. They have three children. JAMES B. KRAFT, 55, of Baltimore, is on the Platform Committee. He is a lawyer and former state senator. He is the Democratic candidate for the Baltimore City Council's First District, which includes Fells Point and Little Italy. He is chairman of the 46th District State Central Committee, as well as vice chairman of the Baltimore City Central Committee. He has been on the state party's executive committee for 25 years, making him its longest-serving member. He earned a bachelor's degree from Towson State University in 1971 and a juris doctorate from University of Baltimore School of Law in 1979. He has three children. This will be his sixth convention. SUSAN NESS, 56, of Bethesda, is on the Rules Committee. A former Federal Communications Commissioner, she now runs a communications consulting firm called Susan Ness Strategies. She serves on the steering committee for the Maryland campaign for Kerry and is also involved with Women for Kerry. She has a bachelor's degree from Douglass College, a law degree from Boston College Law School, and a master's in business administration from the Wharton School. She is married to Lawrence Schneider and has two children. This will be her fifth convention. KEN REICHARD, 55, of St. Leonard, is on the Credentials Committee. He is the labor outreach coordinator for the Kerry campaign in Maryland. He is a professional political activist and consultant. He served as assistant secretary and commissioner of labor and industry under former Gov. Parris N. Glendening. Before that, he worked for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union for many years. He graduated from Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville and attended Montgomery College. This is his fourth convention. ANN MARIE REMILLARD, 72, of Millersville, is on the Credentials Committee. This is her second convention. She is president of the 33rd District Democratic Club, president of the Tanager Forest Civic Association and a member of the Anne Arundel Central Committee. Before retiring, she worked for the Department of Aging and was the founding director of the Senior Center in Odenton. She earned a bachelor's in psychology from Loyola University in Baltimore and did master's work in pastoral studies at Loyola University in Chicago. She is married to Vance Remillard, and they have two children and two grandchildren. FRANK TAYLOR, 54, of Leonardtown, is on the Rules Committee. He is chairman of the St. Mary's County Central Committee. This is his first convention. He is a member of the St. Mary's County Metropolitan Commission, the College of Southern Maryland Foundation, the St. Mary's Chamber of Commerce, and the Lexington Park Rotary Club. He served on the St. Mary's County Planning Commission for 10 years, including as chairman. He runs Taylor Gas Co., a family-owned propane marketing business in Lexington Park. He earned a degree in business and economics from Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina in 1971. He is married to Sue Taylor and has three children. PATRICIA UNGER, 67, of Greenbelt, is on the Rules Committee and will also help publish the convention newsletter. This is her second convention. Unger is president of the United Democratic Women's Club. She is a retired teacher who taught GED students in prisons for 20 years. She earned a bachelor's in English and history, with a minor in education, and a master's in education in 1987; all degrees are from the University of Maryland. She is married to John F. Unger, and they have four grown children and one grandchild. DNC/DLCC R. THOMAS BUFFENBARGER, 53, of Brookeville, is the international president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and is a member of the executive council of the AFL-CIO. He also serves on the executive committee of the International Metalworkers Federation. He is unpledged. ALVARO CIFUENTES is chairman of the Democrats Hispanic Caucus and a Washington, D.C., attorney. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico in 1972 and the University of Puerto Rico School of Law in 1975. He is unpledged. MARIA CORDONE, 54, of Upper Marlboro, is the vice chairwoman of the National Democratic Seniors Coordinating Council, as well as the director of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Retirees. This will be her seventh convention. She is unpledged. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, 53, of Baltimore, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Maryland's 7th District and is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. He is a graduate of Howard University and the University of Maryland School of Law. He is unpledged. JOHN GAGE, 58, of Washington, D.C, is the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO. He graduated from Wheeling Jesuit University in 1968, and played with the Baltimore Orioles briefly (1968-69) before joining Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Gage is an unpledged delegate. JANICE GRIFFIN, 55, of Silver Spring, owns a private consulting firm, and is also a senior adviser to the DNC. She attended the 1992, 1996, and 2000 conventions. Griffin is an unpledged delegate at this, her fourth, convention. SUE HECHT, 56, of Frederick, a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates, is vice chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party. She attended the 1996 and 2000 conventions. She is an unpledged delegate. WELDON LATHAM, 47, of Bethesda is a partner at Davis, Wright, Tremaine LLP. Latham He is a graduate of Howard University and of the Georgetown University Law Center. He is an unpledged delegate. ISIAH "IKE" LEGGETT, 58, of Burtonsville, is Maryland Democratic Party chairman and a law professor at Howard University. Leggett was a longtime Montgomery County Councilman, and the first African American elected to the council, before his retirement from office in 2002. He is a member of Resurrection Baptist Church and has been active with the NAACP and Urban League, among other organizations. He attended the 2000 convention. Leggett is unpledged. BELKIS "BEL" LEONG-HONG, 56, of Gaithersburg, is the founder, chief executive officer and president of Knowledge Advantage Inc. This will be her first convention. Leong-Hong is an unpledged delegate. RICHARD MICHALSKI of Upper Marlboro is the director of IAM political legislative department. Michalski is an unpledged delegate. GLENARD MIDDLETON, 55, of Baltimore is the international vice president of AFSCME, as well as executive director of Maryland Public Employees Council 67. Middleton is an unpledged delegate for the DNC. THOMAS V. "MIKE" MILLER JR., 61, of Chesapeake Beach, is the longest serving Senate president in Maryland history, an office he still holds. He was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1971 to 1975. He earned both his bachelor's in business administration and his law degree from the University of Maryland, which named him a distinguished alumnus in 1988. He also was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1996 and 2000 and is an unpledged delegate. MARY JO NEVILLE, 47, of Dayton, is a member of the Maryland State Teacher's Association, as well as a Uniserv representative. This will be her sixth convention. Neville is an unpledged delegate. SCOTT PASTRICK, 48, of Bethesda, is president and chief executive officer of BKSH & Associates, and was DNC treasurer in 1996. Pastrick is an unpledged delegate at what will be his third convention. GREGORY PECORARO, 45, of Westminster, is a member of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic State Central Committee for Carroll County. This will be his sixth convention. Pecoraro is an unpledged delegate. CAROL PENSKY, 58, of Annapolis, is a political activist. She is also the founder of the DNC Women's Leadership Forum and is a past treasurer and finance chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. This is her first convention as a delegate and she is not pledged to any candidate. MICHAEL STEED, 55, of Chevy Chase, is founder and managing director of Paladin Capital Group. He is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and of the Loyola University School of Law. He has attended every convention since 1972. Steed is an unpledged delegate. JOHN SWEENEY, 70, is president of the AFL-CIO and author of several books on wage economics and social justice. He is the former president of the Service Employees International Union, which nearly doubled in size under his leadership. He is a native of Bronx, N.Y. Sweeney is an unpledged delegate. BEATRICE TIGNOR was listed as a DNC delegate, but will not be a delegate at the convention. SUSAN TURNBULL, 51, of Bethesda, is the deputy chairwoman of the DNC. She is on the leadership team of the DNC Women's Leadership Forum and has been on the DNC executive committee since 1997. Turnbull is an unpledged delegate, and this will be her fifth convention. Party Leader or Elected Official (PLEO) DOUG DUNCAN, 48, of Rockville, has been Montgomery County executive since 1994. He also served three terms on the Rockville City Council and three terms as mayor of Rockville. He is responsible for the implementation of the first county-level earned income tax credit in the nation. Duncan moved to public life after 13 years as an executive from AT&T, and has been named as one of "100 New Democrats To Watch" by the Democratic Leadership Council. He is pledged to Kerry. CAROLYN J.B. HOWARD, 38, of Mitchellville, is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Prince George's County, and is chairwoman of the county's legislative delegation. She also has served as Maryland Legislative Black Caucus chairwoman, House deputy majority whip, and was on the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Redistricting in 2000-2001. Howard has a degree in home economics and education from Florida A&M University and has been a principal in Prince George's County Public Schools. She is a member of the Maryland State Teachers Association and the National Education Association. She was also a member of the Prince George's County Democratic Central Committee from 1982-1988. She is married and has three children. This will be her fourth convention, and she is pledged to Edwards. GLENN IVEY, 43, of Cheverly, is state's attorney for Prince George's County, elected in 2002. He has practiced both as a litigation and criminal attorney. He was a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Preston, Gates, Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds, and was an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 1990-1994, and was appointed chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission in 1988. Ivey has also served as counsel to U.S. Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Paul Sarbanes, D-Baltimore, and was a legislative assistant to Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. A native of Rocky Mount, N.C., Ivey graduated from Princeton University and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. He is married with five children. This is his first convention as a delegate and he is pledged to Kerry. JACK JOHNSON, 55, of Mitchellville, is Prince George's County executive, elected in 2002, and the former Prince George's County state's attorney. Born in South Carolina, Johnson holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Benedict College and a law degree from Howard University. He is active in the NAACP. He is married and has three children. This will be his first convention as a delegate and he is pledged to Kerry. KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND, 53, of Ruxton, is the former Maryland lieutenant governor under former Gov. Parris Glendening. She unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2002. She is a former assistant attorney general of Maryland, and was a member of the State Board of Education. She has also served at the federal level as deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration. She was a presidential elector in 1992. Born in Greenwich, Conn., Townsend is the oldest daughter of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy. She holds a degree in history and literature from Harvard, and a law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law. She is married with four children. Townsend has attended three previous Democratic National Conventions and is pledged to Kerry. GLORIA G. LAWLAH, 65, of Hillcrest Heights, is a Maryland state senator representing Prince George's County. She is the Senate chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Management of Public Funds and also sits on the Joint Committee on Investigation. She was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1987-1991. Born in Newberry, S.C., Lawlah holds a bachelor's from Hampton University and a master's from Trinity College. She also has been an administrator for the District of Columbia public schools. She is active in the NAACP and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is married and has three children. This will be her fifth convention, and she is pledged to Edwards. SUSAN C. LEE, 50, of Bethesda, represents Montgomery County in the Maryland House of Delegates, where she is a member of the Judiciary Committee and deputy majority whip. Lee was an attorney for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1983-1986, worked for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from 1988-1993, and served on the patent and trademark public advisory committee from 2000-2001. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Lee graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a bachelor's in political science and holds a law degree from the University of San Francisco. She has worked in private practice for several firms, and is the past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Greater Washington. She is also active in the NAACP and is a co-founder of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. She is married. This will be her second convention. She is pledged to Kerry. MARTIN O'MALLEY, 41, of Hamilton, is the mayor of Baltimore and a former Baltimore City Council member. He also served as assistant state's attorney for Baltimore from 1988-1990. He was a floor leader for Gary Hart at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. O'Malley graduated from Catholic University and holds a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. He is married and has four children. This will be his third convention. He is pledged to Kerry. JAMES T. SMITH, 62, of Reisterstown, is Baltimore County executive. Previously, Smith was a Baltimore County associate Circuit judge for 15 years. He served two terms on the Baltimore County Council and was twice elected council chairman. Smith was an attorney for the law firm of Smith, Johns & Smith, and was deputy public defender for Baltimore County. He is pledged to Kerry. SUPER DELEGATES BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, 60, of Baltimore, has represented Maryland's 3rd District in the House of Representatives since 1987. He is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, ranking member of the Human Resources Subcommittee and a member of the Social Security Subcommittee. He also is a member of the Homeland Security Committee, and is the ranking member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission). Cardin served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1967-1986, and was speaker from 1979-1986. This is Cardin's sixth Democratic National Convention. He is married to Myrna Edelman Cardin. STENY H. HOYER, 65, of Mechanicsville, is serving his 12th term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Maryland's 5th District. He is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, and is the longest-serving House member from Southern Maryland. Hoyer attained the highest rank of any Maryland congressman when in 2002 he was unanimously selected to serve as Democratic whip. He began his career in the Maryland Senate in 1966 and later became the youngest Senate president. He served as parliamentarian at the Democratic National Convention in 1992, 1996, and 2000, and will be fill that role again in 2004. Hoyer serves on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents and the Naval Academy Board of Visitors. He, with his late wife Judith Pickett Hoyer, has three daughters and five grandchildren. BARBARA ANN MIKULSKI, 67, of Baltimore, is one of Maryland's two U.S. senators. She is a former member of Congress and former Baltimore councilwoman. Mikulski, serving her third Senate term, is up for re-election in November. This is her eighth Democratic National Convention since 1964, and she's been a delegate to each convention since 1976. She was a social worker, worked for Catholic Charities and Baltimore's Department of Social Services, and now is the third highest ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership and the dean of the Senate women. C.A. "DUTCH" RUPPERSBERGER, 58, of Timonium, is serving his first term in Congress representing Maryland's 2nd District. He was the first Democratic freshman ever to be appointed to the House Select Committee on Intelligence, was named an assistant whip and also serves on the Government Reform Committee. He is the former Baltimore County Executive and a former Baltimore County Council member. He attended Baltimore City College and the University of Maryland at College Park, and earned his law degree from the University of Baltimore Law School. He has been married for 34 years to his high school sweetheart, Kay Murphy. They have two grown children. PAUL S. SARBANES, 71, of Baltimore, has served in the U.S. Senate since 1977, making him Maryland's longest-serving senator. He is the Ranking Democrat on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and a senior member of the Foreign Relations and Budget committees. The son of Greek immigrants, Sarbanes was born in Salisbury and graduated from Princeton University in 1954. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship that brought him to Oxford, England. Sarbanes then returned to the United States and attended Harvard Law School. He married Christine Dunbar of Brighton, England, in 1960. They are the parents of three children and the grandparents of five. CHRISTOPHER VAN HOLLEN, 45, of Kensington, is in his first congressional term representing Maryland's 8th District. He was one of only two Democrats to defeat a Republican House incumbent in 2002. He is a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Government Reform and he is vice chairman of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus. A graduate of Swarthmore College, Georgetown University Law Center and Harvard's Kennedy School of Public Policy, Van Hollen served in the Maryland General Assembly from 1991-2003. He and his wife Katherine have three children. ALBERT R. WYNN, 42, of Mitchellville, was elected to Congress in 1992, and is in his sixth term. He serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Wynn received his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, and attended Howard University for graduate study from 1973-74. He obtained his law degree from Georgetown University in 1977. Wynn served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1982-1987 and the Maryland Senate from 1987-1992. Wynn was executive director of the Prince George's County Consumer Protection Commission. He is married to Gaines Clore Wynn, and they have a blended family of two daughters. SENIOR OFFICIAL/UNPLEDGED ADD-ONS J. JOSEPH CURRAN JR., 73, of Baltimore City, has served as attorney general of Maryland since 1986 and is the first to be elected to a fifth consecutive term. He has also been elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, state Senate and lieutenant governor. He served in the Air Force during the Korean conflict, with duty in Japan and Korea. He attended the University of Baltimore and graduated from the University of Baltimore Law School in 1959. He is married with five children. His daughter Katie is married to the Baltimore Mayor Martin J. O'Malley. Curran is attending the convention as a senior elected official. PARRIS GLENDENING, 62, is the former governor of Maryland, having served two terms in office from 1994 to 2002. He also was Prince George's County executive from 1982 to 1994 and chairman of the National Governors Association in 2000-2001. He is president of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, an environmental research organization that focuses on city development. A Roman Catholic who is married with two children, he was a delegate to every Democratic convention from 1988 to 2000. He is an unpledged add-on delegate to this year's convention. SHEILA DIXON, 50, was elected president of the Baltimore City Council in 1999, the first African-American woman ever elected to that position. She also is the chairwoman of the Board of Estimates, which supervises all city contracts. Previously, Dixon served on the Baltimore City Council from 1987 to 1999. Married with two children, she holds a master's degree from Johns Hopkins and a bachelor's degree from Towson University. She was a delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. - 30 - CNS-7-23-04

Copyright © University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism