A day after the Anne Arundel Judicial Nominating Commission voted to nominate Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller's son to a District Court judgeship, a member of the panel called Miller to warn him of potential political fallout from the vote.
The commissioner - whom Miller declined to publicly name, out of concern that the attorney was violating the panel's confidentiality rules - told the Democratic leader that another commissioner was organizing a group resignation in protest of the nomination, he said.
In the days after the vote, two commissioners declared their intention to resign. Yesterday, a third panelist said she would step down, and all three attorneys sent a formal letter of resignation to Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat. In the letter, they said that O'Malley's request that the commission reconsider previously rejected candidates - including Miller's son - "has shaken our confidence in the system" and "has adversely affected the respect of the bench and bar for the judicial appointment process."
Miller said yesterday that he believed media attention on the resignations would unfairly tarnish the reputation of his son, Thomas V. Miller III. The Senate president also discounted his son's chances generally, saying he presumed the governor will be guided by a desire to fill the three vacancies with applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.
"I'm sure they're going to look for a woman, an African-American and maybe one white male," said Miller, who is white. "So I doubt very seriously my son will be chosen as a judge. And that's fine. I have no qualms about that."
Rick Abbruzzese, an O'Malley spokesman traveling with the governor on a trade mission in Israel, declined to handicap the younger Miller's chances.
The nominating commission's chairman, Thomas J. Fleckenstein, said yesterday that he was unaware of the communication between a commissioner and the Senate president, but said he didn't believe it was a direct violation of secrecy vows taken by panelists about their deliberations or votes.
Fleckenstein said he lamented "the appearance" of political meddling and patronage resulting from the governor's request for a re-vote, but said he disagreed that the nominating process had been tainted.
"I respect their opinions, but I don't necessarily share them," Fleckenstein said of the resignations. "And obviously a majority of the commission doesn't share them."
