Doug Gansler

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Douglas F. Gansler
AG Gansler at his desk.jpg
Attorney General of Maryland
Incumbent
In office
2006 - Present
Term ends
2014
Years in position 7
PartyDemocratic
PredecessorJ. Joseph Curran, Jr. (D)
Compensation
Base salary$125,000
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 2, 2010
First electedNovember 7, 2006
Term limitsN/A
Prior offices
State's Attorney, Montgomery County
1998 – 2006
Education
Bachelor'sYale University
J.D.University Of Virginia School of Law
Personal
Birthday1962
Websites
Office website

Contents

Douglas F. "Doug" Gansler (born October 30, 1962) is a Maryland politician and Attorney General of Maryland. Gansler won the Democratic nomination in the primary election on September 12, 2006 and beat Republican Scott Rolle in the general election on November 7, 2006 with 61.0%.[1] He was re-elected unopposed in the 2010 election, winning 98.18%.[2]

Biography

Shortly after graduating from law school, Gansler worked as a clerk for Judge John C. McAuliffe on the United States Court of Appeals. Admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1989 and the District of Columbia Bar in 1990, he joined the private practice law firms of Coburn & Schertler and Howrey & Simon, remaining there for two years beginning in 1990. From 1992 to 1998, Gansler was an assistant to the United States Attorney General for the District of Maryland. A year later, he served as the State's Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland, holding the state governmental position from 1999 to 2007. As State Attorney, he prosecuted several high-profile cases including the Beltway Snipers John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. [3]

Additionally, Gansler has served as a number of other roles including:

  • Member, State's Attorneys' Coordination Council (1999-2007)
  • Vice-Chair, Governor's Task Force on Childproof Guns (1999 - present)
  • Member, Cease Fire Council (2000 - 2003)
  • Member, Task Force on Pedestrian Safety - Montgomery County (2000 - present)
  • Member, Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council - Montgomery County (2004 - 2007)
  • Steering Committee, Bi-County Task Force on Gang Activity (2004 - present)
  • Member, District of Columbia Bar Association
  • Board of Directors, Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington
  • Member, Jewish Foundation for Group Homes
  • Member, Maryland Bar Association
  • Member, Most Valuable Kids
  • Member, Teen Court
  • Member, Washington Regional Alcohol Program

Education

  • Bachelor's degree, Yale University (cum laude)
  • Juris Doctorate degree, University of Virginia School of Law

Political career

Maryland Attorney General (2007-Present)

Gansler has served as Maryland's attorney general since January of 2007, having first won election in Nov. 2006. He was re-elected to a second term by Maryland voters on November 2, 2010.

Issues

Protecting Financial Aid for Students and Taxpayers Act

On March 11, 2013, Gansler, together with twleve other state attorneys general, sent a letter to Congress in support of the Protecting Financial Aid for Students and Taxpayers Act, a bill which would ban for-profit colleges from using federal funds for marketing and recruiting techniques.[4] Sponsored by Senators Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), who chairs the chamber's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the law aims to “ensure that scarce federal education dollars will be used to serve and educate students rather than to finance advertising campaigns, recruitment operations, and aggressive marketing.” [5] Consumer protection is one of the key duties assigned to the attorney general in each state.

According to the law's text, student enrollment at for-profit degree-issuing institutions such as the University of Phoenix more than doubled between 1998-2008, during which time the federal government--through student financial assistance programs--provided 86% of revenues to 15 reviewed publicly traded companies operating these for-profit colleges. A separate analysis of 15 such companies concluded that, on average, 28% of all expenditures were on advertising, marketing, and recruiting. Critics, including the attorneys general responsible for the letter advocating the bill's passage, contend that these expenditures are used to deceive consumers about program costs, graduation rates, or their employment potential beyond graduation. The bill seeks to restrict spending of this nature by higher education institutions or other postsecondary educational institution by prohibiting use of federal loans or grants in specific areas, and requiring that all such institutions whose revenues can be traced to federal educational assistance funds "report annually to the Secretary and to Congress the institution's expenditures on advertising, marketing, and recruiting."[4]

In the letter, the attorneys general urged, “Federal taxpayers should not be asked to foot the bill for aggressive recruiting and deceptive sales tactics of colleges that have placed profits ahead of ensuring student success.”[6] There are an estimated 3,000 for-profit schools nationwide, though neither the letter nor the bill cited the name of a specific institution.[7]


ACORN

See also: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

The June 2008 Survey and Scorecard report published by the liberal political organization, ACORN, gave Gansler an A letter grade. The report was published to shine the spotlight on state attorneys general "leading the fight to protect homeowners from joining the flood of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure," according to the group.[8] The grade distributed to the individual attorneys general "generally broke down along party lines," with the exception of Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell.[9]

Same-sex marriage

On February 25, 2010, Gansler published the opinion that stated that "there is no law in Maryland that says we don't recognize out-of-state marriages between same-sex couples."[10] This, in effect, required state agencies to extend all benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy to married gay couples. At the same time, however, this ruling did not apply to private industries nor did it suggest that state law permits homosexuals to be wed there.

Impeachment attempt

As a result of Gansler's February 2010 legal opinion, in which he argued that state courts must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, an inquiry led by Republican State Delegate Don Dwyer, Jr. was made as to whether or not the Maryland House of Delegates had the authority to impeach the state's attorney general. Dwyer and his supporters argued that the line in Article III of the Maryland State Constitution, in which it states that "the House of Delegates shall have the sole power of impeachment in all cases," gives the state legislative body that power.[11] Others argued, however, that there is a conflict within the state constitution on this particular issue, pointing out another provision that says that the state attorney general "shall be subject to removal for incompetency, willful neglect of duty or misdemeanor in office, on conviction in a Court of Law."

Democratic House Speaker Michael Busch appointed a Democratic delegate as parliamentarian to interpret the rules for the House. In response, Dwyer filed an ethics against Busch for not delegating the position to a staff member, as is done in other legislatures. [12] On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, the State House Judiciary Committee voted 15-5 opposing taking such action against Gansler, contending that his legal opinion "did not merit impeachment proceedings."[13]

Montgomery County State's Attorney (1998-2006)

In 1998, Gansler was elected State's Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland, serving January 1999 to January 2007. While State's Attorney, he prosecuted several high-profile cases including the Beltway snipers, John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.[14] Under his leadership as State’s Attorney, the office was the first in the nation to fully implement community prosecution.[15] Gansler also launched innovative and successful programs to fight gangs, punish criminals, and protect the public, including the first domestic violence dockets and first drug courts in the county, a first-in-the-state gang prosecution unit, the first Elder Abuse Task Force in Maryland to specifically target criminals preying on seniors, and the first Internet crime unit in the State.[16]

On one occasion during the eight years he served as State’s Attorney, the Maryland Court of Appeals sanctioned him for impermissible public statements about a possible confession and possible plea in a high-profile case involving the brutal beating and murder of a Maryland jogger.[17] He was the first elected State's Attorney to be sanctioned by the court.[18] Legal commentators noted at the time that the Court of Appeals’ controversial decision would have a chilling effect on public safety and the public’s right to know, and that the decision failed to account for prosecutors’ affirmative responsibility to report to the public on the prosecutions they carry out on its behalf.[19][20]

Elections

2014

See also: Maryland gubernatorial election, 2014

Gansler is considering a run for Governor of Maryland in 2014, when incumbent Martin O'Malley will be prevented by term-limits from seeking re-election.[21]

2010

See also: Maryland Attorney General election, 2010

Gansler won re-election as Maryland Attorney General unopposed in the November 2, 2010 general election. He was also unopposed in the primary.[22] [23]

A little over three months after he delivered a legal opinion recognizing "out-of-state marriages between same-sex couples" in Maryland, Gansler made the social-political issue the highlight of his re-election campaign. [10] Unlike any other politician within the state, he was quite vocal in declaring that a "prohibition of gay marriage is a clear violation of equal protection." [24]

Maryland Attorney General, General Election, 2010
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark.jpgDoug Gansler Incumbent 98.2% 1,349,962
     Write-Ins Various 1.8% 25,033
Total Votes 1,374,995
Election Results Via: Maryland State Board of Elections

2006

Gansler won election as Maryland Attorney General in 2006, defeating Republican Scott L. Rolle in the November general election.

Maryland Attorney General, General Election, 2006
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark.jpgDoug Gansler 61% 1,043,458
     Republican Scott L. Rolle 38.9% 665,433
     Write-Ins Various 0.1% 1,948
Total Votes 1,710,839
Election Results Via: Maryland State Board of Elections

Gansler defeated Stuart O. Simms in the Democratic primary.

Maryland Attorney General, Primary Election, 2006
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark.jpgDoug Gansler 55.7% 286,016
Stuart O. Simms 44.3% 227,699
Total Votes 513,715
Election Results Via: Maryland State Board of Elections

Campaign donors

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. The following table offers a breakdown of Doug Gansler's donors each year.[25] Click [show] for more information.


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Personal

Gansler currently resides in Maryland with his wife, Laura, and their two sons - Sam and Will. He is also a practicing member of Judaism.

Awards

  • Champion of Children Award (2000) from Victims' Rights Foundation
  • Hero Award (2002) from Mothers' Against Drunk Driving
  • Internet Keep Safe Award (2007) from iKeepSafe
  • Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership (2009) from Aspen Institute
  • Champion of Online Safety Award (2009) from Stop Internet Predators
  • Innovator of the Year Award (2009) from Daily Record

Contact Information

Maryland

Capitol Address:
Office of the Attorney General
200 Saint Paul Place
Baltimore, MD 21202

Phone: 410-576-6300
Toll Free Phone: 1-888-743-0023
E-mail: oag@oag.state.md.us

See also

External links

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References

  1. ↑ Maryland State board of elections "Official 2006 Gubernatorial General Election results for Attorney General," accessed on March 5, 2012
  2. ↑ Maryland State board of elections "2010 General Election Official Results," accessed on March 5, 2012
  3. ↑ The Gazette "Gansler says sniper trial cost less than $2,000" 2 Aug. 2006
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Library of Congress, "Bill Text 113th Congress (2013-2014) S.528.IS," March 12, 2013
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named agsletter
  6. ↑ The Boston Globe, "Attorney generals to Congress: Don’t let for-profit colleges use federal grants and loans for advertising," March 17, 2013
  7. ↑ Commonwealth of Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, "Letter to Congress," March 11, 2013
  8. ↑ ACORN "Attorneys General Take Action: Real Leadership in Fighting Foreclosures" June 2008
  9. ↑ Majority in Mississippi "Jim Hood Received An “A” From ACORN In 2008" 17 Sept. 2009
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Baltimore Sun "Md. can recognize same-sex marriages" 25 Feb. 2010
  11. ↑ Constitution of Maryland - Article III: Legislative Department
  12. ↑ Maryland Reporter "Analysis: Is Maryland’s attorney general an unimpeachable source?" 29 March, 2010
  13. ↑ The Baltimore Sun "Committee rejects Gansler impeachment effort" 31 March, 2010
  14. ↑ Montgomery Gazette "Gansler says sniper trial cost less than $2,000," August 2, 2006
  15. ↑ Prosecutor "Implementing Community Prosecution in Montgomery County, Maryland," accessed January 11, 2013
  16. ↑ Maryland Office of the Governor, accessed January 11, 2013
  17. ↑ Misc. Docket AG No. 81 "Attorney Grievance Commission v. Douglas F. Gansler," accessed March 5, 2012
  18. ↑ Daily Record "Montgomery County State's Atty. reprimanded by Court of Appeals," November 13, 2003
  19. ↑ MDDC Press News "Public Reporting or Flashy Quotes?," December 2003
  20. ↑ The Daily Record "Gansler reprimanded by Court of Appeals," November 11, 2003
  21. ↑ Washington Blade, "Exclusive: Mizeur eyeing run for Maryland governor," November 14, 2012
  22. ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections - 2010 Primary Election Results
  23. ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections - 2010 General Election Results
  24. ↑ The Baltimore Sun "Gansler vocal on gay marriage" 2 June, 2010
  25. ↑ Follow the Money.org


Political offices
Preceded by
J. Joseph Curran 		Maryland Attorney General
2006–present 		Succeeded by
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