In the latest Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) scandal, 16 committee members signed a statement on Sunday condemning Liza Smith, who represents District 14, for “the very public harassment and online bullying of a high school student.”
The committee members wrote that the new high school student member of the committee “was targeted online by an MCDCC member without our knowledge or approval.”
“We unequivocally condemn this behavior as we do all personal attacks against any of our members. We stand united in support of our new student member, who was selected by a vote of 25-1 to join the MCDCC,” the statement said.
Smith denied that she ever bullied the student member.
“I have a child. I am a single mom. Under no circumstances would I ever bully or harass a child ever. That’s not even in my DNA,” Smith told MoCo360 on Monday.
Smith said that she wasn’t targeting the student, just expressing that she found it unfair that this new student member was the only applicant for the position and had a connection to Assistant Secretary Marko Rivera-Oven, a committee member who Smith alleges is the student’s cousin. At the meeting on Oct. 10 when she was voted in, the student member said she volunteers at the same food pantry as Rivera-Oven.
Rivera-Oven did not respond to calls and emails from MoCo360.
There are two spots for student members. Both are unpaid and do not have voting power.
Seeking to reach more student candidates, Smith said she wanted to put the vote on hold for 30 days, but the other committee members declined.
Smith told MoCo360 that this student member position is “something that we give for politically connected kids,” and she wants to change that.
She posted her views on X, formerly Twitter, about the student, who is a minor. Smith said she took down her posts including the student’s name and photo after the teen’s mother reached out and asked her to.
She made other posts addressing this issue as well, without using the student’s name.
Sixteen committee members signed the statement, including Committee Chair Saman Ahmad, Vice Chair Pamela Luckett, Treasurer Andrew Saundry, Assistant Treasurer Jayson Spiegel, Secretary Teresa Woorman and Rivera-Oven.
The MCDCC serves as the chapter of the Democratic Party in Montgomery County, and its duties include selecting candidates to replace Democratic General Assembly members from the county who leave their posts mid-term. The committee is responsible for 41% of Montgomery County delegation appointments.
In 2023, the committee was tasked with choosing four delegates and one state senator.
In their statement, the committee expressed their support for the new student member and their steadfast commitment to getting teenagers involved in politics.
“We are very excited to recruit young people to get involved in community organizing and believe that her passion and intelligence will be invaluable to us going forward,” the statement said.
There is also another student position currently open for a male or non-binary student.
Smith said that MCDCC has slandered her, and she has sought legal counsel. She declined to provide her attorney’s name.
“I have to fight it. I have to take legal action. I have to take MCDCC to court because they give me no other option,” Smith said.
She said this is one way that MDDC is a “toxic working environment.”
One of her critiques about the committee: the behavior of the committee chair.
“She has just been the most evil human being I’ve ever met,” Smith said.
Ahmad responded to Smith’s comments in an email to MoCo360 on Monday.
“I am not really in a position to respond to someone’s personal opinion of me, as it is, after all their opinion,” Ahmad said. “Petty attacks are distractions from the work at hand.”
Ahmad said she is focusing on fighting for democracy.
“What I can say is that I remain focused on the job that I was elected to do: to ensure that Democrats win their elections, not just in Montgomery County but in Maryland and across the Nation,” Ahmad wrote. “At this time when we are engaged in what is, in fact, an existential fight for the life of democracy in the United States, I am putting all of my energy into achieving that goal.”
Smith is not the only one who has criticized Ahmad and the committee’s actions in general.
Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin wrote a letter Oct. 4 urging donors to withhold fundraising and boycott the MCDCC’s fall gala on Oct. 22 until Ahmad resigns.
Smith has also pledged her support for the boycott of the gala.
Despite the call for a boycott, most committee members will be attending the event, which will fundraise for the local branch of the party.
Nathan Feldman, who represented District 15 on the panel, gave up his seat on the committee on Oct. 10, citing poor leadership, dysfunction and a lack of financial transparency, and alleging committee leaders worked to further personal agendas rather than serving the public. He called for Ahmad’s resignation in August, alleging she had pressured him to vote certain ways.
Committee leaders also told members in a closed session in June that the panel owed $13,608 to the IRS, after an agent stopped by their Rockville offices to threaten a lien, according to members of the committee and leaked documents. The debt stems from underpayment in 2017 and 2018, prior to Ahmad’s time as chair.
MoCo360 reporter Ginny Bixby contributed to this article.
