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Recent Articles about Cheryl:
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FBI Probes
Possible Theft of Software, Ex-Md.
Delegate Received Disks Anonymously, Washington
Post, October 20-22, 2006
-
Kagan Takes
Shots at Forehand, But Won't Make a Run for Her Seat,
Washington Post, Thursday, December 8, 2005; GZ02
-
-
Forehand Lines
Up Support, The Washington Post,
Thurs., July 14, 2005
-
Cheryl Kagan named as one of
"Maryland's Top 100 Women"
-
Senate smackdown looms,
The Gazette, Fri, May 6, 2005
-
Kagan Eyes Senate Seat,
The Washington Post,
Thurs., May 5, 2005
-
Kagan announces committee
to explore run for State Senate, The Gazette; Wed., May
4, 2005
-
Politics
follows her everywhere; Ex-state delegate an AJCommittee fellow;
Washington Jewish Week; Thu, Apr 14, 2005
Press Highlights from Legislative
Career:
Summary of
next three articles:
FBI Probes
Possible Theft of Software
Ex-Md.
Delegate Received Disks Anonymously
The FBI is investigating
the possible theft of software developed by the nation's leading
maker of electronic voting equipment, said a former Maryland
legislator who this week received three computer disks that
apparently contain key portions of programs created by Diebold
Election Systems. Cheryl C. Kagan, a former Democratic delegate who
has long questioned the security of electronic voting systems, said
the disks were delivered anonymously to her office in Olney on
Tuesday and that the FBI contacted her Thursday. The package
contained an unsigned letter critical of Maryland State Board of
Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone
Former delegate gets purported
Diebold code
FBI is contacted over anonymous
package
By
Melissa Harris,
Baltimore Sun reporter
Originally published October 20, 2006
Diebold Election Systems Inc. expressed alarm and state election
officials contacted the FBI yesterday after a former legislator
received an anonymous package containing what appears to be the
computer code that ran Maryland's polls in 2004.
Cheryl C. Kagan, a longtime critic of Maryland's elections chief,
says the fact that the computer disks were sent to her - along with
an unsigned note criticizing the management of the state elections
board - demonstrates that Maryland's voting system faces grave
security threats.
A spokesman for Diebold, which manufactures the state's touch-screen
voting machines, said the company is treating the software Kagan
received as "stolen" and not as "picked up" at the State Board of
Elections, as the anonymous note claimed. Lawyers for the company
are seeking its return.
The disclosure comes amid heightened concerns nationwide about the
security of the November elections and the ability of the state to
keep tight controls on the thousands of machines that will be used
next month.
Maryland's September primary - which used voting machines and
electronic check-in equipment made by Diebold - suffered a series of
mistakes, and the outcomes of some contests were not known for
weeks.
In the wake of the problems, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and other
politicians renewed their call to jettison the equipment. The
governor has urged state voters to request absentee ballots,
although use of the paper alternative raises different concerns
about fraud.
A spokesman for the governor said the apparent distribution of the
voting-machine software was troubling.
"This raises yet another unanswered question with regard to Diebold
technology," said Henry Fawell, an Ehrlich spokesman.
The availability of the code - the written instructions that tell
the machines what to do - is important because some computer
scientists worry that the machines are vulnerable to malicious and
virtually undetectable vote-switching software. An examination of
the instructions would enable technology experts to identify flaws,
but Diebold says the code is proprietary and does not allow public
scrutiny of it.
Diebold has not confirmed that the code received by Kagan is
authentic, said Mike Morrill, a spokesman for the company in
Maryland. But
Johns Hopkins University computer scientist Aviel Rubin reviewed
one of the disks and said he believed it was genuine. If it wasn't,
he said, "someone went to great lengths to make it look like it
was."
"My feeling is that it may have come out of the testing labs, which
means that if that's true, their procedures for protecting their
clients' valuable proprietary information have failed," said Rubin,
who in 2003 published a report on Diebold security flaws after
discovering a copy of the code on the Internet.
"If it came out of Diebold, it's like Coca-Cola having their recipe
exposed and then not learning their lesson," he said. "If it came
out of the testing labs, then it's hard to blame the manufacturer."
Kagan, a former state Democratic delegate from Montgomery County who
is now executive director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, said
the disks were delivered to her office Wednesday.
An accompanying letter refers to the State Board of Elections and
calls Kagan "the proud recipient of an 'abandoned baby Diebold
source code' right from SBE accidentally picked up in this envelope,
right in plain view at SBE. ... You have the software because you
are a credible person who can save the state from itself. You must
alert the media and save democracy."
Kagan called the attorney general's office, and word of the disks
began to spread. Learning of the development, Linda H. Lamone, the
state's elections chief, reported Kagan's possession of the code to
the FBI yesterday.
Kagan said she had been contacted by an FBI investigator but had not
met with him. "I intend to cooperate" with the inquiry, Kagan said,
adding that she believed evidence of a serious security breach had
to be revealed.
An FBI spokeswoman could not confirm yesterday the nature of the
bureau's interest.
Morrill, the Diebold spokesman, said it was unlikely that the code
was obtained in the manner outlined in the letter.
The codes, which were delivered to Kagan in three versions on
separate disks, are proprietary - meaning there are restrictions on
their use and duplication. Violators of those restrictions could be
charged with crimes.
Based on their labels, the disks appear to be created by two
companies that test the software - Wyle Laboratories and Ciber Inc.,
whose teams are based in Huntsville, Ala. Maryland law requires such
independent testing before the equipment's use.
The
disks have the testing authorities' names on them, as well as other
identifying features. Anyone who had permission to handle these
disks would have received passwords from Diebold, enabling
investigators to trace those authorized to use them.
Morrill said two of three disks were never used and that the third
was version 4.3.15c, which was used in Maryland during the 2004
primary.
Ross Goldstein, the state's deputy elections administrator, said
Maryland now uses version 4.6 and that the public should be
confident that their votes are secure.
The disks contain "nothing that's being used in this election,"
Goldstein said.
Diebold marketing director Mark Radke said the company is
investigating the chain of custody of the disks and is asking its
testing companies to pull their logs.
"These disks contain codes used for testing purposes," Radke said.
"They were shipped from the testing authority. Diebold was never in
the chain of custody."
Older versions of Diebold's computer code have long been in public
circulation, including the copy discovered by Rubin.
This year, a team of Princeton University computer scientists
obtained a slightly older version of the code than that sent to
Kagan and found that a programmer with access to the voting machines
and their passwords could install malicious software or viruses.
Some of the flaws could be remedied with quick fixes, the
researchers said, but others were "architectural in nature" and
could not be easily corrected without redesigning the machines.
"In any case, subsequent versions of the software should be assumed
insecure until fully independent examination proves otherwise," the
researchers wrote.
Diebold has consistently resisted pressures from computer and
political scientists to make their software available to experts for
critiques, a process called open-source software development.
Not doing that is "a mistake" on Diebold's part, said Donald F.
Norris, a professor at the
University of Maryland, Baltimore County and director of the
university's National Center for the Study of Elections.
Computer Voting Disks
Likely Made For Testers
Md. Assembly Sought
Security Check in 2003
Washington Post Staff
Writer
Saturday, October 21, 2006; Page B01
A Maryland election
official said yesterday that possibly stolen computer disks
believed to be electronic voting software were "apparently
produced" for use by a testing firm hired by the Maryland
legislature in November 2003.
Ross Goldstein,
deputy administrator of the Maryland State Board of Elections,
said documents indicate that the disks were sent to Maryland so
Raba Technologies Inc. could assess the security of the state's
electronic voting system, which is provided by Diebold Election
Systems. A receptionist at Raba, based in Columbia, declined to
comment yesterday after consulting with her supervisor.
Labels on the disks
indicate that they contain the versions of two Diebold programs
that powered electronic voting machines in Maryland in 2004,
Goldstein said Thursday. Diebold said one version of one program
is still in use in some jurisdictions elsewhere in the United
States.
Cheryl C. Kagan, a
former Maryland delegate who has questioned the security of
electronic voting systems, said the disks were delivered
anonymously to her office in Olney on Tuesday.
State elections
administrator Linda H. Lamone has asked the FBI to investigate
the apparent theft and leaking of proprietary voting software.
Critics of
electronic voting said the most recent incident in Maryland
casts doubt on Lamone's claim that Maryland has the nation's
most secure voting system. "There now may be numerous copies of
the Diebold software floating around in unauthorized hands,"
said Linda Schade, co-founder of TrueVoteMD, which has pressed
for a system that provides a verifiable paper record of each
vote.
Yesterday, Henry
Fawell, a spokesman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), said the
suspected leak "raises yet another unanswered question about the
Diebold technology on which our election system depends."
Ehrlich initially supported the Diebold technology but in recent
years has said Maryland should switch to a system that provides
a paper trail.
Some computer
scientists said the incident shows why the makers of voting
systems should publicly disclose their software. "It's hard to
keep a secret like this for a long time," said Edward Felten, a
Princeton University computer scientist who demonstrated in
September how Diebold's machines could easily be hacked. The
company called Felten's work inaccurate and unrealistic.
The Washington Post,
which obtained copies of the disks Wednesday to verify them,
agreed yesterday to Diebold's request to return them.
Kagan said that she
expects to meet with FBI agents next week and that she was
prepared to grant the FBI's request to turn over the disks.
The disks bear logos
from two other testing companies, Ciber Inc. and Wyle
Laboratories, which Diebold hired to test its voting system.
Maryland retained Raba in 2003 to conduct a security assessment
after an academic study revealed vulnerabilities in Diebold's
system, said Karl S. Aro, executive director of the Department
of Legislative Services.
Aro said he believes
that Diebold made its own arrangements to transmit the software
to Raba. "To my knowledge, [Aro's staff] never touched those
disks," Aro said.
Diebold spokesman
Mark Radke said: "We contacted Ciber and Wyle and asked them to
send the software directly to someone in Maryland." He said he
could not confirm if the recipient was Raba or an intermediary.
Felten, the
Princeton computer scientist, said public disclosure of the core
instructions or "source code" that powers electronic voting
machines would enhance security by allowing experts to find
flaws that could then be corrected.
David Jefferson, a
computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who
advises California's secretary of state on election matters,
said the source code should be public precisely because it is
part of voting systems. "Our democratic process has to be
completely open, and we cannot conduct transparent elections on
top of secret software," he said.
Michael I. Shamos, a
computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, said the
appearance of the disks in Kagan's office is "essentially
meaningless." He said electronic voting source code should be
disclosed because of the public's strong interest in the
credibility of voting systems. "Since the disclosure of source
code is a good thing," he asked, "why should we be complaining
when some gets disclosed?"
"Anything that
happens to convince the makers of voting software to drop the
nonsensical claim of 'trade secrets' is a good thing," Shamos
said.
Radke said the
company was not averse to disclosing its code if the law were
changed to require it. But he said disclosure would dampen
innovation in the field.
Avi Rubin, a
computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University who reviewed the
software Wednesday at the request of The Post, said he was all
but certain that the material on the disks was Diebold software.
Officials Probing Possible Theft of Voting Software in Md.
Ex-Delegate Says FBI Contacted Her About Disks She Received
Washington Post Staff
Writer
Friday, October 20, 2006; Page B01
The FBI is
investigating the possible theft of software developed by the
nation's leading maker of electronic voting equipment, said a
former Maryland legislator who this week received three computer
disks that apparently contain key portions of programs created
by Diebold Election Systems.
Cheryl C. Kagan, a
former Democratic delegate who has long questioned the security
of electronic voting systems, said the disks were delivered
anonymously to her office in Olney on Tuesday and that the FBI
contacted her yesterday. The package contained an unsigned
letter critical of Maryland State Board of Elections
Administrator Linda H. Lamone that said the disks were "right
from SBE" and had been "accidentally picked up."
Lamone's deputy,
Ross Goldstein, said "they were not our disks," but he
acknowledged that the software was used in Maryland in the 2004
elections. Diebold said in a statement last night that it had
never created or received the disks.
The disks bear the
logos of two testing companies that send such disks to the
Maryland board after using the software to conduct tests on
Diebold equipment. A
Ciber Inc. spokeswoman said the disks had not come from
Ciber, and Wyle Laboratories Inc. said it was not missing any
disks.
Diebold spokesman
Mark Radke and Goldstein said that the labels on the disks
referred to versions of the software that are no longer in use
in Maryland, although the Diebold statement said the version of
one program apparently stored on the disks is still in use in "a
limited number of jurisdictions" and is protected by encryption.
The statement also said the FBI is investigating the disks'
chain of custody.
Michelle Crnkovich,
an FBI spokeswoman in Baltimore, said she had no knowledge of an
investigation.
In an unrelated
development, Maryland state auditors said in a report yesterday
that the State Board of Elections is not properly controlling
access to a new statewide database of registered voters or
verifying what changes are made to it. The report comes at a
time of heightened concern over the security and effectiveness
of electronic voting systems.
Legislative auditor
Bruce Myers said it was unusual to allow "across-the-board
access" by local election officials to a sensitive database, but
Lamone defended the board's practices. In a letter released with
the Office of Legislative Audits report, she wrote that the
board "is unaware of any allegations of the falsification of
additions or deletions to the system."
The FBI
investigation into the disks could focus further scrutiny on the
security of Maryland's electronic voting system.
The disks delivered
to Kagan's office bear labels indicating that they hold "source
code" -- the instructions that constitute the core of a software
program -- for Diebold's Ballot Station and Global Election
Management System (GEMS) programs. The former guides the
operation of the company's touch-screen voting machines; the
latter is in part a tabulation program used to tally votes after
an election.
Three years ago,
Diebold was embarrassed when an activist obtained some of its
confidential software by searching the Internet. The company
vowed to improve its security procedures to prevent another
lapse.
The release of such
software poses a risk, computer scientists say, because it could
allow someone to discover security vulnerabilities or to write a
virus that could be used to manipulate election results.
In September, computer
scientists at Princeton University who had obtained a Diebold voting
machine demonstrated how a program they had created could secretly
alter the votes cast on the machine. Diebold President Dave Byrd
called the demonstration "unrealistic and inaccurate" and said it
ignored the "physical security" measures used to safeguard voting
machines.
The Washington Post
obtained copies of the disks Wednesday and allowed Avi Rubin, a
computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University, along with a
colleague and a graduate student, to review the software on the
condition that they make no copies of it.
"I would be stunned if
it's not real," Rubin said.
Rubin, who has said that
electronic voting systems that do not produce a paper record of each
vote cannot be secured, led a team that produced an analysis that
pointed out security vulnerabilities in the Diebold software found
on the Internet in 2003.
Sam Small, the graduate
student, said the version of Ballot Station "was consistent with
what we've seen previously." Small could not gain access to the GEMS
software because the material on two of the disks was protected by a
password.
Radke, the Diebold
spokesman, said the versions of Ballot Station released since the
version identified on the disks have many new security features. The
Diebold statement said "it would take years for a knowledgeable
scientist" to break the encryption used on the software apparently
contained on the disks delivered to Kagan. But Rubin said "the data
and files were not encrypted" on the Ballot Station disk he
reviewed.
The Office of
Legislative Audits report also said the Maryland elections board has
paid bills submitted by contractors without proper documentation and
has not taken appropriate steps to safeguard its computer network
and Web site.
Lamone said, "It seems
inappropriate to base findings on a partially implemented system,"
referring to the new MDVOTERS database, which Maryland has
established to comply with federal law.
She said it is
appropriate for local election workers to have access to the
database and said procedures are in place to verify changes. Lamone
concurred with the auditors' criticism of her staff's accounting
practices and said they had "obtained nearly all necessary
documentation" for contractors' bills.
Providing the sort of
local oversight envisioned by the auditors, she said, "simply cannot
be conducted with existing resources."
Staff writer Eric
Rich contributed to this report.
Video Version of the
following story, featuring Cheryl Kagan:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2598017
Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections
Researchers, Candidates
Have Little Confidence in Machines Designed to Make Elections Easier
to Call
By JAKE TAPPER, REBECCA ABRAHAMS and EDUARDO SUNOL
Oct. 22, 2006 — Cheryl
Kagan, a former Maryland Democratic legislator, was shocked when she
opened her mail Wednesday morning.
Inside, she discovered
three computer discs. With them was an anonymous letter saying the
discs contained the secret source code for vote-counting that could
be used to alter the votes cast through Maryland's new electronic
voting machines.
"My understanding is
that with these disks a malicious person could skew the outcome of
an election," Kagan said.
Diebold, the company
that makes the voting machines, told ABC News, "These discs do not
alter the security of the Diebold touch-screen system in any way,"
because election workers can set their own passwords.
But ABC News has
obtained an independent report commissioned by the state of Maryland
and conducted by Science Applications International Corporation
revealing that the original Diebold factory passwords are still
being used on many voting machines.
The SAIC study also
shows myriad other security flaws, including administrative
over-ride passwords that cannot be changed by local officials but
can be used by hackers or those who have seen the discs.
The report further
states that one of the high risks to the system comes if operating
code discs are lost, stolen or seen by unauthorized parties —
precisely what seems to have occurred with the discs sent to Kagan,
who worries that the incident indicates the secret source code is
not that difficult to obtain.
"Certainly, just
tweaking a few votes in a couple of states could radically change
the outcome of our policies for the coming year," she said.
Worry That Elections
Could Be Hacked
Computer experts and
government officials have voiced serious concerns that if these
machines malfunction, no paper record will exist for a recount. Even
worse is the fear that an election could be hacked.
Princeton University
researchers using an Accuvote TS — a touch screen version of the
Diebold machine — showed how easy it would be to deploy a virus that
would, in seconds, flip the vote of any election.
"We're taking the
vote-counting process and we're handing it over to these companies —
and we don't know what happens inside these machines," said Edward
Felten, a professor and a researcher at Princeton's Center for
Information Technology Policy, which ran the study.
Diebold called the
Princeton study "unrealistic and inaccurate."
But many computer
scientists, including cyber-security expert Stephen Spoonamore,
disagree, pointing out that the Accuvote TS was used in the 2004
presidential election and is still used in at least four states —
including all machines in Georgia and Maryland. Spoonamore said the
hack attacked the operating system layer of software and would
affect any touch screen machine built by Diebold.
Diebold argues that the
software from the 2004 elections has been updated to fix any
possible security problems. But Spoonamore is not convinced, saying
Diebold's "system is utterly unsecured. The entire cyber-security
community is begging them to come back to reality and secure our
nation's voting."
There is also the matter
of computer glitches. In primary elections and test runs this year,
there were glitches with electronic voting machines from Diebold and
other companies.
 Machines malfunctioned in
Texas, where 100,000 votes were added.
In California, directions for
voters with vision problems came out in Vietnamese.
And in Maryland, screens froze
and memory cards went missing.
Gov. Robert Ehrlich, a
Republican running for reelection, advised residents to vote by
absentee ballot because he had no confidence in the machines.
"I don't care if we paid
half a billion dollars or $1 billion," Ehrlich said. "If it's going
to put the election at risk, there's no price tag for a phony
election or a fraudulent election."
Many are concerned about
how the confusing technical issues will be handled by poll workers,
who tend to be senior citizens and who are not necessarily
tech-savvy.
Electronic voting
machines were supposed to be the solution to the paper ballot
problems from the 2000 presidential election. But to many critics,
America's voting system has gone out of the frying pan and into the
fire.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/Technology/story?id=2596705&page=1
Nine
Women Honored
Washington Post, October
12, 2006
As County Executive
Douglas M. Duncan faces the final weeks of his 12-year tenure,
county groups are starting to offer kudos and awards to his
administration.
But Duncan may have to
wait a little longer for his. Next week, the Montgomery County
Business and Professional Women, and the county government's
Commission for Women will honor nine county women, including
Duncan's wife, Barbara C. Duncan , a longtime patron of the
arts, whose day job is director of community relations at Sunrise
Senior Living in Rockville.
The Tuesday night dinner
will be at the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn. Also being honored are:
· Cheryl C. Kagan
, a former member of the House of Delegates who is executive
director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation.
"It is amazing how many
incredible women there are in Montgomery County who work for us
every day," said Pat Cornish , a former national president of
the businesswomen's organization.
The event is part of
National Business Women's Week.
Kagan Takes Shots at
Forehand, But Won't Make a Run for Her Seat
By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 8, 2005; GZ02
Residents who enjoy a good ol' political dogfight might be
disappointed to learn that Cheryl Kagan , a former member of the
House of Delegates, has decided not to challenge incumbent state
Sen. Jennie M. Forehand in next year's Democratic primary.
But it's pretty clear Kagan and Forehand will remain rivals at best
and political enemies at worst.
For months, Kagan has been exploring a run against Forehand, who was
bracing for her most serious challenge in years. Forehand, 68, has
represented District 17 in the state Senate since 1995.
Before that, Forehand represented District 17 -- which includes
parts of Rockville and Gaithersburg -- in the House of Delegates for
16 years.
Kagan, who represented the district in the House from 1995 to 2003,
had been preparing a campaign based on the argument that Forehand
was ineffective and had been in office too long.
Forehand in turn charged that Kagan, 43, was planning to use age as
a wedge issue in the race.
But Kagan, executive director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation,
announced Tuesday she is dropping her exploratory campaign to remain
focused on her job. "My life is very full right now with
community service," said Kagan, who also serves on the board of
directors of several community organizations. "I knew I would
win the race, but the challenge for me was to find the hours to talk
to voters, so I ultimately chose volunteer service over another
campaign."
Forehand said she is "not surprised" Kagan decided not to run.
"I think it would have been hard to run a campaign when there was no
difference on major issues," Forehand said, adding "maybe her polls
told her something."
Forehand also took a subtle swipe at Kagan's reasons for shying away
form the race. "I think that serving in the legislature is community
service," Forehand said. "I see it as public service, and politics
to me is not a game."
Forehand isn't in the clear yet, however. Kagan said she plans to
support Forehand's opponent for the Democratic nomination, if anyone
else decides to challenge her. "If someone else runs, I would
absolutely support him or her," Kagan said, adding District 17
residents are "yearning for more effective and energetic leadership
in Annapolis."
Forehand's response: "Bring it on."
Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005, The Gazette
by Noelle Barton
Staff Writer
Former District 17 delegate Cheryl C. Kagan, who had toyed with the
idea of running against Jennie M. Forehand for her state Senate seat
next year, said this week she would not.
In an e-mail sent out late Monday night, Kagan, who served in the
state House of Delegates from 1994 to 2002, spoke at length of a
need for ‘‘independent-minded” legislators in Annapolis. But running
a winning campaign would have demanded too much time away from her
job as executive director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation and
other activities, she said.
‘‘My first responsibility was to commitments I had already made,”
she said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
After serving two terms in the General Assembly as part of the
delegation headed up by Forehand, Kagan, 44, said this week she did
not seek re-election in 2002 for ‘‘a whole lot of reasons.” She took
the helm at the Olney-based Carl M. Freeman Foundation in the spring
of 2003.
In announcing her interest in a Senate run in early May, Kagan
called Forehand ‘‘a predictable vote for the status quo” and said
the district needs a senator ‘‘whose ties to the community are fresh
and whose knowledge of the issues affecting our neighborhoods is
recent.”
The two women line up similarly on most issues, from support for the
Intercounty Connector to a woman’s right to choose an abortion.
‘‘[Forehand] and others who have held office for a long time should
make room for younger leaders,” Kagan said Tuesday, before revising
her thought. ‘‘I don’t want to say younger. For new leadership.”
Kagan was prepared to run an aggressive campaign. In response to a
pro-Forehand mailing, she sent a mass e-mail in October accusing
Senate President Thomas V. ‘‘Mike” Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake
Beach ‘‘and others” of ‘‘frittering away” money needed to help
‘‘vulnerable Democrats in swing districts” on campaign materials in
‘‘solidly Democratic” districts.
The original mailing had a ‘‘by-authority” line from the Forehand
campaign but a Maryland Democratic Senatorial Committee return
address, Kagan said, describing that as ‘‘Miller’s group.”
‘‘It was a fluff piece, pretty pictures of Jennie sitting in front
of the state capital and Jennie pointing and smiling at things. It
was an inappropriate pressure tactic from someone from rural
Maryland who wants to preserve the status quo,” Kagan said of Miller
this week.
Kagan received some pressure from the state Democratic Party not to
run, she said, adding there were some people who ‘‘tend to support
incumbents.”
‘‘It’s easier to support an incumbent that’s already in the job, but
there were countless numbers who were ready for a change and
expressed that to me,” she said.
Kagan is not talking about personal plans past 2006, and said she
would keep her options open.
Reached in Annapolis on Tuesday, Forehand said she was not surprised
to hear Kagan dropped out and said the news won’t change her plans
for next year ‘‘at all.”
‘‘I have all my plans lined up,” Forehand said. ‘‘I’m still raising
money. I don’t know who else will come along to run in that race,
but I am prepared for it.”
Forehand was first elected in 1978 as a delegate from Rockville, and
served in the House of Delegates until she was elected to the Senate
in 1994. In her last contest in 2002, Forehand handily defeated
Democratic challenger Sidney Altman of Gaithersburg in the primary,
earning almost 82 percent of the vote, and defeated Republican Roy
A. Burke II of Gaithersburg in the general election.
Forehand said ‘‘many groups and many, many community leaders,”
endorsed her after Kagan announced her exploratory committee in the
spring.
When asked if Forehand’s friendship with Miller may have played a
role in Kagan’s decision, Forehand said ‘‘not at all” and laughed.
‘‘She may have taken into consideration that almost with the
exception of just a small number, all my colleagues in Annapolis
were supporting me and it wasn’t just based on courtesy,” Forehand
said.
At 69, Forehand is noncommittal about her political future, and said
‘‘there’s always more to be accomplished.” She is ‘‘absolutely”
running next year, she added.
Forehand Lines Up Support
Washington Post, July 14, 2005 -
The possible District 17 race next year
between incumbent state Sen. Jennie M . Forehand and former delegate
Cheryl Kagan has a new twist.
Kagan, a longtime Democratic activist
who served in the House of Delegates from 1995 to 2003, has formed
an exploratory committee to consider whether to challenge Forehand.
In the past, she has said a number of Annapolis insiders have been
urging her to run.
Forehand, who could face her toughest
challenge in two decades, had a fundraiser scheduled for last night
at Glenview Mansion at Rockville Civic Center Park.
Judging by the invitation, a who's who
of elected officials are supporting Forehand. Senate President
Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and House Speaker Michael E.
Busch (D-Anne Arundel) were listed as honorary co-chairs of the
committee.
In all, 20 state senators and 20
Democratic House members, including almost the entire Montgomery
County delegation, also were listed on the invitation as Forehand
supporters.
In an interview, Forehand said the list
shows Kagan doesn't have the support she thought she had.
Forehand said she has been flooded with
offers of support ever since Kagan sent out a letter announcing her
exploratory campaign. The Kagan letter said Forehand was no longer
effective in Annapolis.
Forehand, 68, took that to mean that
Kagan, 43, was saying she was too old.
Cheryl Kagan named as one of “Maryland’s
Top 100 Women”
Foundation Director and Former
Lawmaker Second Time Award Winner
(Baltimore, May 2005) Carl M. Freeman Foundation Director and
Former State Delegate Cheryl Kagan was awarded the distinction as
one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women.
This was the 10th year that such awards are distributed, and it was
the second time that Kagan was selected for this prestigious award.
Established in 1996 by The Daily Record, the annual award
program recognizes the outstanding achievements of professional
women who live or work in Maryland and who are making a significant
impact on the state. It is designed to recognize women who not only
have achieved professional success, but who also have contributed to
bettering the communities in which they work and live. Additionally,
they play an active role in mentoring the next generation of
leaders.
Nominations for this award are solicited from economic development
agencies, chambers of commerce, women’s organizations and
businesses. More than 400 women were nominated for this year’s
awards.
Among the items
featured in Cheryl’s application was her leadership of the 45-year
old Carl M. Freeman Foundation. As its first-ever Executive
Director, Cheryl has enhanced its grantmaking and increased its
capacity-building programs. Through her service on many Boards of
Directors including the Arts & Humanities Council, the American
Jewish Committee, and the Universities of Shady Grove, Cheryl
continues to contribute to the quality of life in Montgomery County
and the region. Finally, Cheryl’s eight-year tenure as a member of
the Maryland House of Delegates showed her tenacity and
effectiveness on issues that did not always have an advocate.
Cheryl Kagan was
honored by the recognition, saying, “Having helped judge the 2004
contest and knowing the caliber of women nominated, I am even more
humbled at having been included among this year’s recipients.”
According to
Carl M. Freeman Foundation’s Chair Josh Freeman, “Cheryl Kagan makes
a difference in our community every day. She and the other honorees
exemplify leadership commitment and actions needed to propel our
state forward.”
Senate smackdown looms
Former delegate Cheryl Kagan made it official this week:
She's exploring a bid to unseat Sen. Jennie Forehand in
District 17 next year in what would be a royal Rockville rumble.
Forehand was elected to the House of Delegates in 1978 and to the
Senate in 1994. Kagan served two terms in the House before dropping
out in 2002. She now is the executive director of the Carl M.
Freeman foundation and worked on the Kerry presidential
campaign.
In an announcement sent while Forehand was vacationing in Sicily,
Kagan called Forehand a predictable vote for the status quo: "We
need a Senator whose ties to the community are fresh and whose
knowledge of the issues affecting our neighborhoods is recent."
Ouch.
The county needs "tougher, stronger leadership" and "can no
longer politely wait in line for solutions," Kagan said.
Forehand, who has long heard rumors of Kagan's ambitions, has
dismissed her potential challenger in earlier interviews.
"It's easy to get out of touch when you stay in office for a long
time," Kagan told us Thursday. "I am a lifelong Democrat so running
against another Democrat elected official is something that I would
not do lightly."
-- Steven T. Dennis
Kagan
Eyes Senate Seat
The Washington Post,
Thursday, May 5, 2005
For the first time in her career as a state senator from
District 17, Sen. Jennie M. Forehand may face a serious
challenger in next year's Democratic primary.
Cheryl Kagan , a longtime Democratic activist who
served in the House of Delegates from 1995 to 2003, announced
Tuesday that she is forming an exploratory committee to consider
whether to challenge Forehand.
"While state Senator Jennie Forehand has served us honorably
for 28 years, she has become a predictable vote for the status quo,"
Kagan said in a statement. "I believe it's time for a tougher,
stronger leader to represent mid-Montgomery County in the state
Senate."
Kagan retired from the House of Delegates in 2003. Since then,
she has been executive director of the Carl. M. Freeman Foundation
and served as co-chairman of Sen. John F. Kerry's Montgomery
campaign last year.
Forehand, who was elected to the Senate in 1994 after
representing District 17 in the House for 16 years, was out of the
country and unavailable for comment earlier this week.
District 17 includes Gaithersburg, Rockville and Garrett Park.
Kagan announces committee to explore run for State Senate
by Noelle
Barton
May 4, 2005
The Gazette (Rockville,
Gaithersburg editions)
Several months after
announcing she was considering a run for State Senate in 2006,
former state delegate Cheryl C. Kagan has formed an exploratory
committee to study doing just that.
Kagan, 43, who is now
the executive director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, may
challenge Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville, who has
served 28 years in the Maryland House and Senate. Kagan said in an
announcement this week she will make a final decision on a run by
this fall.
Kagan called Forehand "a
predictable vote for the status quo."
Forehand was out of the
country and unavailable for comment on Tuesday. A Senate staffer
said that until Forehand heard the news, no one in her office would
comment.
An updated version of
Kagan's Web site can be found at www.cherylkagan.org.
Politics
follows her everywhere
Ex-state delegate an AJCommittee fellow
by Eric Fingerhut
Staff Writer
Thu, Apr 14, 2005
Cheryl Kagan has been to more than two dozen countries over the
years, but she says that none was quite like Egypt.
It was quite a contrast coming after a week in Israel, said the
Rockville resident, where "everything is so open and warm and
welcoming and you felt like you were with family.
In Egypt, "everyone was proclaiming they loved Jews, how there was
no anti-Semitism ever in Egypt, how happy they were to have us," but
"while their words were welcoming ... their actions were quite
different."
"We had a phalanx of armed guards with us everywhere we went," said Kagan,
noting that she was not sure if the guards were "trying to protect
us, trying to monitor us, or both."
Then there were the warnings to "assume our hotel rooms were bugged ...to
assume that our luggage would be [searched] when we were out of our
hotel room."
"I've never been to [that] sort of a police state, never experienced
that level of oppression," she said.
The recent trip to the Middle East, where the group met with
government officials and opinion leaders in Israel and Egypt,
highlighted Kagan's experience as an American Jewish Committee Comay
Fellow, a program cultivating younger leaders for AJCommittee.
The 43-year-old was one of nine people from around the country
selected for the program, which has included a Florida retreat this
winter, attendance at two AJCommittee board meetings and a trip to
the organization's national conference next month.
"It was a pretty heady opportunity for all of us to be in the Middle
East at such a momentous time," said Kagan, adding that she felt
"cautious optimism" in Israel that a resolution to "the problems
that have been intractable so long" may be in the offing.
Kagan arrived in Israel before the rest of the group in order to
visit the Mevasseret Zion absorption center, a Jewish education
center being built by Aish Hatorah and Yemin Orde, a home for
immigrant and at-risk youth. The three sites are all beneficiaries
of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, where she has served as executive
director for the past two years.
The nonprofit foundation donates more than $1 million a year to
projects primarily in Montgomery County and in Sussex County, Del.,
where most of the late real estate developer's properties -- such as
Cabin John Shopping Center and Sea Colony -- are located. That
includes donations to a number of Jewish organizations, topped by
$100,000 a year to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.
A cousin of Josh Freeman's, Carl's son and the current head of
Freeman Companies, Kagan said one of the most exciting aspects of
the foundation is a program she suggested three years before she
took the helm.
F.A.C.E.S. -- Freeman Foundation Assists Community With Extra
Support -- provides what she sometimes calls "get-to-know you"
grants of between $500-$2,000 "targeted toward smaller nonprofits
that are often overlooked."
For example, she points to the purchase of CPR dummies for Central Familia,
an organization that trains Hispanic day-care providers.
"For a small amount of money, it totally makes a difference in
their ability to do a better job in their community," said Kagan.
Many in Montgomery County may recognize Kagan's name from her
eight-year stint in Annapolis, where she served as a delegate in the
State House representing Maryland's 17th District. She chose not to
run for re-election in 2002 for several reasons.
"I left because I think some people stay in office too long," she
said. "I think fresh blood and new insights are always valuable
in representative government."
She also was frustrated by the "good old boy network" that governs
the legislature, and "wasn't sure a Jewish feminist woman from
Montgomery County was going to make very much progress very
quickly."
For example, she remembers when Holy Cross Hospital was working with
Montgomery College to set up a clinic for low-income women. Kagan
found it difficult to get an agreement that the Silver Spring
hospital would provide, or at least offer referrals for, women's
services such as pap smears and treatment of sexually transmitted
diseases.
Opponents falsely accused her of trying to force the Catholic
hospital to perform abortions, and she succeeded only after some
state senators saw an article in the media about Kagan's struggle.
"It was an uphill battle on some issues that seemed so logical ...
and too often seemed to fall on deaf ears," she said. "I thought I
could make more of a difference [working] in the community."
But Kagan -- who with her husband, David Spitzer, is an avid folk
music fan -- notes that she "never got out of politics, I got out of
elective office."
She was an early co-chair of John Kerry's presidential campaign
in Montgomery County, does political analysis and commentary for
local television and radio outlets, and worked as a consultant on
Rep. Chris Van Hollen's (D-Md.) successful 2002 House campaign.
She also is pondering another attempt at elective office,
considering a primary challenge to Md. Sen. Jennie Forehand (D-Dist.
17) -- whose 28 years in the General Assembly has led some to look
for new leadership.
"I have learned so much in this job with the foundation that could
only make me a better elected official," said Kagan, adding that
there is "so much I could do in the State Senate that could benefit
the nonprofit community."
In fact, Kagan says politics seem to follow her everywhere. A
member of Potomac's Congregation Har Shalom, she was in Jerusalem
during the Comay trip, having Shabbat dinner at her rabbi's sister's
house, when she checked a Blackberry she had borrowed and was
greeted by a stream of e-mails.
Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) had announced his retirement, and she
was receiving not only announcements from those considering a run,
but press inquiries about whether she would be interested in running
for something.
"I thought I was going to get away from everything for two weeks,"
said Kagan. "Instead, I was completely immersed."
Copyright 2005
Washington Jewish Week
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