Council names applicants seeking to replace Olszewski, sets public comment meeting

A dozen people have applied to succeed Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. when he steps down to in January before being sworn into Congress.

The dozen hopefuls — men and women — include a former state senator who lost the job to Olszewski in a narrow election, a comedian, a pastor, a former council member and a former state agency secretary.

The names were released by the council in advance of a public forum scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 10, when the public will be invited to testify about the qualifications they would like to see in the next executive, but prohibited from endorsing specific candidates.

Olszewski is in the middle of his second term. Last month, he was elected to represent Maryland’s 2nd District in Congress, succeeding outgoing Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-2nd). Ruppersberger, who served two terms as Baltimore County executive before being elected to the first of his 11 terms in Congress, announced his retirement in January.

Olszewski’s departure marks the second time since 2018 that the council has had to name an interim county executive. In 2018, then-County Executive Kevin Kamenetz was in the throes of a campaign for governor when he died suddenly of a heart attack.

Don Mohler, a senior aide to Kamenetz and former Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith, was named interim county executive at that time, rounding out the final seven months of his boss’ term.

The list of applicants seeking to succeed Olszewski include:

Jim Brochin — He served four terms in the Maryland Senate before opting to run for Baltimore County Executive in 2018. He lost to Olszkewski by nine votes in the Democratic primary that year.

Jon Cardin — He served twice in the House of Delegates, first from 2003-2015. He opted in 2014 to run for attorney general but lost in the primary that year to Brian Frosh. He returned to the House in 2018 and won re-election in 2022. He is the nephew of outgoing U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin.

Yara Cheikh — Current president of the Baltimore County Library Board of Trustees. She is also a community activist who was involved in an effort to add elected members to the Baltimore County School Board.

Gregory Dennis — Is a pastor at Kingdom Worship Center who has never held elected office.

Paul Drutz-Hannahs — Is a comedian.

Tara Ebersole — A former biology professor and college administrator as well as the former chair of the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee. She is also an illustrator. She is the wife of Del. Eric Ebersole (D-Baltimore County).

William Huhn — A financial planning specialist and executive at Morgan Stanley Financial with no experience in elected office.

Kathy Klausmeier — A state senator since 2003, she is the vice chair of the Senate Finance Committee. She also served eight years in the House of Delegates.

Aris Melissaratos — Served as the secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development under former Gov. Robert Ehrlich. Also a former executive at St. Johns Properties.

George Perdikakis Sr. — Served 15 years as the head of Baltimore City’s transportation department before he was tapped in 1987 to run the quasi-public Maryland Environmental Service. He left that organization eight years later to head the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management during Ruppersberger’s tenure as county executive.

Barry Williams — Served as director of two Baltimore County agencies: the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks and the Department of Workforce Development. He is the brother of House Speaker Adrienne Jones.

Tom Quirk — A three-term county council member who served from 2010-2022. He also served three times as the council president, a position elected from among the seven council members.