MD Criminal Defense Attys.’ Assn. opposes candidate’s ‘lawyer-
Lawyer-bashing is always a good way to get laughs. Now, one candidate seems to think it’s a good way to get votes, as well.
“Wayne Gilchrest is in a primary election against a trial lawyer who openly advertises that he defends sexual predators and drug dealers,” one radio ad for the 1st District congressman states. “It will do us no good to replace a man like Wayne Gilchrest with a lawyer who makes his living getting child molesters off the hook.”
The ad refers to one of Gilchrest’s challengers in the Republican primary, Baltimore County lawyer David Fischer.
Thanks to redistricting, the Eastern Shore constituents Gilchrest has represented for more than a decade — 400,000 of them — are joined by 260,000 residents of Anne Arundel, Harford and Baltimore counties.
Those are voters who don’t really know Gilchrest and, according to Fischer, would find him far too liberal if they did.
In fact, until late August, it was the moderate Gilchrest complaining about unfair ads, saying Fischer had distorted his position on such issues as the environment, abortion, gay adoption, gun control and private property rights.
Now, the “lawyer” ads stop just short of branding Fischer a liar.
A second radio spot on the theme hones in on what is purported to be Fischer’s telephone-directory advertisement.
“He has a two-page ad in the Baltimore Yellow Pages. Pages 650 and 651,” a male actor tells a female actor.
“It says he specializes in representing drug peddlers, murderers, handgun crimes,” the man continues. “And look at this, David Fischer is advertising for sexual molesters to represent in court.”
“David Fischer who runs around telling everybody how much he hates child molesters, makes his money defending them in court?” the woman asks.
“… David Fischer is sure not the person that he wants us to believe he is,” the man says later, according to an unofficial transcript obtained from Fischer’s campaign.
Not surprisingly, the ads have sparked a protest from a group that represents criminal defense attorneys.
Larry A. Nathans, president of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys’ Association, wrote to Gilchrest’s Annapolis campaign headquarters on Aug. 29, to protest the ads that are running on Baltimore-area and Eastern Shore radio stations.
“Criminal defense lawyers serve an important function in ensuring due process and the fair administration of criminal justice,” Nathans wrote. “After all, it is the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees the right to defense counsel.”
Nathans should know: He made news last December when he helped win freedom for Michael Austin, who served 27 years in prison for a murder that even his prosecutor now believes he didn’t commit.
In an interview the day after he wrote to the Gilchrest campaign, Nathans emphasized that he and his organization do not favor any particular candidate in the congressional race. Instead, they objected to the attack on lawyers.
They aren’t alone.
James P. Nolan, president of the Maryland State Bar Association, said that negative ads that criticize the legal profession are “extremely unfortunate.”
Attorneys frequently are called on to represent “unpopular causes,” Nolan said.
“The Constitution guarantees that all rights for all citizens are protected,” Nolan said. “That’s what make this country different from a lot of countries.”
Part of the job
One of Gilchrest’s ads refers to — but provides no details about - - two cases in 1997 in which Fischer represented sexual offenders, and a 1999 case where he represented a teacher accused of distributing pornography.
Tommy Hopper, a campaign spokesman for Fischer, said the Gilchrest ads distort the picture of Fischer’s work as a criminal defense attorney
“Dave has handled about six cases, out of about 3,000, that involved child molesters,” Hopper said. “And three of those were [court-appointed], and a fourth was acquitted with a very quick decision by the jury and an apology [from the jury or the court to the defendant] because the child made the story up.”
In fact, in late July Fischer found himself on the other side, representing the parents of young girls who allegedly were abused by a Kent Island karate instructor.
Fischer’s call for a change in the laws that keep the court records of juvenile sex offenders secret, even if they are later charged with sex crimes as adults, earned him coverage by The Washington Times, CNN.com’s “Law Center” and cable television.
That flurry of free publicity was followed by the Gilchrest ads that portray Fischer’s tough-on-crime position as hypocritical.
The negative ads are a departure for Gilchrest. He has represented the 1st District since 1990, when he unseated an incumbent by “running a positive campaign with strong grassroots support,” according to his congressional Web site. Even in one of the controversial radio spots, Gilchrest spends most of the airtime on issues — the interests of small businesses, family farmers and watermen, and protecting the Chesapeake Bay — before closing with the dig at Fischer’s chosen profession.