Newly appointed judge already facing election

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Judge Jan M. Alexander is wasting little time taking his seat on the Baltimore County Circuit Court bench.

Alexander is eschewing a formal swearing-in ceremony and will begin his new job Wednesday after being appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley May 27. But he has already settled into another role — that of an election candidate. Alexander must face the voters this fall to secure a full, 15-year term.

“You ask for something, you get it,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t relish [campaigning], but it’s a necessary evil.”

Under state law, Alexander must run for a full term at the time of the first congressional election at least a year after his seat’s vacancy was created. Alexander’s vacancy was created last July when the General Assembly added another seat to the county’s circuit court.

Alexander will join a sitting judges’ ticket with three incumbents who were appointed in the last 14 months to fill the seats of retired judges: Sherrie R. Bailey, S. Ann Brobst and John J. Nagle III.

As of Friday, Bailey, Brobst and Nagle were the only three candidates for county circuit court judge registered with the state Board of Elections to fill four seats. The filing deadline for prospective candidates is July 6, and Alexander said he plans to register.

That the judges are new does not necessarily make an election more difficult, according to Andrew I. Alperstein, campaign manager for the sitting judges’ slate. Judges are allowed to campaign only in the two years prior to an election, and Bailey, Brobst and Nagle have been attending events across the county almost as long as they have been on the bench. Campaign e-mail blasts and Facebook page updates are almost daily.

“They have so much energy,” said Alperstein, of Alperstein & Diener P.A. in Baltimore. “These guys are all real serious about it.”

For his part, Alexander joined his future colleagues at events throughout Memorial Day weekend and has begun promoting their candidacies.

“My three colleagues are eminently qualified,” he said. “They should be rewarded to full terms.”

Alexander, 49, has been a district court judge since 2002 and has sat in Catonsville for the last year. Prior to his appointment, the Morgan State University graduate worked 14 years as an assistant state’s attorney in Baltimore City, the last three years as chief of the misdemeanor division. Upon graduating from the University of Maryland School of Law, Alexander worked as the law clerk and bailiff of the city’s orphans’ court.

“It’s not as high profile a court, so sometimes you have to do double duty,” he said.

Politics aside, Alexander’s investiture seemingly raises a problem of simple math for the circuit court — there will be 18 judges but only 17 courtrooms.

But Tim Sheridan, the court’s administrator, said the courthouse has been ready for an 18th judge. A judge’s chambers are available, and at least one courtroom should be open throughout the summertime as judges take vacations.

“He could move over [today] and he would be fine,” Sheridan said.

Relief is on the way, too. An entire wing of the fourth floor has been gutted in preparation for three new courtrooms, which are scheduled to be completed in January.

Alexander was glad to learn last week he had chambers but is excited for his new position no matter the logistics of the move.

“If they want to put me in a closet, that’s fine,” he said.