Kratovil applies for Queen Anne’s judgeship

Former U.S. Rep. Frank M. Kratovil Jr. and David W. “Chip” Gregory, who battled each other in a race for Queen Anne’s County state’s attorney in 2002, are once again competing for the same job.

Gregory and Kratovil, who won that election fight, have both applied for a judgeship in Queen Anne’s County District Court. They and three other candidates will be interviewed by a 13-member trial court judicial nominating commission. The panel will winnow the list of candidates and submit its nominees to Gov. Martin O’Malley on Dec. 6.

O’Malley, if he keeps to his past practice, will appoint the next judge from that list.

Gregory, a Democrat,  was the four-term incumbent Democratic state’s attorney when Kratovil defeated him in the party’s primary in 2002.

Gregory went into private practice with Downes & Gregory in Centreville.

Kratovil won the general election and served six years as state’s attorney. He left the post for Capitol Hill after defeating Republican Andy Harris in 2008 for an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But Harris gained a measure of revenge last November by beating Kratovil in his re-election bid to represent Maryland’s 1st Congressional District. Since leaving Congress in January, Kratovil has served as assistant deputy state’s attorney in Prince George’s County.

In addition to Kratovil and Gregory, the candidates for the district court judgeship are Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney Lance G. Richardson and lawyers Patrick J. Palmer and Sandra Lynn Reno.