Julius Henson filed papers to challenge Nathaniel McFadden for the 45th District Senate seat Thursday morning in Annapolis.
But it’s not clear if Henson can legally campaign for office, given the terms of his probation after his conviction on election fraud charges stemming from the so-called robo-calls during the 2010 governor’s race.
The probation order says that Henson “shall not work in any political campaign, paid [or] volunteer, during probation.”
State prison officials have said running for office violates those terms, but Henson says otherwise. He says the problem comes from defining “work” on a campaign.
“The state wants to define [my candidacy] as work but there’s no compensation; no payment,” says Henson. And he’s a candidate, not a volunteer.
The same judge who signed Henson’s probation order is to decide the issue next week.
Henson was convicted in 2012 for leaving the “authority line,” which identifies the sponsor, out of a script he wrote for robo-calls that targeted black voters in Baltimore City and Prince George’s County on Election Day 2010. The call, which came from the campaign of former Governor Bob Ehrlich, told those voters to “relax” because Governor Martin O’Malley and President Obama had been “successful.”
Henson was sentenced to 60 days in jail, of which he served 30, 300 hours of community service and three-year’s probation.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services says Henson’s probation officer filed a report in Baltimore Circuit court in December after seeing news reports that Henson intended to run for office. Henson, a former campaign consultant, says he has not heard from his probation officer and does not have a clue how his being a candidate for office violates his probation.
The lifelong Democrat says the charge comes from political enemies who are continuing a ‘payback’ for his working on a Republican’s campaign. At a press conference at his house Wednesday, Henson suggested that two state leaders are involved with the charges.
“The marching orders in politics in Maryland come from the governor and the president of the Senate. If you want to find out who’s behind all of this, who has the reach,” he said.
Senate President Mike Miller said Henson is free to do what he wants, but added that his probation order might cause problems.
“Whether or not it violates his conditions of probation, but that’s between him, his lawyer and the courts,” Miller said.
Pointing to his election as president of the Berea\Eastside Neighborhood Association, Henson said people trust him and his leadership despite reports from what he called “the Democratic perceived media.” And he argued they won’t worry about what happened four years ago when the June primary comes around.
He says McFadden has not done anything to improve the district since he was first elected in 1994; adding the 45th district faces a myriad of problems with crime, health and economic opportunities.
“Our medium income where I live is $26,000 per household,” he says.
According to census data, the median household income in the district is more than $38,000. It is in the East Baltimore neighborhoods that serve as Henson’s political base where the median annual income is less than $27,000.
Presented with the census data, Henson conceded that he could not generalize about the entire district.
“There is some communities, thank the good Lord, are doing well. But many communities – Madison Eastend, Clifton, Berea, etc. etc. – are doing very poor,” he said.