Jennifer Dougherty - Political Career

Political Career

Dougherty’s tenure in Frederick’s City Hall was marked by accomplishments and challenges. The focus on improving the relationship with the Frederick Police Department by hiring a superior Chief of Police, Kim C. Dine, strengthened the community support for the police. Her tenure was marked with inciting divisiveness among her fellow politicians. A strong proponent of unions, she fought hard behind the scenes to get city workers to unionize. The workers finally voted against this initiative, and the labor support of Dougherty waned.

The creation of the Neighborhood Advisory Councils to better serve each neighborhood established a more effective communication link for the residents. Many saw her Neighborhood Advisory Committees (NACs) as a way to pander to select, influential neighborhood members who then fostered votes on her behalf. The City resisted speed bumps for years, at the request of fire and rescue professionals. Speed bumps became commonplace in neighborhoods where there were NACs supportive to Dougherty.

During her tenure, the City faced serious water shortages to due decades of growth and poor management of water and sewer infrastructure. Innovative legislation created a process to track and allocate water to new development in the City. A million-dollar temporary, mobile water treatment plant was installed that never was able to produce viable water. The water produced created plumbing problems for surrounding neighborhoods.

The long-stalled Carroll Creek Linear Park was finally completed with the investment of public effort and investment. With the completion of the public improvements, the City sought private investment of more than $100 million in the first phase bringing needed tax revenue to the City.

The Dougherty Administration also addressed aging infrastructure by creating an incentive for mall owners to improve their properties. The Golden Mile Tax Credit District resulted in more than $50 million in private investment and 1000 new jobs. Dougherty was diversified in her hiring, placing more women in high positions. After a failed re-election bid Dougherty went to work for the mother of one of her previous subordinates in real estate.

On November 19, 2007, Dougherty filed to run for Maryland's 6th congressional district. She won the primary and was the Democratic candidate for congress in 2008 against 8-term Republican Roscoe Bartlett. Despite the 6th district being heavily Republican (Bartlett won re-election in 2006 with 59% of the vote), Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot predicted that Dougherty would unseat the incumbent, primarily due to Bartlett's embroilment in the scandal surrounding his failure to report over $1,000,000 in property sales to the government.

In mid-October 2008, a poll commissioned by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley showed the 6th District race within 6 percentage points with 16% undecided. The poll did not include voters aged 18–24, or new registrations within the previous two months, groups which were expected to vote heavily Democratic in the election. Dougherty lost the general election.

Dougherty announced in 2009 that she would again seek the office of Mayor of the City of Frederick, but lost in the primary to newcomer Jason Judd. Dougherty has remained visible in Frederick politics since and there has been speculation that she may run again.