Sept. 27—Editor’s word: The Frederick Information-Submit is profiling candidates in Frederick County’s state legislative races and for Maryland’s sixth Congressional District within the Nov. 8 normal elections. For profiles of candidates for county places of work and different election protection, go to fredericknewspost.com/information/continuing_coverage/election_coverage.
Kathy Diener wasn’t initially planning on operating for political workplace this 12 months.
Prior to now, Diener, a Frederick lawyer, thought of operating, however determined in opposition to it.
However when the Frederick County Republican Central Committee wanted one other candidate to run for a Home of Delegates seat in District 3, she determined that this was the time to learn how she would do on the marketing campaign path.
“I noticed it as a possibility,” Diener stated.
She’s had a steep studying curve as a candidate, she stated, however the marketing campaign course of has been each enjoyable and scary.
She’s met a number of good individuals on each side of the aisle who’re working for the frequent good, even when they often differ on methods to get there, she stated.
Diener is certainly one of two Republicans operating for 3 seats in District 3 within the Nov. 8 normal elections. The opposite is Justin Wages.
Democrats Kris Truthful, Karen Simpson, and incumbent delegate Ken Kerr are additionally operating.
Diener calls herself a conservative, seeking to protect and empower the household, small companies, and different fundamental establishments of individuals’s lives that she feels are in danger from authorities and huge firms.
“I see myself as a conservative, undoubtedly,” she stated. “However I do not see conservatism as one thing as simply clinging to the previous. I consider it as preserving what’s greatest in regards to the establishments that now we have. … I see authorities’s position as defending and inspiring and empowering these parts that may do the very best for the group.”
Starting with the lockdowns through the COVID-19 pandemic, firms have acquired extra energy than they used to have, she stated.
She stated she’s undoubtedly a pro-business candidate, however she has targeted extra on small companies than bigger ones.
The lockdowns have been a motivating issue for Diener in deciding to run for delegates.
Whereas she thought some emergency measures may need been wanted early within the pandemic, stopping individuals from their office, church, and different components of their day by day lives violated their fundamental constitutional rights, she stated.
It is one purpose she supported Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox within the social gathering’s major election, believing he was extra assertive on the problem of particular person rights and vaccine mandates than his opponent, Kelly Schulz. Cox defeated Schulz within the major.
One in all Diener’s key points is permitting college selection for each pupil in Maryland by permitting per-pupil funding to comply with a pupil it doesn’t matter what college their dad and mom wish to ship them to, she stated.
She believes it will alleviate college crowding and return the state’s public faculties to being a part of {the marketplace} of concepts.
She would additionally prefer to concentrate on crime and assist for regulation enforcement.
Police must rebuild belief with individuals, she stated. Diener want to see applications to provide officers extra constitutional regulation coaching.
Diener is an Air Drive veteran whose work at Fort Meade first introduced her to Maryland within the Nineteen Nineties. A lot of her authorized work entails serving to veterans with claims for compensation if they have been denied advantages.
Her first job out of regulation college was working with the Division of Veterans Affairs. She stated she enjoys the camaraderie of working together with her fellow veterans.
The VA can transfer slowly, however the work offers a possibility to make an enormous distinction in individuals’s lives.
“It is a good little area of interest to fill. It is actually rewarding working with veterans and having the ability to assist them more often than not. It has been actually rewarding and it offers me a number of flexibility to do different issues,” she stated.
Observe Ryan Marshall on Twitter:
@RMarshallFNP