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Tom Marquardt

Inducted into MDDC’s Hall of Fame in 2013. This article is based on information received at the time.

When you build a career on holding government officials’ feet to the fire, you’re bound to make a few enemies, so it is telling that upon Tom Marquardt’s retirement after more than 35 years at the Annapolis Capitol, Maryland’s longest serving House Speaker, Michael Bush, had nothing but praise for Marquardt.

“He was open, fair and honest,” Bush told The Capitol staff writer Theresa Winslow for a story announcing Marquardt’s retirement. “It’s a credit to Tom that even when he disagreed with people he was open to talk to them. His legacy will leave a huge void in the history of the county’s political landscape.”

Bush has served in Maryland’s House of Delegates since 1987 and as House speaker since 2003, so he had plenty of dealings with the man who came to The Capitol as city editor in 1977 and rose through the ranks to Executive Editor and later Publisher.

Throughout his career, Tom distinguished himself as a tireless advocate for open government, not only by pointing out problems or issues related to the state’s laws, but also by working with leaders in the state legislature to make government more accessible and accountable to the public.

Tom, along with then Baltimore Sun assistant managing editor Jim Keat and Len Lazarick, then managing editor of Patuxent Publishing, fought against exemptions to the state’s Open Meetings Act and worked with legislators on meaningful reforms. As a result of that work, they were recognized in 1991 with a Freedom of Information Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

In an AP News article highlighting the award, the AP noted, “They were instrumental in the creation of an oversight panel to arbitrate disputes over which meetings may be closed.” That panel is the state’s Open Meetings Compliance Board.

In 2000, and again in 2003 Tom organized open records audits, bringing together journalists from across Maryland to participate in a project that tested open government in the state. After the first audit showed that records were denied about 50 percent of the time, Tom worked with the state Attorney General’s office and participated in training for government officials. Following the 2003 audit, which showed problems still existed, Tom continued to work with the AG’s office and state legislators to improve the law and compliance.

Tom was a member of the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association’s government affairs committee for more than 20 years, and has chaired the organization’s Freedom of Information Subcommittee. In 2007, the MDDC represented Tom with its Distinguished Service Award.

In a press release announcing that award, former MDDC Executive Director Jim Donahue said of Marquardt: “For nearly two decades now he has been in the forefront, often as the main voice for the press, of the ongoing effort to preserve and strengthen the two pillars of the public information structure in the state – access to public meetings and access to public records.”

In his farewell column to readers of The Capitol, Tom said he had “a lifelong passion for interviewing and writing about people,” and he recounted the path that brought him to Annapolis in 1977. Over the course of his 42-year career in newspapers, Tom fulfilled the basic obligations that bring many to newspapers: giving a voice to the voiceless, documenting the mundane and the extraordinary in people’s lives and bringing communities together to promote positive change. But along the way he built many strong relationships. Inside the walls of The Capitol building, he served as a role model, mentor and coach for a generation of reporters. Outside the building, he made the newspaper a respected voice of Annapolis and beyond.

His work in open government will assure access to the people’s business for future generations of journalists, as well as community activists and good government advocacy groups.

All these efforts, and many more spanning decades of work, put Tom among that upper echelon of Maryland journalists who are truly deserving of Hall of Fame honors.

Submitted by:
Pat Richardson, Publisher of The Capital & Carroll County Times
Jim Lee, Editor of the Carroll County Times