Frederick Republicans File State Board Complaint Over Campaign Consultant Fees
The Frederick County Republican Party has asked state election officials to investigate whether a political fundraiser violated Maryland laws barring coordination between candidates and super PACs, Maryland Matters reported. Sophia Silbergeld, a consultant compensated last autumn for contributing to a fundraising drive for Democratic Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, sits at the heart of the controversy.
United Frederick is a political action committee that, as of Friday, had poured nearly $500,000 into digital ads and mailers targeting Jeff Holtzinger—Fitzwater’s Republican challenger for the county executive seat—and Silbergeld presently acts as its treasurer. That financial push falls within Maryland’s 18-month exclusion window designed to prevent coordination between candidates and independent groups.
“A consultant cannot work for a candidate and also run the Super PAC supporting that candidate,” Justin Wages, chairman of the Frederick County Republican Central Committee, said in a statement. “The law presumes coordination in exactly this situation. Voters deserve to know whether it happened, and whether the people spending … to influence this election are legally separate from the campaign.”
The Timeline of Payments and Fundraisers
State campaign finance records show that the Fitzwater campaign reported a $5,000 payment in November 2025 to Paul Fulcher, the campaign’s treasurer, as a reimbursement for fundraising expenses. The payment notes Silbergeld’s firm as the ultimate recipient. When questioned by Maryland Matters, the Fitzwater campaign stated that Fulcher was reimbursed after using his personal credit card to pay for the services.
The campaign maintained that Adeo Advocacy, where Silbergeld serves as president of the political division, was hired solely to manage a standalone event roughly nine months before United Frederick was formed. According to the campaign, Adeo had no access to proprietary information and has not worked for Fitzwater since.
“The campaign does not coordinate or communicate with PACs such as United Frederick,” the Fitzwater campaign stated. Silbergeld added that Fitzwater is not a client and stated she has not yet received a formal inquiry or copy of the complaint from state elections officials, though she plans to respond once she does.
Records indicate that Silbergeld organized the single campaign event for Fitzwater at the request of David Trone, the former congressman and a Fitzwater supporter. Trone is one of three donors who has helped pump $550,000 into the United Frederick PAC, alongside the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Maryland State Education Association.
Strict Independence Rules and the Question of Firewalls
Maryland has independent expenditure regulations in place that mandate an 18-month cooling-off period to guarantee that staffers and consultants do not facilitate collaboration between super PAC operations and a candidate. So-called independent expenditure groups can raise and spend almost unlimited amounts. Maryland law sets 48-hour reporting deadlines to provide transparency.
“The whole point of this law is to protect the political process,” Jared DeMarinis, state election director, told Maryland Matters. “We want to make sure that when we say that they’re independent, they truly are independent from the candidate.”
DeMarinis confirmed that the state Board of Elections received the Republican complaint but declined to discuss specifics. Under state election law, violations related to coordination are considered misdemeanors, and the accused carries the burden of proving they are false. Establishing a firewall between the “insider information” and the consultant is one recognized method for proving compliance.
In their letter to state election officials, the Frederick County Republicans acknowledged the possibility that a firewall or a declaratory ruling might exist to sanction the shared vendor arrangement, noting only that they have seen no indication that either has been established.
