Hear the story
Read the transcript:
By Jim Brady
WHCP
While America’s long awaited national election is now history, there’s another election that presses on. The race to become the next mayor of Cambridge has been underway since August, and after city voters made their choices in October, it has come down to a two-way runoff.
The candidates are former Mayor Andrew Bradshaw and former acting mayor and current City Council President Lajan Cephas. She bested Bradshaw in October, but didn’t exceed the 50% of the votes required to win outright.
Come December 3 rd , one of them will.
The campaign in Cambridge, they say has had its bright spots.
Bradshaw ( 00:41 ):
I think my support’s very good. I think the energy level is high,
Cephas 00:46 ):
So it’s been a really positive experience, door knocking, getting to meet people, reuniting the people that I’ve known in my childhood. But when it comes to the modern town square social media, s and Bradshaw exchanged charges of online attacks, internet trolls, and a dissent to the lows in their lives.
Bradshaw ( 01:05 ):
So it’s become quite fearsome.
Cephas 01:08 ):
This needs to stop. It needs to stop.
The 2024 campaign is actually the second time the mayor’s role brought Bradshaw and s into the spotlight. In the case of former mayor Andrew Bradshaw, it was a matter of months in 2021 before police raided his home and the mayor’s office. He was eventually charged with multiple counts of posting nude pictures of a former girlfriend along with scurrilous messages over a two month binge of what prosecutors termed revenge porn. He pled guilty in 2022.
Recently, a judge struck Bradshaw’s convictions and reclassified his five-year suspended prison sentence as probation before judgment. Bradshaw remains on probation until next April.
But before all that, in 2021, city leadership was left in limbo for approximately nine months. Bradshaw pulled back from his duties before he finally resigned as mayor. That’s when s as president of the city council stepped into the role of acting mayor.
As Cambridge city residents consider their choice in the runoff election. They have a special advantage. Both candidates have something of a record in office. When they previously served as Mayor s said, she handled relations with state and local officials favorably in light of the scandal that Bradshaw brought to the city.
Cephas 02:29 ):
And that was the time where I was trying to redirect people that this was his personal business. We just need to focus on the city’s business. This is a personal situation that he’s going through. Never gave an opinion, never gave anything on that because I felt like everybody deserves their due process and that’s how it was always handled.
And as acting, mayor Cephas said she was able to lead important developments. She established a gun violence task force that brought diverse community leaders together.
Cephas 02:57 ):
What was birthed from that? It was the juvenile curfew, which impacts youth the age of 15 and younger, and that was established because of that.
She fondly recalls participating in the dedication of the Harriet Tubman statue Beacon of Hope that brought scores of people including foreign diplomats to the courthouse in Cambridge.
Cephas 03:17 ):
It was a monumental day.
Cephas worked with HUD to bring $1.9 million Healthy Homes initiative to Cambridge. That is still ongoing. She got the developers of the Hearne building to remove unsightly building supports and she recounted the council’s collaboration with the police department that brought a gunshot detection technology called Shot Spotter into service.
Cephas 03:40 ):
My signature is on the contract, so it’s obvious that this was a project that we championed up until the finish line and the Shot Spotter is a really great resource for Cambridge.
Cephas noted that during this period she was actually doing two jobs, acting mayor and commissioner for Ward two.
Cephas 03:59 ):
We didn’t have a city manager when the mayor resigned, so I had the powers the mayor at that time. So I was part of the search committee that actually found Tom Carroll. So that was a really great experience to be a part of that because Tom did a really great job restructuring the whole dynamics of the city
Bradshaw points to highlights in his own recollection of service to the city in the months he was mayor in 2021.
Bradshaw ( 04:23 ):
So I think we had a lot of accomplishments quite quickly and there were things in process that we’d like to get moving forward on. Again, we made a great effort toward stabilizing and then increasing the numbers of officers at Cambridge Police. We also had a tax credit in place for those who would choose to live in the city of Cambridge, and that’s something that we want to see. We want the people protecting Cambridge to be invested in Cambridge, not just coming to Cambridge.
We also made some efforts toward housing improvements. The home ownership works program with the state was a big effort that I think was an early success, and we’re seeing the fruit come off the vine now from that. And then there’s also just the kind of going through and figuring out where the issues existed within the city organization.
Bradshaw also described efforts to improve what he called the city’s livability standard. Bradshaw said he wants to build up programs around the city’s so-called Land Bank that was established after his time in office.
Bradshaw ( 05:16 ):
I believe that we are the first community in Maryland that’s been able to establish one. I want to hit the ground running, working with city staff and with the council now to get it from the approval and the budgeting stage into the implementation and operation stage. And I think doing that’s going to be a real benefit for the city and it’s going to give us the ability to handle some of these property issues that have existed for now decades and even one could say beyond half a century.
And I also want to establish an office of community engagement within the city that works with nonprofits and works with community members to kind of bring cross cooperation so that those areas that aren’t within the city’s purview directly are areas where there can still be city engagement so that we can assist with issues like education, with employment opportunities with some youth engagement that goes beyond the city’s current ability.
It’s not policy that has taken over the mayoral campaign on the internet. Its personal attacks.
Three years ago, after her time as acting mayor, Cephas was arrested during a domestic dispute. She was briefly held, but prosecutors later dismissed the charges against her and dropped the case.
On Facebook her detractors haven’t.
In repeated posts by people with masked identities, her critics alleged criminal accusations. Contend Cephas has falsified her residency and put up photos of Cephas in an orange jumpsuit and video of the confrontation that led to her arrest.
Cephas 06:49 ):
What the trolls have done with this, the image that was recorded on me without my consent, they’ve been posting the video on social media as far as when I was arrested and I’m wearing the Orange Detention Center uniform. They’re posting these images, but the fact is, I wasn’t convicted of anything. I’m not a criminal. It was an arrest. Being a criminal, being convicted is different than an arrest. There’s many people that have arrest records. Just because you’re arrested doesn’t mean that you’re guilty of anything. It’s just when the police show up, they have to make a decision.
Cephas describes the onslaught online as a campaign to control her narrative. What happened, she said, was this:
Cephas 07:32 ):
I just believed I had more time to invest into someone that I truly cared about. So I welcomed this person in my home, and it was a nightmare. It was a nightmare.
Cephas said she had gone to a conference for the city and returned at the end of the week.
Cephas 07:46 ):
I got back home. My home was turned upside down, upside down. The bed was taken off the bed frame. He went through all my important documents, stuff was just everywhere. That’s when I told this person, I said, look, you need help. So you have two options. I can take you to the hospital or I can call an ambulance. I don’t know if you’re going to od. I don’t know where you are mentally right now. And it got hostile. He did some things to me. He said he was going to take my soul out of my body. And then from that moment, yes, he threatened to take my life. That’s when I called the police.
When police arrived, she said they attempted to deescalate the situation and prepared to leave, but the man involved in the dispute stopped her.
Cephas 08:31 ):
So when we were having a conversation with him, my mom and my son, he decides to pull out the phone and record me. And then he was saying Public official, public official! And only thing I knew to do was try to stop him from recording. Wasn’t trying to hit him. This man is six feet tall. Never did I attempt to assault this person. I was just trying to get cell phone device from him that belonged to me. So the moments where you see it looks like a swing, that was me trying to get the phone. It was not me hitting him.
It’s just that in situations where it’s domestic violence, the police, they have to make a decision who’s in danger, who’s not in danger, and that’s the decision they made. I’m not saying it was the right decision, but it’s on record that I didn’t put up a fight. I just went along with the process. And then once I was released from jail, that’s when I filed my process. I filed my charges, but upon when we went to court, everything was dismissed. I chose not to proceed with the charges against him. And it’;s because I felt like, what’;s the need of making a circus of this?
The online barrage of accusations, false charges and photos and videos got so bad Cephas said that she decided to turn off all comments on her mayoral campaign Facebook page. She holds Bradshaw responsible for the actions of people she believes are his supporters.
Cephas 09:47 ):
But I just want the community to know that they are people personally attacking me and my family and actually those people who are endorsing me on behalf of the other campaign, of the Andrew Bradshaw campaign. And I think that’s wrong. I think it’s inappropriate. And I think this is the time for the other candidate, since he pled guilty to something similar, which is misuse of the internet and abusing people, and also posting non-consensual pornography online as well as racist comments. I think this is his time to come forward to say, I don’t agree with this. This needs to stop. It needs to stop.
Bradshaw denied that he had any influence over people harassing his opponent.
Bradshaw ( 10:30 ):
They’re not being engaged by me. Any actions taken on the part of anyone is their own action. What I will say is, I know that her supporters are actively harassing me and my wife as well to the point where we’ve had contact with attorneys about it. And there are people involved with her campaign directly that are doing so, making false statements. They’re making statements that my wife is a criminal, which is untrue. They’re making statements that we would be a crime family in control of Cambridge, which is untrue. It’s become quite fearsome, I think really for her, for my wife especially. And I think it’s a little bit disingenuous and perhaps even kind of gaslighting on the part of Ms Cephas to make that kind of comment. I’ve continued to encourage people supporting me to take a high road. I have made continual public statements asking that her campaign would do the same. And unfortunately, we’ve not seen that and I’m not going to go to that level. But I’m going be honest about, and I’m going to discuss the fact that this continues to occur and it’s wrong and it’s unfair and people can criticize me if they choose to do so. I’ve been open with the mistakes that I’ve made. I’ve been very, I think, transparent in apologizing for things in my past.
Cephas 11:36 ):
I don’t recall any type of apology to people of color, more specifically black men because he made a lot of reference to black men’s genitalia. I don’t remember any apology towards women, and I guess specifically the woman that’s the actual victim of this non-consensual pornography. And I don’t
remember any apology even to Cambridge, but I could be wrong. Maybe that happened, maybe I just didn’t receive that memo. But I don’t recall that happening.
Both Cephas and Bradshaw say they long for the kind of race that casts personal attacks aside and gets on with the hopes ,character and personal goals for Cambridge’s future.
Bradshaw ( 12:18 ):
To continually try to harm my wife, I think is wrong. And I think to continually try to bring up whatever troubles Ms. Cephas had in the past, either legally or in relationships, I think that’s also a low blow because it doesn’t get into who she is as a candidate now. It doesn’t get into what she is discussing bringing forward. But my campaign is going to remain looking toward what we see as the future of Cambridge and not trying to bring down the other candidate based on any kind of past troubles that existed. And I would just continue to impress upon her campaign that it’s our hope that hers would do the same.
Cephas 12:50 ):
I’m just so grateful for my family, my friends, for those who are supporters. I’m just so grateful for the faith. So let’s just stay focused. Let’s continue to make new connections and let’s explain to those who want to hear it. This vision of Cambridge, just one Cambridge’s unifying voice of positivity, true
integrity, true transparency. Because I’m open to talk about anything.
***
The vote takes place on December 3rd at the same location for city elections in October. 447 Race Street
For Mid-Shore Midday, I’m Jim Brady.
