Former Admin. Judge Claudia Barber of DC; scofflaw

The state of Maryland and the District of Columbia presented Claudia A. Barber with a law license in 1988 after she graduated from Baltimore University Law School.

In late 2016, the Maryland Board of Elections ordered Claudia to repay the $8,746 she illegally borrowed from campaign funds in the fall to pay for an appeal over her dismissal at the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings. Claudia was dismissed from her job as an Administrative judge because she was running in a partisan judicial election.

In addition to being ordered to repay the $8,746, the board told Claudia that $9,626 of outstanding bills from the campaign related to the case were ineligible to be paid with her campaign funds.

Claudia was removed from her position as an administrative law judge in Washington DC after an ethics commission from the office found she had violated the agency's Code of Ethics by running for judge in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Claudia lost the election to the four sitting judges, Cathy Vitale, Donna Schaeffer, Stacy McCormack and Glenn Klavans. In fact, she lost the election by 30,500 votes to the second-lowest vote getter, Glenn Klavans.

The elections board stated in a letter to Claudia’s campaign manager:

"Given the reported nature of the litigation, the expenditures made are personal, not campaign- or election-related, and therefore under Maryland law campaign funds may not be used to pay for such expenses.”

Claudia wasted taxpayer funds by unsuccessfully appealing the board’s decision.

As we speak (ca. January 2017), Claudia practices in Laurel, Maryland.