March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 52 F

GUEST COLUMN: Current Assistant State’s Attorney supports Wes Adams

Wes Adams
Wes Adams, Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney

I was hired by the late Frank Weathersbee, so I was around for all of the people quoted in a recent article in The Capital and still call many of them friends. Frankly, anyone who knows me would be surprised at me saying anything, but I am finding myself annoyed, because either the commenters were contextually misquoted by the Capital Gazette to make Wes Adams look bad, or they omitted some important information in their “interviews.”

Please allow me to tell you the story of how Wes Adams was, and is, a great leader, because as someone who was there for the leadership transition… It was FAR from hostile. I had a great time!

To do that, I need to back up slightly, to the time when everyone was “constantly afraid of being fired.” I was one of those people, and it lasted about a DAY! I helped Anne Colt-Leitess on her campaign and the other guy (Wes) won, so of course I was worried, just like a lot of people. After all, I was out there for NOT Wes Adams.

Once I met Mr. Adams, he didn’t berate me, threaten me or fire me. He was a shockingly normal human, with a great sense of humor. It was like a vaccination by a needle larger than you expect. You think it will be bad before you get stuck, but by the time it is over, and you are almost embarrassed you were stressed over it.

Despite me seeming to be loyalty [sic] to his opponent, Mr. Adams simply let me do my job, and when I did it well, I was promoted. Indeed, I found myself in the middle of a jury trial where I had some questions, and Mr. Adams happened to be in the same hallway as me. I barely knew him at this point by the way.

I asked him my question, and do you want to know what he did? He spent the entire day, evening, and next day helping to train me on how to handle my particular trial issues. He was a leader and a coach, and he didn’t have to be. He could have just referred me to my trial team leader.

He has subsequently spent hours with me on this and other cases, which he did not have to do, to make me a better prosecutor. I never felt threatened, as a relevant aside, and the only time he yelled was in celebration when I did something good.

I guess my issue with the Capital Gazette’s recent article is better phrased in the form of a question….

Do you expect people who disagreed with his approach, and people who got fired, to say nice things? Nope, because that would be illogical and stupid.

Seriously, the article referenced underground trainings, yet no mention of a ‘fire and brimstone’ termination once Mr. Adams found out!  Because, his reaction was calm! As we all know, a calm thoughtful reaction to insubordination has hostile workplace written all over it!

What you should find telling, if you don’t believe me, is the endorsement Mr. Adams received from the Fraternal Order of Police. I will let you in on an industry trade secret! The people who get the most annoyed with prosecutors are police.

As a result of the interconnectivity,  police understand the world of prosecution more than the average citizen, but don’t always agree with the different standards of practice our jobs as prosecutors require. Put simply, if the police are happy with the State’s Attorney, you should be happy with the State’s Attorney, because it means the Office of the State’s Attorney is working efficiently and effectively.

In my opinion, that article was like an unauthorized biography. Meaning, the author of an unauthorized biography is often forced to speak to disgruntled individuals with loose ties to the subject, because those who are actually close to and know the subject, decline to comment.

Put simply, that article should have been titled The Unauthorized Biography of Wes Adams.

–Glen Neubauer

Assistant State’s Attorney, Violent Crimes Unit

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