Joseph Bartenfelder is an American politician and farmer from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He was appointed Secretary of Agriculture for Maryland by then-Governor-elect

Larry Hogan Lawrence Joseph Hogan Jr. (born May 25, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 62nd governor of Maryland since 2015. A moderate member of the Republican Party, he was secretary of appointments under Maryland governor Bo ...

in 2014.

Education

Bartenfelder graduated from St. Joseph School and Calvert Hall College High School. He earned a degree in business administration from

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...

Career

In 1978, Bartenfelder ran for the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

for the first time. In 1982, he won his first state delegate seat and represented

District 8 District 8 can refer to: *District 8 Jakarta, in Indonesia *District 8 (Ho Chi Minh City), in Vietnam * VIII District, Turku, in Finland * VIII District, Budapest, in Hungary *Riesbach, also known as District 8, in Zürich, Switzerland * District ...

in the house until 1994. In 1994, Bartenfelder began working on the Baltimore County Council. In 1996, he became chairman of the Baltimore County Council. He also served as chair of the Spending and Affordability Committee for four years while on the County Council. In 2010, he ran in the primary to be Baltimore County Executive, which he lost to

Kevin Kamenetz Kevin B. Kamenetz (November 26, 1957 – May 10, 2018) was an American politician who was the 12th County Executive of Baltimore County, Maryland, serving between 2010 and May 10, 2018, when he died suddenly while in office.

. Bartenfelder was appointed Maryland Secretary of Agriculture by then-Governor-elect

in 2014.

Personal life

Bartenfelder is married and has four children. On Thanksgiving, November 24, 2022, police charged him with hunting wetland or upland game birds “with the aid of bait or on or over any baited area,” which carries a minimum $500 fine and a maximum of $1500 for a first offense. Lauren Moses, public information officer for Natural Resources Police, could not say whether this was Bartenfelder’s first charge. https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/state-government/maryland-agriculture-secretary-charged-with-illegal-bird-hunting-36GJIV7DDJF7PI4KM3BJFRFS2I/

References

1957 births Living people Politicians from Baltimore State cabinet secretaries of Maryland Maryland Department of Agriculture Maryland Democrats County commissioners in Maryland {{Maryland-politician-stub