Joseph R. Bartlett (born December 30, 1969) is an American politician and real estate investor who served as a member of 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 District 4A from 1999 to 2011.

Early life and education

Bartlett was born on December 30, 1969, in

Takoma Park, Maryland Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., Washington, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea C ...

, the son of then-future Congressman

Roscoe Bartlett Roscoe Gardner Bartlett Jr. (born June 3, 1926) is an American politician who was U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a member of the Tea Party Caucus. At the end of his tenure in ...

. Bartlett earned an Associate of Arts degree from

Frederick Community College Frederick Community College (FCC) is a public community college in Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has lo ...

in 1992, followed by a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from

Frostburg State University Frostburg State University (FSU) is a public university in Frostburg, Maryland. The university is the only four-year institution of the University System of Maryland west of the Baltimore-Washington passageway in the state's Appalachian highlan ...

in 1994.

Career

In 1994 and 1996, Bartlett served as a campaign manager for his father's re-election campaigns. Bartlett was elected to the

in November 1998, succeeding J. Anita Stup. He served from January 1999 until January 2011, and opting not to run for re-election in 2010. After leaving office in 2011, he established Bartlett Real Estate Solutions, a real estate firm.

Lodging controversy

In 2010, Bartlett drew criticism for using taxpayer money to pay his girlfriend's rent during the 2008, 2009, and 2010 legislative sessions. In total, the state had paid $31,923 for rent. Bartlett said that he was not dating Katharine Hopkins when he began renting from her in 2008, and that he cleared the housing arrangement with a legislative ethics attorney when the two started dating. The controversy eventually led Bartlett to announce he would not run for re-election to a fourth term on July 6, 2010. In August 2010, Maryland House Speaker

Michael E. Busch Michael Erin “Coach” Busch (January 4, 1947 – April 7, 2019) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 106th Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2003 until his death in 2019. Busch was a mem ...

called for tighter rules on lodging expenses following the controversy.

Personal life

Bartlett is a practicing

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and lived in

Middletown, Maryland Middletown is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,136 as of the 2010 census. Located in the Middletown Valley that stretches between the Catoctin Mountains on the east and South Mountain on the west, the town ...

, as of the last update to his

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

biography.

Electoral history

References

1969 births Frostburg State University alumni Living people Republican Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates People from Takoma Park, Maryland People from Frederick County, Maryland Businesspeople from Maryland 21st-century American legislators 20th-century American legislators 20th-century Maryland politicians 21st-century Maryland politicians {{Maryland-politician-stub