Frank M. Conaway Jr.

Frank Melvin Conaway Jr. (born January 4, 1963) is an American politician who serves as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing the 40th district.

Early life and education

Conaway was born in Baltimore to Frank M. Conaway Sr., who was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and later as the clerk of the Baltimore City Circuit Court, and Mary Conaway, who served as the Baltimore Register of Wills. He attended Northwestern High School and later attended Howard University and Morgan State University from 1980 to 1984, and graduated from Sojourner–Douglass College in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration.

Career

After attending Morgan State, Conaway worked for construction firms Monumental Paint Contractors and Allied Bendix Corporation until 1986, when he started his own company, Frank M. Conaway Jr. & Associates Co., and replica kit-car business F-Dreams, Inc., which Conaway says was bankrupted by the North American Free Trade Agreement. Afterwards, he worked as a sales representative for various companies, including Olan Mills, from 1989 to 2005.

In 1992, Conaway and his father accused Olan Mills of firing them after Conaway Sr. caught the company using a secret racial code to alert employees when they were scheduled to work at Black churches, which the company used to steer the Conaways away from more lucrative white parishes. Olan Mills defended their use of racial codes as a "sales tool so that employees can take in the proper portrait samples for the community we're serving as customers". Following his firing, Conaway Jr. filed a discrimination complaint with the company.

Conaway is the author of the book ''Baptist Gnostic Christian Eubonic Kundalinion Spiritual Ki Do Hermeneutic Metaphysics: The Word: Hermeneutics'' and ''The 20 Pennies a Day Diet Plan''.

Political career

In 1999, Conaway unsuccessfully ran for President of the Baltimore City Council, losing to Sheila Dixon in the Democratic primary.

In 2006, Conaway successfully ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 40. He was sworn in on January 10, 2007, and has been a member of the Judiciary Committee during his entire tenure.

Personal life

Conaway was married to his wife, Latesa Elaine Thomas, and had three children—Frank III, Kelly, and Lacynda—prior to their divorce in 2006. In 2003, Thomas obtained a domestic violence protective order against Conaway, stating in court documents that he had "threatened to kill" her and had "pushed her face through a back door window".

According to court documents obtained by the '' Baltimore City Paper'', Conaway has bipolar disorder, for which he has been taking medication.

YouTube videos

In late October 2014, Conaway received significant attention after he uploaded more than 50 videos to YouTube. In the videos, which were characterised as "rambling" and "bizarre", he talked about cryptograms in Ancient Egyptian carvings, the Book of Revelation, talking horses, Rubik's Cube, Sasquatch and Yeti. He also wondered if he was a hologram, referred to himself as "meta", advocated his weight loss book ''The 20 Pennies a Day Diet Plan'' by talking about canned chicken, Arizona Diet Green Tea and sugar free hard candies and promoted his other books, ''Trapezium Giza Pyramid Artificial Black Hole Theory'', ''Baptist Gnostic Christian Eubonic Kundalinion Spiritual Ki Do Hermeneutic Metaphysics: The Word: Hermeneutics'' and ''Christian Kundalini Science- Proof of the Soul- Cryptogram Solution of Egyptian Stela 55001- & Opening the Hood of Ra''.

In a phone interview with '' The Baltimore Sun'', Conaway claimed to have deciphered artwork at the Walters Art Museum and said that it was "part of my duties as a Christian" to try and "spread the knowledge that I have". He also talked about Moses, Egyptian Obelisks, the "Frankenfish", the Fibonacci number and faces on Mars and said that he did not "believe" in evolution, arguing that "Darwin aidthat we descended from monkeys... I haven't seen any evidence to say man came from a monkey."

The videos appeared to have been filmed in the Baltimore City Hall mail room, where he had also worked since being hired as a clerk at the Municipal Post Office by Comptroller Joan Pratt in 2006. In November 2014, he resigned from his City Hall job and took down the videos. They have been preserved by web developer Chris Cook.

Despite widespread mockery and a general election write-in campaign from State Delegate Shawn Z. Tarrant, who had finished fourth in the Democratic primary for the three-seat district (there were no Republican candidates for the district), Conaway was re-elected in the 2014 elections.

Political positions

Crime and policing

In August 2010, Conaway used campaign funds to purchase and give away 500 cameras to Baltimore residents to "snap pictures of crime in progress".

In 2013, Conaway voted for a bill to repeal the death penalty.

During the 2015 legislative session, Conaway introduced legislation requiring the attorney general of Maryland to investigate any case involving a police-involved death. The bill received an unfavorable committee report. He also introduced a bill that would double max payouts in police brutality cases, which passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan.

In 2016, Conaway introduced a bill that would allow video cameras in criminal sentencing hearings by filing a written request with the clerk of court. The bill received an unfavorable committee report.

During the 2019 legislative session, Conaway voted for a bill that would allow Johns Hopkins University to create its own private police force.

In 2023, Conaway introduced legislation backed by State's Attorney Ivan Bates to increase penalties for illegally carrying a handgun. The bill was later incorporated into the Gun Safety Bill of 2023, which was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in April, and signed into law by Governor Wes Moore in May 2023.

Economy and budget

During the 2007 legislative session, Conaway was one of two Democratic state delegates to vote against a bill cutting $500 million from the state budget.

In 2014, Conaway voted for a bill to raise the state's minimum wage to $10.10 by 2017.

Gun policy

During the 2013 legislative session, Conaway voted for the Firearm Safety Act, a bill that placed restrictions on firearm purchases and magazine capacity in semi-automatic rifles.

Social issues

During the 2012 legislative session, Conaway voted for the Civil Marriage Protection Act, which legalized same-sex marriage in Maryland.

Taxes

During the 2013 legislative session, Conaway voted for a bill to index the state's fuel taxes to inflation to pay for state transportation projects.

Electoral history

Works

* ''Baptist Gnostic Christian Eubonic Kundalinion Spiritual Ki Do Hermeneutic Metaphysics: The Word'', iUniverse, 2001.
* ''The 20 Pennies a Day Diet Plan'', Lulu.com, 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conaway, Frank M. Jr.
1963 births
Living people
21st-century American legislators
21st-century African-American politicians
African-American state legislators in Maryland
American politicians with disabilities
American spiritual writers
Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates
People with bipolar disorder
Politicians from Baltimore
21st-century Maryland politicians