Former Party Officers

State Chairman - Michael W. Dawson

Mr. Dawson was re-elected to a second term as chair of the Constitution Party State Central Committee at the party's premier state convention held in historic Emmitsburg, Md. on December 4, 2010 and continued to serve the party until its decertification of 'state political party' status in March 2011. His tenure with the party began in April 2009 when he embarked on a mission passionately committed to building and growing a political base for those who desire for the restoration of the Republic, the return to a respect for and adherence to the Constitution, which includes securing the God-given, and therefore immutable rights of life, liberty, and self-determination.

He believes the Constitution Party has the unique opportunity to appeal to those voters who feel abandoned by the political party many had hoped would reflect and act on conservative principles. The Constitution Party stands on the principles of classical, or paleoconservativism.

Dawson was a 2010 general election candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates. He is a life-long resident of Perryville, married for 18 years and raising three children with his wife, Carolyn. He is the son of Hugh and Barbara Dawson, also of Perryville. He graduated from the John Carroll School in Bel Air and went on to earn a B.A. in Political Science from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md. where he served as the national award-winning editor on the university's student-run newspaper.

He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Havre de Grace and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Theology from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has been employed with Verizon Communications as a technician for 16 years.

State Vice Chairman - Michael T. Hargadon

    Dr. Hargadon practiced dentistry for 25 years at his Frederick Avenue office in Baltimore City. He currently practices in Eldersburg and Emmitsburg, Maryland. He and his wife Jane of thirty-five years of marriage have four children and two grandsons. Dr. Mike's concern for our country's present course is driven by a responsibility we have to our children.
    He was on the ballot in 2010 as the Constitution Party’s Lieutenant Governor, in support of the party’s candidate for Governor, Eric Knowles. In the 2008 Congressional race, Mike challenged Elijah Cummings as a Republican in Maryland’s 7th district. In the 2006 gubernatorial election, Mike registered as a write-in candidate for Lieutenant Governor to join John Simmins in challenging the Ehrlich and O’Malley tickets. He has been Regional Coordinator for the Maryland Constitution Party, and has served on the Board of Pro-life Maryland. He was also President of the Byzantine Men's Club, at Patronage of the Mother of God, Arbutus, and held the position of Grand Knight in St. Charles Borromeo Council of the Knights of Columbus in Randallstown.
    He served as the State Vice Chairman for the Constitution Party of Maryland until its lost ballot-qualified status in March 2011.

State Secretary - Michael R. Bertocchi

   Mr. Bertocchi is a charter member the Constitution Party of Maryland. He joined the party soon after the national organization led a successful effort in the summer of 2008 to gather the required 10,000 petition signatures required under Maryland law to acheive ballot access for the 2008 Constitution Party presidential ticket of Chuck Baldwin/Darrell Castle.
    For the first six months following the State Board of Elections verification the signatures and declaration of our group as an officially recognized party, Bertocchi organized and held regular monthly meetings in Columbia, keeping the party going until the other three officers joined in March 2009 to complete the leadership and get down to the business of preparing for the 2010 election. In June 2009 he joined with our State Chairman to request affiliate status from the national party. The party received our application and, on June 12, 2009, the Constitution Party of Maryland was awarded affiliate status by a unanimous vote of the Constitution Party National Committee.
    Bertocchi is a 1988 graduate of Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland. He went on to earn a B.A. in Mass Communcations from Towson University in January 1993.

He began his career as an intern with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR works to support legal American workers - not illegal immigrants, and seeks a moratorium on legal immigration. Following his six-month internship at FAIR, Bertocchi was hired on with his current employer in Washington, D.C.

State Treasurer - Richard L. Hays, Jr.

Mr. Hays was elected in April 2009 to serve as treasurer of party. Born January 21, 1939 in Emporia, KS, to teachers Richard and Margaret Hays, his family moved to Washington, D.C where his father took a job at the Torpedo Plant in Alexandria, VA in the early days of WWII. He recalls the Air Raid Blackouts and the metal drive rallies at the Griffith Ball Stadium in D.C. for the war efforts.

Following, his father was drafted into the Navy and sent to the Great Lakes for the duration of the War and he and his mother went back to Kansas to begin his primary education. At that time everyone was expected to take on extra chores and responsibilities. He recalls money being tight and helping his mother re-shingling their roof - climbing a ladder carrying two or three shingles at a time.

After the war, the family moved back to VA where Hays graduated at the top of his class, National Honor Society and superlatively recognized as “most mischievous.” He attended the University of Kansas, studying engineering and physics. As money became tight and tuitions were going up, Hays returned to the D.C. area and attended the Capital Radio Engineering Institute.

There he met and married the mother of their two beautiful daughters. In 1965 he opened Duke & Pickett Service Center, a Shell Oil dealership, with his brother-in-law. They operated for seven years and were recognized as a top-rated auto service facility by the Washington Consumer Check Book. Additionally, Duke & Pickett became one of the first service stations to have received a top-level AAA-approved repair rating.

In 1972, Hays sold his interest in Duke & Pickett and opened Oakton Service Center. Over the next 29 years, Hays would operate the service center as well as Oakton Auto Parts and Hays Auto Leasing.

While in business, Hays served on the National Automotive Technician Certification Board as a Virginia State Examiner, served on the board of directors for the Greater Washington/Maryland Automotive Gasoline Association and successfully lobbied for legislation known as the Gasoline Petroleum Marketing Practices Act. Still in place today, this legislative provision offers protections to gasoline dealers.

Hays served on a national committee establishing the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence. This organization is better known today as ASE, which certifies automotive technicians nationwide. He also authored one of the first drafts of the Automotive Consumer Protection Act that stands today in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

“Life has been a beautiful journey for me;” Hays reflects, “journeys involve movement and making decisions – sometimes wise and sometimes foolish. But wouldn’t it be a shame to have skipped the journey to simply avoid the mistakes. I, for one, am glad I didn’t choose to stay home and be a spectator. Someone once said, ‘It’s not what you say that counts, it’s how you make people feel that’s most important’.”