Carmen Amedori, a Republican from Carroll County, served in the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2002. Photo by Bryan P. Sears.
Carmen Amedori, a Republican delegate from Carroll County who was a staunch advocate for gun rights, died Sunday after a lengthy battle with chronic kidney disease. She was 68.
Amedori developed a reputation as an outspoken conservative with a passion for criminal and juvenile justice issues. Retired Maryland Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Getty, who also represented Carroll County in the House of Representatives and served on the Judiciary Committee with Amedori, remembers her as “very capable as a legislator.”
“She was extremely diligent in her work on the committee, especially since she had served as a district court commissioner before her service in the House of Representatives,” Getty said. “She had knowledge of practical situations in criminal law.”
Getty said he was not surprised by her performance as a lawmaker. “She had enough legal points of contact that made her a very good member,” he said.
Getty said Amedori’s work did not stop when the parliamentary day ended.
“I had young children so I enjoyed coming back to Manchester as much as possible. When I came in at 10 a.m. to sit on the floor, Carmen told me about all the backstories and topics and everything that was happening in the House,” Getty said, adding that Amedori’s “network was very intense.”
Amedori has battled kidney disease for the past six years. Nicole Amedori said her mother kept the nature of the condition to herself until her health rapidly deteriorated last weekend and she entered home health care. She died peacefully at her home in Westminster.
Amedori was born in Baltimore on November 25, 1955, the fourth of five children of Carmine “Mimi” Mario Amedori, who opened a Highlandtown Tavern after retiring as a foreman for a Baltimore contractor, and Delores Grace Amedori (née Perry), a housewife.
She attended Franklin High School in the Reisterstown area of Baltimore County and later attended Villa Julie College, now known as Stevenson University, where she earned a degree in paralegal studies in 1975. After graduating, Amedori worked as a paralegal in family, criminal and real estate law until 1985.
At that time, she worked briefly as a journalist, first for the Baltimore Sun and later for the Carroll County Times. She has won numerous awards for her reporting.
In 1991, she took a job as a county court commissioner in Carroll County.
In 1994, she served as campaign manager for her husband Jerry F. Barnes in his successful campaign for Carroll County State’s Attorney. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998 and re-elected four years later.
Republicans then, as now, were in the minority in the legislature. Some of Amedori’s former colleagues said the Carroll County lawmaker had developed a reputation as a conservative firebrand, a bomber some nicknamed “Carmen Armageddon.”
Bobby Zirkin, the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, served on the House Judiciary Committee with Amedori in 2003 when it debated legislation to authorize cannabis research and create a defense against medical use for people accused of possession.
“We have now legalized cannabis,” Zirkin said. “We wouldn’t have that without passing a medical cannabis program, and we wouldn’t have had medical cannabis without passing the Darrell Putnam Compassionate Use Act. And that wouldn’t have happened without the voice of Carmen Amedori.”
The bill, sponsored in previous years by Del. Don Murphy (R-Baltimore County), had failed. Del. Joseph Vallario, then chairman of the Judiciary, opposed the bill on the grounds that the state should not pass laws that conflict with federal laws. Zirkin said Vallario had the votes to kill the bill, and Amedori, a rule-of-law Republican, was one of them.
“So we’re fighting, we’re debating, and Carmen is very quiet, and she voted against it,” Zirkin said. “I mean, she was always very much against that.”
But Getty, who was on the committee at the time, voted for the bill, citing his mother’s battle with cancer. When Amedori came to roll call, she changed her mind and voted to move the bill out of committee.
“As soon as she does this, the chairman slams his hand on a book or the desk, simultaneously shouting and mumbling as only he can do,” Zirkin said. “You couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, he just picked up little words like marijuana, federal law. I think he may have used some bad language, but I’m not 100% sure. He just stands up and says, ‘We’re done,’ and walks out in the middle of the mood.”
Soon after, lawmakers struck a compromise that did not legalize the drug but created defenses against medicinal use. That was passed and signed into law by then-Gov. Robert Erhlich.
Her daughters Nicole and Kara described their mother as “a force,” with Kara saying it was “things like that” that earned her mother the nickname “Carmen Armageddon.”
Amedori also enjoyed reading and painting, Nicole said.
Two years into her second term, she was nominated by Ehrlich for a spot on the Maryland Parole Commission, and she served on the commission until 2010.
She briefly ran for lieutenant governor in 2010 on a ticket against Ehrlich in the GOP primary, but later withdrew and encouraged Republicans to support Ehrlich.
“Carmen Amedori has built an enviable resume in public service over the course of her professional career,” Ehrlich said in a Facebook post. “She was a great member of the Maryland General Assembly and the Maryland Parole Commission. Most importantly, she was a good friend – a steadfast political competitor – and a trusted advocate for conservative causes from Annapolis to Washington. She will be truly missed.”
Amedori is preceded in death by her former wife Jerry Barnes, her parents, her sister Carol Ann Amedori Long and brothers Joseph “Ricci” Ricardo Amedori and John Patrick Amedori I.
In addition to daughters Nicole of Baltimore and Kara, a Florida resident, she is survived by her husband, Timothy Wade Headley, and a sister, Mariea Amedori of Ocean Pines.
A memorial service for Amedori is planned for a later date.
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