Meekins has new gig, says voters will have 'buyer's remorse' with Kratovil

Andy Harris' former campaign manager, Chris Meekins, congratulated incoming U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-Stevensville) on Thursday, but seemed ready to move on.

"I congratulate Frank Kratovil on his hard-fought victory and I respect the decision of the voters," Meekins wrote in an email to PolitickerMD.com. "I am confident voters in the first district will have buyer's remorse when they see how Frank Kratovil votes in Washington."

The 24-year-old Meekins, who ran state Sen. Andy Harris's(R-Cockeysville) unsuccessful 1st Congressional District race against Kratovil, has taken a job at Jamestown Associates - a Washington D.C. based political consulting firm which specializes in communication, including television advertising and direct mail.

"I will be working with members of Congress on their franked mail, recruiting new clients, and assisting with campaign consulting for races around the country - VA election less than a year away," Meekins wrote, adding he will still be involved in Maryland politics in the future.

Meekins didn't completely rule out managing a potential Harris campaign, were Harris to make another run, but said he was completely focused on being successful at his new job. He also called speculation regarding a future 1st District contender premature. "I believe we should probably let Mr. Kratovil take his oath of office before talking about who may or may not run against him in 2010," Meekins wrote.

During his days with Harris, Meekins' official title was "campaign manager," but he played the role of press secretary and communications director as well.

Kratovil ultimately defeated Harris by only several thousand votes, but the Harris campaign's communications message was aggressive and often controversial.

Meekins personally accused the Kratovil camp of push polling at one point in the campaign, a claim Kratovil's campaign manager denied.

Moreover, Harris's camp accused Kratovil of having a conflict of interests with certain attorneys who donated to his campaign and accused him of letting a child molester go free during his tenure as Queen Anne's County state's attorney.

At one point in the campaign, Meekins charged Kratovil of having a "macaca moment," when he allegedly said "we solved the crisis" in regard to the nation's economic crisis. The newspaper that reported the remark, The Dailey Times, later acknowledged Kratovil was misquoted. But that didn't stop the Harris campaign from launching multiple attacks via television, direct mail, and during debates.