Dean of SLDs Kasecamp attends 11th convention, sees unprecedented unity

Maryland State Legislative Larry Kasecamp turned it up to 11 when he attended the SMART-TD Convention in Las Vegas.

The event, held at the Caesars Forum in Las Vegas from Aug. 11-16, was the 11^th convention Kasecamp has attended.

He’s the TD’s longest-serving state legislative director, having represented our members in the state of Maryland for 34 years. Kasecasmp has held every elected position in Local 600 (Cumberland, Md.) since hiring on at B&O in 1977.

2024 showed him something he’d never seen before.

“My first convention was in 1983 at the Fountainebleau — that one was three weeks long,” Kasecamp remembered. His favorite convention was in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1991. He was also there when Fred Hardin defeated Tom DuBose by a slim margin in 1987.

But there was no such drama at the 2024 TD Convention or SMART General Convention.

“In all the conventions I’ve attended. I’ve never seen the delegate body in such full support of the leadership,” Kasecamp said. “It’s unprecedented — I’ve never seen it in my entire time where everyone was elected by acclamation.

“There have been a lot of close elections and a lot of division [in the past]. I think the leadership team we have right now is probably the best we’ve had. At least as far as the support they have.”

One other thing the conventions and regional meetings offer is not just a chance to bond with his union family, but it also gives a chance for his family, including his wife and five children, to vacation together.

“I always put family first and brought them to conventions and regional meetings,” he said. “We made it a family event, so they’d see the importance of labor.”