Barry Neustadt, tax director for Washington County data center developer Diversified Capital, contributed $1,000 to Senator Paul Corderman’s campaign in May 2026. Neustadt’s professional biography explicitly identifies his position with the company.
On October 14, Hagerstown Rapid Response asked Corderman whether he would return the contribution. We asked because Washington County Commissioner Jeff Cline had returned a $500 contribution from Diversified Capital CFO Moshe Rubin and a $250 contribution from Chris Shank, who is part of Diversified Capital’s project team. In his October 15 response, Corderman said his records identified Neustadt as a “Self Employed CPA” and said he had never met or spoken with him. He did not answer our question about whether he would return the money.
We had already identified Neustadt as Diversified Capital’s tax director in our question. Corderman’s response repeated what his campaign records said without addressing that connection. Residents still deserve a direct answer: Will he return the $1,000, or keep it?
How We Got Here: Six Years of Data Center Recruitment, Secret Meetings, and Convenient Timing
Here’s what residents have had to piece together through public records requests, government documents, campaign finance disclosures, and archived websites:
February 4, 2020: Washington County Business Development Director Jonathan Horowitz sent a letter to the Maryland Senate Budget and Taxation Committee supporting Senate Bill 397, legislation designed to attract data centers through tax exemptions.
June 2024: The property at 12440 Burkholder Lane was advertised as “Ideal for Data Center.” A January 2025 listing subsequently described a proposed million-square-foot facility suitable for data centers and other industrial uses.
May 2025: Washington County’s Department of Business and Economic Development included Diversified Capital’s $50 million Martin Farm project in its economic development presentation, projecting 300 jobs.
August 25, 2025: Data center developer Diversified Capital executive Moshe Rubin donated $500 to Commissioner Jeff Cline’s campaign. Member of project team for Diversified Capital data center development also donated $250 to Jeff Cline’s reelection campaign.
October 12, 2025: An archived Diversified Capital profile described the company’s portfolio as including a “data center development project in Washington County, Maryland.” Diversified Capital was publicly identifying its project as a data center months before the county announced its moratorium.
December 9, 2025: Washington County Commissioners met privately with Diversified Capital’s project team under an NDA. Participants included Rubin, former state senator Chris Shank, former lieutenant governor Boyd Rutherford, engineer Connor McManus, and Sage Policy Group’s Zack Fritz. County minutes acknowledged that public discussion would violate the NDA. That same day, Hagerstown’s Mayor and City Council held their own closed executive session to consider a business or industrial development proposal. The city has not publicly identified the project discussed.
January 16, 2026: Washington County sent a letter supporting another tax exemption, this time for Mount Aetna Technology Park.
February 2, 2026: Horowitz was announced as a member of the Data Center Alliance of Maryland Steering Committee, alongside representatives from Amazon, BGE, Constellation Energy, and other industry interests.
February 3, 2026: Commissioners voted 4–0 to ratify their support for the Mount Aetna tax exemption.
May 7, 2026: data center developer, Diversified Capital Barry Neustadt donated $1,000 to Maryland State Senator Paul Corderman’s re-election campaign.
May 21, 2026: Commissioners approved a no-bid consulting contract with Greg Murray of GDMS LLC by a 3–2 vote, with Commissioner John Barr casting the deciding vote. Mayor Bill McIntire attended the meeting. Murray subsequently billed taxpayers for meeting with a Hagerstown representative and reviewing engineering materials that included documents from Black & Veatch, the firm working on Hagerstown’s water and wastewater planning.
June 12, 2026: Cline returned Rubin’s $500 campaign contribution, nearly ten months after receiving it and six months after the confidential presentation. On the same day he also returned Chris Shank’s $250 campaign contribution which he received on the same day as Moshe Rubin’s. This is relevant because Chris Shank is a member of project team for the Diversified Capital data center development.
June 16, 2026: Washington County quietly posted its draft data center moratorium.
June 30, 2026: Commissioners adopted their dog-and-pony-show moratorium. That same day, the owners of the Martin Farm property filed for annexation into Hagerstown, where the moratorium does not apply.
August 25, 2026: Hagerstown introduced and approved Annexation Resolution A-2026-2 involving Burkholder Lane Acquisitions LLC and McDade Road Acquisitions LLC.
September 2, 2026: We exposed the commissioners’ NDA meeting and its connection to Diversified Capital’s Martin Farm data center development.
September 30, 2026: Washington County established criteria for data center development, after years of industry recruitment and months of undisclosed discussions with developers.
October 8, 2026: We reported on a quietly held county data center workshop where FirstEnergy provided information about Diversified Capital’s plans.
October 14, 2026: We met with Mayor McIntire and asked why Hagerstown refused to release its NDA records involving Diversified Capital. He told us the city’s legal department handled those decisions and that he didn’t know why its attorneys had withheld the records. But Communications Director Wes Decker had already told us that he was the records custodian and made the final disclosure decision.
October 20, 2026: Hagerstown is scheduled to consider another amendment to the annexation plan. The agenda doesn’t identify Diversified Capital or mention the data center.
October 27, 2026: Data center hearing at Hagerstown City Hall, 1 East Franklin Street. The hearing begins at 7 PM.
Sign the petition at StopTheNDAs.org to demand meaningful public participation before major development decisions are made. Then show up Tuesday, October 27, at 6:45 PM at Hagerstown City Hall, 1 East Franklin Street. The hearing begins at 7 PM. Bring your neighbors and your questions, and come even if you do not plan to speak. Our utility bills, water supply and neighborhoods deserve a room full of residents demanding answers.
The City of Hagerstown will meet in Executive Session [closed to the public] on Thursday 10/29 8:30 am.
"To consider a matter that concerns the proposal for a business or industrial organization to locate, expand, or remain in the State" -- that's all I know. [from the City's agenda listing]