The Republicans Among Us

It is hard enough to peruse our progressive agenda and portray our enlightened sensibilities through political discourse these days with such an awful administration controlling government, the media and the minds of the electorate. The last thing we need is elected Democrats - colleagues we have entrusted in public office subverting our trust and our party.

Two stories this week highlight two Maryland elected Democratic officials - Congressman Albert Wynn and Comptroller William Donald Schaefer.

Al Wynn welcomed and promoted Republican Michael Steele's US Senate campaign at Wynn's fundraiser Saturday in Largo. We all know that George W. Bush is Steele's "homeboy" and that the Ehrlich/Steele administration has done nothing but harm to Maryland's working families. From selling-off State Park land to raising car registration fees to pushing slot machines, nothing Michael Steele has accomplished has helped folks who earn less than $250,000. Al Wynn voted to gut the Endangered Species Act, voted for Dick Cheney's energy bill, voted for denying working families access to bankruptcy protection, voted to keep Terri Schiavo alive indefinitely, voted against net neutrality, voted for giving George W. Bush a line-item veto and offers nothing about our role in Iraq.

Then the Gazette newspaper reports that William Donald Schaefer can't see blue from red. "Comptroller William Donald Schaefer pledged his allegiance to the Democratic Party on Monday, but he refused to endorse the party’s presumptive nominee for governor, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley. Schaefer said Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is as ‘‘honest as the day is long,” emphasizing their strong working relationship." That on top of Schaefer's vocal dislike of immigrants and his unseemly attraction for young female staffers embarrass all Democrats in Maryland.

These men contribute nothing to the Democratic Party or the progressive movement. They don't represent the ideals of the Democracy for America movement - Howard Dean's legacy. They certainly don't represent my beliefs.

We do have a choice and I encourage you to consider the candidacies to Donna Edwards and Peter Franchot.

In Maryland's Fourth Congressional District (Prince George's and Montgomery Counties), Donna Edwards is an African-American from Ft. Washington with a very distinguished background as a community organizer, a successful CEO of a major national foundation and a leader of the progressive movement in Maryland. She has earned many impressive endorsements and is truly interested in representing the views and beliefs of her constituents.

Running statewide for Comptroller, Peter Franchot can stop Governor Ehrlich's use of the Board of Public Works as a regressive tool to subvert the state legislature. The Comptroller has great independent authority over the purse-strings of state government and Schaefer repeatedly votes with Ehrlich to zero-out education budgets and other initiatives of the legislature.

There is no time like the present to clean our own house.

www.DonnaEdwardsforCongress.com

www.Franchot.com