No Shame for Wynning

Throughout this primary election, I have been willing to overlook Congressman Al Wynn's shortcomings. He had a messy public divorce where he alledgely kicked his wife out of his house on Christmas. He was constantly having to file amended FEC reports because his could not keep his contributions in order. He was active -- almost too active in local PG Co politics -- playing kingmaker when he should have been focusing on being a national legislator. He had some of the worst constituent service where his caseworkers spent more time assulting volunteers for his opponent in August 2006. He was even known to have joked about his "stealing" the election in 2006 when three precinct boxes showed up weeks after the vote helping him to win. But the largest concern was also the main one: He had a series of horrible votes on issues that favored wealthy corporate interests over his own working class electorate. His MoCo supporters have tried to tell me "that he learned his lesson and is a better Congressman" after his narrow victory in September 2006 to upstart Donna Edwards.

He has not learned. Here it is the night before the election and we have the following stories coming from Wynn in the past seven days:

1) He files a complaint with the FEC saying his principal opponent, Donna Edwards, is part of a "vast left wing conspiracy". That term incidentally comes the name of a book written by a right wing reporter for the National Review. Oh and no violation of campaign finance law is cited.
2) He puts out a series of robo calls highlighting Donna Edwards having multiple tax liens on her home, which is true. But he just happens to fail to mention that she had the liens -- as she pointed out at numerous debates -- because she was a single mother trying to raise a young son without health insurance for herself.
3) Now the latest is Wynn has created a flyer that implied that he and Sen. Barack Obama are a team. That they share the same values. If Obama and Wynn share the same values then our country is in deep deep trouble.
4) He wraps himself in the mantle of change candidate, Barack Obama, by inviting himself onto Fox News to debate for the Illinois Senator. He was not selected by the Obama campaign. He did it himself. That is not how you earn the good graces of the campaign you want to help.

I have been involved in politics for almost thirty years. I have seen nasty fights for office. This one takes the cake. In fact there is so much cake being tossed -- the vast majority from him, his supporters and his personal attack dog at many debates has been Dr. Michael Babula -- that the main issue is being missed. Al Wynn has reached his shelf-life as an elected official. His expiration reads September 2006. It is time for him to go. He is beyond the pale as a representative.

I gave my props to him to his winning a debate last week. He was good. But then you have to wonder when the moderator was a member of his "Women for Wynn" team. I wondered why the questions always put Donna on the defensive and made Wynn look good. Is there nothing he won't do to win? I doubt it; and the flyer coming out of PG County is latest exhibit.

Wynn may get more votes tomorrow but he will not be a winner. If he does win he should start Wednesday February 13 looking for a job in the Obama Administration because he burned so many bridges to win this his final election. He has been shameless in his zeal to wynn. I see little chance that he could ever win another election after Tuesday.

I have met Al Wynn. He is quite personable. We talked on Saturday about how he has to care for his elderly mother. The look on his face said it all. He was not a politician then. He was Albert Wynn, the son, caring for an elderly parent something any adult child can relate to.

We will gather in a few hours to elect a Democratic nominee for the 4th District of Maryland. This has been Al Wynn's seat for 16 years. In that time he has developed a win at any cost that there is nothing left to him. I am certain that at one time Congressman Wynn was a decent and honorable man. It may have been when he first ran for State Delegate in 1982. He probably had many ideas of what he wanted to do to make our community a better place. Those days are a distant memory.

Al Wynn has got to go. The best line of the campaign was uttered by another challenger for this seat, Jason Jennings, when he said that Al Wynn "is like a championship prize fighter who has stayed around too long". Jennings is correct. Please vote Al Wynn into an early retirement. There is little left to admire.

Please support Donna Edwards. We need her.