NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC has announced a new round of endorsements. (Click here for their first round.) The new round includes more state legislative picks plus the Montgomery County Council. It's noteworthy that despite - or perhaps because of - their public thrashing by House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, they still have not endorsed either of his district teammates, Delegates Jim Gilchrist and Luiz Simmons. (We hear that Gilchrist still has not submitted his questionnaire.)
Following is their press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27, 2010
NARAL PRO-CHOICE MARYLAND PAC ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL ENDORSEMENTS
SILVER SPRING, MD--Today the Political Action Committee of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland announced additional endorsements of candidates in several races including Governor, Maryland Senate, Maryland House of Delegates, Baltimore County Executive, and Montgomery County Council.
“NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC has endorsed candidates that will both protect a woman’s right to choose and fight to improve access to reproductive health care across Maryland,” said NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC Chair Tracy Terrell.
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC endorsed Governor Martin O’Malley and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown in their campaign for re-election. NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC also supported O’Malley in 2006.
“Having a governor that supports reproductive choice is critical to maintaining the right to choose in Maryland. We are very happy to support Governor O’Malley,” said Terrell.
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC will announce additional endorsements before the September primaries.
Endorsed Candidates as of July 27, 2010. Recently endorsed candidates are in bold.
Endorsed incumbents:
Governor Martin O’Malley and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown
Senator Katherine Klausmeier - District 8
Senator James Robey – District 13
Senator Rona Kramer – District 14
Senator Rob Garagiola – District 15
Senator Brian Frosh - District 16
Senator Rich Madaleno – District 18
Senator Jamie Raskin – District 20
Senator Nathaniel Exum – District 24
Senator John Astle – District 30
Senator Nancy King - District 39
Senator Jim Brochin - District 42
Senator George Della – District 46
Delegate Galen Clagett – District 3A
Delegate Michael Weir, Jr. – District 6
Delegate Adrienne Jones – District 10
Delegate Shirley Nathan-Pulliam – District 10
Delegate Dan Morhaim – District 11
Delegate Dana Stein – District 11
Delegate Jon Cardin – District 11
Delegate Elizabeth Bobo - District 12B
Delegate Shane Pendergrass – District 13
Delegate Frank Turner – District 13
Delegate Guy Guzzone – District 13
Delegate Anne Kaiser - District 14
Delegate Kathleen Dumais – District 15
Delegate Brian Feldman - District 15
Delegate Susan Lee - District 16
Delegate Bill Frick - District 16
Delegate Kumar Barve - District 17
Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez – District 18
Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher – District 18
Delegate Al Carr – District 18
Delegate Ben Kramer – District 19
Delegate Sheila Hixson – District 20
Delegate Tom Hucker – District 20
Delegate Heather Mizeur – District 20
Delegate Barbara Frush – District 21
Delegate Ben Barnes – District 21
Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk – District 21
Delegate Tawanna Gaines – District 22
Delegate Justin Ross – District 22
Delegate James Hubbard - District 23A
Delegate Kris Valderrama – District 26
Delegate Sue Kullen - District 27B
Speaker Michael Busch - District 30
Delegate Virginia Clagett – District 30
Delegate Mary-Dulany James – District 34A
Delegate Rudolph Cane – District 37A
Delegate Charles Barkley – District 39
Delegate Kirill Reznik – Delegate 39
Delegate Shawn Tarrant – District 40
Delegate Samuel “Sandy” Rosenberg – District 41
Delegate Stephen Lafferty - District 42
Delegate Maggie McIntosh – District 43
Delegate Ruth Kirk – District 44
Delegate Cheryl Glenn – District 45
Delegate Peter Hammen - District 46
Delegate Brian McHale – District 46
Delegate Doyle Niemann – District 47
Delegate Jolene Ivey – District 47
Endorsed challengers:
Candy Greenway – Delegate Candidate District House 3A
Jordan Hadfield – Senate Candidate District 6
Calvin Bowman – Delegate Candidate District 8
Hon. Cheryl Kagan – Senate Candidate District 17
Hon. Roger Manno – Senate Candidate District 19
Arthur Helton, Jr. – Senate Candidate District 34
Hon. Victor Ramirez – Senate Candidate District 47
Eric Luedtke – Delegate Candidate District 14
Jodi Finkelstein – Delegate Candidate District 14
Aruna Miller – Delegate Candidate District 15
Ariana Kelly – Delegate Candidate District 16
Dan Campos – Delegate Candidate District 17
Bonnie Cullison – Delegate Candidate District 19
Jay Hutchins – Delegate Candidate District 19
Nicole Williams – Delegate Candidate District 23A
Judd Legum – Delegate Candidate District 30
John Janowich – Delegate Candidate District 35B
Arthur Hock – Delegate Candidate District 36
Shane Robinson – Delegate Candidate District 39
Lori Albin – Delegate Candidate District 42
Mary Washington – Delegate Candidate District 43
Keiffer Mitchell, Jr. – Delegate Candidate District 44
Luke Clippinger – Delegate Candidate District 46
Baltimore County Executive
Hon. Kevin Kamenetz
Montgomery County Council
Councilmember Roger Berliner – District 1
Councilmember Nancy Navarro – District 4
Councilmember Valerie Ervin – District 5
Councilmember Marc Elrich – At Large
Councilmember Nancy Floreen – At Large
Councilmember George Leventhal – At Large
Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg – At Large
Since 1982, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC has worked to elect pro-choice candidates to all levels of office and is the most influential pro-choice PAC in Maryland.
Contact: 301-565-4154
By authority, Emily Luedtke, Treasurer
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC Announces More Endorsements
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Endorsements 2010
Want to know who's endorsing whom? You have come to the right place!
Following are the endorsements of MCEA, the Post, SEIU, Progressive Maryland, Equality Maryland, the Sierra Club, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and NARAL for all MoCo Democratic primaries in which there are more candidates than seats.
Notes:
1. The Post has not yet endorsed in state legislative contests.
2. Progressive Maryland, Equality Maryland, LCV and NARAL have not yet endorsed in County Council races. The latter three may not endorse in those contests at all.
3. Equality Maryland, the Sierra Club and LCV have not finished making endorsements.
4. So far, just ten candidates have swept all available endorsements in this group. They are:
Roger Berliner, Council District 1
Marc Elrich, Council At-Large
Hans Riemer, Council At-Large
Anne Kaiser, D-14 House
Bill Frick, D-16 House
Susan Lee, D-16 House
Ana Sol Gutierrez, D-18 House
Tom Hucker, D-20 House
Heather Mizeur, D-20 House
Kirill Reznik, D-39 House
Riemer is the only challenger in this list.
5. We will add these endorsements to our tabulation as they become available: MCGEO, Fire Fighters, Police, AFL-CIO, Progressive Maryland (council), Post (state legislative), Gazette and the MoCo Business PAC, as well as updates to the above. We are not adding NOW as they often endorse far more people than there are seats (including eight D16 Delegate candidates). And we are not going to include "groups" that are little than more five people sitting around a table endorsing their buddies, or worse, each other. Fuhgedaboudit!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
NARAL Responds to Barve
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC Chair Tracy Terrell has sent the following response to House Majority Leader Kumar Barve (D-17) on his criticism of their endorsements.
Dear Delegate Barve,
The recent NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC press release listed our endorsed candidates as of June 11, 2010. There will be additional endorsements and a press release will be posted after the filing deadline.
As in the past, we will issue a Voting Guide which will be on the website and mailed to our members. It lists all candidates and will identify those who are endorsed, 100% pro-choice, mixed choice, or anti-choice. It will also indicate which candidates did not respond to our questionnaire.
When reviewing the record of someone who has held office, we examine the questionnaire, voting records, and leadership. For all new candidates, we also review activities before becoming a legislator.
I will address some of your comments concerning specific candidates below:
1) Former Delegate Cheryl Kagan has been an enormous champion for NARAL and women’s reproductive health issues. She has not only worked for our National organization, but has worked tirelessly on our behalf on many issues even before we ever asked her to assist the organization including authoring legislation on access to emergency contraception. We endorse those who go above and beyond at the state level. Senator Jennie Forehand will be listed in the Voter’s Guide as 100% pro-choice.
2) Delegate Jim Gilchrist has not turned in a questionnaire and is not eligible for endorsement at this time.
3) Dan Campos is a 100% pro-choice candidate and we are confident that he will be an effective leader in Annapolis.
With the recent attacks on abortion in federal health reform, the U.S. Supreme Court retreating from the protections of Roe v. Wade and the addition of two justices hostile to choice under President Bush, more decisions about the right to choose will be left up to state government. The ballot measure passed in 1992 showed that Maryland was a leader in protecting reproductive rights and numerous legislators and community leaders were integral to that process. But the issue has not been "won" by any definition and dedicated pro-choice leaders are needed now more than ever.
Lastly, we have very limited staff and resources and unfortunately the website section on legislators has not been reviewed or updated in some time. It is not the Voting Guide. However, this is something that will be addressed immediately.
Thank you for your continuing support of women's reproductive rights.
Tracy Terrell
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC Chair
Monday, June 14, 2010
Kumar Calls Out NARAL
House Majority Leader Kumar “Bad Boy” Barve has called out NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland for a number of mistakes it has made on its website in characterizing legislators’ positions on abortion. He is also criticizing their endorsement of District 17 Senate challenger Cheryl Kagan over incumbent Jennie Forehand. (Barve is running on a slate with Forehand and was himself endorsed by NARAL.) Both Kagan and Forehand are solidly pro-choice, but Barve believes that endorsing organizations should not abandon incumbents with excellent voting records. Barve is not the only one to have this opinion as NARAL’s decision to support Kagan turned a lot of heads. And while Barve does not mention it, we find NARAL’s endorsement of District 17 Republican Delegate challenger Dan Campos mysterious since he does not mention choice at all on his website.
Following is the Bad Boy’s email to NARAL PAC Chair Tracy Terrell along with the screenshots that back up his points.
Dear Tracy:
Thank you for endorsing me for reelection. However, for the first time in 24 years I am stunned by many of the endorsement decisions of the PAC.
As you know, between 1986 and 1990 I was the Treasurer of Maryland NARAL and its Political Action Committee. I served as a member of Maryland NARAL’s Board of Directors from 1989 and 1990. I participated in marches on Annapolis, and I was actively involved in our first fundraising efforts. I count among my colleagues the leaders of the movement in Maryland at that time including Karyn Strickler, Joan Brown, Emily Schacter, Karen Ringen, Mary Gill, Kathleen Nieberding-Ryan and many others.
In those days, the PAC gave extra credit for leaders, but we also indentified all pro-choice candidates in the same press release. For example, in my race in 1990, I received a contribution and an endorsement, and all but one of my competitors was identified as pro-choice as well.
While you are quite vocal as to your supported candidates, you are less so with respect to those who are merely pro-choice. I had to search on your website and finally found what can only be described as an error-filled list of candidates.
First, I am glad that you recognize Delegates Luiz Simmons, Jim Gilchrist and Senator Jennie Forehand as pro-choice. Allow me to provide a little background on Simmons and Forehand. To paraphrase the country-western song, “they were pro-choice before pro-choice was cool” in District 17. Both campaigned as pro-choice as far back as 1974. In those days, Delegates Joe Owens and Frank Shore were highly popular in Rockville and staunchly anti-choice.
Second, your unwillingness to endorse Jim Gilchrist even though you admit he is pro-choice is simply bizarre.
I have found some errors in your website which I think require some clarification.
1. You identify Senator Kathy Klausmeier as “Mixed-Choice”. This is strange because she is one of your endorsed candidates. Is this a mistake or do you lower your standards for candidates in more conservative parts of the state?
2. You identify Kevin Kelly as “anti-choice”. He was one of only four Western Maryland delegates to vote in favor of the codification of Roe vs. Wade in the House of Delegates in 1991 (the others were delegates Betty Workman, George Littrell and Tom Hattery). While he has not supported funding for poor women, I believe he has not changed his position on Roe vs. Wade. Maybe I’m wrong on this and I’d be happy to have new information on his position.
3. The first name of the Senator from District 17 is not “Jennifer”, it is Jennie. Her legal name (as it always appears on the ballot) is Jennie.
4. Janet Greenip is anti-choice, but she is no longer a member of the Maryland Senate. Oops!
Finally, Jennie Forehand. Her challenger, Cheryl Kagan is strongly pro-choice. As a former staff member of NARAL I think we can all agree that she is pro-active as well. But, has Jennie ever done anything but help the cause during her time in office? Neither she (nor Simmons and Gilchrist) nor I have done much more than vote the right way to defend choice, because (wait for it...) we won this issue at the ballot in the 1992 referendum.
Jennie has been an active solid citizen on our issue. Period.
All this is troubling to me. Four years from now I may have a strong challenger for my seat. Can I count on your support for me in my time of need if it were to arise? Or will my past history of leadership be conveniently forgotten if a NARAL employee decides to run against me?
Kumar P. Barve
Majority Leader
Friday, June 11, 2010
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC Announces Endorsements
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland has announced its endorsements for the state legislature. In MoCo, the big news is that NARAL is supporting Senate challengers Cheryl Kagan (which we previously announced) and Roger Manno. NARAL also chose to support Republican District 17 Delegate challenger Dan Campos against Democratic incumbents Luiz Simmons and Jim Gilchrist. In the case of Simmons, they may be justified. Following is the press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2010
NARAL PRO-CHOICE MARYLAND PAC ENDOSRSES PRO-CHOICE LEADERS FOR STATE LEGISLATURE
SILVER SPRING, MD -- NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC is proud to endorse the following candidates for the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates. NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC has endorsed candidates who will be effective leaders on women's reproductive health in Annapolis.
"This is a strong group of pro-choice leaders," said PAC Chair Tracy Terrell. "We endorsed candidates who will not only support a woman’s right to choose, but who will work to pass legislation that will help Maryland women and families and who will educate their colleagues about reproductive health issues. We are very excited about these candidates." Terrell added.
Endorsed incumbents:
Senator Katherine Klausmeier - District 8
Senator James Robey – District 13
Senator Brian Frosh - District 16
Senator Rich Madaleno – District 18
Senator Jamie Raskin – District 20
Senator John Astle – District 30
Senator Nancy King - District 39
Senator Jim Brochin - District 42
Senator George Della – District 46
Delegate Elizabeth Bobo - District 12B
Delegate Anne Kaiser - District 14
Delegate Kathleen Dumais – District 15
Delegate Brian Feldman - District 15
Delegate Susan Lee - District 16
Delegate Bill Frick - District 16
Delegate Kumar Barve - District 17
Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez – District 18
Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher – District 18
Delegate Ben Kramer – District 19
Delegate Sheila Hixson – District 20
Delegate Tom Hucker – District 20
Delegate Heather Mizeur – District 20
Delegate Barbara Frush – District 21
Delegate James Hubbard - District 23A
Delegate Sue Kullen - District 27B
Speaker Michael Busch - District 30
Delegate Charles Barkley – District 39
Delegate Kirill Reznik – Delegate 39
Delegate Stephen Lafferty - District 42
Delegate Peter Hammen - District 46
Delegate Brian McHale – District 46
Endorsed challengers:
Jordan Hadfield – Senate Candidate District 6
Hon. Cheryl Kagan – Senate Candidate District 17
Hon. Roger Manno – Senate Candidate District 19
Eric Luedtke – Delegate Candidate District 14
Ariana Kelly – Delegate Candidate District 16
Dan Campos – Delegate Candidate District 17
Bonnie Cullison – Delegate Candidate District 19
Nicole Williams – Delegate Candidate District 23A
Judd Legum – Delegate Candidate District 30
Lori Albin – Delegate Candidate District 42
Luke Clippinger – Delegate Candidate District 46
Since 1982, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC has worked to elect pro-choice candidates to all levels of office and is the most influential pro-choice PAC in Maryland.
Contact: 301-565-4154
By Authority Emily Luedtke, Treasurer
Thursday, April 16, 2009
NARAL Endorses Navarro
Following is their press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2009
NARAL PRO-CHOICE MARYLAND PAC ENDORSES NANCY NAVARRO FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL
Today, the Political Action Committee of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland endorsed Nancy Navarro for the Montgomery County Council District 4 seat. NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC is dedicated to electing the strongest prochoice candidates in Maryland.
“NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC is proud to endorse Nancy Navarro for Montgomery County Council. It is wonderful to have so many candidates running in District 4 who support reproductive freedom. However, we believe that Nancy Navarro will be a leader for reproductive health care issues on the County Council,” said NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland PAC Chair Tracy Terrell. “Her tenure on the Board of Education and leadership around the issue of sex education in our community demonstrates a strong commitment to pro-choice values. We know Nancy Navarro will continue to champion reproductive health in her service on the County Council.
“The Montgomery County Council has a role to play in expanding education about and access to reproductive health services for teens and families, preventing unintended pregnancy, and stopping the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Many women in Montgomery County encounter barriers to health care services, including family planning and pregnancy care. It is more important than ever that families have access to needed health care services. Nancy recognizes these issues and will work to improve access.
“Teen pregnancy rates in Montgomery County have risen recently, particularly in the Latino community. Nancy’s work on the School Board will enable her to recognize and address health issues of unique importance to teens and to combat teen pregnancy. Having a strong pro-choice voice from a historically underrepresented community will be an asset to the County and its residents. Nancy Navarro understands the needs of the diverse District 4 community and will work towards improving reproductive health care access for individuals and families.”
“I am very honored to have received the endorsement of an organization that has a long history of standing up for women's issues,” stated Nancy Navarro. "I strongly believe that women have the right to make their own choices and I look forward to working with NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland and its members to continue to protect these important rights."
Contact: Erin Schurmann, 301-565-4154
