|
by Alan Brody
Maryland Independent
Friday, August 25, 2006
Before embarking on a four-state Midwest swing to stump for congressional incumbents and challengers, U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer made a loop through Charles County this week, addressing labor activists and promoting regional transportation projects.
Much of Hoyer’s remarks Monday evening to the Tri-County Committee on Political Education, part of the Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO, centered on U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin’s bid to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.).
The union, which has already given its blessing to Cardin, offers one of the most coveted support bases because of its large membership and strong political activism.
Cardin and former NAACP chairman Kweisi Mfume are considered the front-runners in a jam-packed Democratic primary field. The winner is expected to face Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in the general election.
Hoyer predicted that Cardin will have a tougher time defeating Mfume in a few weeks than Steele in November because Democrats enjoy a nearly 2-to-1 voter registration advantage in Maryland.
‘‘Maryland’s a blue state, Maryland’s going to vote blue this year and Steele is as red as it gets,” he said.
Hoyer attacked Republicans for refusing to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 and assailed President George W. Bush for failing to produce enough jobs and driving the country into a deep deficit.
‘‘Our children are being put deeply in deficit so that when they have their [war in] Iraq, when they have their [Hurricane] Katrina, when they have their avian flu, they’re not going to have any scraps to solve the problems,” he charged.
Under Bush (R), America has been weakened at home and abroad, Hoyer added. He predicted that will reverberate on Election Day, when as many as 30 GOP seats could change hands in the House and others in the Senate.
He underlined the importance of Maryland’s open seat on a national level. ‘‘We cannot afford to have in the U.S. Senate another rubber stamp for George Bush.”
On Tuesday morning, Hoyer joined state and local officials at a commuter parking lot in Waldorf to tout regional transportation initiatives and called for an energy independence bill that centers on more public transit investment.
Democrats want to invest $2.5 billion over five years to develop an energy-efficient vehicle that will make the United States less reliant on foreign oil.
‘‘Brazil today is energy independent. Sugarcane is running their cars,” Hoyer said. ‘‘American can do better than that. This administration has focused solely on oil.”
State lawmakers are eager to set up a 19-member panel that will examine a long-range vision for Southern Maryland’s transportation infrastructure. The committee resulted from a 2005 bill vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and overridden by the legislature earlier this year.
But progress has been slow, although Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles), the bill’s lead sponsor, expects an announcement will be made soon on the panel’s creation and membership.
‘‘A lot of the information is just coming together,” he said.
Hoyer ran off a list of federally funded transportation initiatives that have either been completed or are under way — $7 million for construction of six commuter parking facilities in Southern Maryland, $11 million for completion of the Hughesville bypass and more aid for upgrades to Great Mills Road and Chancellor’s Run Road in Lexington Park.
But several concerns remain, including the stalled Waldorf bypass and the near-daily bottleneck at Route 5 and Brandywine Road in southern Prince George’s County, which serves as the major artery for commuters between Charles County and Washington, D.C.
‘‘It totally locks up Route 5,” Hoyer said.
Afterward, Hoyer was scheduled to hit the national political circuit and help raise money for several Democratic incumbents and promising challengers.
Hoyer, the No. 2 ranking Democrat in the House, faces no primary competition and has only a third-party challenge in November, allowing him to campaign for Democrats across the country.
First, he was off to Kansas to campaign for U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, who represents a Republican-majority district.
He was also slated to stump for U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, who faces a challenge from Iowa’s GOP state senate president; Philip G. Hare, the Democratic nominee to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Lane Evans in Illinois; Bruce Braley, the Democratic nominee running for an open seat in Iowa; and Joe Donnelly, who is vying to unseat U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola of Indiana.
|
|
