Talk about news that’s unsurprising:
Yesterday Wayne Gilchrest declared he voted for Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley in 2006, giving just one more example of his tilt to the left.
Gilchrest and Kratovil’s shared support for Martin O’Malley should come as no surprise. Martin O’Malley, Wayne Gilchrest, and Frank Kratovil share many of the same liberal policies. “O’Malley, Kratovil and Gilchrest support higher taxes, more wasteful government spending, and amnesty for illegal immigrants – that’s liberal,” said Chris Meekins, Harris Campaign Manager.
All three candidates have also stated they will be voting for Barack Obama on November 4th. In his primary campaign, Frank Kratovil campaigned throughout the district with Governor O’Malley by his side. “O’Malley is the glue that holds the liberal family together in Maryland,” Meekins added.
Frank Kratovil has made clear whom he will represent in Congress stating, “I want to be an ally of the Governor (Martin O’Malley) in Washington.” (Star Democrat, 6/7/2007)
“The last thing voters in the first district want is O’Malley Jr. – Frank Kratovil – in Congress” said Meekins. “Andy Harris will be the independent voice who will vote for lower taxes and less wasteful government spending in Congress.”
Chris piled on slightly because Wayne used to be somewhat conservative in fiscal matters; however, Gilchrest recently voted for both bailout packages (as Frank Kratovil likely would have for the second porked-up version) so perhaps that worm has turned too. I do find the idea of Harris adopting an “independent voice” mantra interesting; then again, both men are on record as running against the current Congress so it’s not wholly out of character for both to describe themselves as independent. Personally, I still like the term “conservative” though. We already have a Congressman who describes himself as “independent and courageous” and we all know how that turned out. In these times when folks from everywhere else on the political spectrum seem to enjoy dumping on conservatism in order to curry favor with the media (beware, we see how well that worked with John McCain), true courage is sticking to your principles.
Now another item I found to be worth mentioning is that the venue for Gilchrest’s remarks was a dinner honoring him and others for their environmentalism, one where Gilchrest earned the honor of “Admiral of the Chesapeake” from Governor O’Malley himself. Wayne also drew praise from fellow Congressman Steny Hoyer, as noted in the Capital article by Pamela Wood.
“Wayne Gilchrest, I respect you, I am proud to be your colleague … I am hopeful you will be serving for many years to come,” noted Hoyer. This makes me wonder whether Wayne has thought about his future plans and whether they include a party switch in order to set up a possible Andy Harris – Wayne Gilchrest rematch in 2010’s general election. I’m not sure that the Democrats wouldn’t welcome that possibility with open arms.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Wayne wouldn’t vote for Bob Ehrlich, given the bad blood between those two at times. But as one who was the recipient of Congressional courtesy in the form of a primary endorsement from Newt Gingrich, it’s disappointing that Wayne hasn’t been giving out that same sort of respect recently.
