This morning, Chris Jakubiak began a four-city announcement tour in Salisbury as he seeks to unseat incumbent State Senator Richard Colburn of District 37.
Speaking from prepared remarks in front of a small group of supporters and press, Chris laid out his agenda and detailed his background as business owner and practicioner in the field of urban planning, including work here in Salisbury. Jakubiak revealed he was running because “it’s time for a new direction, a new energy, a new commitment, and a new matter-of-fact way of solving problems.”
Among his priorities if elected will be advancing economic development, restoring local waterways and Chesapeake Bay, and education. He noted that, “I seek a state government that is lean and effective, pragmatic and affordable.”
Saying that 135,000 Marylanders lost jobs last year and the state has a budget deficit of $2 billion, Jakubiak blamed Republican incumbent Senator Richard Colburn for being “as much a part of the institution as anyone else in Annapolis,” but will choose to unveil his legislative priorites over the next several months.
Yet in looking at Colburn’s voting record, he’s one of the more moderate GOP Senators. In the past, he’s voted with Democrats on several environmental issues (like the so-called Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act of 2009, 2008 legislation restricting growth in critical areas, and the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007, which banned smoking in restaurants) and has voted for each of Governor O’Malley’s three budgets (while he also voted for amendments to reduce the budget, his opposition didn’t carry through.)
Afterward, I asked Chris, “You say that Senator Colburn is ‘part of the institution’ yet he has generally voted against many of the policies you decry. Would there be reason to believe you’d make the ‘tough decisions’ when the majority hasn’t been able to do so?”
Chris thought there was a “disconnect” in state government and that he could “bring a realistic point of view to problem solving.” The issues before Annapolis were not simple, but complicated and he would work to be a “consensus builder.”
His four-city rounds continue today through Cambridge, Preston, and Easton, including a Cambridge stop at a local high school to speak to a group of young Democrats there.
Jakubiak, of Wye Mills, will square off with 2006 candidate Tim Quinn in the Democratic primary on September 14.
Now Listen Here Fool!
This guy has to look no farther than his own party who has been large and in charge demagoguing around this state for the last 100 years!
Will I ever cease to be amazed at the duplicitousness of this man’s side of the aisle?
If this lightweight wants to gain ANY support he will grow a set of ideals, something the his minions are sorely lacking in these days, and call out those in his own party who line up at the trough to bring the bacon home year after year after “teet sucking” year.
Now get outta’ my face man!
My mama didn’t raise a fool. Aside from that, I think you’re spot on.
One thing which worries me is that here will be another vote for so-called “Smart Growth” and Jakubiak will make it even more hostile for development on the Eastern Shore. Colburn isn’t my favorite Senator by a long shot but I don’t think Chris will be an improvement.
Jakubiak does seem like a personable and outgoing sort, though, and that’s one advantage he’ll have over Rich. I like Rich, but he’ll probably be at somewhat of a disadvantage at candidate forums and such. On another forum I saw somebody make the comparison to Frank Kratovil and that’s actually a pretty fair one – perhaps Frank was a driving force in Chris’s decision to go for this.
So you take issue with my description of Colburn as a “stalwart conservative”? You’ve done much more study than I about his (and other legislators’) voting record, so I’ll probably defer to you on this one.
I was unaware about Colburn’s budget votes, though. I’m sure you have the info (and it would be interesting to see) how our Lower Shore delegates and senators voted on all of O’Malley’s budgets. I think some AFP folks might be interested in this, too.
I actually took the time to look this up for my post, and indeed Colburn has voted in favor of all three O’Malley budgets. It would be easy to figure out any Senator as all you need to know is the bill number for each year and I have that as part of my summary on the monoblogue Accountability Project.
Colburn started out right in the middle of my rankings in 2007 (7th overall, but there are 14 GOP Senators who naturally comprise the top 14). Now he’s 11th overall.
Awhile back Joe Collins copied and passed out the mAP during an AFP meeting. I’ll do this year’s rendition this spring, but the new twist would be whether to include committee votes because each member of the General Assembly doesn’t face the same number and there’s a push to add those to the voting records provided by the Department of Legislative Services.
Sorry, “Clubber Lang,” I’m not running Albero’s blog. I didn’t see your comment as germaine so it got rejected. (That’s a rarity for me, but it is what it is.)