FAIRNESS OVER FEAR: Opponents of the state’s new transgender nondiscrimination law failed to overcome reason and fairness with fear, once again, opines the editorial board for the Sun. MdPetitions.com could not gather enough signatures to bring the law to referendum.
CARDIN TOOK FULL FOOD STIPEND: Del. Jon Cardin, a candidate for attorney general, filed for the full daily food allowance provided to legislators during the 90-day General Assembly session despite missing a majority of committee votes taken in the 2014 session, writes Bryan Sears for the Daily Record.
POST’S PG STATE HOUSE ENDORSEMENTS: The Washington Post editorial board endorses candidates in Prince George’s Democratic primary races in the State House. There are no contested Republican primaries. The Post wries that some of the county’s longest-established lawmakers in its all-Democratic delegation in Annapolis face challenges from a new generation of politicians. Successful candidates will need to be aggressive in enlisting the state’s help for Prince George’s, especially in juicing economic development around Metro stations and elsewhere.
DISTRICT 12: District 12 delegate candidate Brian Bailey has been charged with a criminal election law violation after a website allegedly created by his campaign to criticize an opponent was discovered not to have an accurate authority line, Amanda Yeager reports in the Sun.
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Bryan Sears of the Daily Record reports that Bailey is accused of purchasing the site DongarraForDelegate.com but failing to use a campaign authority line. Furthermore, the state prosecutor alleges that Bailey published a statement on the website that “falsely indicated that ‘this message has not been authorized or approved by any candidate.’”
DISTRICT 30 SENATE: Two Republicans have targeted state Sen. John Astle in the District 30 race. The longtime state senator’s tenure masks relatively slim margins of victory in recent elections, writes Jack Lambert in the Annapolis Capital. Those hopefuls are Eric Knowles and Don Quinn, both military veterans.
GOP GUB DEBATE: In their only scheduled debate on Baltimore television, the four Republican candidates for governor depicted Maryland as overtaxed and overspent under a Democratic administration, creating a climate in which businesses are fleeing to neighboring states, reports Jeff Barker in the Sun. In the debate, taped Monday afternoon for broadcast Friday, David Craig, Ron George, Larry Hogan and Charles Lollar offered a grim assessment of the state’s economic outlook as the second and final term of Gov. Martin O’Malley comes to an end.
- Climate change, gun control and marijuana policy all were addressed by the GOP candidates. WYPR’s news director Joel McCord and State House reporter Christopher Connelly discuss the debate.
DEM GUB DEBATE: John Wagner of the Post points out some of the highlights from Monday’s final televised debate among Maryland Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Attorney General Doug Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur.
- Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Anthony Brown said Monday that he should have taken a more direct role in overseeing Maryland’s online health insurance exchange, a project that turned out to be deeply flawed. Brown, the state’s lieutenant governor, made the remark during a spirited, hour-long debate with his two leading rivals that also included clashes over the candidates’ commitment to expanding pre-kindergarten education in coming years and the tax environment in the state, writes John Wagner for the Post.
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Michael Dresser of the Sun reports that Brown and Gansler repeatedly clashed, accusing the other of deceiving the voters. Even Del. Mizeur, who stood above the fray in the previous three-way debate, was drawn into the contentious exchanges.
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MarylandReporter.com compiles viewpoints from observers of Monday’s debate. Many found that Heather Mizeur was the most impressive candidate among the three.
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The governor’s race on the democratic side has gotten progressively more heated, and more negative, writes Christopher Connelly of WYPR-FM.
- Here’s live updates tweeted during the debate and published in the Sun.
- Here’s a Sun photo gallery from the debate.
BROWN THE LOSER: Sun TV columnist David Zurawik writes, “Last week, I thought Lt. Governor Anthony Brown was the loser among Democratic candidates for not showing up at WBFF’s TV debate. And he was. But he was an even bigger loser Monday in showing up for the debate on Maryland Public Television. No wonder he doesn’t want to do these TV debates. It’s not just incumbency; he’s terrible on television.”
CHANGING CHARLES COUNTY: Josh Kurtz of Center Maryland writes a rather long piece on the changing demographics of Charles County and how that is affecting the political landscape.
ON BLAIR LEE ON POLITICS: Gazette readers respond to some of columnist Blair Lee’s recent political commentaries – and responds to them.
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