Democrats Attack Steele Over Support From Conservative Group

By John Wagner and Ann E. Marimow
Sunday, February 5, 2006

Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele , the leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, has sought to move to the middle as he runs for election in a state where Democrats hold a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in party registration.

But Democrats have been quick to point out that dozens of campaign contributions steered to Steele's campaign have come from a group that supports only conservative Republicans.

In the final quarter of 2005, Steele's campaign received 115 donations steered his way by the Madison Project, a group that, according to its Web site, endorses only "Republicans who clearly demonstrate their conservatism. . . . Our values are pro-life, pro-family, limited government, defenders of religious freedom."

The Madison Project screens Republican candidates and provides assessments to its members across the country, who in turn determine whether to make donations. Most of the contributions to Steele were for $100 or less.

Phil Singer , a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, argued that the donations show that Steele is out of step with Maryland.

"Michael Steele [is] trying to hide the fact that he's George Bush 's ideological soul mate," Singer said. "He doesn't want Maryland to know that he is too conservative for the state."

Steele's campaign referred questions to the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, which dismissed the issue as a distraction.

"Apparently, the DSCC has replaced the researchers who stole the lieutenant governor's credit report, and they're at work trying to divert attention from the Democrat primary their party bosses were unable to prevent," said NRSCC spokesman Dan Ronayne .

He was referring to an episode last year in which a pair of Democratic researchers resigned after using Steele's Social Security number to access his credit report without authorization.

The Names on the List

The Republican effort to usher a constitutional ban on gay marriage onto the House floor for debate last week was short-circuited by the Democratic leadership before Minority Whip Anthony J. O'Donnell had a chance to deliver it.

O'Donnell vowed to keep the document a secret, so as not to put the Democrats who signed at risk of retribution.

But secrets are hard to keep in Annapolis, and by the end of the week, the document leaked out, exposing the names of all who volunteered, were cajoled or, in one instance, buffaloed into providing the signatures needed to enable Republicans to offer it.

Petitioning a bill out of committee is no ordinary event in Annapolis. It's an exceedingly rare procedural tactic. To do it, the Republicans needed the signatures of 47 House members. There are 43 Republicans in the House, so they needed to round up four Democrats.

The four who crossed party lines were Theodore J. Sophocleus and Joan Cadden , both of Anne Arundel, Rosetta C. Parker (Prince George's) and Kevin Kelly (Allegany). All signed near the bottom of the petition.

After they were exposed, only Parker disavowed the act of partisan disloyalty. She rose on the floor of the House on Friday to tell members she had no idea what she was signing. She said the person who approached her didn't explain what it was.

There was another surprise on the list. The second to last to sign was Del. Jean Cryor , the lone Republican from Montgomery County. Cryor said not to interpret her late signature as a sign of wavering.

"There's no big deal about that," she said. "I just hadn't been to an earlier meeting."

Cryor went on to explain that her signature on the petition was not a sign of support for the constitutional amendment but rather a show of support for allowing the debate to go forward.

"I made it very clear that I'd be voting against the bill, but I was willing to have the discussion," Cryor said. "The bill was too sweeping, too far-reaching, and it became an anti-rights bill as opposed to a pro-marriage bill."

And when the Republicans sought her support for a second procedural move to revive the bill, she switched sides and became the lone Republican to break ranks.

Staff writer Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.