By Tim Craig, Ann E. Marimow and John Wagner
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a critic of President Bush 's decision to invade Iraq, is facing an opponent in this year's Democratic primary who says the congressman is merely paying lip service to the antiwar movement.
Van Hollen has consistently called the war a mistake. Last year, he supported an amendment calling on Bush to develop a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq.
But because Van Hollen has voted to fund the war, Deborah A. Vollmer has decided to run against him.
"He continues to be an enabler to the Bush administration," said Vollmer, a Democratic activist who lives in Chevy Chase. "I just think it is time for members of Congress to develop some spine and vote against funding for the war."
Van Hollen did not return calls seeking comment. Because the incumbent remains popular, Vollmer will probably be little more than an annoyance as Van Hollen seeks a third term.
But Vollmer's candidacy could serve as a barometer of how far Democratic voters want Congress to go to stop the war. It also underscores a national trend in which Democrats are being forced to justify their stance on the war.
Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), both of whom voted in 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq, are facing aggressive primary challenges from antiwar Democrats.
Van Hollen, who represents parts of Montgomery and Prince George's counties, has opposed the war since its beginning. But Vollmer said he should be doing more to put a stop to it.
Van Hollen, Vollmer noted, has refused to join the "Out of Iraq Caucus," a group of 72 House members who want an immediate withdrawal of troops, and he voted in March to allocate an additional $68 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Van Hollen has also fielded questions in recent weeks from constituents over his acceptance of campaign contributions from defense contractors.
Vollmer isn't a newcomer to politics. Living in California in 1992 and 1996, she was the Democratic nominee against U.S. Rep. Bill Thomas (R). After moving to Maryland, she was an unsuccessful candidate in Democratic House primaries in 1998, 2000 and 2002, when Van Hollen was first elected.
Ehrlich Camp Urges Stations to Pull AdGov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. 's reelection team is demanding that Baltimore television stations stop airing a new advertisement produced by one of the Democrats seeking to replace him, claiming the content is "false and defamatory."
In the 15-second spot, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan takes aim at the crime records of his Democratic primary rival, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley , and Ehrlich, the Republican incumbent. Speaking of Ehrlich, Duncan says, "This guy thinks we need more assault weapons on the street. Like that's gonna help us."
The Duncan campaign says the claim is based on media reports that Ehrlich opposed assault weapons bans proposed in the 2004 and 2006 legislative sessions. No one is suggesting that Ehrlich championed a ban. But in a letter sent yesterday to television stations in Baltimore -- the only media market in which the ad is airing -- Ehrlich campaign manager Bo Harmon said Duncan's claim overreaches.
"If you plan to air this ad, we demand that you refuse to do so," Harmon's letter says. "The statement in the ad is patently false, and goes well beyond the normal rhetoric of a political campaign. . . . We strenuously call upon you to do the right thing."
Duncan aides stood by the ad yesterday. "This bullying and threatening letter from the man who once ran ads questioning former Georgia U.S. senator and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland's patriotism strains the bounds of credibility to the breaking point," said Duncan campaign manager Scott Arceneaux . "And nowhere in his long-winded letter does Bo Harmon say that Governor Ehrlich actually supports the assault weapons ban."
A Pack of Attacks Over PACsRep. Benjamin L. Cardin 's many rivals for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination are campaigning as outside agents of change who have sworn off campaign contributions from political action committees.
Among them, American University professor Allan J. Lichtman has called on Cardin to give back the $40,000 received from Constellation Energy Group and its employees and to "join in solidarity with the consumers of Maryland" who are outraged over rising electricity rates. Constellation is the parent company of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., whose customers are bracing for a 72 percent increase in their bills in July.
Cardin spokesman Oren Shur said the congressman has no plans to return the money -- only $4,000 of which comes directly from the company's PAC.
"The people of Maryland judge Ben Cardin on his principles and his record of effective leadership," Shur said.
Former congressman and NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume is another candidate who tells voters that he's not taking PAC money. But campaign finance reports show he received more than $26,000 from such committees and hundreds of thousands more during his 10 years in Congress.
Mfume said he's given up PAC money this time around, and he makes a distinction between donations from labor union groups (okay) and contributions from corporate PACs (not okay).
So what about the $5,000 check that slipped in from Amalgamated Life Insurance Co.'s PAC?
"If it got in, it can easily go out," he said.
O'Malley vs. Simms: It's a SequelThis year's race for governor is not the first time that Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore lawyer Stuart O. Simms have squared off.
Simms, who this month became the running mate of O'Malley's rival in the Democratic primary, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, is serving, at least for now, as an attorney in a high-profile lawsuit against O'Malley by a former police commissioner.
Kevin P. Clark was fired in 2004 as Baltimore's top police official after O'Malley decided that domestic abuse allegations against the commissioner, though unsubstantiated, had become a distraction.
Clark filed a lawsuit seeking $120 million and reinstatement to his job. A circuit judge dismissed the matter last year, but Clark is appealing.
Duncan spokeswoman Jody Couser spoke in uncharacteristic legalese when asked whether candidate Simms would continue to work on the case. "The case is on appeal," Couser said. "Mr. Simms is one of the attorneys of record. As with other matters on which he is engaged, a transition is expected."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.