Letters to the Editor

Volume VI Number 43
October 29 - November 4, 1998

Voting by Bernie's Yardstick

Dear New Bay Times~Weekly:

Voting time is upon us. You are going to vote, aren't you?

We have been blitzed by hundreds of thousands of dollars of TV ads, our mail boxes have groaned, our e-mail has worked overtime, the cornfields are hidden by roadside signs and we haven't been able to go to the store. But we don't run into a candidate asking for our vote. Not to mention most of us have been polled and polled (the last one I had came from a lady in Utah asking who I was going to vote for in the governor's race).

Cutting through all this is like sorting through a basket of crabs.

Here's the way I am doing it this year:

Does the candidate - incumbent or newcomer - instinctively look to the future and how to preserve our air, water, land and beauty? Or come a'running when it's time to get a piece of the action?

Does the candidate defend the defenseless and just know in the bones the difference between right and wrong?

Bernie Fowler did this, and this is the mold you should pass the county council and legislative candidates through.

-Tony Evans, Annapolis

Sierra Club's Voters' Advice

Dear New Bay Times~Weekly:

On November 3, vote for environmental candidates. The Sierra Club, Anne Arundel Group, evaluated candidates' environmental records, responses to our questionnaire and interviews and endorsed the following candidates because of their commitment to the environment:

Anne Arundel Co. Exec.:

• Janet Owens

Anne Arundel Co. Council

• District 4: Bert Rice
• District 5: Mary Marsh
• District 6: Barbara Samorajczyk
• District 7: John Klocko

Maryland Governor:

• Parris Glendening

Maryland House of Delegates

• District 30: Virginia Clagett and Dick D'Amato
• District 31: Mary Rosso
• District 32 Ted Sophocleus
• District 33: Gayle Powell

Maryland Senate District 27:

• Mike Miller

U.S. Senate:

• Barbara Mikulski

U.S. House of Representatives

• District 1: Wayne Gilchrest
• District 3: Ben Cardin

Two candidates with very poor environmental records are Ellen Sauerbrey, running for governor, and Phil Bissett, Del., District 30. Both voted several times against clean air, against Chesapeake Bay protections and to weaken wetlands protections. In fact, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters gave Bissett a zero score for his votes in the House in 1997­98. During her 16 years in the legislature, Sauerbrey did little better, averaging 16 percent. Neither has shown a commitment to environmental protection.

On November 3, you can vote for a cleaner Chesapeake Bay, for clean air and for clean water by voting for the environmental candidates.

-Joan Seward Willey, for The Sierra Club, Anne Arundel Group and build more schools if she wants to lower taxes?

| Back to Archives |

We welcome your letter and opinions.
We will edit when necessary.
Mail them to NBT at
P.O. Box 358, Deale Md 20751
Click here to email.
Please include your name, address and phone number for verification.

| Homepage |