AFT-Maryland Endorsements

Fellow Union Members and Families,

 

November 6, 2012, Election Day, is a day of great importance for working families and particularly for union members. Decisions will be made at the ballot box that will determine our future and that of our children and grandchildren. This election will determine if our state and our country will continue to move forward or if they will return to the kind of policies that brought our country to the brink of economic collapse. The future of the middle class­—that unions helped to build—hangs in the balance. 

 

During the previous administration, two wars were financed with borrowed money. Those borrowed funds increased our nation’s debt and contributed to the neglect and decay of our infrastructure—our bridges, roads, schools, and communications systems.

 

The past four years, however, have produced a great deal of progress. We have ended one war and are nearing the end of another. We are on the road to recovery from the devastating impact of the policies that allowed the 1% to enrich themselves while threatening the health, the housing, the savings, and the jobs of the majority of our citizens.

 

Against tremendous opposition, the healthcare of millions has been insured and improved. Many expressed a sigh of relief as ‘Obamacare’ insured, among other things, that our children could continue on our insurance until the age of twenty six (26). Many of us applauded when Obamacare ended those healthcare policies that defined being female as a “pre-existing condition.”

 

We are overcoming the divisiveness that allowed a few to prosper at the expense of the many. We are moving forward to realize the full potential of our state and our country. We are reaffirming our belief in “liberty and justice for all,” not just the fortunate few.

 

Our state, like most others, needs revenue to  to improve the quality of our schools and the education that our children and grandchildren receive. We must keep the money earned in Maryland in our state.

 

How you vote on the various issues that will be before you at the ballot box is certainly your decision. After careful research and discussion, however, we feel confident that supporting the following Questions and Candidates will best serve the majority of the people in Maryland and in the District of Columbia. 

 

Please exercise your right to vote. 

 

Thank You!

 

U.S. President - Barack Obama

U.S. Senate, MD - Ben Cardin

 

Congressional District 1 – No Endorsement

Congressional District 2 – Dutch Ruppersberger

Congressional District 3 – John Sarbanes

Congressional District 4 – Donna Edwards

Congressional District 5 – Steny Hoyer

Congressional District 6 – John Delaney

Congressional District 7 – Elijah Cummings

Congressional District 8 – Chris Van Hollen

 

U.S. House, DC, At-Large – Eleanor Holmes Norton

 

Ward 1 – Jack Evans

Ward 4 – Muriel Bowser

Ward 7 – Yvette Alexander

Ward 8 – Marion Barry

At-Large – Vincent Orange

At-Large – Michael Brown

Chairman – Phil Mendelson

 

 

 

(Below is the text of the Referendum as it will appear on the ballot)

 

 

Establishes that individuals, including undocumented immigrants, are eligible to pay in-state tuition rates at community colleges in Maryland, provided the student meets certain conditions relating to attendance and graduation from a Maryland high school, filing of income taxes, intent to apply for permanent residency, and registration with the selective service system (if required); makes such students eligible to pay in-state tuition rates at a four-year public college or university if the student has first completed 60 credit hours or graduated from a community college in Maryland; provides that students qualifying for in-state tuition rates by this method will not be counted as in-state students for purposes of counting undergraduate enrollment; and extends the time in which honorably discharged veterans may qualify for in-state tuition rates.

 

 

Establishes the boundaries for the State’s eight United States Congressional Districts based on recent census figures, as required by the United States Constitution.

 

 

Establishes that Maryland’s civil marriage laws allow gay and lesbian couples to obtain a civil marriage license, provided they are not otherwise prohibited from marrying; protects clergy from having to perform any particular marriage ceremony in violation of their religious beliefs; affirms that each religious faith has exclusive control over its own theological doctrine regarding who may marry within that faith; and provides that religious organizations and certain related entities are not required to provide goods, services, or benefits to an individual related to the celebration or promotion of marriage in violation of their religious beliefs.

 

 

Do you favor the expansion of commercial gaming in the State of Maryland for the primary purpose of raising revenue for education to authorize video lottery operation licensees to operate “table games” as defined by law; to increase from 15,000 to 16,500 the maximum number of video lottery terminals that may be operated in the State; and to increase from 5 to 6 the maximum number of video lottery operation licenses that may be awarded in the State and allow a video lottery facility to operate in Prince George’s County?