Progressive Maryland endorses Duncan in gubernatorial race

Group frustrated by O’Malley’s refusal to give ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers

Friday, April 21, 2006

by Margie Hyslop

Staff Writer

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan won Progressive Maryland’s endorsement for governor this week, taking the social advocacy group’s support from rival Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley.

More than two-thirds of the board of directors voted to endorse Duncan (D). The rest of the board took no position, Executive Director Tom Hucker said.

Progressive Maryland’s endorsement is ‘‘one of the more significant,” said Matthew Crenson, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. ‘‘It represents people who are politically attentive, politically active and who talk to other people who vote.”

Duncan and O’Malley (D) faced no competition from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who did not respond to Progressive Maryland’s questionnaire.

‘‘Doug Duncan or Martin O’Malley would be a much better governor for Maryland’s working families than Bob Ehrlich,” said Sean Dobson, the group’s deputy director.

An issue in the endorsement process was O’Malley’s refusal to provide ‘‘yes” or ‘‘no” answers to many of Progressive Maryland’s questions.

Despite two deadline extensions, O’Malley returned mostly essay responses.

‘‘You have to ask, if he were lucky enough to be elected governor, would he sign or veto legislation or write an essay about it?” Progressive Maryland political director Craig Simpson said last month when the group was still mulling whether it should break its rules in order to consider O’Malley.

But the advocacy group stuck to its rules this week and backed Duncan’s campaign, said Mark Federici, chairman of Progressive Maryland’s political committee. Board members were ‘‘disappointed” not to have O’Malley’s stances to consider, he said.

‘‘I would like to have seen his position. The issues matter to me, they’re paramount,” said Federici, a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Asked whether O’Malley is more liberal than Duncan, Federici said, ‘‘No, I wouldn’t say that.”

Duncan said Progressive Maryland, a coalition of 50 religious, community and labor organizations, is a ‘‘very effective statewide group” whose support is important.

Progressive Maryland lobbies for higher wages for the lowest-paid workers, public financing of election campaigns, guaranteed health care, affordable college tuition and closing corporate tax loopholes.

Duncan said Progressive Maryland was looking for ‘‘someone who can get the job done” as well as answer their questions.

‘‘I’ve got a record of not just saying things but doing them,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Progressive Maryland’s support helps Duncan offset the loss in February of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO’s endorsement to O’Malley.

Crenson said he is not surprised that O’Malley ‘‘hasn’t been very forward about taking policy positions.”

‘‘I think he just figures he’s already ahead and that he’ll only hurt himself by doing so,” he said.

O’Malley — whose campaign defended his responses by saying that answers to many of the state’s problems are more complex than ‘‘yes or no” — responded to the Duncan endorsement on Thursday, saying, ‘‘You can’t win every one. Congratulations to him.”

Staff Writer Douglas Tallman contributed to this report.