LEAKED DOC: Maryland Lawmaker Sam Arora Sends Constituent Letter Explaining Marriage Equality Betrayal

UPDATE: AmericaBlog has caught wind of Sam Arora's response to constituents. The bloggers are outraged and say Arora is flat-out lying:

AMERICAblog: Maryland Delegate Sam Arora just issued a letter claiming that he never fully considered the issue of marriage equality before last year, 2011, and that's why he got so confused when the issue came up and flip-flopped on the issue, ultimately betraying his promise, his friends, and his constituents.

Only problem?  There's lots of proof that Arora considered the issue in 2010 and was fully in favor of marriage equality when he ran for election the first time.  So why is he so blatantly lying?

Now that Maryland's crazy primary elections are done, politicos can once again turn their eyes toward the November election and the corresponding 2014 jockeying. The timing couldn't be better, because everyone's favorite villain in Montgomery County politics is back in the hot seat this week. 

After weeks of stonewalling constituents, readers report that freshman lawmaker Sam Arora is finally mailing out letters explaining his betrayal of marriage equality supporters. We have obtained a copy of his constituent letter, which we publish below. Note: we have removed the constituent's name from the letter.

BACKGROUND: To catch you up, Sam Arora is a Democratic Delegate from Maryland's District 19 in Montgomery County. He won his first primary in 2010 while campaigning as a marriage equality supporter and fundraising from the LGBT community. After he won office, he inexplicably flip-flopped and voted against marriage equality. Even worse, he refused to provide an explanation to his friends, donors, constituents, and supporters -- many of whom felt betrayed by Arora.

For those hoping for an explanation of Sam Arora's betrayal, I hate to be the one to tell you that you won't find it here. The crux of the half-hearted "explanation" below is in the following statement from Sam Arora's constituent letter: 

SAM ARORA: "before last year, I had not fully considered the issue of legislating same-sex marriage." 

Uh, okay. This explanation amounts to an "oops" and does a great disservice to the residents of District 19. You can read the meaningless letter for yourself - see below.

REPLACE SAM ARORA WITH JAY HUTCHINS: Luckily, District 19 residents already have a solid alternative to Sam Arora in the 2014 Democratic Primary. The 2010 runner-up to Arora -- progressive Democrat Jay Hutchins -- has already announced he is ready for a rematch. 

Earlier this week, Hutchins contacted Maryland Juice to let us know that his campaign site is back up and he is now launching his campaign fundraising efforts. We are commemorating the occasion with a new website ad in support of Mr. Hutchins (@gojayhutchins on Twitter). 

Donate online at JayHutchins.org

Maryland Lawmaker Sam Arora's Letter to Constituents Explaining Marriage Equality Betrayal