JUICE: Valerie Ervin Exploring MoCo Exec Race, HoCo Blogger Tom Coale for Delegate, Many New Candidates for MoCo Council

Below Maryland Juice highlights a few tidbits of interest to politicos, especially those in MoCo & HoCo:

JUICE #1: MOCO COUNCILMEMBER VALERIE ERVIN FORMS EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE FOR COUNTY EXECUTIVE, OTHER CANDIDATES EXIT RACE - Last week Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett made a long awaited announcement about his future plans, and not surprisingly, he has decided to seek a third term in office. With the biggest variable in the race now decided, we finally have a real picture of what the 2014 race will look like. The Gazette's Kate Alexander provided some very interesting follow-up, noting which candidates are now entering and exiting the race (excerpt below):

GAZETTE: [Councilmember George] Leventhal (D) of Takoma Park said it is “highly likely” he will now run for re-election.... [Delegate Ben] Kramer said he is out and most likely will seek re-election.... [Councilmember Marc] Elrich said he will seek re-election.... [Councilwoman Nancy Floreen] said Thursday she will seek re-election....

Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring has formed an exploratory committee to consider a run for executive. On Tuesday, Ervin would not yet detail her plans, saying that she would disclose “in about a week....”

The Gazette's editorial board followed up on the coverage above with their own thoughts about incumbent Executive Ike Leggett's two terms in office, and they noted a couple issues that they thought could emerge on the campaign trail:

GAZETTE: Looking back on Leggett’s two terms, he deserves credit for navigating the county through extremely difficult economic period, but voters still will have questions. The first would be the Silver Spring Transit Center.... Then there’s Leggett’s labor record, which will be difficult for voters to judge....

Interestingly enough, today The Washington Post's Bill Turque reported that Leggett was trying to get ahead of the Silver Spring Transit Center controversy by accepting responsibility for the project (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett realizes that the road to his re-election in 2014 will have to pass through the Silver Spring Transit Center. While the troubled $120 million project has a lifespan that stretches back into the administration of one of his opponents, former County Executive Doug Duncan, he has apparently decided to deal with it by taking full ownership.... “I accept full responsibility because it happened on my watch,” he said Wednesday on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt....

It's early yet, but it will be very interesting to see which issues come to dominate the coming battle for Montgomery County Executive!


JUICE #2: HOCO BLOGGER TOM COALE RUNNING FOR DELEGATE IN DISTRICT 9B - Over the last two years, Maryland Juice has had the opportunity to interact with a few other bloggers around the state, and Tom Coale happens to be one of them. Tom writes the HoCo Rising blog, which as you can imagine, is about life in Howard County. But now the Ellicott City Democrat is on to bigger and better things, as he announced this week that he's running for Delegate in District 9B. The Baltimore Sun's Luke Lavoie reported on his kickoff (excerpt below):

BALTIMORE SUN: Columbia Association Board of Directors member Tom Coale ... to seek a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in 2014, representing the newly formed District 9B. Coale, a popular blogger in Howard County, announced his decision at a fundraiser in Ellicott City. Coale ... will run on the Democratic ticket in the district, which encompasses Ellicott City and portions of Elkridge and Columbia.... County Council member Courtney Watson, who represents Ellicott City and Elkridge, applauded Coale's diligence on community issues....

Maryland Juice wishes Tom Coale good luck in his quest to represent HoCo!


JUICE #3: MULTIPLE CANDIDATES PLOTTING RUNS FOR COUNTY COUNCILMEMBER PHIL ANDREWS' SEAT - Bethesda Magazine's Louis Peck recently published a round-up of candidates to replace County Councilmember Phil Andrews. Indeed, the District 3 Council seat is going to be vacant soon with the incumbent Councilmember Andrews off and running against Ike Leggett for County Executive (excerpt below):

BETHESDA MAGAZINE: In interviews, former Rockville Mayor Rose Krasnow, former Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce President Richard Parsons and Gaithersburg City Councilmember Ryan Spiegel all said they are considering a run in next year’s Democratic primary for the District 3 County Council seat.  Also eyeing the contest is Guled Kassim, a local Democratic activist who previously has run for state delegate.

...the current CEO of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, Gigi Godwin, quashed speculation about a run.... Two others mentioned as contenders for the District 3 seat, Rockville Councilmember Tom Moore and Gaithersburg Councilmember Michael Sesma, are facing re-election to their current jobs this fall....

MUCH MORE ON THE 2014 BATTLES SOON!

JUICEBLENDER: Marriage Equality Opponents Outed, Dream Activists Protest Tea Party Film, Frederick Mayor's Race & More!

Here's a random blend of political tidbits from recent news, starting with a few fascinating stories related to the upcoming marriage equality and Dream Act referenda:

JUICE #1: LGBT RESIDENTS FIND FAMILY MEMBERS' NAMES ON PETITION TO OVERTURN MARRIAGE EQUALITY - The local LGBT publication The Washington Blade recently publicly posted a list that outed all the Maryland residents who signed the petition to overturn marriage equality. The news site created a searchable database of the civil rights opponents, which we also provide at the bottom of this post. Already, local LGBT residents and activists are discovering that some of their neighbors and even family members signed the petition against civil rights. See one reaction that appeared in the Washington Blade (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON BLADE: Bernard Bundy Jr. had a bad feeling in his stomach the morning of July 25. Bundy, who lives in Alexandria but was raised in Maryland, was looking at a just-posted list of names of people who had signed a petition to force the recently passed Civil Marriage Protection Act, granting marriage equality to same-sex couples in Maryland, onto the state ballot for a November referendum....

To Bundy's disappointment, he found his mother's name on the petition....

In addition to his mother, Bundy also found an aunt and uncle, his godparents. Even more galling to Bundy, those godparents have an out gay son – Bundy's cousin – who has had a partner for more than 10 years....

''It was a rough day,'' he says. ''I didn't work much that day. I was there physically, but not mentally, just thinking how much it hurt to see that. I even told my boss, 'I'm losing faith in humanity.'...''

Kevin Nix, spokesman for the Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition, distanced the campaign from the Blade's decision to publish the names, saying the campaign has been focused on winning in November....

JUICE #2: MOCO "DREAM ACT" SUPPORTERS PROTEST MARYLAND SCREENINGS OF ANTI-IMMIGRANT FILM - Tea Party and nativist activists around the nation are hosting screenings of an anti-immigrant film called They Come to America. So far, they have held two viewings, one in Westminster and one in Rockville, and both screenings have attracted protests from Dream Act supporters. See video footage and news coverage of the controversy below. The Potomac Tea Party Report announced the screenings last month and described the film as follows:

POTOMAC TEA PARTY REPORT: A documentary film on illegal immigration will be shown in Maryland next month!   Tell everyone you know!  Meet the filmmaker!

Dennis Lynch, director of They Come to America is traveling across the country showing his film that has been banned by Hollywood. Why?

This film shows the devastating effect illegal immigration has on the United States of America. And since our illustrious president and governor are doing their level best to get as many illegal immigrants into this country and state as possible AND we have a big vote in November on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, it’s our duty to get the word out on this.

The Dream Act students involved with the #JSA Movement organized a protest against the screenings, including a Rockville showing of They Come to America earlier this week:

The Gazette's Alex Ruoff and Jeremy Arias covered the protest at the Rockville film screening:

GAZETTE: The kick-off rally by two groups opposing the Maryland Dream Act was met with protest from a group of Hispanic students in Rockville on Wednesday....

More than a dozen people showed up at the rally with orange tape covering their mouths to protest the airing of the film “They Come to America,” a documentary on illegal immigration by Dennis M. Lynch. About 70 people packed the room to see the film and attend the rally.

“A lot of films like this don’t give a voice to those who are featured in them,” said Paola Ramirez, 22, of Germantown. “We’re here to provide that voice.”

The groups Help Save Maryland and the Maryland Society of Patriots, organizations that worked to take the Dream act to referendum, are hoping to drum up support for the November vote to bring it down....

See video footage shot by protesters at the Westminster, Maryland screening of the film:



JUICE #3: DREAM ACT & MARRIAGE EQUALITY ACTIVISTS JOIN FORCES - While the mainstream media has been fixated on supposed racial divisions on the marriage equality issue, civil rights proponents are quietly joining forces to promote both the Dream Act & marriage equality campaigns this November. Last month, CASA de Maryland and Equality Maryland announced the united effort:

CASA/EQUALITY MARYLAND: Equality Maryland, the state’s LGBT civil rights organization, and CASA de Maryland, the state’s largest Latino and immigrant organization, have launched an exciting partnership to educate our communities about the importance of immigrant education and marriage equality in an exciting year when these issues will be front and center in our state.  We are seeking your help in recruiting volunteers!

CASA is recruiting Latino and Spanish-speaking LGBT families to speak out in the Latino community about their lives and the importance of family unity in the press, at festivals, and more.

Equality Maryland is recruiting LGBT DREAMers to help educate Maryland’s LGBT communities about the importance of immigrant education.

We need your help to recommend committed, excited volunteers to join the cause!

 The Washington Blade published the following coverage of the effort (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON BLADE: Three Latino and LGBT advocacy groups have teamed up to garner additional support for Maryland’s same-sex marriage law and in-state college tuition for undocumented immigrants....

“We have a lot of gays and lesbians in our community,” Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA de Maryland, told the Blade as he spoke in support of nuptials for gays and lesbians. “We believe and it’s very clear that this is an essential civil rights issue and that’s why CASA is 100 percent behind [same-sex marriage.]”

An Arcus Foundation-funded survey that the National Council of La Raza and Social Science Research Solutions released in April shows that 54 percent of Latinos support marriage rights for same-sex couples.

This new alliance has caught the attention of Maryland Tea Partiers, who published the following alert (excerpt below):

POTOMAC TEA PARTY REPORT: Gay political groups are joining forces with illegal alien students who want their college tuition partially paid by taxpayers in hopes of defeating two of the initiatives conservatives and Tea Partiers successfully petitioned for inclusion on the Maryland ballot in November.

JUICE #4: 2013 FREDERICK MAYORAL CANDIDATES EMERGING - Gazette columnist Joe Volz has a roundup of potential candidates for Mayor of Frederick. The office is available for a new four-year term in 2013 (Primary Election - 9/10/13 & General Election - 11/5/13). See Volz's hypothetical line-up of candidates below (compilation courtesy of Juice), but note that some of these are dark horses. You'll have to read his full thoughts to see which of these candidates are more likely than others to run for Mayor:

POTENTIAL DEMOCRATS:

• Karen Young (Board of Aldermen)
• Jennifer Dougherty (former Mayor)

POTENTIAL REPUBLICANS:

• Randy McClement (incumbent Mayor)
• Shelley Aloi (Board of Aldermen)
• Jeff Holtzinger (former Mayor)

JUICE #5: WHO SIGNED THE PETITION AGAINST MARRIAGE EQUALITY? - Below, you can see The Washington Blade's published list of Maryland residents who signed the anti-LGBT petition. You can also search the document online. Civil Marriage Petition Signers July 12 2012