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

2010 PLAYBOOK: New York Activists Launched Campaign to DEFEAT Anti-Marriage Pols // Is It Time to Clean House in MD?

Two years ago, Maryland Juice flagged an interesting article in Campaign & Elections Magazine. The fascinating piece was a case study of direct mail and campaign tactics from the "Fight Back New York PAC" -- an effort to take down unhelpful legislators during campaign season:

It is time to dust off this case study and send it into the Free State consciousness. Are Maryland activists just as cowardly timid as Maryland's politicians? Hopefully, not anymore....

NY 2010 Campaign

Gays and Lesbians Fight Back - and Win

Since the 1950s, legislative strategists for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights have tried to squeeze their message into an “accomodationist” framework, suiting up in ties and pearls to tell the public, “We’re not scary or threatening. We’re just like you. So could you please give us our equal rights?” Over and over, this polite approach has failed to win us full equality under the law.

A group of gay and lesbian leaders in New York State realized that they had reached a strategic turning point after they suffered a shocking loss on a statewide marriage equality bill. Passing the bill was a leading LGBT legislative objective in New York, and activists had spent years building political relationships and poured millions of dollars into advocacy and lobbying. They were infuriated this past December when the state Senate voted the bill down, 38 to 24.

By early 2010, many donors and activists who had worked for the marriage equality bill decided to stop asking politely for equal treatment under the law. Emboldened both by their anger over the Senate vote and by new evidence that New Yorkers overwhelmingly supported full and equal rights for everyone, they drew support from Tim Gill of the national gay rights powerhouse Gill Action Fund and allies to pursue a more aggressive strategy. The result: Fight Back New York PAC was established to undertake an innovative—albeit risky and not so polite—new mission: reshape the state’s marriage equality battle by defeating Senators on Election Day who voted against the 2009 marriage bill.