Susan Olsen’s March 21 letter to the Spy, in which she criticized First Congressional District candidate Dave Harden for his emphasis on national security issues, ignored the three fundamental points of the upcoming Democratic primary election.
First, Andy Harris has been a terrible congressman and has repeatedly embarrassed the First District with his far-right, extremist actions. On this point, I think we can agree. He has sided against law enforcement, against emergency responders, against offshore wind and even against cost relief at the gas pump. Andy Harris must go.
Second, Heather Mizeur simply cannot win a general election in our moderate-to-conservative district. Contrary to Ms. Olsen’s mischaracterizations, the fact that former delegate Mizeur used to live in Takoma Park isn’t the issue here. What is relevant is that she represented Takoma Park for more than a decade as an elected official and has the far-left voting record to show for it.
Ignoring the fact that Delegate Mizeur voted for higher income taxes, higher sales taxes, higher business taxes and higher gas taxes, or pretending that these votes simply never occurred, won’t make them go away. Nor can we pretend that she never criticized the American experience as one of “toxic individuality” and bashes capitalism as a system that “promotes scarcity and hordes supplies.”
We can either have this conversation during the primary, while we still have our choice of candidates. Or we can wait until the general, when Andy Harris will have millions of dollars to define her as a far-left Takoma Park transplant whose mindset is fundamentally different than that of the typical First District resident.
Finally, Dave Harden can win. He is a moderate Democrat whose career as an American foreign service officer and diplomat will serve us well in a time of such uncertainty around the world. The humanitarian, economic and political consequences of the Russian slaughter in Ukraine will affect the U.S. in so many ways. It will be so important to have in Congress a man who has negotiated peaceful outcomes and preserved our national interests in some of the world’s most dangerous places. He is a man of the First District who, when elected to Congress, will only answer to the families of the First District and not the political bosses on Capitol Hill and Annapolis.
Dave Harden is my choice. I encourage everyone to take an in-depth look at his vision at www.hardenforcongress.com.
John Queen
Chestertown
Grenville B. Whitman says
This is a regrettable hatchet job aimed at Heather Mizeur.
As far as her electability is concerned, she has been endorsed by all seven of the Democratic congressional representatives from Maryland.
They are political professionals who know how to count votes, and who know first-hand how dangerous Andrew P. Harris is and how little he’s done for our 1st District.
If they think Heather can beat this extremist, you can bet she has a mighty good chance.
Beryl Smith says
Dave Harden needs to cross the bridge each and every week until the primary. His name is hidden in the hype about Heather Mizeur. I like Mizeur but I do not think she can win against the more conservative parts of our district, with many things that will be suggested about her. Dave Harden sounds reasonable, educated to the issues, and would, it seems, be more electable. But he needs to get in front of the people of the eastern shore.