E J Pipkin Deceives in Campaign Mailer

Maryland Senator E. J. Pipkin is running for the 1st Congressional Seat in Maryland. Pipkin has been a state Senator for a while and he has run for the US Senate several times once and I voted for him. He decided to jump into the race against Congressman Wayne Gilchrest relatively late in the game after seeing that Gilchrest was vulnerable and getting a fight from State Senator Andy Harris. Competition is good so it was good to see choices for a change. Gilchrest is liberal, Pipkin is more Conservative and Harris is the most Conservative. I put my support behind Harris long before Pipkin got in but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I can now say that E J Pipkin will NOT get my support and he will not get my vote. If he or Gilchrest win the primary then I will vote for the Democrat in the general election.

Pipkin has been sending out mailers. I received them, looked and recycled. He has been running commercials that accuse Andy Harris of voting to give Illegals in state tuition. His latest mailer states that it is time for change and in it he takes the Maryland Governor, Gilchrest and Harris to task as soft on Illegals while Pipkin will be the knight in shining armor to save us. Pipkin’s mailer states that Harris voted yes for HB 253 on 3 April 2003 which reportedly gave illegals in state tuition. Yes, Andy Harris voted for that bill. The web site indicates he voted for the bill with amendments. Those amendments give the tuition rights to members of the military and added language to exclude illegal aliens. The amendments excluding illegals were not adopted and the FINAL reading of the bill, HB 253 was on 5 April 2003. Andy Harris voted NO on that bill, the same vote that Pipkin registered.

This is important because it shows that Pipkin is deliberately misleading people and making them believe that his opponent voted in a fashion that he did not. In Maryland a bill must get three readings and it is not final until then. On the third reading of this bill Harris voted no. If the bill had the language excluding illegals then Harris probably would have voted for it because it contained language to provide a benefit for our troops (probably a ploy to get it passed). In any event, this is not a “Real Change” as Pipkin states we need. Politicians lie and distort their opponents records all the time. Politicians claim more than credit than they actually deserve and politicians grand stand all the time. Pipkin did all three of these so how is this Real Change?

Pipkin’s website states that he sponsored a two pronged approach to take on illegal immigration during the special session. That special session was called to address a budget problem and the bill Pipkin introduced had no action taken on it. The same is true of his bill to establish how much illegal immigration costs. Both bills are touted as some great thing but there was no follow up and they were not acted upon.

There is one thing that is undeniable. Pipkin voted for Governor O’Malley’s inflated budget in 2007 and Harris voted against it. E J Pipkin voted with the Democrats for an overinflated budget all the while calling himself a Conservative. Andy Harris voted against that budget, you figure out who deserves the vote.

Pipkin talks about supporting the troops and being Conservative but Andy Harris is one of the troops. He is a physician and serves in the Naval Reserve and served During Desert Storm. Harris understands what it means to fight the war on terror and he understands what it means to be Conservative.

Pipkin and Gilchrest do not match up…

If you live in Maryland’s First and you want real change, not Pipkin’s definition of change, then vote for Andy Harris.