Letter: Concern about Hucker and Progressive Maryland
I have been reading Mike Tabor’s column for some time now and was particularly struck by the letter written in response to a column in which Mike discussed the record of Gareth Murray, District 20 House of Delegates [Voice Mail, September 2006].
The writer accused Mike of not being truthful about the Sierra Club’s endorsement of Murray. I checked it out and found that Mike’s column came out before the Sierra Club did in fact endorse Murray. However, the eventual endorsement was “provisional” since Murray had voted for the ICC in the Senate vote.
My understanding is that the column is an opinion piece. Mike is provocative and makes me think about local politics in a way I hadn’t before. Even with the Sierra Club’s endorsement, Mike’s analysis of Murray was confirmed by the voters who elected not to give Murray a second term.
Mike does have a way of stirring opinions and emotions. I don’t agree with Tabor’s endorsement of Tom Hucker and don’t understand why he feels a loyalty to him. I am not a fan of Progressive Maryland because in some respects the organization does not practice what it preaches. I have met quite a few disgrunted former employees who told me they didn’t even receive the state’s minimum wage. I met some of Hucker’s campaign workers at the polls and most were paid while other progressive candidates had a real volunteer force behind them.
So, while the timing of the article about Delegate Murray might have been off, that wasn’t Tabor misrepresenting the truth, but his support of Hucker, who concerns me as my representative, is way off base.
I respectfully ask the Voice to do some in-depth investigation of Hucker’s campaign practices, where his campaign contributions come from and his campaign’s relationship with Progressive Maryland. This should not be left to an opinion piece.
— Henry Allen
Takoma Park, MD
Comments
TABOR GOT IT RIGHT. HENRY ALLEN GOT IT WRONG.
In response to Mr. Allen's letter to the editor, we want to set the record straight on Tom Hucker's successful campaign
for the Democratic nomination for District 20 State Delegate.
Tom Hucker received Mike Tabor's endorsement for the same reasons that
caused 40 other notable organizations to endorse Tom - they endorsed him
because he gets things done in Annapolis. Tom won their confidence because of his proven track record, and because he engaged
in their endorsement process, which was open to all.
Tom's endorsements include the Montgomery County Teachers, Firefighters and Police, League of Conservation Voters, American
Nurses Association, Maryland Chapter of the National Association of
Social Workers, The Washington Post, The Gazette Newspaper and Silver Spring Voice political columnist Richard Jaeggi.
Additionally, teachers, fire fighters and others passed out their organizational literature with a list of endorsed candidates, including Tom. If they talked Tom up with voters and were on paid
leave that is something their respective organizations decided. The
Tom Hucker for Delegate campaign had no involvement in those decisions, aside from winning their endorsement.
The idea that most of Tom's volunteers were paid is laughable. We
wish we had been able to give people compensation for the hundreds of
hours that they donated to our campaign, for the dozens of coffees
they held, and for the grassroots strength this campaign had. But you
cannot buy this kind of energy. We did have 71 Hucker for Delegate
volunteers handing out literature on the primary election day, and
scores more phonebanking, door knocking, and writing letters to their
neighbors. All but four part-time paid staffers were donating their
time. But almost all of us - including the campaign manager - did not
receive a paycheck for our work. We were motivated to help Tom win his primary because we knew he would be a tremendous advocate for us in Annapolis - and that is an inspiration you cannot put a price on.
Mr. Allen, a reporter of note, should value fact- checking. He, not
Mike Tabor, is the journalist who got it wrong.
Respectfully,
Tanya Tarr, Campaign Manager
Tom Gagliardo, Esq., Volunteer and Takoma Park Resident
Posted by: Tom Gagliardo | October 30, 2006 07:06 PM
Editor's clarification:
We were worried that readers would confuse letter writer Henry Allen, a college student, with Henry Allen, lauded Washington Post writer, who also lives in Takoma Park. Sorry about the confusion, but thanks for the response.
— ed
Posted by: Eric Bond | October 31, 2006 10:24 AM