PG-Politics: Who will Al Wynn or Donna Edwards REALLY represent?

Friday, October 26, 2007

Who will Al Wynn or Donna Edwards REALLY represent?

(Posted 26 Oct 2007)

Who will Al Wynn or Donna Edwards REALLY represent--4th district residents or the outside special interests paying for their campaigns?

Wynn leads in the money race, but challengers report big gains; Out-of-state donations keep incumbent, Edwards ahead in District 4 congressional campaign.
Gazette, 26 Oct 2007 Valentine.

Relying heavily on donations from outside the district, the three Democrats running for the District 4 congressional seat raised more than $290,000 over the summer, reports show.

U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Dist. 4) of Mitchellville continued to outraise his 2006 challenger, Donna F. Edwards, in the primary race for seat, while George E. Mitchell posted a steep increase in donations between July and October.
* * *
Most of Mitchell’s 58 donors were from within Maryland, but the other two Democrats relied heavily on out-of-state and corporate contributors.

Seventy of Edward’s 89 contributors had addresses outside Maryland, according to her report. For Wynn, 88 of his 124 donors were not from the state.
[More]

In other words, over 3/4 of Edwards' donors and over 2/3 of Wynn's donors are out-of-state special interests, not Maryland voters. So who do you suppose will have the most access to, and influence on, these candidates? Probably not you and me. As I've noted recently, neither one will answer my simple question about their positions on Amtrak, despite three requests. Perhaps they would be more likely to respond if I were a rich out-of-state donor.

E-mail and campaign sites of candidates who have filed to run in the 4th district (no Republicans have filed as of 26 Oct 2007):