The Maryland primary is coming up next Tuesday, and I know whom I am not voting for. I live in Chris Van Hollen’s district in Montgomery County, which is dependably Democratic. Last January, national wine mogul David Trone threw his fedora into the ring. Trone is spending as of this date $12.4 million to buy this seat. It’s the most a candidate has ever spent of his own money on a House seat.
I have been inundated with glossy booklets, house visits, phone calls, and letters, even one from Trone’s daughter. Trone’s daughter assured me that her father was a good friend of Israel and its government. I don’t remember any reference to the Palestinians and the occupied territories. I probably got the letter because I live next to an orthodox Jewish neighborhood. His web site says on Google – “David Trone for Congress – Experience Counts in Congress.” That’s a laugh. Trone has no political experience. In addition, he has contributed $150,000 in the past to Republican candidates, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, three of the most reactionary Republicans on the planet. He says the contributions were related to his liquor business. Trone has taken all the obligatory positions on LGBT, guns, immigrants, and Black Lives Matter, but so have the other candidates. My choice is state senator and Constitutional scholar Jamin Raskin (who has amassed a good record in Annapolis), but I won’t lose any sleep if he loses to the other frontrunner, former TV anchorwoman Kathleen Matthews. If Trone wins, I’ll be looking in November at whom the Green Party is running.
