BERLIN – Democratic candidates for Maryland House of Delegates and Attorney General participated in a forum at the Germantown School on Wednesday, May 14.
The two-hour forum was hosted by the Democratic Central Committee Worcester County.
District 38C candidates Judy Davis and Mike Hindi and District 38A candidate Percy Purnell were on hand. Attorney General candidate Sen. Brian Frosh sent a spokesperson.
Maryland Attorney General candidate Aisha Braveboy and a representative for Attorney General candidate Jon Cardin were scheduled to appear but could not attend.
Mike Pretl, president of the Wicomico Democratic Club, moderated the forum.
William Jones, State’s Attorney, Dorchester County, appeared on behalf of Sen. Frosh, who was campaigning elsewhere in the state.
Frosh recently received an endorsement by the Washington Post.
“Brian is a guy who has been in the Maryland State Senate for 20 years,” Jones said. “He’s been the chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee for 12 years. He’s fought to enact legislation to make our streets safe. He’s worked hard to make sure that the environment was protected – that the bay and its tributaries were kept clean. He’s been a protector of victims of domestic violence.
“The next Attorney General will be your lawyer – the people’s lawyer,” Jones continued. “What he brings to that job is 35 years’ experience as a lawyer, as a legislator and as a person who has gotten things done.”
Asked about his record on the environment Jones highlighted Frosh’s endorsement by the League of Conservation Voters and his 100 percent scorecard from that organization in 2013.
“He’s been key in establishing the state’s recycling program, he’s enacted laws to prohibit drilling for gas and oil in the Chesapeake Bay, he has worked to make sure that the coastal shoreline has been protected (and) he promoted energy conservation,” Jones said.
The senator’s record on senior citizen issues and his priorities on law enforcement were discussed..
Gun control, potentially a key issue in rural Worcester County, was discussed in depth.
“Guns are a central part of our culture on the Eastern Shore,” Jones said. “We belief in hunting, we like to feed ourselves, we engage in sports shooting. We also believe in the right of self-defense.
“We have to balance that against one key recognition,” Jones continued. “Times have changed. Gun violence now is not what gun violence looked like 30 years ago.”
Jones said the senator has undertaken a massive rewrite of Maryland gun laws, focusing on banning assault weapons and preventing people that have been disqualified from purchasing firearms because of convictions or mental illnesses from buying guns.  
Asked about emerging issues for Maryland Attorney General, Jones spoke about computer crime and cyber bullying, as well as identity theft and consumer protection.
“Brian says, ‘not on my watch,’” Jones said. “My people are going to understand one thing – I get things done. I believe in solutions, I am going to fix problems and every lawyer who works for me needs to understand one thing – when we deal with the public we will find solutions to problems, not stand in the way of getting things done.”
Mike Hindi was the first of the three Maryland House of Delegates candidates to speak. The Worcester County native touted about his experience in the mining and consulting industries in South and Central America.
“That’s really where I learned to work with people, governments and corporations coming together as a mediator, taking people who are at each other’s throats and putting them at the table so they could all see what’s in their best interests,” he said.
“Being from the Eastern Shore has made all the difference,” Hindi continued.
Judy Davis, a 22-year veteran childhood and special education teacher, used her lack of experience as a selling point.
“I am not a professional politician – I am a work in progress,” she said. “My brand is teacher, mother and volunteer. I also owned a business and am an elderly advocate. I would like to continue my volunteering capacity as your voice in Annapolis.”
Davis was endorsed by the Maryland State Education Association in March.
Crisfield mayor Percy Purnell spoke about his experiences during hurricane Sandy recovery.
“I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, but the last three years combined with hurricane Sandy have been the worst years of my life,” he said. “I’d like to tell you that home has not been a place that I’ve spent a lot of time – it’s been on the streets trying to bring a city back from what I consider to be a total disaster.
“There are a lot of issues facing us on the Lower Eastern Shore,” he continued. “We’ve seen the attacks on our chicken industry, we’ve seen the attacks on our farmers and obviously coming from Crisfield I’ve seen the attacks on our watermen. I can tell you I’ll represent all entities of our shore – I was born and raised here and I understand the life here.”
The candidates were asked how their qualifications prepared them for office.
“I deal with the exact same issues every day that a member of the House of Delegates deals with,” Purnell said. “If you dig a hole in Crisfield I’m talking to some federal official or some state official.
“I’ve been around,” Purnell continued. “I’m not old – I’m just experienced.”
Pretl asked the candidates how they would support working families during a sluggish economic recovery.
“There are a very few of us on the Eastern Shore who do not join (the working class’s) ranks,” Hindi said. “We are very blue collar, salt of the earth group even though we have an extremely diverse dichotomy.
“I will always support, sponsor and cosponsor legislation that is in the best interest of the working family – that can help ease their burden and improve the opportunities available to them no matter their situation, race, creed, religion, or what socio-economic issues they are currently facing,” Hindi continued. “That is the heart of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and it is the heart of this great nation.”
Davis praised the state for passing a minimum wage increase.
“We are now going to help workers to move from near poverty to at least a standard of living where they can provide for themselves and contribute to the budget of their families,” she said.
Davis also supported the proposed Maryland Earned Sick and Safe Leave Act that allows workers to accumulate paid time off during illness and family emergencies.
Purnell said the Sherwin Williams Plant he brought to Crisfield several years ago introduced 100 new jobs – but took six months to staff.
“The right job for the right environment for the right people – that’s what we need in our area,” he said, suggesting the Eastern Shore follow a model similar to Silicon Valley, where workers are able to telecommute to jobs based in other areas.
Purnell said the increases in environmental regulations that prohibit farmers “is going to reach the desperate state.”
“You’re taking chicken manure, which is has been a staple of the Eastern Shore since I was a little boy, and you’re going to say to them they can’t put it on their fields anymore?”
Worcester County Commissioner Virgil Shockley, Purnell said, told him “this is going to be a disaster.”
“They’ve done everything they’ve been asked to do,” he said. “They’ve done everything they can possibly do and still they’re not meeting standards. Most of you don’t realize that there’s going to be a law coming out here shortly that’s going to be enforced that really is going to come down on our farmers. There reaches a point in life when you have to use a little common sense, and you can’t destroy our primary industry – poultry and farming.”
Hindi called Maryland coastal bays, rivers and the ocean “our most important resource.”
“We as citizens are the stewards of these resources,” he said. “All of our tourism here is directly related to these coastal waters and their quality. $3.8 billion dollars of revenue comes in through tourism in Ocean City and Worcester County annually. That is revenue that the state of Maryland cannot afford to lose. We have to preserve these resources for our generation and for future generations, and there’s no reason that good environmental policy and good economic policy can’t go hand in hand.”
Questioned on health care, all three candidates took the opportunity to express their support for the Affordable Care Act.
“There’s a program called Primary Adult Care that initially used to provide health care services for folks that made $900 or less a month just to go to a physician and get scripts,” Davis said.
“That has been expanded through the ACA to include in-patient services and other health care providers. Also, more people are now eligible for Medicaid; ages 19-64 are eligible if they make less than $16,000 a year.”
Davis said the state is offering incentives to woo physicians to understaffed area.
“The whole healthcare concept is going to change,” Purnell said. “When you go into a hospital now and you’re discharged and you have to go back within so many days the hospital can’t charge you. So the hospital is being challenged to do a much, much better job the first time you come in.
“All of the republican comments that you hear about Obamacare and how much it’s cost the state of Maryland – give it some time,” Purnell continued. “People have insurance and that’s wonderful. Everybody’s going to have health insurance.”
On the subject of health care, Hindi drew on a powerful personal experience.
“I remember when my single mother working two jobs started to become very ill,” he said. “We had to push, push, push her to go to the doctors. They ran a series of tests, they took her to the hospital, they told my mother she had stage four terminal ovarian cancer; they found it so late that it had reached her lungs and metastasized throughout her body. I wonder every day had there been things like the Affordable Care Act … would she have gone to doctor? Would she have found these tumors? Would she be here with me now?
“I really, really want to see the Affordable Care Act work,” Hindi continued. “I really want to see universal health care for everyone in the state of Maryland. We need medicine and we deserve medicine.”
Asked about programs that aid the large senior citizen population in Worcester County, Purnell and Hindi both supported establishing an 800 number for senior citizens who have been victimized by identity theft. Purnell also touted the $11 million dollar nursing home facility constructed in Crisfield under his watch.
During closing remarks Hindi stressed his focus on the environment, calling for the establishment of a “significant fine” when builders encroach on protected wetlands and easements.  
Davis praised the state’s expanded pre-kindergarten program, giving 1,600 additional children early education options.
“We need to take care of our kids, and not just our early childhood children, but our children that are academically able.” she said.  “We need to take care of our kids that are in special ed. and our children that come to school hungry every day. In Worcester County almost a fifth of our students are food insecure, and we need to make sure that our children who speak English as a second language have opportunities.”
Purnell promised to work year-round for his constituents.
“Most of us think about our legislative representatives as someone who goes to work three months out of the year and then disappears,” he said. “Every aspect of your life is affected by state government in some way. You need an advocate constantly. Your delegate should know every department in the state, how things are done, where the grants are, where the dollars are, how they’re being spent and how it affects their constituents.”
Primary elections will be held on June 14. General elections are slated for November 4.