features

Obama for America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

AFSCME MD Council 67 Supports Question 2 . . . . . . 3
q 1st Congressional Race. Frank Kratovil . . . . . . . . . . 4
Important Messages from AFSCME . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6th Congressional Race. Jennifer Dougherty . . . . . . 7
Endorsements At-A-Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
 Special Election Endorsement Edition
O
n November 4, we can vote for
proven fighters on the issues we
care about most—guaranteeing
access to quality, affordable health care
everyone can count on, fully funding pub-
lic services and the workers who provide
them, and returning the nation to solid fi-
nancial ground. Or we can elect Republican
U.S. Senator John McCain (Arizona) and
 n o v em b er 2 0 0 8   /  AFSCME Maryland Council 67— We Care!  /  P u b l ic E mp l o y ee
have four more years of President George
W. Bush’s disastrous policies.
“What holds this country together is
that fundamental belief that we all have
a stake in each other. That’s the idea that
led me to enter public service more than
two decades ago.” This is what Democratic
Presidential nominee U.S. Senator Barack
Obama (Democrat, Illinois) told 6,000 at-
tendees in late July during our union’s 38th
International Convention in San Francisco.
His remarks were a reminder of what’s at
stake in this Presidential election and why
AFSCME has endorsed Obama for President
and U.S. Senator Joe Biden (Democrat,
Delaware) as Vice President.
Senator Obama’s commitment to work-
ing families has been a constant through-
out his career in public service, from his
work in the ’80s as a community organizer
for a church-based group on Chicago’s
South Side — an area that had been devas-
tated by steel mill closings — to his 8-year
tenure in the Illinois State Senate and his
election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Good Jobs &
Good Wages
Throughout his career,
Obama has worked to cre-
ate good jobs and protect
wages. In Congress,
he fought against the
privatization of federal
jobs — including support
and operations staff at
Walter Reed Army
Medical Hospital—
and voted for a
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 Special Election Endorsement Edition

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 Special Election Endorsement Edition
six-year, $286 billion reauthorization of the
federal highway and transit construction
program that would create 1 million new
jobs. He also opposed a measure backed
by McCain and most Senate Republicans
that would have disqualified as many as 10
million workers from minimum wage, and
overtime and equal pay protections. Plus,
Senator Obama voted to raise the federal
minimum wage in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
As President of the United States, Obama
will also increase the minimum wage and
index it to inflation.
Standing for Worker’s Rights
Obama has been a fighter for workers’
rights to organize. “I think we can have
a President who is willing, from the Oval
Office, to talk about unions and say unions
are a good thing,” he explained at the
AFSCME Leadership Conference in June
2007 in reference to the Employee Free
Choice Act, a bill that he co-sponsored.
It seeks to restore employees’ freedom to
form unions and bargain for better wages,
benefits and working conditions. “There is
no reason that we can’t sign the Employee
Free Choice Act,” he added.
P u b l ic E mp l o y ee   /  AFSCME Maryland Council 67— We Care!  /  n o v em b er 2 0 0 8 
Health Care We Can
Count On
Senator Obama has said that one of his
top priorities is to guarantee quality, afford-
able health care for every American. He will
make a public health plan available to the
47 million uninsured Americans nation-
wide as well as the self-employed and small
businesses. The benefit package will be
similar to the one available to members of
Congress through the Federal Employees
Health Benefits Program.
He co-sponsored the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
Reauthorization Act of 2007 in the U.S.
Senate to ensure that more children have
affordable health care coverage, providing
an additional $35.2 billion over five
years for the program. As President, he
intends to expand eligibility for Medicaid
and SCHIP.
Obama also voted to allow importation
of affordable prescription drugs, and to
allow Medicare to negotiate lower
drug prices for senior citizens. He opposed
a $14 billion, five-year funding cut for
Medicaid.
Protecting Retirement
Security
Obama is committed to protecting
Social Security from the privateers, keeping
American’s most successful social program
healthy and viable. As he stated during a
Democratic primary debate in September
2007. “We should be willing to do any-
thing that will strengthen the system, to
make sure that we are being true to those
who are already retired, as well as young
people in the future. And we should reject
things that will weaken the system, includ-
ing privatization, which essentially is going
to put people’s retirement at the whim of
the stock market.”
He wants to raise the cutoff on the pay-
roll tax and increase the maximum amount
of earnings covered by Social Security to
keep the program solvent. Likewise, Obama
is conscious of the need to protect our
seniors’ retirement security. This is why
he has stated that he will not “cut benefits
or raise the retirement age. I believe there
are a number of ways we can make Social
Security solvent that do not involve placing
these added burdens on our seniors.”
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 n o v em b er 2 0 0 8   /  AFSCME Maryland Council 67— We Care!  /  P u b l ic E mp l o y ee

 Special Election Endorsement Edition

Maryland Public Employees Local Presidents

Council 67, AFSCME, AFL-CIO President Local
Nathanial Burrell 4007 Baltimore City Housing
1410 Bush Street, Suite A Authority-White Collar
Baltimore, MD 21230 Cory Trusty 3737 Baltimore City Intake and
Detention Center
Officers Reginald Crowley 3495 Frederick County
Jerome L. Tucker 3406 City of Annapolis
Glenard S. Middleton, Sr.— David L. Burbank 3399 City of Takoma Park
Executive Director Thomas F. Colbert 3389 Prince George’s County
Dale Chase—President Health Department
James Robinson 3376 Baltimore Community
Dennis J. Landis, Jr.—Vice President Colleges
Peggy Peacock—Treasurer Tyrone Johnson 3374 Johns Hopkins Bayview
Medical Center
Dorothy Bryant—Secretary Wayne L. Hose 3373 Hagerstown Police
Department
Executive Board Mary Pat Whiteley 3162 Annapolis Clerical/Technical
Employees
Jewel Dozier Dale R. Chase 3085 Howard County Department
of Public Works
Janie Johnson
Freddy Glover 3080 Howard County Detention
Doug Levine Center
Mike Pyles Keith L. Fowler 2981 Charles County Board of
Education
Mary Pat Whiteley Joshua Johnson 2979 Baltimore City Housing
Authority Supervisors
Administrator Dennis Landis, Jr. 2898 Washington Suburban
Sanitary Commission
Dr. Nicole M. Francis Clementine Thomas 2751 University of Maryland
Operations Manager Medical Center
Larry Curtis 2741 Carroll County Board of
George Gisin Education
Charmaine D. Collins 2740 Somerset County Board of
Staff Education
Jim Bespitch, Staff Mavis Alexander 2735 Prince George’s Co. Dept.
of Lic. and Human Res.
Representative 301-759-9328
Dennis W. Embly 2677 Washington County
Archer Blackwell, Senior Staff Representative Ben Blake 2563 Anne Arundel Co. Clerical/
Kory Blake, Staff Representative Technical Employees
Debbie Tell 2471 Harford County Board of
Glen Bouldin, Director Organizing Education
Michael Bradley, Printer/Media Consultant John S. Hawkins 2462 Prince George’s Co. Dept. of
Public Works
Cheri Ciboroski, Membership
Elizabeth A. Brandenburg 2380 Montgomery County
Michelle Edwards, Community Outreach/ Community College
Public Policy Specialist Peggy Peacock 2202 Baltimore City Dept. of
Dawn Handy, Administrative Assistant Housing & Com. Dev.
Jackie Johnson 2202N NAACP
Beverly Kriss, Comptroller James W. Hackett 1899 Howard County Board of
Brendon Laster, Political/Legislative Coordinator Education
Jody Oliver, Office Assistant (Cumberland, MD) Jerome Damon 1859 Mass Transit Administration
Police
Alina Ortega, Organizer Michael E. Pritt 1834 Garrett County Roads
Thomas Raymond, Organizer Michael M. Harrison 1802 Harford County Government
James C. Sollers 1693 Anne Arundel County Board
Yulanda Tucker, Receptionist of Education
Jack Davis 1633 Allegany County Public
Employees
Mike Hanlon 1540 City of Hagerstown
Telephone Numbers Jon Sterrett 1521 Allegany County Sheriff’s
Department
Baltimore Office Joe Pritchard 1453 City of Rockville
(410) 837-7278 or (800) 727-3332 John James 1209C City of College Park
Cumberland Office Jervis Ray 1209B City of Bowie
Rhonda Wallace 1170 Prince George’s Co. Health
(301) 759-9328 Department Supervisors
Hagerstown Office Norman A. Anderson 921 Baltimore County
Department of Public Works
(301) 739-9501 John Dunaway 647 Baltimore City Housing
Authority
Prince George’s County Office R. Mike Akers 582 Anne Arundel Community
(301) 599-9095 County Dept. of Public
Works
The Maryland Public Employee is a publica- Nancy Woodhead 558 Baltimore County
Community Health Nurses
tion for and about the members of AFSCME Mike Pyles 553 City of Cumberland
Council 67. The Maryland Public Employee is Lora P. Williams 434 Baltimore County Board of
published by Council 67. Education
Larry Collick 241 Prince George’s County
Signed Articles express the view of the Crossing Guards
writer. Glenard S. Middleton, Sr. 44 Baltimore City Municipal
Employees

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