Carroll Voting Guide: Congressional Candidates

As you head to the polls Tuesday, April 3, for the Maryland primaries, be prepared by knowing for whom you're voting. Click on the links below to find additional information about the candidates running for office. Information taken from the Carroll County Primary Voters Guide. 

Congressional District 1 - Democratic Ballot 

John LaFerla

• Issues: Jobs & the Economy, Protecting the Bay, Preserving Medicare & Social Security, Education. 
• Campaign website: www.laferlaforcongress.us
• Qualifications: "I have spent my life taking care ofpeople and serving the community. Whether it has been as a doctor providing health care to women or working in public health here on the shore or studying better methods of providing treatment, my life has been dedicated to service. It’s time we had more people with a lifetime of service in congress and not a lifetime in politics."
• National Economy: "I believe we need to make sure that we give middle class families the help they need. That includes cutting the payroll tax, protecting Medicare and Social Security from those who seek to destroy it by handing them over to Wall Street and the health insurance companies and keeping interest rates low so people can refinance their homes."

Kim Letke

• Issues: Small Business, Unemployment. 
• Campaign website: www.kimletkeforcongress.org
• Qualifications: "I have 25 years of experience in Fedeal,state and local Contracting and following the far accounting laws. As a small woman owed business, I undertstand the struggles of small business."
• National Economy: "Have the small business help small business refinance their loans and give them access to government contracts."

Wendy Rosen

• Issues: Product Authenticity for Consumers, Small Business Loan Program, Rebuilding American Manufacturing, The Environment. 
• Campaign website: www.wendyrosen.com
• Qualifications: No response received by deadline. 
• National Economy: No response received by deadline. 

Congressional District 1 - Republican Ballot 

Andy Harris 

• Issues: Creating Jobs and Fixing the Economy, Reducing the Budget Deficit, Improving Health Care, Protecting the Bay and Our Environment. 
• Campaign website: www.andyharris.com
• Qualifications: "Navy veteran, practicing physician for 32 years, father of five, grandfather." 
• National Economy: "Solve the chronic deficit problem, freeze new federal regulations, stop punishing businesses and successful job creators."

Congressional District 8 - Democratic Ballot

George English

• Issues: Jobs, Energy, Military Restructuring, Congressional Term Limits
• Campaign website: www.georgetenglish.com
• Qualifications: "Serving as a Rifle Platoon Leader was excellent experience being responsible for 43 soldiers in adverse situations. Graduate school education and working as a NASA Management Intern and later as Economists for Northrop and NOAA were valuable career experience. Becoming politically active since retirement has resulted in depth knowledge of issues and the functioning of all levels of government."
• National Economy: "Restore fiscal sanity by military reductions, corporate/bank taxes to provide funding for new jobs in public infrastructure improvement projects, renewable energy projects to rapidly eliminate fossil fuel use, electrify all railroads, implement high speed passenger rail service to major cities, and refurbish/rebuild low income housing in blighted neighborhoods."

Chris Van Hollen

• Issues: Appropriations, Budget Committee, Economy and Jobs, Health Care
• Campaign website: www.vanhollen.house.gov
• Qualifications: Member of Congress (2003-Present) Ranking Member, House Budget Committee; Co-Chair, Bipartisan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus; Co-Chair, Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force; Co-Chair, Bipartisan Childhood Cancer Caucus; Maryland State Senate (1994- 2002); Maryland House of Delegates (1990-1994); Senior Advisor on Federal Affairs, Maryland Governor (1988-1990).
• National Economy: "We need to pursue policies that bolster economic growth and job creation in the short term while reducing our deficits over the next decade in a steady, predictable way. I support enactment of a payroll tax cut extension, President Obama’s American Jobs Act, which includes a major investment in infrastructure, and a balanced approach to reducing our deficit by $5 trillion over ten years."

Congressional District 8 - Republican Ballot 

Gus Alzona

• Issues: Constitutional rights and civil liberties, Transportation, growth, economic development, Federal budget, deficit spending, monetary policy, Education. 
• Campaign website: www.alzona.com
• Qualifications: Certified Public Accountant; business owner; management consultant; Montgomery County Republican Central Committee Member, elected 1998-2002 (Treasurer 1999) 2006-2010; National Asian American Republican Coalition, Political Director, 2004-Present; GOP candidate: Congress 2006, MD Comptroller 2002; Maryland Legislature, District 16 Republican nominee, State Senate 1998, House of Delegates 1994.
• National Economy: "Repeal ObamaCare. Reduce federal budget deficit and the debt. Audit the Fed. Return to sound money monetary policies. Eliminate "pork barrel" projects that unfairly burden taxpayers. Fair trade policies which help reduce outsourcing without hindering free market solutions towards energy independence. Investigate and prosecute corporate corruption as well as government waste, fraud and abuse."

Shelly Skolnick

• Qualifications: "My education (Civil Engineering degree from RPI and Law degree from Boston University School of Law), my work experience as an employee in the private sector (IBM, Amdahl Corporation, Federal Data Corporation, Systemhouse, Inc., Teradata Corporation, and NCR), and my experience as the owner of two small businesses will be very helpful to draft legislation to grow the private sector."
• National Economy: "Enact programs and policies to reduce the economic harm fromexporting billions of dollars to import millions of barrels of foreign oil. Tax incentives to quickly develop a nationwide infrastructure for natural gas filling stations for trucks. Increase the gasoline and diesel taxes by one cent per gallon per month for the next ten years, to encourage the manufacture of fuel efficient vehicles."

Ken Timmerman

• Issues: Restoring government to its constitutional boundaries, Jobs and the Economy, Defeating threats abroad
• Campaign website: www.timmermanforcongress.com
• Qualifications: "Congress desperately needs fresh blood. I am an investigative reporter and author, and have spent the past thirty years was as a war correspondent and as an advocate of religious liberty. As the past president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, I will bring to Congress an acute awareness that the money being spent by Congress is the people’s money, not government’s."
• National Economy: "Get government out of the way of private business. We need to unleash our domestic energy resources and the creativity of our entrepreneurs. We must reduce regulation and grow the economy, not government. We a new Social Compact to address the fundamental relationship of the citizen to government, from entitlements to tax reform to government's appropriate role in basic research."

Dave Wallace

• Issues: Create Jobs and Prosperity, Protect Medicare for Senior Citizens, Become Energy Independent,Reform Taxes
• Campaign website: www.wallaceforcongress.com
• Qualifications: "I have owned and operated my small business, Chesapeake Kitchen Wholesalers, for the past 30 years. I know how the actions of government can hamper small businesses. I have lived and breathed free market economics. I have made commitments as a business owner and I've kept them. It is time that we have 'politicians' that understand what its like to maintain a balanced budget."
• National Economy: "The federal government can stimulate economic growth by accomplishing three things: Firstly, Cut, Cap, and Balance the Federal Budget. Secondly, utilize all available American energy resources to become energy independent. Lastly, replace the current tax code with a flat tax that creates a fair playing field for everyone."