Maryland Juice broke this Monday, and I just found it. Better to share late than never, I guess.
Rosen is out of the race for the Democratic ticket. Period. End of line. Teapublican incumbent Dr. Harris is probably having a great laugh over this one.
Dr. John LaFerla, the Democrat who narrowly lost the nod in the primary, says he'll run a write-in campaign.
Yeah, my hair is on fire over this cluster!*@%.
Details below the flip.
We are so screwed out here....
According to the Associate Press, Rosen dropped out after someone figured out she'd been double-dipping at the polls -- ours and Florida's.
The Maryland Democratic party has to run a write-in campaign, as it is too late for Rosen to drop out now. But make no mistake, she is in deep, deep doo-doo:
In a letter to Maryland's attorney general and the state prosecutor, Yvette Lewis, the chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, wrote that Rosen has been registered to vote in both Florida and Maryland since at least 2006. Lewis said in the letter that Rosen voted in the 2006 general election and in the 2008 presidential primaries in both Florida and Maryland.
"This information is based on examination of the voter files from both states," Lewis wrote to Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler and State Prosecutor Emmitt Davitt. "We believe that this is a clear violation of Maryland law and urge the appropriate office to conduct a full investigation."
/snip
Matthew Verghese, a spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party, said party officials learned of Rosen's voting in both states from someone within the party on Friday night. The state party then looked into the allegations and became comfortable they were true. The party asked Rosen about them on Monday morning. The party demanded Rosen withdraw, Lewis said in a statement.
The
Baltimore Sun also has more on this mess. And the fun for Rosen
won't end in Maryland -- Florida is going after her too.
This is bad news for the Democrats in Maryland, as the Republican party leaders here are all over this mess. But it is worst of all for the voters on the Eastern Shore. We deserve far better representation than we've had these past two years. We don't need someone who is afraid of the Tea Party people, we don't need someone who carries water for the Koch Bros., we don't need someone who thinks it's okay to vote in two states, switch parties and forget to mention this inconvenient little tidbit to state party leaders.
We need a Democrat to run for this office with every intention to win it. It may be an uphill battle -- hell, I'll call it impossible -- at this point, but goddamnit, we need Dr. LaFerla to win in November. If you are on this site and you live out here on the Eastern Shore or in the sections of Cecil, Harford and Baltimore Counties that are also part of this district, please, please, please get caught up on LaFerla. Do NOT, whatever you do, forget to write in his name in November.
Addendum: Dr. LaFerla is an OB/GYN. He does a lot of work with Planned Parenthood out here, and we can't ask for better on women's issues, public health, insurance reform, etc. He's based in Chestertown, MD. It will take a lot more than money to pull this one out -- we're going to need shoe leather pounding the pavement.
Addendum Part Deux: dadadata has a diary up from Monday on this mess, here.