 Dear Friends: Until February, I was a felony jury trial lawyer with Maryland's Office of the Public Defender, protecting the rights of those who are the poorest among us. I left that position to focus on my campaign, and hope to continue to represent the poor, the working poor and all residents of Maryland's Sixth District. Like you, I worked for a living all of my life, unlike my rivals for your good vote. Also unlike them, I do not have a large campaign account bankrolling my message to you. They may have the millions of dollars, but the people have the vote. I ask only that you hear my story and consider just who you would trust to change the way you are represented in congress. I wish to update you on my candidacy. First, I am a single parent of a six-year old boy, whose future education concerns me greatly. Also, I am a veteran combat medic supporting the infantry, and I am very proud of the service of our young men and women in Afghanistan but believe it is time to bring all of them home safely. The sacrifice of young lives, and two billion dollars a month, is too much to give in building an economy on the other side of the world when we need to rebuild the economy here in the Sixth District. We heat with a woodstove because the cost of heating oil can be as high as $3.84 a gallon, and rises every year. Experience taught me that I should use only seasoned oak. Other hardwoods burn as well, but oak leaves one-tenth the ash. I heat with wood because, by at least our household, we are less dependent upon foreign oil. When wind and sun energy technologies develop cost effective alternatives, I will consider quiting wood. Even then, I may use a woodstove. We must encourage the development of alternative energy as a method of our economic resurgence in the Sixth District of Maryland. There needs to be an organized and overarching effort to stimulate the manufacturing base that once thrived here in the Sixth District. There is a vast reservoir of idle physical plants, and a knowledgable work force, who greatly would assist in America's resurgence. This rebound will spring from the Sixth District's manufacturing plants easily transformed into alternative energy plants. For instance, a former Mack Truck factory would be modified to produce windmills that provide inexpensive electricity. Those who once manufactured generators for trucks now would manufacture wind turbine generators. Our workforce is familiar with the hands-on aspects and would require little retraining. I am certain that America will renew itself and will rise again out of this recession. My aim is to ensure that Maryland's Sixth District is part of, and indeed will lead that effort. |
What I most fear, and what I have seen alluded to by the Republicans, is that in this time of fear and doubt public employees should be targeted as a cost to be contained. Civil service is a valuable asset to our American way. For instance, school teachers comprise the best hopes and dreams of the parents of our smallest children. To cut into those who tend to the intellect and focus of our children is to chop at the base of the tree of our future life. Also, the core base of firefighters and police ought to be a given, and unassailable. These champions of our children, of our peaceful nights of slumber, and of our faith in the civil comport of our neighbors must be supported and held up as etched in stone. This is not negotiable.
There should be no layoffs of teachers, or of fire security, or of police. In addition, if you have contributed one dime to Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, then you have a contract with the United States that never will be compromised on my watch. Never. This is not open to discussion. Over the past twenty years, the federal representative in the United States Congress has put our district to sleep. For years he has lowered the expectations of our worthy citizens. When asked his greatest accomplishment, he responded that the better question is what he voted "no" for. That is little comfort for those who despair in a desparate economy. When elected, I will work on two main ideas to bring work back to the Sixth District. One, I would work to leverage my vote in congress to win a mini-stimulus to reopen the full 184.5 mile length of the C&O Canal as a tourist attraction. Just visit "gobarging.com" to see how reopened industrial canals are booming in Europe. Repaving a highway as stimulus only goes as far as providing temporary jobs. Once repaved, that stimulus is over. The reopening of the C&O Canal would mean hundreds and thousands of jobs for earth movers, tree surgeons, surveyors, engineers, architects, stone masons, carpenters, liveries and farriers. But, the reopening of the C&O Canal would mean more than short term jobs. Once open, hotels, restaurants, outfitters, canoe rentals, bike rentals, camping sites, hiking stores, fishing guides, and many other businesses would follow, providing hundreds and thousands of jobs for the future. Second, there are some places that are not suffering as badly in the current economy and are doing better than the Sixth District. I would take an inventory of all the idle plants and shuttered factories in the Sixth District, survey the large number of skilled laborers now out of work, compile a life-style presentation of the physical beauty of Western Maryland, and enlist the help of the new STEM building at HCC, and other colleges and universities, to create an enticing package to present by a "trade delegation" to possible investors wherever they are found successful today. In contrast to the incumbent, and in contrast to the over-comfortable Democratic candidates alternative to me, I intend to deliver an edgy, fighting spirit in support of workers and their families, to champion a return of the middle class in the Sixth District, and to provide renewed confidence and expectation that your representative in Congress would provide a service to the constituents of the Sixth District. I would love to talk with you further at your convenience. Thank you, Charles Bailey Sharpsburg. |