10/01/02

By MARK POWELL

Maryland’s Friends of Agriculture Fund was scheduled to officially endorse U.S. Rep. Robert Ehrlich (R) over Democratic rival Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in Maryland’s gubernatorial race at a Queen Anne’s County press conference, Sept. 30 — past presstime for this newspaper.
The agricultural PAC fund is affiliated with Maryland Farm Bureau. Its endorsement is representative of farmers’ resentment of the actions of the eight-year administration of Gov. Parris Glendening. This is the first year the new group has made endorsements.
Dorchester County farmer Joe Layton serves on the board of directors of the Friends of Agriculture Fund. He said the board — which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans — could only judge Townsend based upon the Glendening administration of which she was affiliated.
Glendening has been closely identified with environmental causes during his tenure. And while he has worked to increase farmland preservation, an issue of concern in the farming community, he has stepped up environmental regulation of farmers. In particular, Glendening worked with the state legislature to give Maryland farmers mandatory nutrient management.
Layton said the Ag Fund received letters from both Ehrlich and Townsend asking for the group’s endorsement. While both said they would be friends of the farming community, Ehrlich’s record in Congress has shown he’s pro-business and pro-farming, Layton said.
“We feel Ehrlich will be more supportive of farmers and agriculture,” Layton said.
Layton said Ehrlich’s on-the-record promise to look at the state’s nutrient management law and its implementation is a crucial issue for farmers.
Maryland Farm Bureau lobbyist Valerie Connelly said, “Congressman Ehrlich has always been willing to sit down and listen to farmers. We’ve been closed out of the Glendening Administration for eight years.”
Layton said the Ag Fund hopes that an Ehrlich Administration would seriously look at the economic issues confronting farmers in Maryland and look into solving some of the business concerns of small farmers.
Kent County farmer Pat Langenfelder is chairman of the Ag Fund. She said Ehrlich was, “more open to the concerns of agriculture.”
She also pointed out that the Ag Fund was created to be non-partisan and simply represent the views of the farming community in the political arena. In the Ag Fund’s endorsements for the state legislature, the farmer members endorsed 71 Democrats and 42 Republicans. They did not pick candidates in every race.
Ehrlich has been endorsed by small business groups and the Maryland State Troopers Association.
Townsend has a long string of endorsements, including the state teachers’ union, the Sierra Club, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, fire fighter unions, police unions and the United Auto Workers union.
Townsend’s political advisors and environmentalists have publically denounced Ehrlich’s statements that he will look at the state’s nutrient management law. Although there is no promise of a repeal, Ehrlich said his administration would target municipal wastewater treatment plants in efforts to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus going into the Chesapaeake Bay.
The Bay Weekly newspaper quotes Ehrlich on the environment this way: “I’m not in the business of placating groups with pretty far-left agendas. I am, however, in the business of talking about reasonable and rational compromise.”
Townsend’s campaign has focused on improving education and other matters. She has had fundraising events with farmers in Southern Maryland, but has otherwise not concentrated on the rural agricultural vote.