(2010-02-19) We learned last week that Ellen Sauerbrey will manage a GOP effort to capture the 1st Congressional seat this year. Though she served four terms as a Delegate, Ellen is known to most gunowners for her two unsuccessful runs for governor. In the first, she championed our cause and was buoyed to a near victory by the passionate efforts of our community. However she launched the second bid by curtly abandoning core issues – ours among them – with an announcement to the press that these were “settled” matters. Gun restrictions in particular would not be revisited if she won. Having alienated anything resembling a natural base, her bid failed by a wide margin. Tripwire remembers Ellen for the dirty tricks her operation launched against us in retaliation for our refusal to hand over subscriber lists for use in fundraising, resources they said we “owed” them. That phrase fittingly brings us to the present. The campaign Ellen will run is that of Andy Harris, taking his second shot. Although we helped Harris win (and later keep) a Senate seat in Annapolis, he eventually played games with our issue and demanded resources (as reported here.) This led us in 2008 to endorse Frank Kratovil for Congress – a move we have never regretted because of his sincerity in working with the community. Frank has played a critical role in defense of the Second Amendment, one Harris could never perform – even if he was willing to work with the community instead of make demands of it.
Let’s review the gubernatorial scorecard: Ellen worked with gunowners and essentially won; she dumped on us and lost big. Bob Ehrlich worked with gunowners and won; he dumped on us and lost big. Is there a pattern here?