Barve Calls Out Opponent On Ads Saying He Is The Only Progressive In The Race
By Bill Turque
aryland Del. Kumar P.
Barve says he under-
stands that state Sen.
Jamie B. Raskin, like
all candidates, is
eager to put his record in the
most favorable light for voters.
But television ads that proclaim
Raskin “the only” progressive in
the 8th Congressional District’s
Democratic primary race are
over the line, he says.
“It’s a bit off-putting to hear
that nobody else has a record,”
Barve said Tuesday.
Context and nuance are the
first casualties in campaign ads,
and Raskin’s are no different.
His three 15-second spots,
which went on the air last week,
assert that although other can-
didates in the race talk about
problems, he is the only one
who has done anything about
them.
“Jamie Raskin is the only
Democrat for Congress who’s
authored landmark progressive
laws,” one spot says.
“Only Raskin wrote laws to
reduce our carbon footprint,”
another says, referring to the
Green Maryland Act of 2010,
which required the state to
adopt more environmentally
sound procurement practices
such as using more recycled
paper.
Raskin (Montgomery), in his
third Senate term, played a key
role in several major pieces of
social legislation, including mar-
riage equality in 2012 and an
assault-weapons ban in 2013.
Lawmaking is an inherently
collective task, and major bills
almost always carry the imprint
of multiple contributors. But
campaign spots are not
designed to share credit, or to
show that the candidate is a
team player.
In Raskin’s gun-violence ad, a
brief image of then-state Sen.
Brian E. Frosh (D) – now
Maryland’s attorney general – is
the viewer’s only clue that he
also played a key role in passage
of the assault-weapons ban.
Barve (Montgomery), who is
expected to air his own spot in
the next week or so, said that it
is fine for Raskin to toot his own
horn – but not to pretend that it
is the only one in the orchestra.
Barve, a former majority
leader first elected to the House
of Delegates in 1990, sponsored
the Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Reduction Act of 2009, which
called for state emission levels
in 2020 to be 25 percent below
the 2006 mark. In this session,
he is the House sponsor of a
measure updating and strength-
ening the bill.
As chairman of the
Environment and
Transportation Committee,
Barve shepherded a three-year
ban on hydraulic fracturing
toward final passage. The bill
was sponsored by Del. David
Fraser-Hidalgo (D-
Montgomery).
“While I am not the only one
of the 188 Members of the
Maryland General Assembly
responsible for moving
Maryland forward on a variety
of progressive issues, I am very
proud of my record of accom-
plishment and leadership on the
environment, gun control,
health care reform and other
progressive issues,” Barve said
in a statement Monday.
He added, “The ‘I Am the
Only One’ attitude typifies
something we need a lot less of
inWashington.”
Barve called on the Raskin
campaign to take down the ads,
which the campaign said will
not happen.
“While Jamie respects
Chairman Barve and his
decades of public service, our
campaign stands by the fact that
Jamie Raskin is the most effec-
tive progressive legislator in this
race – and certainly the one who
can beat the big-money candi-
dates,” campaign manager
Marshall Cohen said in a state-
ment Tuesday.
– TheWashington Post
Del. Kumar Barve, left, and state Sen.
Jamie Raskin participate in a forum
with fellow candidates in Maryland’s
8th Congressional District race.
News India Times
April 8, 2016
4
– that’s all you need to know
M
Modi Meets New Zealand PM
–WASHINGTON
P
rime Minister Narendra
Modi, who is here to
attend the Fourth
Nuclear Security Summit,
held a bilateral meeting with
his New Zealand counterpart
John Key March 31.
“Not just cricket on the
agenda, as PM@narendra
meets New Zealand PM
@johnkeypm for 1st meeting
inWashington,” external
affairs ministry spokesman
Vikas Swarup tweeted in an
obvious reference to India’s
World T20 cricket semi-final
against theWest Indies that
was going on in Mumbai on
the other side of the globe at
the same time.
Modi is scheduled to hold
more bilateral meetings on
the sidelines of the nuclear
security summit, including
one likely with British Prime
Minister David Cameron.
He is also scheduled to
attend a leaders-only themat-
ic dinner on “Nuclear security
threat perceptions” to be
hosted by U.S. President
Barack Obama at theWhite
House later on March 31.
Leaders of 53 nations and
four international organiza-
tions have converged here to
attend the fourth and final
edition of the biennial nuclear
security summit which started
in 2010. Modi arrived here on
the second leg of his three-
nation visit March 30 night
from Brussels where he
attended the 13th India-
European Union (EU) Summit
and held a bilateral meeting
with Belgian Prime Minister
Charles Michel.
– IANS
India, U.S. Sign Agreement To Set Up LIGO Project
–WASHINGTON
I
ndia and the US signed an
agreement March 31 for a
new Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory
(LIGO) project in India during
the course of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s visit here.
The agreement was signed
between India’s department of
atomic energy and US National
Science Foundation.
LIGO shot to fame recently
after its scientists proved the
gravitational waves theory.
“Beyond ordinary break-
throughs. PM@narendramodi
greets scientists from LIGO, who
proved gravitational waves theo-
ry,” external affairs ministry
spokesmanVikas Swarup tweet-
ed.
The prime minister also met
Indian student scientists associ-
ated with the LIGO project,
Swarup said.
Modi is here to attend the
fourth and final edition of the
biennial Nuclear Security
Summit being held on Thursday
and Friday.
He arrived here on the sec-
ond leg of his three-nation tour
onWednesday night from
Brussels where he attended the
13th India-European Union
(EU) Summit and held a bilater-
al meeting with his Belgian
counterpart Charles Michel.
– IANS
Washington DC:
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi meets
the New Zealand
Prime Minister John
Key, in Washington
DC, March 31.
“While I am not the
only one of the 188
Members of the
Maryland General
Assembly
responsible for
moving Maryland
forward on a variety
of progressive issues,
I am very proud of
my record of
accomplishment and
leadership on the
environment, gun
control, health care
reform and other
progressive issues”
U.S. Affairs
