ELECTION 2018: Endorsement for Maryland Senate District 28 – Vote for Arthur Ellis
There is one shining issue that makes a case for tossing out the six-term incumbent in the District 28 Maryland Senate race in Charles County, and that is the advancement of bringing MARC train service to Southern Maryland. The incumbent, Thomas Mac Middleton campaigned on implementing MARC service into Charles County on the existing CSX railroad line and in fact, he, along with Martin O’Malley, Steny Hoyer, Roy Dyson, Sally Jameson, Anthony Brown and John Bohanan – stood on the railroad tracks in Waldorf for a photo in 2006 to make that pledge. After the photo was taken and the campaign was over, none of the lawmakers lifted a finger to keep their campaign promise. Not one. Nothing. Nada.
Now Middleton wants a seventh term in office. What a farce. He has assembled a war chest approaching a half million bucks for winning another term in office. Where does this money come from? Where it always comes from – special interest groups and political action committees.
Arthur Ellis is a veteran and a CPA – which means he automatically can count better than any legislator in the Maryland General Assembly.
What really counts with Ellis is that he is strongly in favor of extending MARC service from Bowie into Southern Maryland on railroad tracks that are already here.
The Utopian bozos of the O’Malley Administration kept putting off any move to fund double tracking and upgrades of rail crossings to accommodate MARC service to Southern Maryland with promises of bringing a Metro extension down Branch Avenue. With more than $2 billion needed for that grand plan, where is the Metro? Nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, the CSX track is available. CSX had a meeting with Maryland officials in 2001 and sought assurance of indemnity and that tracks be double tracked so they could run their freight operations without hindrance. That is a routine requirement by all freight rail lines to accommodate passenger service.
It is far better to have an eager new face in office that has the support of the public to implement MARC service backing him up than a senator in his seventh term in Annapolis with a record of failure. Middleton’s career as a commissioner and senator has smoothed the way for the explosive development that has turned Waldorf into a major commercial center and a burgeoning residential community. However, Mac must think that transportation is best ignored, thwarted, misinterpreted and served by misrepresentations of his support for MARC service into Charles County.
It begs the question if Middleton is so doggone good at what he does, why is a slow coal train the only thing on the tracks to lumber through Waldorf on its way to Morgantown? Why aren’t there double tracks with stations at Upper Marlboro, Croom, Brandywine, Pinefield, St. Charles, White Plains and Newburg – along with parking lots? Why not Mac? You said you were for it in 2006 and yet the region has come up empty-handed while MARC trains actually not only serve large parts of Maryland but extend service into West Virginia and Delaware.
Throw out Mac and give the guy who says he will make rail service to Southern Maryland happen a chance. Send Mac back to the farm.
Vote for Arthur Ellis for Maryland Senate District 28 in Charles County.