Md-7: Al Redmer Lacks the Conservative Passion for State Senate

There is a reason why we have endorsed J.B. Jennings over Al Redmer is the 7th district race for Senate. Even though their voting records are fairly similar, Jennings has the fighting passion to battle Mike Miller and the socialists, while Redmer evidently desires to coexist with them. Last week, the Patuxent Publishing Co reported on this race and cited the following campaign selling point of Redmer:

"The 7th District has suffered because of the animosity that exists between the (district's) delegation and state government," said Redmer, referring to the reputations of Harris and Del. Pat McDonough, who are known for being solid "no" votes on bills favored by Democrats.""It's not about the votes but about the tones in which those votes are cast," Redmer said."

This is one of the most illuminating comments from a candidate that I have seen of all the national and local candidates that I have covered. Redmer is complaining that these comments are being taken out of context by the Jennings campaign. However, his remarks reveal to us one thing in any context. He is not down for the struggle against socialism. His comments represent the very essence of why conservatives are so outraged at the Republican Party. It's not just the RINO's who are destroying the party. I would never assert that Redmer is a Republican in name only. Rather, the problem is that they have a lack of insight into our political enemies and therefore are lacking the passion, conviction, and devotion to fight them at every turn. They might vote with the conservatives 90% of the time, but their ultimate goal will be to engage and cooperate with the enemy. Keep in mind that every single Republican in Washington voted against Obamacare. However, Mitch McConnell and the other Republican members of the governing class failed to object to all of the complex and simple unanimous consent agreements (UCA’s) and use other dilatory parliamentary tactics to obstruct this unconstitutional legislation. They didn’t want to undermine the collegial Senate decorum, even at the expense of undermining our freedom, prosperity, and property rights.

The same thing occurs in the senate of a state legislature. There are a lot of adversarial obstructionist tools that are at the desposal of the minority party in the upper chamber. We need our Republicans in Annapolis to be commited to obstructing the unconstitutional agenda of Mike Miller with the same power that he uses to pass this agenda. How many Marylanders (Republicans and Democrats) really believe that the problem in Annapolis is that the Republicans aren't aggressive enough in fighting the statist agenda? These comments are wholly out of touch with reality and provide us with an authoritative glimpse as to what sort of state Senator Mr. Redmer would be. Redmer is correct about one thing;”it’s not about the votes”. When you are in the minority, it is not good enough merely to vote against the legislation, you must defeat it at all costs.


This state senate battle is a microcosmic representative of the intra-party conflict that we are engaged in on a national level. All too often, the members of the Republican governing class scold us for going after people with "solid conservative credentials". Think of candidates like Bill McCollum in Florida, Trey Grayson in Kentucky, Jane Norton in Colorado, and Sue Lowdon in Nevada. The problem with these people is not so much that they would always vote with the liberals (although they sometimes would); it is that they fundamentally misunderstand the political stakes of the conflict with the opposition. We need more people like Pat McDonough and Andy Harris in Annapolis. It is imperative that we elect people like Ken Buck, Joe Miller, and Sharon Angle to the U.S. Senate. They understand that the Democrats will not reciprocate their collegial demeanor. They realize that we need to fight the socialist agenda with everything we have. This is exactly why we need J.B. Jennings in the state Senate.