Incumbent State Sen. Sandra Schrader accused her Democratic challenger of distorting her position on birth control in his mailings.
“I was outraged when I saw his brochures, and I hold [Howard County Executive] Jim Robey completely responsible for their content,” said Schrader, R-District 13, speaking to supporters in front of the Howard County office buildings.
“Jim, if you are so desperate that you found it necessary to falsify my record and question my commitment, why didn?t you have the gumption to do it under your own name instead of hiding behind the [Democratic] committee?”
The mailings, sent Friday and Saturday, were authorized by the Maryland Democratic Senatorial Committee, part of the Maryland Democratic Party.
“I didn?t know anything about it,” Robey said, adding that he first saw the mailings Monday when a reporter showed them to him.
The mailings feature pictures of birth-control pill packs, and say Schrader voted to ban access to birth control.
A footnote references two bills, which Schrader said applied to the so-called “morning-after pill,” not the more common form of monthly pills pictured.
Schrader said she voted against these bills because they would have allowed anyone to buy these pills over the counter and access should be limited to women 18 or older.
Schrader challenged Robey?s record on women?s issues, referencing the settlement of two sexual harassment lawsuits against the county police department and the failure to pursue a sexual predator who went on to assault again.
“I can only speculate that Jim Robey distorted my record to divert attention from his long history of disrespecting women,” Schrader said.
Robey, who was a former police chief, said the lawsuits were settled when he was not chief, and several top positions in his administration are held by women.
The Maryland Democratic Party stands by the accuracy of the mailings, said Derek Walker, party executive director.
