When the House of Delegates passed Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Civil Marriage Protection Act, I was elated and filled with glee. After two years of lobbying, phone banking and impassioned pleas from LGBT and allied communities, Maryland is soon set to live up to its “Free State” moniker. However, I was curious to see how Del. Sam Arora (D-Montgomery), a freshman representative, voted on the bill.
During his 2010 campaign, Arora raked in campaign donations from area progressives, many of whom he met while working on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. In a survey by Equality Maryland, Arora declared he would co-sponsor civil marriage legislation. Yet, during last year’s legislative session, Arora backtracked and withdrew his co-sponsorship of the bill.
Due to the fact marriage equality proponents had to pull the bill from consideration, Arora was given a lifeline: He would have nearly an entire year to rethink his position on same-sex marriage. Over the past week, Arora reportedly received phone calls from O’Malley, former President Bill Clinton and former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe. A www.change.org petition for Arora to vote for marriage equality received thousands of signatures. If Arora wanted to change his vote, his jilted supporters and Montgomery County Democrats would’ve greeted him with hesitant, but open, arms.
But he didn’t change his position, and what makes Arora’s betrayal sting even more is that we’ve seen courageous legislators in conservative districts support marriage equality. Last summer in New York, we saw Republican legislators who voted at great political risk for marriage equality. So, after Arora almost derailed passage in the House of Delegates, he deserves to be thrown out of office when he faces re-election in 2014.
Arora may think voters have short memories, and indeed that’s typically true for some general election voters. But Arora shouldn’t necessarily be worried about the general election — he should worry about the Democratic primary because his district in Montgomery County is royal blue. Primary elections are filled with party activists who closely follow day-to-day politics.
In the aftermath of Arora’s decision to vote “no” on the Civil Marriage Protection Act, Arora’s legislative director, Joshua Lapidus, resigned in protest over his employer’s decision. According to the Washington Blade, Lapidus wrote, “It saddens me that you are standing against the tide of history and ending your career over an issue that will no doubt be decided in the affirmative, with or without your vote, over the next couple years.”
Years ago, before the netroots and social media were prominent in politics, Arora’s betrayal would’ve been unknown to those who don’t follow the minutiae of legislation and political leaders. However, in today’s world of Change petitions, Twitter feeds and Facebook pages, there’s nowhere for cowardly politicians to hide. Every political issue has dedicated bloggers who closely follow political developments. In short, Arora isn’t going to get away with his betrayal.
When you spurn O’Malley, Clinton and McAuliffe, there isn’t really a place for you in the Democratic Party. So long, farewell, we needn’t say goodbye.
Matt Arnstine is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at arnstine@umdbk.com.
