On behalf of the people of Maryland, I am sending Rep. Albert R. Wynn a bill for $500,000 -- his share of the cost of a special election that must be staged on account of Wynn quitting his congressional seat seven months early to take a fat-juicy job with a Washington lobbyist.
It's a reasonable request.
Wynn is in such a rush to take his new job -- and his next employer is so eager to get him -- that certainly they can split the cost of a special election to fill Wynn's seat. What's half-a-mil to a Washington lobbying firm that counts Bristol-Myers Squibb and Time Warner among its clients?
In case you're not sufficiently cynical about politics, pull up a chair and I'll relate the Al Wynn Story.
Al was a popular pol, having served his mostly Democratic constituency for several years in the state legislature in Annapolis before winning election to Congress in 1992.
There are nearly 700,000 men, women and children in Maryland's 4th congressional district, covering Prince George's and Montgomery counties. Of those who voted in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 general elections, nearly 80 percent voted for Al.
Al was feelin' the love, for a long time.
His 2006 Democratic primary victory might have been a narrow one -- over a liberal activist named Donna Edwards -- but Al held onto his seat.
Until this year.
This year, in February's Super Patapsco primary, the Democratic voters of Maryland made Barack Obama their choice for president. Obama's theme being "change," the voters of the 4th District decided one was needed.
So a majority of them voted for Edwards this time.
She had accused Al of being out of step with his constituents and beholden to oil and banking interests. Edwards got some help from the Service Employees International Union and benefited from an anti-incumbent sentiment.
And what can you say?
Good for her. She was patient and determined, worked hard and put together a campaign to topple a congressman who, by the look of things, was primed to move on anyway.
One gets the impression that Al was either so bummed by the February primary loss -- or ticked off by it -- that he decided, "Hey, who needs this?"
Al has a law degree from Georgetown. A law firm of an old classmate beckoned. The firm is Dickstein Shapiro. It's an LLP that lobbies Congress, with five former members of Congress on staff. Al's going to be a partner. He's going to be lobbyist. He's going to make gobs of money, shoot his cuffs when he walks into restaurants and order shrimp cocktail whenever he likes.
