Andy Harris

We are all accustomed to hypocritical politicians but state Sen. Andy Harris's comment about the proposed Ground Zero mosque ".....that does not mean you should practice your religion without a sense of respect for others" - truly takes the cake. Over the years Mr. Harris devoted a great deal of energy in Annapolis to trying to legislate the imposition of his religious beliefs, particularly his opposition to reproductive rights, on all of the rest of us. Vote Kratovil. Monica Brandes, Towson

Days after voting again to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, congressional Republicans have tapped Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland to deliver their weekly address. “As a physician for nearly thirty years who helped mothers and their new babies get through childbirth, I have seen what is good and what is bad about America's health care system, and ObamaCare makes our system worse,” said the Baltimore County Republican, an obstetric anesthesiologist.  “Instead of lowering costs like Washington Democrats promised, ObamaCare is leading insurance companies all over the country to raise their rates by double and triple digits.” House Republicans voted this week for the third time to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act. They have held 37 votes since they took the majority in 2011 to repeal the law in full or in part.

A delivery truck stocked with Berger cookies rolled out of the Cherry Hill bakery Monday morning for the first time in more than a month. The well-known sweets are finally back in stores after Berger's closure by the Baltimore City Health Department Jan. 31; the bakery was closed for operating without a city-issued food-service license. The Health Department approved the bakery's license Wednesday, and the bakery started to gear up for production the next day. On Monday, workers in hairnets and aprons frosted cookies, packed the treats and sent them off. Corey DeBaufre, whose family has been making the cookies since 1969, said the bakery would keep its regular production schedule for the time being.

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans, including Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, stepped up their criticism of Labor Secretary nominee Tom Perez on Tuesday, amplifying their concerns a day before the former state official faces a Senate committee vote on his confirmation. Republicans convened a joint hearing of two House subcommittees to focus on a federal case Perez oversaw as assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Other lawmakers, including Harris, are pressing Perez to turn over his personal e-mails.

Rep.-elect Andy Harris perhaps thought in his recent private orientation session that it is important to ask the right questions (why must he wait a month for his new health coverage to start?). I personally resent the clever rush of Washington reporters to report on the irony of the question asked given the fact that it was not asked at a public event. Nevertheless, on behalf of those of us who are accustomed to the intricacies of COBRA and economy-strapped employers - who try every trick in the book to delay the costs associated with health benefits, I can only hope that Dr. Harris takes his experience as a call to action.

Frankly, I was shocked that Andy Harris was elected to Congress, and I suspect that he was financed by some very powerful corporations. I am in his Congressional district now and am in his former Senatorial district. I happened to catch his "act" at Senate hearings two years ago and was appalled at his arrogant and disrespectful behavior to those in attendance including Department of Natural Resources personnel, three of his constituents and his peers. He is now just showing his true colors — a man driven by a powerful ego. With that and his miserable environmental record, we are in big trouble in the 1st District.

Rep. Andy Harris' off-handed insults aimed at President Obama in the Sun story "Illegal migrants hope for reprieve" (Nov. 19) reveal his blatant contempt for the president of the United States. Unfortunately, they say more about Mr. Harris' lack of respect for the nation's highest office than about immigration or about President Obama. Regardless of anyone's opinions on immigration, Mr. Harris' quoted remark that "If the president doesn't like the current law, he should have come back early from his vacation in the tropics and worked with Congress to change it, not doing yet another unconstitutional end run around our immigration law," was gratuitously nasty, false and ridiculous.

Last November, the American people sent a clear message to Washington: Government cannot solve all of our problems, and in order to get the economy moving again we must head in a new direction. I am humbled that the citizens of the 1st Congressional District overwhelmingly selected me to join 95 other new members on Capitol Hill to right the ship on jobs, to fix the deficit and to hold President Barack Obama accountable on the expansion of government. On our very first day, we adopted new House rules for the 112th Congress.

Katie Medley is in the hospital, having joyously given birth to her first child, baby Hugo, while one floor away the new father, Caleb Medley, lies in an induced coma after being blasted by the heavily armed gunman who attacked a crowded theater in Aurora, Colo., last week. While the shooter was stockpiling guns and ammunition, the Republican party and Maryland Rep. Andy Harris were right there fighting any attempt to limit his ability to buy thousands of rounds of ammo along with oversize magazines for his semiautomatic weapon.

Recently, Rep. Andy Harris sent a broadside e-mail to constituents under the subject line "President Obama Engages in Unnecessary Attack on U.S. Navy. " The message included the following statement by Mr. Harris: "When I was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1988 we had 565 ships - and today we are down to 287. As a retired naval officer, President Obama's denigration of the U.S. Navy by comparing warships to horses is offensive. " Does Mr. Harris really believe that President Obama was comparing warships to horses?

Chestertown physician John LaFerla, who waged a write-in campaign for the First Congressional District last fall after the withdrawal of Democratic primary winner Wendy Rosen, is planning another run for the seat. LaFerla said he would file papers in Annapolis Wednesday for the 2014 Democratic primary in the First, now represented by second-term Republican Rep. Andy Harris. LaFerla lost the 2012 primary to Rosen by 57 votes last April, but returned to the race in September after Rosen withdrew amid allegations she had violated election law by voting in two states at once.

We commend President Barack Obama for designating the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument ("A monument to Md. abolitionist," March 26). Just days after the centennial of her death, Harriet Tubman is finally receiving the national recognition she deserves as a heroic conductor on the Underground Railroad and an early leader for women's rights. The National Monument will include locations in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot counties, complimenting the Tubman State Park which broke ground for the construction of a world-class visitor's center on March 9. The landscapes of Ms. Tubman's birthplace and her early life on the Eastern Shore are a vital part of the Chesapeake's story that will now be conserved and interpreted for current and future generations, providing a major draw for travelers and economic development.

Former Maryland congressional candidate Wendy W. Rosen pleaded guilty Friday to voting illegally in two elections and will serve five years probation and pay a $5,000 fine. The 58-year-old Rosen, who won a Democratic primary last year to challenge Republican Rep. Andy Harris in Maryland's 1st Congressional District, cast ballots in 2006 and 2010 in Baltimore County even though her legal residence was in Florida. The revelation last September ended her run. The sentence is the result of a plea agreement with the Office of the State Prosector.

A delivery truck stocked with Berger cookies rolled out of the Cherry Hill bakery Monday morning for the first time in more than a month. The well-known sweets are finally back in stores after Berger's closure by the Baltimore City Health Department Jan. 31; the bakery was closed for operating without a city-issued food-service license. The Health Department approved the bakery's license Wednesday, and the bakery started to gear up for production the next day. On Monday, workers in hairnets and aprons frosted cookies, packed the treats and sent them off. Corey DeBaufre, whose family has been making the cookies since 1969, said the bakery would keep its regular production schedule for the time being.

Andy Harris, the only Maryland Republican serving in Congress, voted against reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act last week, but he didn't call and tell me that. Word of Harris' vote came from the Democratic Party — specifically, a news release from state chair Yvette Lewis, who blasted the 1st District congressman for his nay on the VAWA: "Today, by voting against the Violence Against Women Act, Congressman Andy Harris decided to continue his trend of voting against bipartisan legislation that would help people in the First District and Maryland.  "Eighty-seven House Republicans voted for this legislation, which is a reauthorization of vital support for organizations that serve victims of domestic violence.

WASHINGTON -- In a move sure to stoke the partisan debate over organized labor, Rep. Andy Harris will introduce legislation Wednesday to end the favored treatment union contractors receive on construction projects paid for by the federal government. The proposal, which in the past has been strongly supported by construction trade groups but opposed by labor, is a response to an executive order President Obama signed early in his first term requiring agencies to consider using project-labor agreements to set wages and site rules on federal construction projects.

Days after voting again to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, congressional Republicans have tapped Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland to deliver their weekly address. “As a physician for nearly thirty years who helped mothers and their new babies get through childbirth, I have seen what is good and what is bad about America's health care system, and ObamaCare makes our system worse,” said the Baltimore County Republican, an obstetric anesthesiologist.  “Instead of lowering costs like Washington Democrats promised, ObamaCare is leading insurance companies all over the country to raise their rates by double and triple digits.” House Republicans voted this week for the third time to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act. They have held 37 votes since they took the majority in 2011 to repeal the law in full or in part.

Rep. Andy Harris doesn't make me proud of being a Marylander. He joined 66 other Republican members of Congress and voted against disaster funds for victims of Hurricane Sandy. He said he voted against it because the system is flawed, and he wanted to see it fixed before voting for any new funds. Really? So Mr. Harris' ideal is to fix this funding system while the victims wait for help to make the needed repairs to their homes? He wants these victims to continue to wade knee deep in mud in their homes, now 60-plus days after the storm, while he gets the ever-slow Congress of the United States to do what he deems necessary to fix what he views, in his morally certain world, as a broken system.

Jessica Harris never ran track before she arrived at Mount de Sales, but the junior has run the third-fastest time in the country by a high school girl in two events this winter - 800 meters (2:14.14) and 500 meters (1:16.24). Her 800-meter time ranked No. 1 when she ran it in December. An All-Metro first-team selection last spring in track and field, Harris holds three individual school records in indoor track and has helped set three relay records. She's the defending Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland champion in the 800 meters both indoors and outdoors.