| Andrew Duck |
Article Index for Andrew |
Website Links For Andrew |
Information AboutAndrew Duck |
|
BIOGRAPHY Duck is the 15th of 17 children. He is a graduate of Middletown High School in Middletown, Maryland , in 1979 and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from Southwest Texas State University . He married Whitney Duck in 1981, and the couple has three children. Duck for Congress: Biography Military career Duck became a member of the U.S. Army, beginning as a Private First Class, working as a Company Clerk. He worked his way up to Administrative Non-Commissioned Officer, was trained as a Korean linguist, and was commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer. Duck's military assignments include Commander of D Company in the 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion, leading the Joint STARS Platoon and working with the 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion in Bosnia . He was also an Intelligence Liaison Officer to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq , and an Intelligence Staff Officer with the Coalition Forces Land Component Command in Kuwait . Private career Duck has also worked as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch in Frederick, Maryland . He currently works for Northrop Grumman as an advisor to the Pentagon on Army Intelligence issues. Political career Duck was a staff member on the 1980 Carter / Mondale Presidential Committee. Most recently, he has become a member of Citizens for Responsible Growth in New Market, Maryland and co-founder of Frederick for Kerry in 2004, which promoted the presidential campaign of John Kerry in Frederick, Maryland . 2006 campaign In his 2006 campaign against long-serving Republican Representative Roscoe Bartlett , Duck was widely perceived as a longshot. He enjoyed some partisan support as evidenced by the endorsements by several statewide and regional Democrats, including Senator Barbara Mikulski , Congressman Chris Van Hollen , and two former mayors of Frederick, Ron Young and Jennifer Dougherty . He also received support from several Organized Labor groups, including the Maryland-D.C. AFL-CIO , the Maryland State Teacher's Association and the National Education Association . Duck for Congress: Endorsements Duck claimed to support "restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington" by eliminating "the culture of corruption and fraud, (reexamining) current spending to match current priorities, and (rolling) back the tax cut for the top two percent of Americans". His infrastructure platform called for ensuring that Maryland can "support water, sewer, transportation and education" while preserving "open spaces... rural heritage (and) affordable housing". On education, he supports increased funding and claims that the yet in favor of Civil Union s. His website also does not cover Immigration , but he said he was opposed to securing the border and supported greater enforcement immigration-related employment law. Duck's website did not cover his position on Abortion . However, he has been described as opposed to both "abortion-on-demand" and an outright ban on abortion; he has called himself "pro-life" and supports the current legal status quo on abortion. He claimed that a "true pro-life position is to advocate for universal access to health care", a Living Wage and affordable Childcare . He credited his pro-life position to his current wife's pregnancy with their first child; labor began four months early, and Duck and his wife were repeatedly told that there was little chance of the child surviving. They decided to go forward with the delivery, despite the risk to his wife's health; the baby was born small enough to fit in one hand, but survived and is now a healthy adult. As a veteran of the on orders from the administration, because, he noted, "they didn't want to accept the results of the election". Duck's campaign focused on his military service, especially after he began working with the Band of Brothers, an organization of veterans and Democratic candidates. Fighting Dems for Congress: Band of Brothers He used military metaphors to enforce this image, which he counts as a "key weapon" in his campaign against Bartlett. Independent observers claimed that his military experience would help in the election by countering the argument that Democrats are "soft on terrorism"; however, this was not a large enough aid in the election. Bartlett won his 2004 re-election campaign, which was also against a veteran, with 68% of the vote. However, Duck hoped that he would win the votes of Republicans and independents unhappy with the Bush Administration's deficient war spending and that this would be enough to bring him victory in the election. He pointed to conservative dissatisfaction with Republican leadership, which has created "the biggest government we've ever had, the most intrusive government we've ever had and the most fiscally irresponsible government that we've ever had". WYPR: A look at Maryland's sixth congressional district race Duck and Bartlett held very similar views on many topics, including their support of energy independence and opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Duck, however, criticized his opponent on at least one specific issue, a vote "against providing sufficient funds for veterans' medical care". ''The Tentacle'': The Fighting Democrats Duck's campaign funding totaled a little bit over $100,000, of which more than $75,000 dollars has come from individuals, $15,000 from PAC s and under $10,000 from the candidate's own funds. His PAC funding, according to ''The Washington Post'', fell entirely into the "ideology/single issue section," while his individual contributions came primarily from the "Lawyers/Lobbyists" and "Other" categories. His top five contributors, each of which have donated more than $500 to his campaign, were the Iran & Afghanistan Veterans Of America , Retail Services & Systems , Universal Title , Glenwillow Inc. , and Global Crossing . He received most of his contributions from people in Westminster , Frederick , Potomac , Baltimore and Ijamsville . All of his contributions were from in-state sources, and the majority were from industries classified as "Lawyers/Law Firms," "Retired," "Misc. Issues," and "Real Estate".[http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/funding/n00027577/ ''The Washington Post'': Campaign Funding: Andrew James Duck (D, Maryland) OpenSecrets.org describes Duck's biggest sources of funding as including "Industrial Unions", "Lawyers/Law Firms", "Retired", "Misc Issues", "Leadership PACs" and "Real Estate", and describes more of his funding as coming from "Labor" rather than "Ideological' sources.[http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.asp?ID=MD06&cycle=2006&special=N OpenSecrets.org 2006 Race: Maryland District 6 The '' Washington Times '' stated that Maryland's 6th district is the state's most reliably Republican and that Duck was not regarded as a serious threat to the incumbent. ''Washington Times'': Veteran vies for Bartlett's seat Duck lost the election to Bartlett on November 7, 2006. He received 39% of the vote, while Bartlett received 59%. ''CNN'': Election 2006 Results 2008 campaign Duck has announced that he will be challenging Bartlett again in 2008. Democratic Hopeful Officially Joins Race For Seat In Congress REFERENCES NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
] |
|
|