Ben Cardin

Benjamin Louis "Ben" Cardin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 3rd district
In office 1987-present (retiring 2007 to run for US Senate seat from Maryland)
Preceded by	Barbara Mikulski
Personal details
Political party	Democratic

Benjamin Louis "Ben" Cardin (born October 5 1943) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 3rd district of the State of Maryland (map) since 1987. He is currently the Democratic Party's candidate for the Maryland U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring senator Paul Sarbanes.

Political career

Maryland House of Delegates

On the floor of the House, Rep. Cardin calls for the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq by 2007, June 12, 2006.

Cardin served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1967 to 1986. He was chairman of the Ways & Means Committee from 1974-1979, and after that Speaker until he retired from that house. As Speaker, he was involved with reform efforts involving Maryland's property tax system, the school financing formula and the ethical standards for elected officials.

House of Representatives

In 1986, with then Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Charles Mathias, Jr., Cardin ran for Mikulski’s seat representing the 3rd Congressional District. Cardin won the Democratic nomination with 82% of the vote and became Congressman in the general election with 79% of the vote against a perennial candidate, Republican Ross Z. Pierpont.

Rep. Cardin (at podium) joins Reps. Roscoe Bartlett (center) (R-MD) and Jo Ann Davis (left) (R-VA) in calling for a study of homeland security needs of the National Capital region, including Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Since them, Cardin has beaten Republican Congressional nominees Harwood Nichols, Robert Tousey, William Bricker, Patrick McDonough, Colin Harby, Scott Conwell, and Bob Duckworth. In the two most recent elections, however, Cardin received the lowest vote totals of any incumbent Maryland Congressman. It should be noted that prior to these two, his district was changed to add significant portions of Anne Arundel County, including the state capitol of Annapolis, to his Baltimore city and county-based district. His last two opponents hailed from Anne Arundel and nearly carried the district's portion of that county.

In the House, Cardin been involved with fiscal issues, pension reform, and health care. His legislation to increase the amount people can store in their 401k plans and IRAs was passed in 2001. His bill to expand Medicare to include preventive benefits such as colorectal, prostate, mammogram, and osteoporosis screening was also enacted. He also has authored legislation to provide a Medicare prescription drug benefit for chronic illnesses; fund graduate medical education; and guarantee coverage for emergency services.

Cardin has also advocated via proposed legislation welfare reform. His bill to increase education and support services for foster care children between ages 18 and 21 was signed into law in 1999. He has authored bills to expand child support, improve the welfare-to-work program and increase the child care tax credit.

Cardin testifying before the U.S. House Ways and Means subcommittee on Human Resources.

In 1998, Cardin was appointed Chairman of the Special Study Commission on Maryland Public Ethics Law by the Maryland General Assembly. In 1997, he co-chaired the Bipartisan Ethics Task Force in an effort to reform ethics procedures in the House of Representatives. He also holds leadership positions on the Organization, Study and Review Committee and the Steering Committee of the Democratic Caucus and serves as Senior Democratic Whip.

Committee assignments

As of May 2006, Cardin currently serves on the following House committees:

• Member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  • Ranking member of the Trade Subcommittee.
  • Member of the Human Resources Subcommittee.
• Ranking member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

2006 U.S. Senate election

Main article: Maryland U.S. Senate election, 2006

On April 26, 2005, Cardin announced that he would seek the U.S. Senate seat of current long-standing senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), following the announcement by Sarbanes that he will not be running for re-election in 2006. On September 12, 2006, Cardin faced a challenging primary battle with other Maryland Democrats, including Kweisi Mfume, Josh Rales, Dennis F. Rasmussen, and Allan Lichtman. Cardin won, however, with 44% of the vote, compared to 40% for Mfume, 5% for Rales, and 2% for Rasmussen.[1] He was declared the winner just after 2% of the precincts reporting.

Education & honors

Cardin earned his B.A. degree cum laude in 1964 from University of Pittsburgh. In 1967, he graduated first in his class from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Cardin also holds honorary degrees from several institutions, including the University of Baltimore School of Law (1990); University of Maryland, Baltimore (1993); Baltimore Hebrew University (1994); and Goucher College (1996). From 1988-1995, he chaired the Maryland Legal Services Corp.

From 1988-1999, he served on the St. Mary's College of Maryland Board of Trustees, and in 2002, he was appointed to the St. Mary's Advisory Board for the Study of Democracy. In 1999, he was appointed to the Goucher College Board of Trustees.

Controversies

On September 16, 2006, Cardin's campaign fired a staffer who had maintained a blog about her experiences within the campaign. In addition to revealing details about the campaign, some of the blog entries contained racial and ethnic slurs. For example, some entries discussed the hypersensitivity of the campaign to racial issues, claiming that a black staffer on the campaign was able to keep his job solely due to playing "the racism card". In another entry, the staffer expressed her belief that she was a "sex object" for Jewish friends of Cardin, who she described as having "Jewish noses". Although the Cardin campaign maintained it was a "junior staffer", some bloggers revealed that the staffer was Ursula Gruber, a regional director in charge of other workers in the campaign. [2] [3]

Family

Cardin was raised in a political family and much of his early success can be attributed to family political connections. The family name was originally “Kardonsky” before it was changed to “Cardin”.

Ben Cardin’s father, Meyer M. Cardin, was elected a Delegate representing District 2 of Baltimore City at the age of 27. He served from 1935 to 1937. The family lived at 1730 E. Baltimore Street. In 1967, Meyer was appointed as a Judge on the Baltimore City Circuit Court and served a 10-year term. Meyer died in 2005.

On November 24, 1964, Cardin married Myrna Edelman, a teacher. They have a daughter, Deborah. Their son Michael committed suicide in 1998, aged 30.

Ben’s uncle, Maurice A. Cardin, formerly known as Morris Kardonsky, served as a Delegate representing District 5 of Baltimore City from 1951 to 1966. Maurice would play a big part in jump-starting young Ben’s political career. Meyer and Maurice were lawyers with the family law firm of Cardin & Cardin; the other partner was Jacob L. Cardin. Shoshana S. Cardin was appointed a delegate from Baltimore County District 2 to the 1967-68 Constitutional Convention, which was rejected by voters of Maryland on May 14, 1968.

In 1966, Maurice decided to not run for the District 5 seat so that his 22-year-old law student nephew Ben could run. The Cardin name proved unstoppable and Ben won, becoming a Delegate in 1967. Ben graduated from law school later that year. Ben subsequently served as Delegate representing District 42 after redistricting. Ben went on to serve as chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee at the age of 31 and as Speaker at the age of 36.

In 2002, Ben’s 32-year-old nephew, Jon S. Cardin, having similarly just graduated from University of Maryland law school in 2001, ran for election as a Delegate representing District 11 of western Baltimore County. With state legislative District 11 overlapping Congressional District 3, there were two Cardins on the ticket in this area in 2002. Present at Jon’s swearing in was the oldest living former member of the House of Delegates at 95 years of age, Meyer Cardin, Jon’s grandfather and Ben’s father. Also in attendance was Ben himself, who stated, "The next generation's taking over." After Ben announced that he would vacate his Congressional seat to run for the U.S. Senate, Jon Cardin stated that he was exploring a campaign for his uncle's Congressional seat.

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Official Congressional biography for Representative Cardin.
• Congressional Quarterly Voting and Elections Collection.

External links

• Official congressional website for Representative Cardin.
• Official 2006 U.S. Senate Campaign website for Representative Cardin.
• About.com's Inside Profile of Rep. Ben Cardin, 2006 Maryland Democratic Candidate for US Senate
• Template:CongBio2

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