Those Student Endorsements

By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 27, 2006; Page GZ02

The endorsement of District 20 Senate candidate Jamie Raskin by the Montgomery College Democrats has sparked something of a repeat of the controversy surrounding his support from another student group.

Brad J. Stewart , vice president and provost of the college's Takoma Park-Silver Spring campus, e-mailed Raskin last week to ask him to remove the club's endorsement from his Web site.

"The presentation on your website implies that this is an official endorsement by the college, something we do not allow," Stewart wrote.

In his reply, Raskin called the request "ridiculous" and asked Stewart why no other candidates with similar Web site displays were asked to remove the Democrats' logo. He also questioned why Stewart would copy the message to an e-mail address that belongs to Lorraine Pearsall, a supporter of his opponent, state Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D).

Steve Simon, a spokesman for the college, said that until Stewart received Raskin's response, "he didn't know about all of the other candidates."

Stewart was concerned, Simon said, about protecting the college's name because it does not endorse candidates. Moreover, the club is not officially registered as an on-campus organization, but is affiliated through College Democrats of America.

Stewart's initial message to Raskin was a response to a call from Pearsall, who said that she thought the Web notice looked like an endorsement from the college and that "Sen. Ruben has done so much for education."

"It's amazing to me how things are getting blown up," Pearsall said. "If Jamie had a question about any of this, all he had to do was pick up the phone. I'm his neighbor."

To Raskin, the interference was "one more brazen effort by Senator Ruben to use official and academic power to stifle student free speech."

Last month, Ruben contacted the principal of Montgomery Blair High School after learning that the student newspaper had endorsed Raskin. Ruben said the paper's staff members had not given her a chance to talk. Students said the senator did not respond to their interview requests.

Ruben's campaign manager, Philip L. Olivetti , said the campaign did not learn about the kerfuffle with the college Democrats until after the fact. After reading Raskin's response to Stewart, Olivetti said, "There he goes again. It's another case of the Raskin campaign overreacting."

After checking out the logo posted on Raskin's Web site, Simon, the college spokesman, said this week, "It looks fine."

Conflict resolved.