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Barbara Mikulski on Principles & Values

Democratic Sr Senator (MD)


Voted with Democratic Party 96% of 325 votes.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), was scored by the Washington Post on the percentage of votes on which a lawmaker agrees with the position taken by a majority of his or her party members. The scores do not include missed votes. Their summary:
Voted with Democratic Party 96% of 325 votes.
Overall, Democrats voted with their party 88.4% of the time, and Republicans voted with their party 81.7% of the time (votes Jan. 8 through Sept. 8, 2007).
Source: Washington Post, “US Congress Votes Database” , Sep 8, 2007

3 C's for Senators: Colleagues; Committees; & Constituents

"I love being a US senator," Mikulski tells them, "because I get to fight for the day-to-day needs of my constituents and the long-range needs of the nation." To do that effectively, she says, requires power, and power in the Senate is achieved through careful attention to the three Cs: "Connecting with our colleagues, getting on the right committees, and staying in touch with our constituents--those are the keys to success in the Senate," Mikulski says.

Their most important obligation, Mikulski reminds them, may find its completion on the Senate floor, but its foundation is laid and its scaffold erected from the practical organization of offices, phone lines, mail rooms, scheduling, staff--the minutiae of their operations. "Every one of us came here with a passion for the issues," she says. "We all have good intentions, but we have to operationalize our good intentions."

Source: Nine and Counting, by Catherine Whitney, p.196 , Dec 6, 2000

Pledges not to campaign against GOP women Senate candidates

In July, when the 9 women senators appeared on Larry King Live to talk about their book, they stunned their host and many of the program's viewers by stating that they would not campaign against other Senate women. That decision, Mikulski explained, was forged from a bitter experience. "When Olympia was running the first time George Mitchell asked us to go [up to Maine and oppose her]. And I will tell you, it was one of the most melancholy things I ever did. I apologize to Olympia."

King looked incredulous, "For campaigning against her?"

"Yes," Mikulski replied, "because this is a great woman. I think we all learned a lesson, which is that we are not going to campaign against each other. We are going to duke it out in the Senate. We have different issues, different parties. But I think we all feel that every one of us has made a difference, and we want to support that. When we have been together, we have brought about change. And we are proud of each other."

Source: Nine and Counting, by Catherine Whitney, p.197-198 , Dec 6, 2000

BAM's principles: Listen to people; no Washington-speak

    BAM'S PRINCIPLES
  1. I am not only the senator from Maryland, but also the senator FOR Maryland.
  2. We must be committed to looking out for the day-to-day needs of Marylanders and the long-range needs of America.
  3. My economic purpose is to help those who are middle class stay there, and to give those who are not middle class the chance to get there.
  4. Our constituents have a right to know, to be heard, and to be represented.
  5. Listen to the people and the stories of their lives. My best ideas come from the people.
  6. We must Communicate, Coordinate and Cooperate.
  7. We are not a bureaucracy.
  8. We cannot always guarantee and outcome, but we can guarantee an effort.
  9. Always be clear about: "What is the objective we seek?"
  10. Goals should be specific, immediate, and realistic.
  11. Just move it.
  12. Do not explain an abstraction with an abstraction.
  13. The language of Washington is foreign language. We need to talk about people in terms they understand.
Source: Nine and Counting, by Catherine Whitney, p.121-122 , Jul 25, 2000

Voted YES on confirming of Sonia Sotomayor to Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. In her opening statement, Judge Sotomayor pledged a "fidelity to the law:"
"In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law--it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress's intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."
Reference: Supreme Court Nomination; Bill PN506 ; vote number 2009-S262 on Aug 6, 2009

Voted NO on confirming Samuel Alito as Supreme Court Justice.

Vote on the Nomination -- a YES vote would to confirm Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of New Jersey, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Reference: Alito Nomination; Bill PN 1059 ; vote number 2006-002 on Jan 31, 2006

Voted NO on confirming John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Vote on the Nomination (Confirmation John G. Roberts, Jr., of Maryland, to be Chief Justice of the United States )
Reference: Supreme Court Nomination of John Roberts; Bill PN 801 ; vote number 2005-245 on Sep 27, 2005

Religious affiliation: Catholic.

Mikulski : religious affiliation:

The Adherents.com website is an independent project and is not supported by or affiliated with any organization (academic, religious, or otherwise).

What’s an adherent?

The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.

Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.

Source: Adherents.com web site 00-ADH11 on Nov 7, 2000

Rated 100% by the AU, indicating support of church-state separation.

Mikulski scores 100% by the AU on church-state separation

OnTheIssues.org interprets the 2006 AU scores as follows:

About the AU (from their website, www.au.org):

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. AU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.

Americans United is a national organization with members in all 50 states. We are headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director. AU has more than 75,000 members from all over the country. They include people from all walks of life and from various faith communities, as well as those who profess no particular faith. We are funded by donations from our members and others who support church-state separation. We do not seek, nor would we accept, government funding.

Source: AU website 06n-AU on Dec 31, 2006

Other candidates on Principles & Values: Barbara Mikulski on other issues:
MD Gubernatorial:
Martin O`Malley
MD Senatorial:
Benjamin Cardin

MD politicians

Retiring in 2014 election:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
NJ:Lautenberg(D)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Senate Vacancies 2013:
HI:Inouye(Deceased)
HI:Schatz(Appointed)
MA:Kerry(Resigned)
MA:Cowan(Appointed)
SC:DeMint(Resigned)
SC:Scott(Appointed)

Retired as of Jan. 2013:
AZ:Kyl(R)
CT:Lieberman(D)
HI:Akaka(D)
ME:Snowe(R)
ND:Conrad(D)
NE:Nelson(D)
NM:Bingaman(D)
TX:Hutchison(R)
VA:Webb(D)
WI:Kohl(D)

Senate elections Nov. 2012:
AZ:Flake(R) vs.Carmona(D)
CA:Feinstein(D) vs.Emken(R) vs.Lightfoot(L)
CT:McMahon(R) vs.Murphy(D)
DE:Carper(D) vs.Wade(R) vs.Pires(I)
FL:Nelson(D) vs.Mack(R)
HI:Hirono(D) vs.Lingle(R) vs.Case(D) vs.Pirkowski(R)
IN:Lugar(R) vs.Mourdock(R) vs.Donnelly(D)
MA:Brown(R) vs.Warren(D)
MD:Cardin(D) vs.Bongino(R) vs.Sobhani(I)
ME:King(I) vs.Dill(D) vs.Summers(R)
MI:Stabenow(D) vs.Hoekstra(R) vs.Boman(L)
MN:Klobuchar(D) vs.Bills(R)
MO:McCaskill(D) vs.Akin(R)
MS:Wicker(R) vs.Gore(D)
MT:Tester(D) vs.Rehberg(R)
ND:Heitkamp(D) vs.Berg(R)
NE:Kerrey(D) vs.Fischer(R)
NJ:Menendez(D) vs.Kyrillos(R) vs.Diakos(I)
NM:Heinrich(D) vs.Wilson(R)
NV:Heller(R) vs.Berkley(D)
NY:Gillibrand(D) vs.Long(R) vs.Noren(I) vs.Clark(G)
OH:Brown(D) vs.Mandel(R)
PA:Casey(D) vs.Smith(R)
RI:Whitehouse(D) vs.Hinckley(R)
TN:Corker(R) vs.Clayton(D)
TX:Cruz(R) vs.Sadler(D) vs.Roland(L) vs.Dewhurst(R)
UT:Hatch(R) vs.Howell(D)
VA:Kaine(D) vs.Allen(R)
VT:Sanders(I) vs.MacGovern(R)
WA:Cantwell(D) vs.Baumgartner(R)
WI:Thompson(R) vs.Baldwin(D)
WV:Manchin(D) vs.Raese(R)
WY:Barrasso(R) vs.Chesnut(D) 		Abortion
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Page last updated: Apr 21, 2013