Following is his press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Olderman
Email: John@VoteSriqui.com
Michael Sriqui Announces Candidacy for the Maryland House of Delegates
Former Common Cause Vice President Stresses Campaign Finance Credentials
Government reform activist Michael Sriqui today announced his candidacy for the Maryland House of Delegates from the Bethesda-anchored 16th District. One of the district’s three seats in the House is open following the April resignation of Delegate Bill Bronrott.
“Reforming government and re-invigorating democracy have been at the heart of my political activism for over a decade,” said Sriqui, 31, a public television producer and Bethesda native. “Special interests use Maryland’s campaign finance system to build a wall between citizens and the State House. Reform will break down this wall and give activists the chance to pursue real progress on a host of important issues.”
Sriqui, a Bethesda native and a graduate of Walt Whitman High School, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the London School Economics, has spent the last month meeting with residents and speaking to neighborhood associations. “People remain nervous about the economy,” he said. “With the budget stretched so thin, they want leadership that’s willing to put the public interest first.” He said that elected leaders throughout Maryland had made too many promises they couldn’t keep when the recession hit. “People begin to feel our democracy isn’t representative when too few interests have too much sway,” he said.
Before running for Delegate, Sriqui served as Vice President of Common Cause, a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy that works to enhance citizen engagement in politics and hold elected officials accountable to the public interest. He has directed political campaigns in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and was a research aide to former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski in 2001. Sriqui, whose father is of Moroccan Jewish origin, is a member of Magen David Sephardic Congregation in North Bethesda.
2010 marks the first election since 1998 that voters in District 16 will directly elect a new Delegate. All three members of the current delegation were originally appointed by the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee to fill vacancies per the Maryland Constitution.
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