47 ABC talks with U.S. Senate candidate Del. Kathy Szeliga

8th – a new u-s senator will be elected to serve for the next six years. 47 abc’s julian sadur has been following the race -nd brings us part two of his two part series on the candidates tonight. pod after 20 years of representing maryland in the united states senate – barbara mikulski is stepping down – in the race to fill her seat – polls have shown democratic congressman chris van hollen – and republican state delegate kathy szeliga as the front runners to replace her. last night we brought you part of my interview with van hollen – tonight we take a look at szeliga who is currently serving as the minority whip in the maryland house of delegates. i bring that same baltimore blue collar worker ethic to the job and very hardworking and you know i’ve said lets put a taller younger polish girl from baltimore in the senate track in fact szeliga believes not sending another woman to replace senator barbara mikulski – would be a mistake by voters – because that would mean that maryland would only be represented by men in washington d-c. that would just be a shame for all the citizens of marylandbecause good law making requires diverse opinions and diversity at the table track although mikuski was for raising the minimum wage – szeliga is against it. saying doing so would hurt small business owners – and force them to have to lay off workers. szeliga says she herself spent time on minimum wage when she first got married – so she knows what it’s like – and says what people want is a career opportunity -which they can get with job skill training. we need skilled welders and carpenters, electricians and truck drivers. they’re lots of technical jobs in the it industry that are not being filledand these jobs can be filled by people who have a job training program in high school or in the community college level track but while on the topic of our communities – szeliga brought up the issue of gun violence – saying the solution is not in tougher gun laws as democrats may believe if gun laws solved the gun violence problem then we wouldn’t have gun violence in chicago and washington, d.c. two of the most regulated cities in our country if the maryland gun law was working so well we wouldn’t see the record high gun violence in baltimore city track szeliga says rather solution lies in the hands of our judicial system being tougher in the way they sentence criminals and enforce the laws already on the books. 515 the judges and the prosecutorsare not applying the law to them but letting them off with probation and other minor sentences yet they’re back in our communities wreaking havoc and causing violence among community members 530 pod now i have much more from my interviews with both szeliga and democratic nominee congressman chris van hollen available on our website – that’s 47 abc dot com. there you’ll find more information on where the two candidates stand on key issues – such as nasa wallops – the way we fund our military – and the way we protect our veterans. i recommend you view both pieces before heading to the polls. dave – back to you. thanks julian – that’s 47 abc’s julian sadur reporting in studio for us tonight. now to the