I watched the recent debate between senatorial candidates vying to replace Paul Sarbanes.

Ben Cardin tried to defend a record that illustrates clearly how he places corporate interests first.

Michael Steele pretended he does not represent the Republican culture of corruption and George Bush's exercise of raw power in the service of corporate interests.

Then there was Kevin Zeese, the only candidate representing the people of Maryland -- not corporations or the Israel lobby.

Cardin's largest PAC contributions come from financial, insurance and real estate interests. This might explain why he rejects the only solution that has ever worked for universal health care -- a single-payer system. Cardin favors a mish-mash of employer/ insurance companies guaranteed to exclude those who are excluded now.

Steele follows a similar formula that protects the insurance companies' slice of the pie, pushing health savings accounts as the panacea.

Both these positions mean we will continue to pay more for health care than anyone else in the world, and a sizeable portion of our people will remain uncovered.

Zeese takes no PAC money and as the only candidate without a "sold" sticker on his forehead, he does not have an "R" or "D" after his name. If you want to fix one of the major things wrong with Washington, he represents a start. It would send a huge signal to both parties that we are tired of corruption as usual and the primacy of the PACs.

If elected, Zeese would caucus with Democrats, working with them to root out the corruption that has become so entrenched in the last 11 years of Republican control of Congress.

I am done with voting for corporate interests. I came to know Zeese as a fighter with TruevoteMD, which he co-founded, working to restore transparency and accountability to our electoral system. He is a "small-d" democrat, meaning he is committed to democracy and the will of the people. He is on the right side of the issues because they are right -- not because he has been paid by a special interest.

He gets my vote.

Shelton F. Lankford

Salisbury