House Majority Whip Kumar P. Barve isn't satisfied with receiving NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland's endorsement. He's looking out for his friends.

Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg sent a letter on Monday to Tracy Terrell, chairwoman of the organization's political action committee, thanking the group for its endorsement but saying that "for the first time in 24 years I am stunned by many of the endorsement decisions of the PAC."

Barve took particular issue with the fact that his colleagues in District 17, which includes Rockville and Gaithersburg, failed to garner the group's endorsement.

"I think it's important to recognize incumbents who are pro-choice and deserve to be endorsed," Barve said in a telephone interview.

"When two Democrats like Lu Simmons and Jim Gilchrist do not get credit for what they do, then that's a problem for me," said Barve, who was a member of Maryland NARAL's board of directors from 1989 to 1990 after serving as the organization's treasurer and a member of its political action committee from 1986 to 1990.

Democratic delegates Luiz R.S. Simmons and James W. Gilchrist, both representing District 17 from Rockville, will be credited in NARAL's voter's guide for their perfect pro-choice voting record, said Maddy Greenwald, a member of NARAL's PAC.

"Del. Gilchrist never returned our questionnaire," Greenwald said. "And you're not eligible to be endorsed unless you return the questionnaire."

The questionnaires asked candidates if they would support specific legislation that NARAL could seek to introduce in the General Assembly.

The list released Friday represented the PAC's first round of endorsements, Greenwald said. Only two candidates for the three District 17 delegate seats received endorsements. The group declined to endorse for all seats in some districts, leaving the possibility that more candidates could be endorsed in the second round, which will come after the July 6 filing deadline, she said.

The sole Republican to receive an endorsement was Dan Campos, a candidate for delegate in District 17.

"He got 100 percent on his questionnaire," Greenwald said, adding that Campos "described himself as a Connie Morrella Republican," meaning he would vote pro-choice, as did the former longtime Republican congresswoman from Montgomery County's 8th District.

NARAL's support of challenger Cheryl C. Kagan over incumbent Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville represents the PAC's "conscious decision" to support "pro-choice leaders" in the legislature, Greenwald said.

"Both of them will vote correctly," Greenwald said. "But we were looking for someone who would really be a leader on the issue."

As a delegate from 1995 to 2003, Kagan, a fomer NARAL Pro-Choice America staff member, introduced legislation and spoke on the floor of the House of Delegates in support of NARAL legislation, Greenwald said.

Forehand "voted the right way, but that's pretty much it," Greenwald said.

Kagan's former job with NARAL was "not the main thing that we looked at," Greenwald said.

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