Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has been described as the "crown princess" of Maryland politics -- a broadly popular figure who has avoided any taint from a string of embarrassing incidents that has troubled the Glendening administration.
But recent revelations of a pattern of abuse at the state's juvenile boot camps have landed on her doorstep -- presenting the possible gubernatorial candidate with the most serious test of her career in public office.
As Gov. Parris N. Glendening's coordinator of anti-crime efforts, Townsend is responsible for overseeing a juvenile justice department that the administration acknowledges has had serious managerial problems.
She was the administration's chief advocate for the boot camp concept, and the abuses occurred on her watch. A state task force found that the beating, slamming and manhandling continued for months after she was alerted to the problem.
"She's led a pristine political career," said Keith Haller, president of Potomac Survey Research, a Bethesda polling and consulting firm. "So this is kind of the first slight misstep. How she handles being in the caldron could be a good indicator of how she can survive in the candidate's hot seat."
Townsend's critics have been quick to detect a crack in her previously impenetrable political armor. Emboldened rivals say her supervision of the department and her actions since the boot camp beatings were described this month in The Sun raise serious questions about her abilities as a leader.
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, another potential candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, noted that the first reports of abuse reached Townsend in August.
"It strikes me as odd that only after something came out on the front page of The Sun did they say, `We need to take a look at this,' " he said.
Duncan charged that the state's juvenile justice system is "in shambles" and that Townsend shares much of the blame. "Townsend's known about it for years, Glendening's known about it for years," he said.
Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a possible contender for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, predicted that juvenile justice will be an important issue in the 2002 campaign. He said Townsend will be judged on her performance.
"If she's out there doing the political gig and not doing what the governor asked her to do, she would bear responsibility," the Baltimore County congressman said.
`Test of a leader'
Political analysts say that with three years before the 2002 election, Townsend has time to fix the problems and the public has time to forget. But she is clearly on the defensive about her handling of the crime portfolio -- a job that had brought her mostly favorable publicity.
In an interview Friday in her State House office, Townsend defended her handling of juvenile justice issues, saying she and Glendening had taken "immediate and decisive action" after reading the newspaper accounts of systematic assaults against youths at the Savage Leadership Challenge, one of the three boot camps in Garrett County.
"I believe the test of a leader is how they respond in times of crisis -- whether they take the responsibility that needs to be taken -- and I think I've done that," Townsend said.
Townsend and Glendening have accepted general responsibility for the violence, but neither has acknowledged making specific mistakes.
After The Sun began publishing its four-part series Dec. 5, Glendening and Townsend formed a task force to investigate the camps, led by Bishop L. Robinson, former state secretary of public safety. The task force completed a scathing report detailing the abuse in a week.
According to Glendening spokesman Mike Morrill, the governor and lieutenant governor received a draft of the report at 10 p.m. Tuesday. By 1: 15 p.m. the next day, Juvenile Justice Secretary Gilberto de Jesus, Deputy Secretary Jack Nadol and three other officials had been forced out.
The governor and lieutenant governor have since retreated into what Townsend calls their "zone of privacy" -- refusing to discuss what she told Glendening about problems at the department or whether he took her advice.
Critics say Townsend should be judged on how she has handled the issue since August, when she was briefed by juvenile justice officials about a reporter's questions about punching and slamming of juveniles at the Savage camp.
"Clearly if there are allegations of criminal behavior, these kind of things can't be handled internally. There has to be an independent inquiry of some sort," said Richard D. Bennett, who ran against Townsend for lieutenant governor last year and chairs the Maryland Republican Party.
Townsend says that in August, department officials gave her a toned-down version of the allegations -- referring to a single incident in which there was "some roughing up" of children.
"There weren't the allegations of abuse and beatings," she said.
