For the record, the Alliance's Tasha Brinkley-McNutt said she was unaware of any plans to fund friendly-journo junkets, though they intend to have a videographer tag along.
Loose lips reveal judgeships
Note to the newest judge on the state's highest court: It's a good idea to observe those "No Cell Phone Use" signs in medical waiting rooms. Especially if you're chatting about something that's "on the QT."
There's always a chance that someone - a newspaper reporter, even - will overhear.
The Sun's Stephanie Desmon was really trying to concentrate on a Newsweek article on acai berries while waiting for her own turn at American Radiology in Columbia last week. But her ears perked up when the cell-phone scofflaw sitting nearby called someone to say, "The governor called last night. I got it."
Mary Ellen Barbera phoned several people to share the news, cautioning that it was "on the QT." She'd tried somebody named Sally earlier, then left a second message to make sure she'd gotten the news.
I don't know if Sally got word before the rest of the world, but it didn't take long for it to spread. Desmon went to the office and passed on the tip that somebody named Barbera - HIPAA rules aside, they still call out your name in waiting rooms - had just gotten something from the governor. Reporter Gadi Dechter Googled the judge, then rang up the governor's office. The news release was out by day's end.
Connect the dots ...
Comptroller Peter Franchot has begun boycotting the "pre-meetings" of the state Board of Public Works, on grounds that the unadvertised confabs that take place before the official meeting violate the state's Open Meetings Act. Not to be outdone, Gov. Martin O'Malley, champion of "open and transparent government" since his days as Baltimore mayor, allowed The Sun's Laura Smitherman to attend last week's pre-meeting. But as the governor first walked in, he couldn't resist commenting to others in the room: "That obnoxious Sun reporter is around here someplace." ... A reader writes to take issue with my description of those marble things Baltimoreans use to access their front doors: "Why do the newer Sun reporters always write about marble stoops? Even Orioles announcer Gary Thorne thinks marble STEPS are stoops. In Baltimore stoop is a verb, marble steps, an adjective." (I interrupt this rant to clarify that "marble" is the adjective here and "steps," the noun. But I'm just showing off for my former high school English teacher.) The reader continues: "I'm from Highlandtown, (although recently some Realtors refer to it as Canton!) and I've scrubbed our MARBLE STEPS and sat on our STEPS and may have stooped to pick up something from our STEPS. I've only heard STEPS referred to as 'stoops' when in the New York Bronx. This is Baltimore 'Hon.'" ...
