And no one saw GGP's meltdown coming? If the company couldn't stand up to a handful of Columbia "pioneers," no wonder it can't weather this economy.
Not that poinsettia fans find any joy in the company's demise - especially as GGP made good on its promise and started assembling the poinsettia tree in the mall last week.
If the mall winds up getting sold, the poinsettia battle might have to be waged again. Said Claire Lea, who helped organize last year's protest: "Let's hope we don't have to."
The honor of lobbyists impugned
Bruce Bereano trekked to Frederick a few weeks back to take up for "the poor plastic bag." He wound up having to defend something else: lobbyists.
Bereano was among lobbyists at a public hearing on the county commissioners' legislative package, which, among other things, urges the General Assembly to ban plastic bags.
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the poor plastic bag," the Frederick News-Post quoted Bereano saying on behalf of client Safeway. "Why it's been picked on all over the place, I don't know."
Soon, however, it was Bereano who felt picked on. County Commissioner Lennie Thompson questioned the honesty of lobbyists.
In an interview with me later, Thompson recalled saying something along the lines of: "This gentleman is a lobbyist. He's paid to represent the needs of his client. Of course he's going to say things that probably aren't true."
Bereano dashed off a letter to the News-Post, calling Thompson "outrageously disrespectful, rude and imbalanced." Imbalanced in a fairness sort of way, though Bereano wound up his missive by suggesting that Thompson "should seek some help."
"Lobbyists can be good citizens," Bereano told me later. "They really can. Pay taxes and contribute to the betterment of society. And pay taxes I do."
The newspaper ran the letter last week. Thompson said he didn't mind a bit. "Whenever I can be criticized by a lobbyist who's a convicted felon, please put that above the fold," Thompson said.
A low blow, given that the mail-fraud conviction Thompson referenced goes back 14 years, Bereano said. "He's not a good Christian," said the lobbyist.
Said Thompson: "I'm a lawyer. I've been called worse."
See the culture; get the business
The Bob Ehrlichs, Junior and Senior, are in South Korea on a weeklong cultural- and business-affairs mission.
South Korean Ambassador Lee Tae-sik had met the governor when he was in office and invited him to join a mission of that sort sometime. The invitation was extended to Senior when the ambassador learned he was a Korean War vet.
Let's hope Junior, who often gripes about Maryland's business climate under Martin O'Malley, keeps that under his hat while courting Korean business.
