3rd District

Baltimore County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger has refused to endorse a package of recommended zoning changes that he says would leave the county vulnerable to lawsuits. But some fear his refusal to move will merely give developers an extra 17 days to launch projects before the tougher restrictions take effect, with or without the executive's signature. Saying he fears legal action by religious institutions, Ruppersberger has withheld his signature from a bill that changes zoning on dozens of parcels in the 3rd Council District, a huge and largely prosperous area that includes Cockeysville and Owings Mills and extends north to the Pennsylvania border.

Mr. Talk Radio is taking on Goliath in Maryland's 3rd District congressional race.Former radio personality turned Republican candidate Patrick L. McDonough is looking for an Achilles' heel in politically powerful U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin by heckling him with Rush-Limbaugh-style barbs."

A day after the governor's office released a proposed congressional redistricting map, House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr.'s office worked to come up with another drawing that would quell the distress of U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin. Cardin spent much of yesterday in closed-door meetings in Annapolis, discussing a wish list that would restore areas he believes are key to his 3rd District - including a precinct that contains a Jewish community center. A former speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates of whom lawmakers speak fondly, Cardin said Thursday he had "grave concerns" about the proposed map, on which he loses many neighborhoods he has represented in Columbia, Baltimore and Baltimore County.

As a 73-year-old retiree, Colin F. Harby is the kind of voter who might be drawn to Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin - especially given the congressman's positions to use the budget surplus to shore up Social Security and to have Medicare cover prescription drugs. But instead of supporting Cardin, Harby is running against the seven-term incumbent in Maryland's 3rd Congressional District. The race is a reprise of Harby's quest for the seat two years ago in his first try for elective office, a one-sided contest that Cardin won over the Republican by a margin of nearly 4-to-1.

A freshly paved road would normally be a good thing for a candidate seeking re-election. But Baltimore County Councilman T. Bryan McIntire recently faced a dozen residents of the Sparks area of the county who were upset that a resurfaced road had a gritty finish and uneven edges. "I see what you mean," McIntire told the Loveton Farms residents. He promised to ask the county to come up with a better system of notifying communities of such projects in the future, and the highway officials he had brought along said they would take another look at the work in the spring.

Date of birth: Jan. 22, 1964 Party affiliation: Democrat Professional experience: Attorney; public-sector lobbyist for Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County Education: Loyola High School; Georgetown University; Georgetown University Law Center Personal: Native Baltimorean; author of Baltimore Politics 1971-1986: The Schaefer Years and the Struggle for Succession 1. Why are you running for Congress? I have spent most of my life in the 3rd Congressional District.

Democrat John P. Sarbanes - the son of retiring U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes - won the open 3rd Congressional District seat last night, apparently leaving Maryland's congressional delegation unchanged, with six Democrats and two Republicans. Sarbanes, a Towson attorney and political novice, beat Republican John White, an Annapolis businessman, who was also making his first run for public office, according to preliminary results. Sarbanes also beat Charles Curtis McPeek, the Libertarian candidate.

The Republican primary in the County Council's 3rd District matches political newcomer Ron Dillon Jr. against former Councilman Thomas W. Redmond Sr., who lost his seat in 1998 after a series of financial troubles. Redmond, 55, a property manager who joined the Republican Party shortly after he lost to Shirley Murphy in the Democratic primary four years ago, has blamed a 1997 bankruptcy for his defeat. Revelations also surfaced before the 1998 primary that the Pasadena native and former tow truck and scrap yard operator owed $42,000 in back property taxes.

While campaigning in the predominantly black middle-class neighborhood of Ramblewood in the 3rd District, Maegertha "Mary" Whitaker tells voters that redistricting has altered the political landscape of Northeast Baltimore."

EXPECT MORE big names to enter the contest for Maryland's 3rd District congressional seat, which already appears to be one of the most competitive and unpredictable races in the state next year. John P. Sarbanes, elder son of Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, said last week he is contemplating running for Congress from a district that, in an earlier version, was once represented by his father. "I am looking at it actively and giving it hard consideration," he said. John Sarbanes has not sought office previously but is widely known in the Baltimore area for his work in education and other causes.