Board Of Regents

WHO CAN blame Lance Billingsley for trying to get in on a good thing? The chairman of the University of Maryland's board of regents sent out notices that he is hanging out his law firm's shingle in Annapolis to grab some of that lucrative lobbying business.Lobbying is a driving force in state government. Last year, more than 550 special-interest representatives billed 1,800 clients more than $20 million to plead their causes.The rules of the lobbying game are simple: There are no rules.That's an overstatement, of course.

In Allegany CountyCumberland mayor, council transfer airport ownershipCUMBERLAND -- The mayor and City Council voted 4-1 this week to transfer the deeds of Greater Cumberland Regional Airport to Potomac Highlands Airport Authority, the bistate commission that runs the airport in neighboring Wiley Ford, W.Va.The change in ownership relieves Cumberland of paying about $6,000 a year in property taxes to West Virginia and may enable the airport to receive additional funds from West Virginia.The lone opponent, Councilman Harry W. May Jr., has demanded a referendum on the issue.

Leading legislators say the recent disclosure of lobbying efforts by one of the governor's closest friends shows the need to review and perhaps toughen Maryland laws governing lobbyists.Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said he was dismayed to learn from a news report that Lance W. Billingsley, a lawyer who chairs the University of Maryland board of regents, has been paid by clients to get the governor's ear and help them in disputes with state agencies.In one case, Billingsley arranged for members of an Indian tribe to meet with Glendening so they could plead their case for state recognition.

As Towson University heads to the General Assembly to request money to expand Minnegan Stadium, angry community residents are asking state lawmakers and the Board of Regents once again to deny funding for the college's plans to build a $28 million regional sports complex.Noting that community concerns about congestion and noise have not been addressed, Rodgers Forge residents sent a letter to Board Chairman Nathan A. Chapman Jr. and Chancellor Donald P. Langenberg of the University System of Maryland, urging them to stop expansion efforts.

Prompted by concerns about the lobbying activities of Maryland Board of Regents Chairman Lance W. Billingsley, the General Assembly is considering barring regents from representing, for pay, any party on any matter before state agencies.University system officials called the prohibition unnecessary and overly broad, warning it would make it difficult to get good people to agree to serve on the University System of Maryland board and could affect several current members. The system includes 11 degree-granting campuses and two research institutions.

Less than a day after his plan to launch a lobbying career became public, University System of Maryland's Board of Regents Chairman Lance W. Billingsley bowed to critics yesterday and abruptly altered his plans.As long as he remains chairman of the regents, Billingsley said, he will accept only nonpaying cases. "It was obvious to me that lobbying might cause some misperception that could cause damage to the efforts of the university system," he said. "I don't want to take that risk."One of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's closest friends and political advisers, Billingsley said he had not spoken to the governor about his plan to lobby executive branch agencies and the General Assembly.

Lance W. Billingsley, chairman of the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents and one of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's closest political friends, has begun offering his services as a lobbyist on behalf of clients with business before the General Assembly.Billingsley, 58, said he is not planning to leave the unpaid regents post from which he directs policy making for College Park, 10 other university campuses and two research institutes with a total budget of $2.2 billion."Unless I'm missing something," he said, "there's nothing that says I can't lobby.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening is backing Baltimore investment broker Nathan A. Chapman Jr. to become chairman of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, despite concerns raised by some key lawmakers who favor another candidate.The legislators have pressed Glendening to support Adm. Charles R. Larson, the retired head of the U.S. Naval Academy, who was widely praised for his handling of a higher education task force on the university system last year.Chapman, a political ally of Glendening's, was appointed to the board in 1995 and is its vice chairman.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Genentech Inc., the world's No. 2 biotechnology company, has offered to pay $200 million to settle claims it violated a University of California patent in developing human-growth-hormone drugs, people familiar with the matter said.The proposed settlement comes more than five months after a San Francisco jury fell one vote short of finding that Genentech infringed on UC's patent for the human-growth-hormone drug Protropin. A majority of Genentech is owned by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG.If approved by UC's Board of Regents, the proposed settlement will keep Genentech out of a court battle over two of its best-selling products, the growth hormones Protropin and Nutropin.

Dozens of state lawmakers in Annapolis received hand-delivered protest letters from Towson residents yesterday asking them to oppose the planned construction of a $28 million regional sports complex at Towson University.Intensifying their campaign against the stadium plan, residents asked senators, delegates and the governor to deny funding for a "misguided plan" they say would increase traffic and noise, make parking more difficult and reduce property values.Residents, who testified against the stadium at a University System of Maryland Board of Regents meeting Monday, delivered a petition with 270 signatures to members of appropriation and budget committees.

Police identify victim in fatal Towson shooting A man found fatally shot in the head in his Towson apartment Saturday had recently undergone surgery and was discovered after an acquaintance came to check on him, Baltimore County police said. The victim was identified yesterday as Daniel Ho Colverston, 24. Police said he was killed Friday or Saturday in his residence in the 7000 block of Lachlan Circle, in the Fairways at Towson complex. Investigators said they knew of no motive and had no suspect in the case.

Baltimore Hebrew University, grappling with a long-term decline in enrollment, is in negotiations to become a part of Towson University, officials said. The state Board of Regents has informally indicated its approval of the talks. The plans are not complete, but the heads of both institutions said they believe negotiations will succeed. As part of Towson, Baltimore Hebrew would maintain its identity, said Jonathan Lowenberg, chairman of the board of the 90-year-old college. "Baltimore Hebrew University, as with any number of small universities around the country, faces financial issues and the ability to grow our programs as we think is appropriate," he said.

Employees of the state university system will be furloughed up to five days under a plan approved yesterday by the Maryland Board of Regents that would save $16 million in salary costs. Regents said the furloughs, which will come between January and June, were preferable to laying off any of the system's 22,500 full-time employees. The furloughs, the system's first since 1992, were ordered by the governor as the state tries to balance its budget in the face of declining revenues and a global economic crisis.

Right to give owners chance to catch up In the 1920s, my father and his brother were buyers of commercial property in Baltimore. They were conservative investors. They only purchased property if the bank would lend them 50 percent of the purchase price. There came a time in the early 1930s when they were unable to cover the mortgage payments. The bank threatened foreclosure. Since the balance of the mortgage was larger than the market value of the property, my father and uncle offered the property back to the bank.

Earl Stanford Richardson, the hard-charging educator who led Morgan State University through a rapid and at times rocky transformation from underfunded urban college to modern research university, said yesterday that he plans to retire at the end of next year. The announcement, which has been rumored for a week and comes toward the end of a tumultuous year for a school at the academic and cultural heart of black Baltimore, was greeted with tributes even from those who have tussled with the occasionally feared leader during his 24-year tenure.

Regents wrong to take a position on slots It was very disappointing to see officials from the University System of Maryland come out in support of slots gambling because the Board of Regents doesn't see how the university can do without the money slots would generate ("UM Board of Regents endorses state plan for slots," Sept. 6). As a beacon of enlightenment, the university system should articulate a higher ethical standard than other bodies. While Maryland families are having to cut back and struggling, in some cases, to keep their homes in this difficult economy, the university system is sending the wrong message by endorsing gambling as a necessary evil.

Wading into a political debate, the state Board of Regents unanimously endorsed yesterday a plan to install 15,000 slot machines at five locations across Maryland. If approved by voters in November, slots would provide a dedicated revenue source for education, including money for building projects at state universities. Regents say the money is critical as the system's 11 universities try to accommodate more students. "We need a lot more money going forward," said Regent David H. Nevins, a supporter of the slots referendum.

Contrary to what some critics may say, the Morgan State University Board of Regents takes seriously its obligations as a governing board with responsibility for the overall management of the institution ("Morgan regents often 'not here,' " July 13). Morgan State's board meets the state standard for attendance at regular board meetings, satisfies the requirements of our by-laws for a quorum and otherwise invests the time necessary to effectively accomplish the business of the university.

Some of the most prominent members of Morgan State University's Board of Regents have routinely missed meetings since at least 2000, a pattern of absenteeism that critics say robs the Baltimore school of key oversight at a time when it is under criminal investigation by the Maryland attorney general for its fiscal practices. Board members U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, former congressman Kweisi Mfume and prominent science education advocate Shirley M. Malcom have missed dozens of meetings in recent years, according to minutes from the board meetings that The Sun obtained through a public information request.

Towson University has scrapped plans to renovate 32-year-old Towson Center and instead wants to build a $45.4 million multi-use arena that could open by July 2011. As decisions go, this switch was easy. "Once the architects started looking at it, they brought us the proposition that a new building would be a much better building in terms of what we'd get, and it'd also be a little less expensive than renovating," said James P. Sheehan, vice president for administration and finance at Towson.