Buhl

MARYLAND GOVERNORS always have won approval for highest-level appointments, even when the other party controls the General Assembly. Adhering to that healthy precedent, Senate Democrats endorsed 17 of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s choices. But on the 18th -- Secretary of the Environment-designate Lynn Y. Buhl -- members of a Senate panel balked. They were right to say no, and their decision ought to be upheld by the full Senate. The Ehrlich administration suspects partisan politics. But if the governor thought precedent would oblige the Senate to roll over on such passionate concerns -- clean air, clean water, the Chesapeake Bay -- he made an error in judgment.

Not quite two years after becoming the first nominee by a governor in modern Maryland history to be rejected by the Senate, Lynn Y. Buhl will leave the post she has occupied since then at the Department of Natural Resources. Buhl, deputy secretary of the department, will be gone by the end of the month, DNR Secretary C. Ronald Franks announced this week. Assistant Secretary Ron Guns will succeed her. "I regret to inform you that after nearly a year and a half with the Department, DNR Deputy Secretary Lynn Buhl has decided to leave state service to pursue other opportunities, effective January 31, 2006," Franks wrote in an e-mail alerting his staff.

On October 31, 2004 PATRICIA JEANNE BUHL (nee Yates) 58, of Finksburg; beloved wife of James W. Buhl Jr.; devoted mother of Michelle S. and husband Keith H. Green; dearest sister of William F. and wife Carolyn Yates; loving grandmother of Courtney T. Green. Proceeded in death by sisters Joy and Irene Yates. Friends may call Tuesday, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P. M at BURRIER-QUEEN FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORY P.A., 1212 W. Old Liberty Road, Winfield MD 21784, where Catholic prayers will be said, Wednesday, November 3, 2004 10 A.M. Interment Lake View Memorial Park Sykesville www.burrier-queen.

On October 31, 2004 PATRICIA JEANNE BUHL (nee Yates) 58, of Finksburg; beloved wife of James W. Buhl Jr.; devoted mother of Michelle S. and husband Keith H. Green; dearest sister of William F. and wife Carolyn Yates; loving grandmother of Courtney T. Green. Proceeded in death by sisters Joy and Irene Yates. Friends may call Tuesday, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P. M at BURRIER-QUEEN FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORY P.A., 1212 W. Old Liberty Road, Winfield MD 21784, where Catholic prayers will be said, Wednesday, November 3, 2004 10 A.M. Interment Lake View Memorial Park Sykesville www.burrier-queen.

Lynn Y. Buhl, a former Chrysler Corp. attorney who became the first Maryland Cabinet secretary nominee rejected in modern times, is getting a new position in the Ehrlich administration. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has selected Buhl as deputy secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, replacing William P. Jensen. Buhl will start in the new position this summer, said Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Ehrlich. Her salary has not been determined, he said. Ehrlich chose Buhl as secretary of the Department of the Environment, but the state Senate rejected her nomination in March last year.

Not quite two years after becoming the first nominee by a governor in modern Maryland history to be rejected by the Senate, Lynn Y. Buhl will leave the post she has occupied since then at the Department of Natural Resources. Buhl, deputy secretary of the department, will be gone by the end of the month, DNR Secretary C. Ronald Franks announced this week. Assistant Secretary Ron Guns will succeed her. "I regret to inform you that after nearly a year and a half with the Department, DNR Deputy Secretary Lynn Buhl has decided to leave state service to pursue other opportunities, effective January 31, 2006," Franks wrote in an e-mail alerting his staff.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. pulled out all the stops yesterday to get Lynn Y. Buhl confirmed as Maryland's environmental secretary in what fast is becoming the biggest test of the young administration. Hoping to avoid an embarrassing defeat, the governor and his staff have been making the rounds in a desperate attempt to get the 24 votes of support by the time the Senate takes up the confirmation, possibly as soon as tomorrow. Yesterday, the governor's staff upped the ante by suggesting that a former businessman feared by environmentalists -- Kendl P. Philbrick, the agency's deputy secretary -- would serve as the head of the agency if Buhl is rejected.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. made a final push to get Lynn Y. Buhl confirmed as environmental secretary yesterday by offering to haggle with her leading critic in the Senate. In a rare glimpse at how government works, Ehrlich said he is trying to cut a deal with Sen. Brian E. Frosh so the Montgomery County Democrat will drop his opposition to Buhl's confirmation as secretary of the Department of the Environment. Ehrlich told Frosh -- who worked diligently all week to line up the votes to defeat Buhl -- he will consider just about any offer in exchange for guarantees Buhl will be confirmed when the Senate votes Tuesday.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s embattled nominee to head the Department of the Environment vowed yesterday to take her case to the full Senate - and the public - as administration officials accused legislative leaders of bringing partisanship to new lows. Lynn Y. Buhl, whose nomination was rejected Monday by the Senate Executive Nominations Committee, has launched a blitz of media interviews to gather support for her bid to lead the agency charged with enforcing the state's environmental laws.

In a stinging rebuke to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the Senate Executive Nominations Committee voted last night to reject his choice for environmental secretary, Lynn Y. Buhl. The decision marks the first time since Maryland's modern government was formed three decades ago that the panel has not confirmed a governor's choice to head an agency. The 10-9 vote against Buhl came after a lengthy hearing in which the nominee pleaded with senators to give her a chance even as the state's environmental community warned she was not qualified to lead the agency charged with protecting the state's air and water.

Lynn Y. Buhl, a former Chrysler Corp. attorney who became the first Maryland Cabinet secretary nominee rejected in modern times, is getting a new position in the Ehrlich administration. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has selected Buhl as deputy secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, replacing William P. Jensen. Buhl will start in the new position this summer, said Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Ehrlich. Her salary has not been determined, he said. Ehrlich chose Buhl as secretary of the Department of the Environment, but the state Senate rejected her nomination in March last year.

Kendl P. Philbrick, who a year ago was being portrayed as a "nightmare" for conservationists, won the unanimous approval of a Senate committee last night for confirmation as Maryland's secretary of the environment. The Senate Executive Nominations Committee recommended Philbrick's confirmation after he assured the panel he would reserve a "seat at the table" for environmental groups that felt the wrath of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. last year after they successfully opposed the previous nominee.

WHEN Maryland's top environmental official attends an event for environmentalists, he can expect all manner of questions. But probably not, "What are you doing here?" The recent impertinence was understandable, however, in the case of Kendl P. Philbrick, Acting secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment. It was only last winter that the Ehrlich administration was using Philbrick, a career businessman from Lockheed Martin Corp., as its bogeyman to pressure the environmental community into supporting Lynn Y. Buhl, the governor's controversial pick for MDE secretary.

Acting Environmental Secretary Kendl P. Philbrick will be nominated for the permanent position when the Maryland General Assembly opens next week, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday. The governor's decision to submit Philbrick for confirmation by the Senate comes less than a year after Philbrick's predecessor, Lynn Y. Buhl, was rejected for the position - the Republican administration's first major defeat at the hands of Democratic lawmakers. "We think he's done a terrific job," Ehrlich said of Philbrick in an interview yesterday.

WITH LESS THAN two months until the start of the General Assembly, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. still hasn't decided what to do with the position of environmental secretary. Standing between the acting secretary, Kendl P. Philbrick, and the nominee who was rejected last winter by the Senate, Lynn Y. Buhl, Ehrlich said last week that he's still trying to gauge the politics. "I guess they don't pass some kind of political litmus test," Ehrlich said of Buhl and Philbrick, when asked about the situation at a news conference at the Department of the Environment headquarters.

Former corporate real estate executive Kendl P. Philbrick will become acting secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment on Monday, a promotion that has some environmental advocates worried that the regulatory agency may tilt toward business interests. Philbrick will replace acting secretary Lynn Y. Buhl, the polarizing figure from Michigan whose rejection by the Maryland Senate this year delivered Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. one of his most visible setbacks. Buhl, a former Chrysler Corp.

After a fierce debate, the state Senate rejected Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s choice for environmental secretary yesterday - the first time in Maryland's modern history that the chamber has refused to approve a governor's nominee to head an agency. The 26-21 vote against Lynn Y. Buhl followed a week of furious backroom negotiations and aggressive lobbying by the governor as he tried to avert a public and embarrassing setback. The outcome strained relations between Ehrlich and the Senate, and left some senators angry, even as others said it was a natural consequence of a Republican executive and a Democratic-controlled legislature.

In a sharp change in tactics, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration began actively seeking a deal yesterday with environmentalists and Senate Democratic leaders to overcome opposition to Lynn Y. Buhl's confirmation as environmental secretary. After trying this week to punish environmental leaders for opposing Buhl -- even withdrawing support from a proposal to increase fines for water pollution -- the governor's staff concluded yesterday that the vote on Buhl will be so close that they need to reach a compromise, rather than try to muscle her confirmation through a resistant Senate.

The General Assembly session ended this week without Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. naming a new environmental secretary, an apparent violation of the Maryland Constitution. In March, the Senate rejected the nomination of Lynn Y. Buhl, Ehrlich's choice to run the Maryland Department of the Environment, creating a vacancy at the head of the agency. It was the first time that the legislature has rejected a governor's pick, a high-profile setback to the new Republican administration. Ehrlich says he still wants Buhl -- a former Chrysler Corp.