Campaign Committee

Joyce Lyons Terhes, the state Republican Party chairwoman, has accused Democrat James DeGrange, 32nd District Senate candidate, and a fund-raising committee set up by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller of campaign financing irregularities.She charged yesterday that Miller's Maryland Democratic Senatorial Committee has transferred to DeGrange's campaign committee more than the $6,000 legally allowed and that none of the transfers shows up on DeGrange's campaign finance report.Terhes asked Secretary of State John T. Willis to seek a court order to stop the transfers.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's campaign is crying foul over an ad Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry is running on five Washington-area radio stations that attacks the governor for failing to support the county's public schools.In the ad, Curry says Glendening has "shortchanged the children of Prince George's County."Curry urges listeners to vote for Eileen M. Rehrmann, Glendening's opponent in the Democratic primary, saying she "will not be ashamed to stand up for our children."

A controversial campaign committee formed by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to protect Democratic control of Maryland's upper chamber has more than $430,000 on hand to defend against Republican challenges, campaign finance records show.In a report filed this week, the Maryland Democratic Senatorial Committee reported that it has raised $636,298 and has spent $200,387 -- most of it on polling.That leaves a campaign fund of about $436,000 from which Miller can direct large sums to the most embattled of his party's incumbents.

Mayoral hopeful M. Theresa DeGraff admitted yesterday not filing an overdue financial statement with the Board of Supervisors of Elections -- a requirement of elected officials in Annapolis.The city board has found that DeGraff, a Ward 7 Republican, violated city election laws when she failed to file a campaign finance report due last July. DeGraff can't be an official candidate for mayor until she corrects the problem, board chairman Richard E. Israel said."Obviously, it's a mistake. It's my responsibility, and we'll fix it," DeGraff said, adding that an amended report will be filed no later than Monday.

Anne Arundel County Executive John G. Gary is accusing the local circuit court's top judge of being soft on alleged law-breaking by an assistant state's attorney who donated to the judge's campaign.The Gary administration has asked for a state investigation into whether Trevor Kiessling, head of the county drug asset forfeiture program, routinely lied to judges by filing papers falsely claiming that the county police chief had approved the auctioning of cars seized from drug suspects.Gary's attorney and Kiessling's office have asked Administrative Judge Clayton Greene Jr. to meet with them and help decide whether Kiessling did anything wrong.

Alderman M. Theresa DeGraff filed amended financial disclosure forms with the Annapolis city clerk's office Friday after it was discovered last week that the mayoral hopeful had violated city election laws when she failed to file these forms in July.Records show that a report was submitted for the DeGraffCampaign Committee on June 30, 1995. But Aug. 1 of that year, a new Friends of Terrie DeGraff campaign committee took over.DeGraff should have filed a final closing report for her old committee by July 1, 1996.

Anne Arundel County Councilman Thomas W. Redmond, who won election in 1994 campaigning as a fiscally responsible businessman, disclosed yesterday that he had declared bankruptcy with $1.6 million in debts.The 50-year-old salvage yard owner, who has property worth $3.2 million, filed for Chapter 11 protection from his creditors to halt the auction of properties in Ocean City for which he had been failing to make mortgage payments, according to his lawyer, Alexander Gordon.During an emotional civil court hearing in Annapolis, a judge found Redmond in contempt of court for failing to honor a 10-year-old divorce agreement to remove his ex-wife's name from one of the financially troubled properties -- an apartment house with several building code violations that burned in January.

YOU COULD call it BobPAC.Well, technically, not. The Bob Ehrlich for Maryland Committee actually will not be a political action committee once it is formed, probably later this week.But it sure will function as one.It seems Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican from Maryland's 2nd District, is expanding his horizons by starting a state continuing campaign committee, instead of limiting himself to just the federal level.The congressman would appear to be casting an eye to the future, when he may file for a statewide office, like, say, governor.

WASHINGTON -- Election Day is six months away, but Rep. Martin Frost wishes it were tomorrow.Armed with polls that show the Republican Congress still highly unpopular with the voters, Democrats like Mr. Frost are daring to dream of reclaiming the House of Representatives, which they lost in 1994 after 40 years of control."

Because of a typesetting error, Sunday's Anne Arundel edition of the Sun about former County Executive Robert R. Beall's lobbying incorrectly stated the size of the proposed Dorchester residential development. The subdivision near Baltimore-Washington International Airport could have as many as 1,600 homes.The Sun regrets the error.Robert R. Neall, Anne Arundel's former county executive turned lobbyist, has parlayed a reputation for fiscal expertise, personal friendships and lavish campaign contributions into enviable access to the most powerful offices in county government.

WASHINGTON - After leading his party to a gain of at least 19 seats in the House, Rep. Chris Van Hollen has agreed to another two-year term as chairman of the committee that works to elect more Democrats to the chamber. The challenge now confronting the Montgomery County Democrat is holding on to all the seats his party picked up in 2006 and 2008. Democrats rode public anger about the war in Iraq, the financial crisis and President Bush to an 81-seat majority over the past two elections, but many won in Republican districts that will likely prove difficult to defend.

WASHINGTON - Between them, Andy Harris and Frank Kratovil have raised more than $4 million in pursuit of the seat now held by Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest. Add to that the outside money now flooding the 1st District, and Maryland's most competitive House race this year could be the state's most expensive ever. So what does the anti-tax Club for Growth want in return for the $1.8 million it has sent Harris' way for the Republican primary and the general election this year? What price will the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee exact for spending $1.3 million to get Kratovil elected?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton claims that Sen. Barack Obama's Hope Fund PAC deliberately contributed to candidates in key early primary states in 2006 with the aim of securing their later support. Never mind that the Hope Fund gave to a broad spectrum of candidates - including, oddly, Mrs. Clinton herself. If she really wants Democratic voters to judge their potential nominees on their 2006 choices, she might not like the judgments they make. Last year was a Democratic opportunity, and grass-roots supporters dug deep to finance an ever-expanding array of competitive races.

WASHINGTON -- The good news for Maryland: With the House majority leader, a senior Senate appropriator and the head of the House Democratic campaign committee in Washington, the state seldom has wielded so much clout. The less good news: Maryland's enhanced power comes just as tight budgets and new rules on pork-barrel politics could limit the ability of its congressional delegation to deliver federal money to the state. "I don't think the spigots are going to be opened in the next fiscal year," said William A. Galston, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

.. WASHINGTON --When newly elected Democratic members of Congress showed up here last month, they were given the traditional orientation, civic-minded lessons on how Congress works, tours of the Capitol and receptions with their new colleagues and leaders. But about 12 were singled out for a type of orientation that has continued through this month. The "incumbent retention program," a detailed plan worked out after the November election swept Democrats into power in Congress, is aimed at fortifying the most politically shaky with plum committee assignments, prized bill sponsorships and an early start on fundraising, all in preparation for their 2008 re-election campaigns.

A researcher for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee used her supervisor's work credit card to obtain a credit history for Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, answering personal questions on a Web site as if she were Steele, court documents filed yesterday show. The details were revealed in a plea agreement entered by researcher Lauren B. Weiner and submitted in U.S. District Court in Washington, and provide a glimpse into the world of political opposition research at the highest levels in Washington.

Victorine Q. Adams was small in stature, but height was hardly the measure of her. The former schoolteacher who became the first African-American woman to serve on the Baltimore City Council and who died this week at age 93 had a big influence on city and state politics. A founder and active member of the Colored Women's Democratic Campaign Committee, Mrs. Adams was an old-fashioned organizer, who often used social gatherings as a way to get people involved in causes. Together with her husband, William L. "Little Willie" Adams, who pushed to desegregate public golf courses in the city, she helped advance civil rights in Maryland.

A day after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee admitted that two staffers had obtained Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's credit report, Steele called for those responsible to be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." The U.S. attorney's office in Washington and the FBI are conducting a criminal investigation into the incident, which appears to have stemmed from opposition research in preparation for Steele's likely U.S. Senate bid. But some say the incident is probably a sign of things to come in what is shaping up as the most competitive U.S. Senate race Maryland has seen in decades.

The state prosecutor's office yesterday arrested a Baltimore City Council member's former campaign treasurer and charged him with stealing from his candidate's coffers and filing false finance reports with the Maryland State Board of Elections. Momoh Abu Conteh, 48, of the 2800 block of E. Chase St. was arrested by Baltimore police yesterday at his downtown city government office, where he works as a personnel administrator for the Baltimore Department of Housing and Community Development.

A Baltimore City Council candidate who lost his bid for an East Baltimore seat this year asked the city Circuit Court yesterday to prevent the winner in that race, Paula Johnson Branch, from being sworn in to office on Thursday, when the new council is inaugurated. Glenn L. Ross' request for a temporary restraining order against Branch's inauguration is part of the lawsuit he filed against the state Board of Elections contending Branch was ineligible to run because of missing campaign finance reports and unpaid late fees.