Campaign Committee

Federal authorities have launched a preliminary investigation into fund-raising activities of Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, and state officials were anxiously awaiting yesterday an outcome that could determine the fate of one of Maryland's most powerful politicians. The FBI confirmed an initial inquiry into donations made to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a national group headed by Miller that seeks to influence State House races across the country. Large donations came from Maryland, notably $200,000 from a racing group controlled by Joseph A. De Francis, chief executive of the Maryland Jockey Club, which owns the Pimlico and Laurel horse tracks.

The campaign committee of Lt. Gov.-elect Michael S. Steele paid more than $50,000 to a Washington temporary employment agency that is at the center of an investigation into alleged illegal payments to Election Day campaign workers. The disclosure of the payment in recently filed campaign finance reports comes as an investigation by the state prosecutor's office is moving toward completion. Several attorneys who represent people affiliated with the GOP campaign said last week that they expect criminal charges to be filed - though all insist their clients did nothing wrong.

YOU COULD think of it as sex, lies and radio ads. Unhappy with Comptroller William Donald Schaefer for personal and political reasons, Gov. Parris N. Glendening has launched $15,000 worth of radio attack ads against him. In so doing, Mr. Glendening takes an unseemly feud to a new low. He's manipulating both the facts and the campaign finance laws of Maryland. It's a transparent ploy we hope will backfire. Mr. Glendening's money will pay for ads in support of Mr. Schaefer's opponent in this year's primary, Secretary of State John T. Willis.

WASHINGTON - Policing the influence of money in politics is a lot like policing the use of drugs on racehorses to enhance their performance. Every time a way to clamp down on either one is developed, the fixers come up with a new way to achieve the same end. In horse racing, it's often a new drug that can't immediately be detected. In politics, it's finding another way to funnel the green stuff into a campaign for a candidate or a particular cause. Now that the modest Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill has been passed by the House and sent to the Senate, where a very similar bill has already been approved, it looks like curtains for unregulated "soft" money flowing directly into such campaigns.

As state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell prepares to leave the General Assembly, he must decide what to do with the money he had amassed to bankroll his political future. Bromwell, a Baltimore County Democrat who recently announced he will give up his Senate seat to head the state's Injured Workers' Insurance Fund, has a campaign fund of about $225,000. State law allows him wide flexibility in using the money - much of it raised from industries that courted him as chairman of the powerful Finance Committee.

Meeting for their third debate over Baltimore County's neighborhood renewal law, County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger and state Del. James F. Ports Jr. argued last night over whether it is proper to use county funds to urge voters to approve the plan in a Nov. 7 referendum. County staffers have spent hours briefing Ruppersberger and gathering information as they work to win support for the renewal plan - often referred to as Senate Bill 509 - at the ballot box. They've produced overhead transparencies and printed brief brochures - single folded pages - to distribute at meetings.

The General Assembly opened the way last night for former congressman and current NAACP President Kweisi Mfume to run this year for mayor of Baltimore. The House of Delegates gave final approval to a bill reducing Baltimore's one-year residency requirement for mayoral candidates to six months, allowing Mfume to move back to the city from Catonsville in time to qualify for the race. "I think this bill gives us the opportunity to attract a candidate with a national reputation, who is well-connected at every level of government and the private sector," said Del. Maggie L. McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat.

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.

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.

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."