Candidates For City

The will-he-won't-he allure of Kweisi Mfume ends today. So do the whispers about a phantom white candidate jumping into Baltimore's mayoral race at the last minute. The last minute ends at 9 tonight - the deadline by which city candidates must file their papers with the election board, cough up a $150 registration fee and reserve a spot on the primary election ballot. Starting tomorrow, Baltimore's voters will at least know whom they're dealing with. As in past years, much buzz has surrounded Mfume's potential candidacy.

Four candidates vying for the city's vacant 9 t h District City Council seat were grilled on topics including property tax increases, deficits and how they would plan to spend their freshman year on the panel at a packed hearing Tuesday night. City council members must choose a replacement for Agnes Welch, who retired last month. The candidates are John T. Bullock, a political science professor, Abigail Breiseth, 42, a city schools teacher who helped found the Southwest Baltimore Charter School, Welch's son William A. "Pete" Welch, 57, a certified public accountant, and Michael E. Johnson, 55, who ran against Agnes Welch in 2007 and is the executive director of the Paul Robeson Institute.

REPUBLICANS ARE fortunate to have a candidate of David Tufaro's caliber running for mayor in the Sept. 14 primary. His educational, professional and business credentials make him The Sun's choice in the GOP primary.Mr. Tufaro has been an attorney with Piper & Marbury and an executive with Oxford Development Corp. and Summit Properties. He has worked on projects as varied as Waterloo Place and the Louis Foxwell Housing for the Deaf. Mr. Tufaro has also been an active volunteer in many community and business associations.

Scott Donahoo, a former car salesman known for his boisterous television commercials, told a local radio station that he is giving "serious consideration" to a run for mayor next year, joining an already crowded field of potential candidates. Scott Donahoo told Jimmy Mathis of WBAL radio that as mayor, he would drastically cut property taxes and increase the city's police presence. "We have lost a tremendous amount of the police department due to the failed policies of previous administrations and current administration," Donahoo said during the interview.

Baltimore's Sept. 12 primary marks the first time candidates' views are available on-line.Mayoral candidate Mary Pat Clarke can be accessed through URL:http://www.mpc.org. And hers is not the only on-line service. Three area civic groups have interviewed candidates and put their responses on the computer network."We believe this is a first in Maryland and an idea with much potential," said Dan Loden, president of the Baltimore City Homeowners' Coalition for Fair Property Taxes, which coordinated the effort and sent out the questionnaires in cooperation with the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce and Maryland Business for Responsive Government.

WITH LESS than four weeks remaining before the primary election of candidates for City Council president, a huge question about the race looms: Is this all there is? None of the candidates has yet presented a compelling, comprehensive blueprint for Baltimore's future -- or clearly described how he or she would lead the City Council, which is about to undergo its most radical reorganization in eight decades. The voters deserve better than this. The electorate must be given a better idea of the choices available Sept.

Environmentalism is rearing its "green" head in the city elections.Leaders of 11 local environmental groups have formed a political action committee that plans to work for -- and against -- candidates for city offices this year.The newly formed Baltimore City League of Environmental Voters is inspired by similar "grass-roots" political efforts last year that ousted incumbents and elected pro-environment candidates in local races in Frederick, Montgomery and Worcester counties.Terry J. Harris, a Sierra Club activist who is chairman of the new league, says the group plans to interview and endorse candidates for mayor and City Council.

Three Democratic candidates for City Council president addressed a crowd of about 400 people packed into a sweltering Fells Point church yesterday afternoon, telling the cheering group that, if elected, they would support a $50 million bond proposal to fight blight in Baltimore. City Council President Sheila Dixon and challengers Carl Stokes and Catherine E. Pugh each drew applause for their plans of action to revive dilapidated sections of Baltimore at yesterday's forum sponsored by Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, an organization of churches and community groups.

By pulling the lever for Mary Pat Clarke, Baltimore Democrats can nominate a mayoral candidate who offers an innovative approach to reverse the city's steady decline.For The Evening Sun, abandoning Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and endorsing Mrs. Clarke was a difficult decision. He is studied, where she is impulsive; he has a national reputation while she is strictly local; he has connections in Washington and Annapolis that have helped produce such major projects as Sandtown-Winchester and the $100 million empowerment zone.

With Baltimore's next city election eight months away, this is the time for all potential candidates to do more than think about running. In politics, 24 hours may be an eternity, but planning winning campaigns -- and raising money -- take time. The clock is ticking.If City Council President Mary Pat Clarke proves true to her words and challenges Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, that should produce a domino effect in the council. It is encouraging that a number of fresh faces have already emerged to run for potential vacancies.

In the most recent Sun poll, "undecided" was neck-and-neck with the leading candidates for City Council president. That a large number of voters are claiming no decision in this race is understandable. People may be having difficulty choosing between two able but relatively unknown candidates: incumbent City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and community activist Michael Sarbanes. So, this indecision is a good thing for our democracy. It means voters are taking care in deciding which of the two to support.

The will-he-won't-he allure of Kweisi Mfume ends today. So do the whispers about a phantom white candidate jumping into Baltimore's mayoral race at the last minute. The last minute ends at 9 tonight - the deadline by which city candidates must file their papers with the election board, cough up a $150 registration fee and reserve a spot on the primary election ballot. Starting tomorrow, Baltimore's voters will at least know whom they're dealing with. As in past years, much buzz has surrounded Mfume's potential candidacy.

Jacquiline "Jackie" Johnson has a mini-political revolution on her side in her bid to become a City Council member. What she really needs is shoe leather. Johnson is challenging Councilwoman Helen L. Holton in the first general election since council districts were shrunk and reshaped to help political upstarts just like her. But the revamped 8th District still seems pretty big to Johnson as she tries to cover an area large enough to span the affluent mill village of Dickeyville to Edmondson Village, a poor neighborhood where she has been active in community and school groups for years.

It may be like running into a burning building, as one applicant said, but those who want the job of city school board member say they wouldn't have it any other way. After extending deadlines for a month to encourage more people to apply, officials at the State Department of Education have selected nine candidates to be considered for four seats on the Baltimore school board. For many, the unpaid post would seem unattractive. Board responsibilities take lots of time and the board gets lots of criticism, blamed by many for the recent financial crisis and considered organization non grata by parents, politicians and the public.

With voices raised against corporate welfare and one-party rule, the Baltimore Green Party held its first convention in the city yesterday, attracting about 100 people to a library basement to nominate eight candidates for City Council. "The members of the City Council of Baltimore City ... should be on the streets of Washington demanding our money back, and demanding that the billions of dollars of federal money that go ... into the black hole of military spending be used instead for the health, education, transportation and general welfare of our citizens," said Dr. Terrence T. Fitzgerald, a physician nominated to run for the council's 5th District in Northwest Baltimore.

WITH LESS than four weeks remaining before the primary election of candidates for City Council president, a huge question about the race looms: Is this all there is? None of the candidates has yet presented a compelling, comprehensive blueprint for Baltimore's future -- or clearly described how he or she would lead the City Council, which is about to undergo its most radical reorganization in eight decades. The voters deserve better than this. The electorate must be given a better idea of the choices available Sept.

Three Democratic candidates for City Council president addressed a crowd of about 400 people packed into a sweltering Fells Point church yesterday afternoon, telling the cheering group that, if elected, they would support a $50 million bond proposal to fight blight in Baltimore. City Council President Sheila Dixon and challengers Carl Stokes and Catherine E. Pugh each drew applause for their plans of action to revive dilapidated sections of Baltimore at yesterday's forum sponsored by Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, an organization of churches and community groups.

Candidates for city offices scrambled yesterday to revise their political plans and raise money after learning they would face the voters not next year - as many had expected - but in September. "This is totally ludicrous, insane, crazy, unfortunate and embarrassing," said City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr., who is plotting a possible run for City Council president. Instead of announcing their plans nine months or more from now, some candidates felt pressure to fling their hats into the ring immediately after the legislature failed to change the primary date.