Chairmanship

Westminster City Councilman Stephen R. Chapin Sr. has given up his chairmanship of the finance committee to avoid a possible conflict of interest with his new role as landlord of an apartment complex where some tenants receive federal housing assistance.Mr. Chapin and his son, Stephen R. Chapin Jr., bought Ye Village Green apartment complex at Sullivan and Schaffer avenues last month. Five tenants in the 39-unit complex -- three of them elderly women -- receive subsidies from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In addition to having a hand on the nation's checkbook, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is reaping a political reward from her new assignment as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee: a significant increase in campaign cash. The Maryland Democrat, who is not up for reelection until 2016, raised $191,000 in the first three months of this year - many times the $7,737 she collected over the same period last year, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Michael Steele has dropped his bid to head the Maryland Republican Party and is exploring a run for Congress in 2000.The Prince George's County lawyer announced yesterday that for the sake of unity, he will not challenge Richard D. Bennett for the state party chairmanship when party regulars convene Dec. 12 in Annapolis.Steele received the endorsement of Ellen R. Sauerbrey in his unsuccessful campaign for comptroller in the Republican primary. But Bennett, Sauerbrey's running mate, earned her blessing for chairman of the state GOP."

Former U.S. Senate candidate Dan Bongino said Monday he won't seek either the vacant Anne Arundel County executive position or the Maryland GOP chairmanship. In an announcement on his Facebook page, the Severna Park businessman said he decided against seeking to fill the vacancy created when County Executive John R. Leopold resigned after being convicted last month of misconduct in office. Bongino said he would pass because the selection process "has become weighted towards insider politics.

Saying she's not sure some of her colleagues are qualified, County Council Chairwoman Virginia P. Clagett is reconsidering her decision to step down as council leader.Clagett, who has served as chairmanfor the last eight years, said Wednesday that she had been ready to cede the post to one of the other six council members. But after hearing that Councilwoman Diane R. Evans has been calling publicly for her departure, Clagett says she is not so sure she ought to step aside."I'm not stepping down just because Diane Evans says something," said Clagett, D-West River.

Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of an NAACP martyr, declared her candidacy yesterday for the chairmanship of the troubled civil rights organization.Ms. Evers-Williams poses the strongest challenge yet to Chairman William F. Gibson, whom NAACP critics accuse of lavish spending and financial mismanagement. The Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has a $4 million deficit."We need new leadership," said Ms. Evers-Williams, a longtime NAACP activist whose first husband, Medgar Evers, the group's Mississippi field secretary, was shot to death in 1963 by a white supremacist.

Diane R. Evans, the frugal and fiercely independent chairwoman of the Anne Arundel County Council, announced yesterday that she will give up her leadership position Dec. 1.The 49-year-old Republican from Arnold, who has often fought with County Executive John G. Gary during her three years as chairwoman, said she's planning a campaign for higher office in 1998 -- perhaps challenging Gary or running for state senator or delegate."

The election may be over, but politicking on the County Council has just begun.No sooner had the ballots been counted in the Nov. 6 general election than four of the seven council members began jockeying for the council chairmanship. Tonight, the first order of business for the new council will be to decide who the chairman will be.After that, expect council members to start jockeying again, this time for their own pet projects, which range from gypsy moth spraying to a festival arts center to ballfields.

Former U.S. Senate candidate Dan Bongino said Monday he won't seek either the vacant Anne Arundel County executive position or the Maryland GOP chairmanship. In an announcement on his Facebook page, the Severna Park businessman said he decided against seeking to fill the vacancy created when County Executive John R. Leopold resigned after being convicted last month of misconduct in office. Bongino said he would pass because the selection process "has become weighted towards insider politics.

STATE SEN. Larry Young phoned, "outraged" over a report in this space last week that a deal had been cut to assist his bid for chairmanship of the Legislative Black Caucus.Mr. Young called "absolutely not true" your correspondent's linking the senator's win as caucus chairman to an agreement on the replacement in the General Assembly for Del. Elijah E. Cummings, if the latter is elected 7th District congressman in today's special election.In fact, both legislators called to say that Mr. Young had launched his campaign for chairman three months ago and had lined up votes for it before Mr. Cummings, the House speaker pro tem, won the congressional primary for Kweisi Mfume's 7th District seat last month.

Martin O'Malley is expected to be elected chairman of the Democratic Governors Association in Washington on Wednesday, a position that would give him a turn in the national spotlight. As chairman, O'Malley could fatten his list of donors with names from other states, deepen relationships with a network of emerging Democratic leaders and recruit new faces to the party. It would also afford an opportunity to install loyal staffers in key national positions. The position proved a stepping-stone for former President Bill Clinton, current Health Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and current Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, among others.

In what seemed a remarkable demonstration of integrity by an institution often viewed as ethically challenged, the District of Columbia City Council last week finally moved to censure its most famous member, former Mayor Marion S. Barry, for his well-publicized ethical misdeeds. The council acted after an independent investigator's report found Mr. Barry had improperly steered thousands of dollars in city contracts to his girlfriend, then pocketed part of the money himself. Though the evidence of Mr. Barry's flagrant disregard of the law and the city's own ethics policy was clear, Mr. Barry protested his innocence to the end. Nevertheless, his peers on the council voted unanimously to strip him of his committee chairmanship and referred the case to federal prosecutors.

WASHINGTON - -A game of musical committee chairs in the U.S. Senate ended Wednesday and left Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland right where she is: as the most senior senator without a committee chairmanship. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin is taking over as head of the Senate health committee, succeeding Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who died last month at the age of 77. Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who took charge of health legislation while Kennedy struggled with brain cancer, was first in line to chair the committee, formally known as Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski described Edward M. Kennedy as her "Sir Galahad," a friend and mentor who took her under his wing when she joined the Senate. Now, in what would be a unique parting gift, there is a chance that Kennedy's death could elevate Mikulski to the chairmanship of a major committee for the first time in her 23-year Senate career. For her to inherit his job, though, Kennedy's closest friend in the Senate would have to turn it down first. The odds of that happening are difficult to gauge.

Washington - Over the years, Michael Steele has gained a large following in Republican circles, even though he has never won a major office on his own. That rather unfortunate distinction, however, could be about to change. Some handicappers are writing him off, but the former lieutenant governor of Maryland looks like a strong contender to become the next Republican national chairman. If he wins the job in this week's election, he'll instantly become a leading spokesman for a party that has no place to go but up. Steele has been telling fellow members of his devastated party, through a posting on his sophisticated campaign Web site: "I think I may have some keys to open the door, some juice to turn on the lights."

State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller may think he is protecting an able, hardworking and respected legislator. But his refusal to seek the temporary removal of Sen. Ulysses Currie as chairman of the powerful Senate Budget and Taxation Committee does a disservice to the body and its members. Mr. Currie, of Princes George's County, is under federal investigation for his work as a paid consultant to a food store chain, employment he did not disclose as required by state ethics laws.

George H. Love, 90, who simultaneously headed the boards of Chrysler Corp. and Consolidation Coal Co., died Thursday in Pittsburgh. Mr. Love was credited with turning Chrysler around during his chairmanship from 1961 to 1966.

Also, an article in April 5 editions of The Sun incorrectly stated the committee chairmanship of state Del. Howard P. Rawlings. He is chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Delegates. The chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee is Del. Sheila E. Hixson.The Sun regrets the error.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the incoming speaker of the House, said yesterday that she would not name Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, a Florida Democrat, as the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, creating new uncertainty around one of the chamber's most important leadership positions. In a written statement, Pelosi said she had met with Hastings and "advised him that I would select someone else as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee." Pelosi, who will become speaker when her party takes control of the House in January, did not explain why she was bypassing Hastings, the panel's second-ranking Democrat.