Chairmanship

Robert Bowen recently assumed the chairmanship of the Chesapeake Academy board of trustees for the 1991-1992 school year.Donald Zuchelli, former board chairman, will now serve as chairman of the board'sfinance committee, and Julianne Deger, Richard Martin and Marsha Perry will be members of the board of trustees.The new PTA officers are: Nancy Hamaski, president; Cynthia Reynolds, first vice president; Diane Neighoff, secretary; Candace Hanson,treasurer; and Maxine Rosen, member at large.

Baltimore County's new County Council members won't take office until Monday, but Dundalk's Louis L. DePazzo gave his colleagues a taste of his bare-knuckled political style at an informal get-together yesterday.By the time the Towson lunch was over, Mr. DePazzo had accused one of his new colleagues of lying and said his fellow Democrats had ganged up on him to freeze him out of the chairmanship.The group selected Perry Hall's Vincent J. Gardina, one of only two returning members and the only incumbent Democrat, to lead the new seven-member panel in its first year.

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations and a familiar figure on U.S. television, emerged yesterday as the front-runner to take over the leadership of the Likud bloc.Mr. Netanyahu, 43, deputy prime minister in the former government of Yitzhak Shamir, won support from 77 percent of Likud's 3,500-member central committee to have an internal party election to choose its new chairman -- and its candidate for prime minister in the next national election, by 1996.

WASHINGTON -- Despite a fierce national backlash from his criticism of President Clinton, Sen. Jesse Helms appears to be firmly in line to become chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.But the North Carolina Republican did get a low-key warning about controversial comments in a telephone conversation yesterday with Senate Republican leader Bob Dole."I think Jesse clearly understands now, as chairman of the committee, he can't even joke about these things," Mr. Dole of Kansas later told CNN. "In essence, we agreed that it wouldn't happen again."

Freshman Del. Neil F. Quinter is the new chairman of Howard County's delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates, replacing Frank S. Turner, a fellow Democrat. "I'd done it three years," Turner said. "It was a good time to show some other individual's leadership skills." Turner is taking over chairmanship of the House Appropriations subcommittee on personnel, and is vice chairman of the education subcommittee. Although Del. Gail H. Bates, a western county Republican, expressed interest in the chairman's job, "Neil was going to get elected," Turner said.

Local government entered a new era last night when the County Council elected native son Charles C. Feaga as chairman.The switch from Democratic to Republican control was accomplished without fanfare in a room virtually empty of spectators except for a Cub Scout pack. All nominations were uncontested and all votes were unanimous, as is council tradition.Despite the subdued tone, Republican dominance on the council was implicit in the election of Mr. Feaga and other council officers."I thank you for this vote of confidence," Mr. Feaga, the West Friendship farmer and senior Republican on the council, said upon assuming the chairmanship.

In an unusual split, the Anne Arundel County Council voted 4-to-2 last night to return Councilman Daniel E. Klosterman Jr. to the council chairmanship for a second term.Klosterman beat Councilwoman Pamela G. Beidle, who sought the seat in a monthlong fight.Beidle drew support from Councilman Bill D. Burlison, who chastised Klosterman last night for not abiding by last year's agreement to give up the council's most prominent seat. Klosterman had agreed that the chairmanship would rotate among council members, with Beidle assuming the post this year.

WASHINGTON - Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously endorsed Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania moderate, as their next chairman yesterday, after he publicly promised not to hinder President Bush's legislative agenda. Religious conservatives had urged Republican lawmakers to bar Specter from the powerful chairmanship, arguing that he could not be trusted to support Bush's anti-abortion judicial nominees because he supports abortion rights. They also denounced Specter for observing in a post-election news conference that the Senate was unlikely to confirm any judicial nominee who opposed abortion because Democrats would filibuster such nominees.

For the first time in more than 40 years, Maryland is in line for the chairmanship of a major standing Senate committee. The politician who may well break the drought is Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, provided he wins re-election next year. At this moment, no leading Republicans have stepped forth to challenge him.If he gains a fourth term, Mr. Sarbanes will replace Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr. of Michigan as head of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The change will mean little in terms of ideology since both men are liberal, urban Democrats with high ratings from Americans for Democratic Action and low ratings from the American Conservative Union.

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- In a rare political snub of one of their own, African leaders deadlocked yesterday on Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir's bid to take over the chairmanship of the African Union. After meeting in closed session for most of the day at their annual summit, feuding heads of state in the 53-nation African body referred the issue to a special committee. The group could announce a decision as soon as today. While el-Bashir could still end up with the post, the reluctance of his colleagues to elect him during the opening day of the two-day Khartoum summit was an embarrassing setback for the military leader, who was the only candidate openly vying for the chairmanship.