Committee Chairman

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans have modified a 6-year-old rule change they once touted as a key to reforming the House of Representatives.In 1994, after voters handed Republicans control of Congress and Newt Gingrich was elected speaker, House Republicans set a six-year term limit for all committee chairmen, saying this was a way to limit the power of seniority, prevent chairmen from becoming entrenched and allow a younger generation of lawmakers a...

Barbara T. Miegon, whose Fells Point business linked immigrants to their native Poland, died Monday of a heart attack at Sinai Hospital.The popular co-host of a Polish radio show, she was 66 and a longtime resident of Northwest Baltimore.Mrs. Miegon had retired recently as president and owner of the B. T. Miegon Agency in the 1700 block of Eastern Ave. The business provided translation, money transfers and other services to Polish immigrants and Polish-Americans with relatives or business in Poland.

A powerful House committee chairman and Maryland's bail-bond industry have been waging a behind-the-scenes campaign to kill a bill seeking to ease Baltimore's clogged criminal court system.The measure would require public defenders to represent indigent defendants at bail hearings, instead of leaving them to navigate the process alone.Judges, attorneys and other legal experts say the legislation would help prevent those charged with minor crimes from spending long stretches in jail awaiting trial.

WASHINGTON -- Anyone seeking a quick-and-dirty lesson in how pork-barrel politics works on Capitol Hill could look at how much money each Maryland congressional district received from a $9 billion highway fund controlled by the chairman of the House Transportation Committee.The spoils from the fund -- part of the largest transportation measure in U.S. history -- were utterly unmarred by partisan taint. The committee chairman, Rep. Bud Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican, graced the district of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, with three projects totaling $40 million as a reward for Cummings' loyal support for the highway bill.

Saying the law gave him no other option, Gov. Parris N. Glendening rejected yesterday Larry Young's effort to reclaim the state Senate seat from which he was expelled last month for ethics transgressions.The day after Baltimore Democratic officials defiantly nominated Young to return to the Senate, Glendening instructed them to choose another successor by Sunday's legal deadline."Let me make this very clear: Under the law and under the constitution, I cannot make this appointment," Glendening said at a State House news conference at which he never mentioned his one-time ally by name.

Baltimore Democratic officials have an extra two days -- until Tuesday -- to choose another nominee for the Maryland Senate seat from which Larry Young was expelled last month.The Democratic State Central Committee in the 44th District nominated the 48-year-old Young this week to reclaim the seat he lost for ethics transgressions.But Gov. Parris N. Glendening refused to appoint the West Baltimore Democrat, citing the opinion of Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. that Young was not "legally qualified," because of his expulsion last month.

WASHINGTON -- House Judiciary Committee Republicans beat back a strongly worded proposal to censure the president yesterday and rammed through one final article of impeachment, charging President Clinton with abusing the powers of his office by lying to Congress.Defeat of the Democratic censure resolution last night officially ended the impeachment work of the deeply divided Judiciary Committee, which has struggled with the proceedings ever since independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr forwarded his investigation report to Congress in September.

WASHINGTON -- Is the ''real'' Bill Clinton finally getting ready to stand up?Word from presidential aides is that Mr. Clinton will push the Republican-controlled Congress for major increases in social spending. Such talk is certain to trigger speculation that at last he is going to start acting like a traditional liberal Democrat.Consider the sourceBut based on his track record, the liberals will be prudent to hold their celebrating until they see how far the president actually goes in this matter, and how hard he fights for what he proposes.

New Windsor Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. recently presented the first Mayor's Award to resident Jack Coe.Coe, the town's planning committee chairman and town plumber, was recognized for his dedication to the town.The town presented Coe with a plaque.FireNew Windsor: Firefighters responded at 7: 34 a.m. Thursday to burning electrical wires on Route 31 at Church Road. Units were out 12 minutes.Pub Date: 10/12/98

The 44th Legislative District's Democratic Central Committee appointed a retired community activist to its board last night and scheduled a forum to interview candidates to replace former state Sen. Larry Young.The committee named Lee Douglas Jr., a retired Bethlehem Steel Corp. shipyard worker and East Baltimore activist, to its fifth seat as a step toward appointing a successor to Young.Young was expelled from the Maryland Senate on Jan. 16 after the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics found that as chairman of a powerful health care subcommittee, he used his position to benefit himself and his private businesses.

WASHINGTON - -In the face of mounting Republican opposition to its health-care agenda, the Obama administration received a boost Wednesday, winning a preliminary agreement with leading hospital groups to cut federal payments to the industry over the next decade. Under the plan, negotiated primarily by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, hospitals would accept $155 billion in cuts if the administration and its congressional allies succeeded in extending health insurance to tens of millions of people who are now without coverage.

Maryland officials have barred Alan B. Fabian, an entrepreneur and one-time Republican fundraiser now in federal prison, from doing business with the state for an indefinite period. Fabian, who lived in Cockeysville, pleaded guilty last year to mail and tax fraud in connection with a $32 million fraud. The Board of Public Works, a three-member panel with purview over state contracts, approved the action Wednesday without discussion. Fabian had been notified of the proceeding and did not request a hearing, according to board records.

A spokesman for Michael S. Steele defended the new Republican National Committee chairman yesterday against claims by a convicted felon that Steele misused campaign funds from his 2006 Senate bid. Curt Anderson, a political consultant and Steele spokesman, said the allegations had been "fabricated" by Steele's former campaign finance chairman, who was seeking a more lenient sentence in an unrelated criminal case. The Washington Post outlined the accusations in yesterday's editions, including a claim that Steele's campaign paid money to a company owned by his sister for services never performed, and the improper use of tens of thousands more in campaign money.

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats, opposed to the Senate's focus on helping homebuilders, moved yesterday to reshape housing legislation to help more homeowners. "We need to provide relief to the buyers and families themselves, not just the banks and builders," Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. House Democrats intend to put "families first," he said. Today, Rangel's Ways and Means Committee will vote on his legislation to provide tax breaks to homeowners, first-time homebuyers and developers of low-income housing.

WASHINGTON -- The "substantial" downturn in home sales has slowed the U.S. economy and "is likely to remain a drag on economic growth for a time," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told Congress yesterday. Still, Bernanke sees no recession on the horizon. The economy should "continue to expand at a moderate pace," he said, and price inflation may ease even as wages rise. "The weakness in housing and in some parts of manufacturing does not appear to have spilled over to any significant extent to other sectors," Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee, made up of Senate and House members.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Finance Committee voted yesterday to rein in the tax breaks that sweeten the huge compensation packages corporations often bestow upon executives. The crackdown was tucked into legislation to raise the federal minimum wage by $2.10 over two years to $7.25. In a unanimous voice vote, the committee approved the wage increase, along with a package of tax reductions and credits aimed at helping small businesses. In a surprise to many lobbyists who didn't see it coming, one provision was aimed at top executives of hundreds of large companies.

The ever-sensitive slot machine issue will be Howard Del. Frank S. Turner's baby in this year's House of Delegates, thanks to the House speaker, Del. Michael E. Busch. Turner, a four-term Democrat who is no fan of slots, is chairman of the innocent-sounding Finance Resource subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee. That means any bills having to do with gambling, horse racing or the lottery must pass muster with his subcommittee before they can proceed. "The speaker felt very comfortable with me taking over that area," said Turner.

WASHINGTON -- Among the decisions facing Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, few are trickier than the selection of a leader for the sensitive post of House Intelligence chairman. Many Democrats say her likely pick is Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, a Florida congressman and longtime committee member whose personal history could become a political liability for the party. Before his election to Congress in 1992, he was impeached by the House for bribery and perjury and stripped of his job as a federal judge.

A Columbia Association committee will recommend that the association's board of directors adopt a policy on serving alcohol at its events. The board asked the committee to form an alcohol policy after voting down a motion last month to prohibit the association from buying alcohol to serve at its events. The CA Performance Oversight committee drafted and approved during its meeting Thursday a policy that would "ensure that when alcoholic beverages are served at CA events and functions, steps will be taken to ensure they are served in a responsible manner," according to the written document.

As a landmark air pollution bill heads for a critical vote today, a flash point for debate is a loophole that would allow power plants to avoid penalties if the cost of adding filters "may significantly increase electric rates." Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas M. Middleton, who has a power plant in his Southern Maryland district, inserted the language into the Healthy Air Act before it was approved 33-14 last week by the Senate. Middleton, a Democrat who has received at least $7,750 in campaign contributions from the power industry since 1999, said he added the "safety valve" to protect customers, given the uproar over a large rate increase expected this summer because of the deregulation of electric utilities.