Conflict

Your article on McCormick and Co.'s efforts to determine the health benefits of spices was well and thoroughly done ("The spice of life? McCormick invests in research into health benefits of seasonings, raising concern over a conflict of interest," April 11). I retired from McCormick 22 years ago, so I have no involvement in that program except to wish it well. However, the term "conflict of interest" used in the article was inappropriate. The proper term, and proper concern about such efforts should be "research integrity."

Educators and politicians rave about Maryland's public schools. And why shouldn't they? After all, Education Week, the nation's most widely circulated education newspaper, has ranked Maryland public schools in first place for the past four years. But we who study public school achievement find, based on 2011 testing, that Massachusetts public schools are in first place, closely followed by New Jersey and Vermont, while Maryland is further back in sixth place. At least that's the conclusion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

A professor at the University of Maryland, College Park is facing conflict-of- interest questions after he used university letterhead to deliver a legal opinion in his role as a consultant to a labor union. Fred Feinstein, an adjunct professor at the School of Public Policy, wrote a letter saying that California health care employees could jeopardize their contract benefits if they left Service Employees International for a competing union. Feinstein received $240,000 in consulting fees from SEIU in 2007 and 2008, which he did not mention in the Jan. 12 letter that was distributed as a flier in the continuing union battle.

After Ada George's thyroid treatment went wrong last summer, leaving the 57-year-old mother of three brain-damaged and comatose, officials from Good Samaritan Hospital approached her family twice to apologize and offer compensation, which the Georges refused, according to court records. So the Baltimore hospital went a step further and recommended that the family get a lawyer. They handed over the business card of Brian Nash, who had agreed to take the Georges' case at a reduced rate.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has postponed his State of the State address Wednesday to avoid a conflict with President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech planned for later that day. O'Malley becomes the second governor to shift his annual address because of Obama's schedule. Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, a Democrat like O'Malley, made a similar decision earlier in the week. O'Malley's address will now be Feb. 4, rather than Jan. 27. Asked about the conflict earlier in the week, O'Malley's office said the date would not be changed.

Collective bargaining is recognized as a right of workers that allows them to achieve a form of workplace democracy. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 states in Article 23 that "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. " Yet, while we in the U.S. cheer for the Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans and others in Middle East countries who risk their lives to achieve democracy and reach for better lives for themselves in their countries, some newly-elected public officials seek to end the democratic process of collective bargaining for public workers.

State Sen. Larry Haines has found himself on the hot seat because of an alleged conflict of interest. His case is instructive because it highlights the ethical complexities of part-time public service as well as the need for elected officials to avoid even the appearance of conflict.The controversy involves a letter that the legislator wrote advocating the rezoning of 100 acres of land that his church would like to buy. Mr. Haines finds himself in a peculiar position on this rezoning question because he is simultaneously a state senator, a real estate agent and a member of the Church of the Open Door, which is seeking the land-use change.

Columbia Council members clashed over a new conflict of interest policy last night, then voted narrowly to allow a member whose home abuts a proposed golf course to vote on whether the facility should be built.At issue was whether council member Joseph Merke would be in violation of the policy -- which took effect last month -- if he is allowed to participate in votes on the proposed Fairway Hills Golf Course that could enhance the value of his property.The 18-hole course would cost about $5.5 million and would be operated by the Columbia Association.

BACK IN the good old days, ethics was a foreign concept to most of Maryland's elected officials.Everyone knew that the purpose of gaining elective office was not to improve the general well-being of society but to cut friends and family in on the spoils of government.Nobody complained when mayors and county supervisors installed their ne'er-do-well nephews in cushy no-show jobs in the public works department, or enriched their cronies by carefully rezoning their properties.But thanks to decades of much needed reform, the most egregious and obvious kinds of nepotism, favoritism and self-dealing have been wrung out of the state's political system.

The Baltimore school system is embroiled in a controversy over whether a consultant it plans to hire to help secure more money from a federal school technology program has a conflict of interest. In the city school system's 2006 application for money from the federal Schools and Libraries Program, commonly known as "E-Rate," it asks for millions of dollars to pay for equipment made by Cisco Systems. Next week, the school board is scheduled to approve a three-year, $267,000 contract with Oklahoma-based Funds for Learning.

For as long as she can remember, Mervin Savoy has pressed the world to see her as she sees herself. She refused to be bowed by the school officials who wouldn't let her write "American Indian" on forms identifying her race. She refused to be halted by governors who said her people's history was too thinly documented. Even a prolonged feud with fellow tribal leader Billy Tayac failed to dissuade her. Last week, at age 68, Savoy let a contented smile flood her face as Gov. Martin O'Malley said the words she had waited so long to hear.

Two key witnesses in the state's rape case against Davon Perry testified Wednesday that the defendant was in the room with the teenage girl he is charged with attacking, but they told the court different versions of events that occurred that Saturday night at a Woodlawn roller rink. The 13-year-old girl and 16-year-old Tracey W. Hankins gave different accounts of how they ended up in a dark storage room at Skateworks. However, both said that Perry — the Baltimore County man being tried on several charges, including first-degree rape and first-degree sex offenses — was in the room with the 13-year-old on the night of Aug. 14, 2010.

The overuse of suspension in some schools is largely a function of the need for greater teacher and staff training in conflict management techniques ("Punishment of last resort," Dec. 29). Frequently, teachers, staff and even some administrators lack an understanding of cooperative discipline techniques and restorative practices tools, relying solely on punishment models for misbehavior. Positive behavior intervention programs can be effective in encouraging students who have the skills to self-manage.

Irving Berlin wrote "White Christmas," one of the biggest-selling songs of all time, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Although the wistful tune soothed homesick soldiers in such God-awful places as Guadalcanal more than half a century ago, and no doubt it still plays in Kandahar today, Berlin most likely wrote what he called "the best song that anybody's ever written" somewhere in the sunny Southwest, probably while sitting by a swanky hotel swimming...

For as long as Thomas Mech can remember, the Saturday after Thanksgiving was reserved for hunting. As a boy growing up in Dundalk, Mech recalled how his father and some of his neighbors would drive down to the Eastern Shore and up to Cumberland or Frederick. "They would fight to see who could get off that week," Mech recalled. When he was 13, Mech finally got to join them. "It's a Maryland tradition," Mech said. "It's in my blood. " That tradition might have ended, or at least been significantly altered, for Mech earlier this month.

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. " With these words, President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially notified Congress of the attack 70 years ago today on Pearl Harbor. He subsequently asked for a declaration of war and the United States, which had managed to remain aloof from bloody conflicts embroiling the rest of the planet, became the last major power to join World War II. Our country limped into the conflict from the Great Depression as one of many powerful — though economically afflicted — nations.

CONFLICTS OF interest are a reality of modern life. They have to be acknowledged and dealt with. But imagined conflicts shouldn't paralyze governments, businesses or other institutions.Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens' decision to review all major subdivision approvals and waivers does not get at the heart of the conflict-of-interest problem that has arisen over the county's development approval process. It does, however, threaten to overwhelm her with work that requires a technical background she doesn't possess.

In the case involving an altercation last week between Baltimore Clerk of Circuit Court Frank M. Conaway Sr. and a blogger, State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein has said his office won't make the decision on whether to file criminal charges or handle any ensuing court proceedings. That responsibility will instead fall to Steven I. Kroll, a former Baltimore County prosecutor who now works as a coordinator for Maryland's association of state's attorneys. In recent months, Kroll's position has evolved from one that deals with ethics and training issues, to also serving as a special outside counsel for cases in which prosecutors say their offices have a potential conflict of interest.

A developer's plan for a 36-unit waterfront condominium with boat slips that has pitted neighbor against neighbor for years in Bowleys Quarters has been rejected by a Baltimore County hearing officer. In a 45-page opinion based on days of hearings, John E. Beverungen denied the Galloway Creek condominium proposed by Milton A. Rehbein III, who for decades has owned a marina at the site along Burke Road on the Bowleys Quarters peninsula. While Beverungen agreed with some of the developers' arguments, he rejected the project on grounds that it conflicts with the county master plan and neighborhood community plan, and violates a law that specifies where such projects are allowed in Bowleys Quarters.