Delegation

The prospects for four Maryland jurisdictions to elect their school boards, instead of having the state continue to appoint their members, appear bleak this year because legislation necessary for the change is stalled in the General Assembly with only a month left before adjournment. While lawmakers are running out of time in the 2007 session, House and Senate leaders have publicly stated opposition to elected boards and two delegations have been unable to agree on what form their bills should take.

Hunt-Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. rejected yesterday binding arbitration to resolve an impasse with a cable provider over how much airing its stations is worth, the latest sign that thousands of customers in the Midwest and South will remain without major network affiliates this weekend. Sinclair's decision came a day after Iowa's congressional delegation urged the company and Mediacom Communications Corp. to enter arbitration to resolve their financial dispute. More than 250,000 of the viewers who have had programming blocked on their cable systems live in Des Moines, Iowa, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Harford County Council, with four freshmen members, expects to enact a nearly $1 billion budget Tuesday, the culmination of a process that has been devoid of the rancor that has marked previous efforts to balance revenues and expenditures. Members credit an uncommon air of compromise between the council and the administration, founded in agreement on the fiscal challenges facing the county. They unanimously approved 99 amendments to the budget last week and have held the line on taxes, keeping the property tax rate at $1.082 per $100 of assessed value.

In a bold legislative agenda that encompasses local and statewide initiatives, County Executive John R. Leopold is seeking to expand the powers of jurisdictions to punish critical area violators, ban panhandling along Anne Arundel roads and boost the county's share of state school construction money. During a meeting with the county's legislative delegation Friday in Annapolis, Leopold, a Republican, asked the 20 lawmakers to expand the statute of limitations on critical area violations from one to three years.

Carroll County commissioners will unveil a package of six bills tomorrow before members of the state delegation to Annapolis for consideration in the 2007 General Assembly session. Noticeably absent from this package is any proposal to enact a transfer tax -- a levy on real estate transactions the previous board had lobbied for since 2002. Instead, the commissioners are pushing for the local regulation of pawnshops, a stronger county cleanup law and tax credits for residents who renovate their properties in gateway areas near the county's borders.

A new proposal from a Carroll County state delegate aims to resolve a protracted struggle to create districts that would pave the way for a five-member Board of Commissioners, as approved in a referendum vote nearly three years ago. The plan, designed by Del. Donald Elliott calls for one commissioner-at-large and four others elected by district, essentially allowing the county's citizens to vote for two commissioners, Elliott said. Now, there are three members on Carroll's Board of Commissioners.

County needs help to deal with BRAC The good news about the national military base realignment is that we're getting thousands of new jobs at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The bad news is we're being stuck with the costs of providing infrastructure for tens of thousands of new people. Harford County is trying to shoulder these responsibilities but is being denied the tools needed to do the job. For example, Harford has already forward-funded schools just to keep up with current growth. The state government provides much less than is needed because of its own money issues, we're told.

The 32nd District's legislative delegation has scheduled a town meeting from 7: 30 p.m. to 9: 30 p.m. Thursday at the Linthicum library, 400 Shipley Road.State Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr., a Democrat, and Dels. Mary Ann Love and Theodore J. Sophocleus, both Democrats, and James E. Rzepkowski, a Republican, will attend and talk with constituents. Information: 410-841-3593.

Howard County's state legislative delegation voted yesterday to support legislation that would allow Sherae M. McNeal to keep her job as a private attorney while acting as a Howard County Orphans' Court judge.All three Republican senators voted in favor of the bill, sponsored by Del. Frank S. Turner, a Democrat. Among delegates, the vote was split along party lines, with five Democrats voting in favor and three Republicans voting against the measure, Turner said."This will allow anybody in the future who practices law and [is]

The county delegation is prepared to say yes when the Carroll County Agriculture Center Board hands it a request by Monday, expected to be for at least $300,000.The board will ask the delegation to resurrect a bill providing additional money toward building an indoor arena.State Sen. Larry E. Haines, a Republican who is leader of the delegation, said he is prepared to support more money if it makes the $2.235 million building more acceptable to neighbors worried about it breaking up the pastoral view.

With Maryland's budget problems garnering most of the attention, Howard County's local legislative efforts seemed small by comparison, but important things were still happening. Sen. James N. Robey's local speed camera bill gave way to the statewide measure he helped preserve near the session's end. And his bill to help residents of mobile home parks with moving costs was not approved but made substantial progress. A compromise with some mobile home park owners could lead to a successful bill next year, Robey said, though a technical wording glitch late in the session undermined the bill this year.

With a barbecue luncheon and a speech filled with plaudits, Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. thanked the county's legislative delegation Thursday for its work during a fiscally challenging session in Annapolis. "Our delegation worked hard, learned what was at stake and took critical action," Smith said at the conference held at Oregon Ridge Park. "This luncheon could have been canceled if they had not accomplished so many things." State contributions to the county dropped by $37 million for fiscal 2010, which begins July 1, but the delegation did secure $25.4 million for school construction and $1.5 million for early childhood programs.

The county's General Assembly members are conflicted over the mix of local and statewide issues in the roller-coaster effort to petition to referendum a County Council bill permitting a larger grocery store at Turf Valley. They say they don't want a missing middle initial or the use of a nickname to disqualify an honest signature on a petition. But they're leery of retroactively changing state law. "The whole situation is troubling," said Del. Guy Guzzone, who chairs the House delegation.

One after another, the Baltimore lawmakers spat complaints at Mayor Sheila Dixon. Dels. Nathaniel T. Oaks and Ann Marie Doory said they couldn't believe the mayor hadn't shared a traffic study with them. Del. Frank M. Conaway Jr. said he was "irritated with the political rhetoric we're hearing." Dixon raised her voice to match the legislators', trying to continue her presentation at a recent city delegation meeting in Annapolis. But a few moments later, the lawmakers bristled again as Dixon told them about plans to meet with a casino developer.

Amy Lamke and her daughter live in a mobile home in the Deep Run Mobile Home Park in Elkridge. Lamke owns the home, but not the land on which it sits. And that worries her. Lamke has appealed for help from Howard's state legislators, telling them how devastating it would be if Deep Run were to close or be sold for redevelopment, as was done at the former Aladdin Mobile Home Park nearby. "I have a nagging fear that I'll open a letter and see the land has been sold," she said at a recent delegation hearing.

Gov. Martin O'Malley defended his plan yesterday to decrease public school budgets by about $69 million next fiscal year as officials from hard-hit areas vowed to fight the proposed cuts. O'Malley, a Democrat, said that Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso's contention that the governor was destroying years of education gains was "patently false." O'Malley urged the popular and outspoken educator to understand that the financial pain caused by the national economic meltdown must be widely distributed.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold has asked the county's General Assembly delegation to introduce five bills that he said would promote public health and the environment and preserve revenue. The legislation will be sponsored by Delegation Chairs Del. Mary Ann Love and Sen. John C. Astle, both Democrats, according to Leopold's office. "While our primary goal is to mitigate the budget pain that will come from reductions in state aid to counties, there are other important gains that can be made through these initiatives," Leopold said in a statement.

Del. Nicholaus R. Kipke, Pasadena Republican, will lead a public briefing by the Anne Arundel County delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates on the condition of the county's public sewage treatment system at 10 a.m. Friday in the Delegation Room of the House Office Building in Annapolis. Kipke has asked the County Department of Public Works and the Maryland Department of the Environment to provide an overview on the state of the system, address concerns over failing pumping stations, and allow for questions from the delegation.

Cheryl Miller, 55, and her husband, Michael, coordinate the Volunteers for Obama office in Anne Arundel County. She is an Annapolis resident and mother of two who runs a home-based event-planning business. Despite studying political science at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania, Miller was not particularly involved in politics until this year. She was invited to a fundraiser last fall and soon found herself immersed in the Obama campaign, working phone banks and traveling to Ohio and Pennsylvania to knock on doors.

Cheryl Miller, 55, and her husband, Michael, coordinate the Volunteers for Obama office in Anne Arundel County. She is an Annapolis resident and mother of two who runs a home-based event planning business. Despite studying political science at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania, Miller was not particularly involved in politics until this year. She was invited to a fundraiser last fall and soon found herself immersed in the Obama campaign, working phone banks and traveling to Ohio and Pennsylvania to knock on doors.