Delegation

Baltimore members of the House of Delegates will vote unanimously against any expansion of gambling in Maryland unless at least three conditions are met, delegation chairman Curtis Anderson said Monday morning as the General Assembly rushed toward what could either be adjournment or overtime. Anderson said the 18 city delegates would not vote for the gambling expansion sought by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller unless: 1.  The budget conference restores $2.5 million the Senate stripped from the capital budget for expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center.

The ongoing debate over youth crime in downtown Baltimore has sparked a war of words over race — overshadowing a debate over the police response to disturbances and objections from city politicians who say the issue is vastly overblown. Since a state delegate introduced the term "black youth mobs" in reference to hundreds of teenagers mobbing downtown on St. Patrick's Day, discussions from living rooms to online forums have been dominated by race. That has left little room for discussion of the real issues, all sides agree.

The Anne Arundel County delegation to the General Assembly has voted to approve a House bill that would transform the county's school board from its current nine-member, all-appointed model to a body with five elected and four appointed members. Delegate Steve Schuh, a Republican who co-sponsored the bill with Republican delegate Tony McConkey, said the bill calls for five seats elected by district, three at-large seats and one student board member seat. Schuh said the measure would be phased in over time as current board members' tenures lapse.

State Del. Pat McDonough told the Sun last week that he wasn't going to back down from claims made in a press release that 'black youth mobs terrorize" downtown Baltimore. And in his Saturday night radio show on WCBM (AM-680), he not only made good on that pledge, he ratcheted up the rhetoric ripping Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake while vowing to bring the issue of downtown public safety to the front burner of public consciousness with a "news conference" Tuesday -- and other actions to follow.

Baltimore County's House and Senate delegations have voted to support County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's push to raise liquor and business license fees. Most of the fees have not been changed in more than 40 years. Kamenetz has described the increases as modest, affecting chain stores, parking garage operators, dry cleaners, restaurant owners and other businesses. State officials said they worked out a compromise with Kamenetz that lowered the increases and would not give the county authority to adjust the rates without further General Assembly approval.

The culmination of the Carroll County Redistricting Committee's three months of deliberation and public input will be presented to the county's delegation to Annapolis on Dec. 13 as part of legislators' annual review of pending issues for the upcoming General Assembly session. But the committee's recommendation - a 4-3 vote by members calling for a change in district lines for the five county commissioner districts - may already be in question, especially since the chairman of the redistricting panel was among those voting against it. The delegation has the final word on choosing the county's five-commissioner-district map, which is being updated this year based on new population data from the 2010 census.

Baltimore City delegates shot down Friday morning the idea of a partially elected school board, while their counterparts in Baltimore County favored a similar plan. The city and county are two of the last remaining areas of the state with no elected representation on their local school boards, and reforming them has gained traction this year with state lawmakers. The Baltimore County delegation voted by the narrowest possible margin to back a "hybrid" school board of eight appointed members and seven elected members.

Howard County's General Assembly delegation will hold a public hearing tonight on local bills being prepared for the 1995 session, including an ethics measure that was vetoed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer in May.The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.The delegation will consider reintroducing the ethics bill, which would require applicants for zoning changes to formally disclose political campaign contributions to County Council members, who also sit as the Zoning Board.

Howard County's legislative delegation to Annapolis will conduct a public hearing and sponsor briefing 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.The hearing will address the following prefiled local bills:* Alcoholic beverages: beer, wine and cordial tasting privilege.* Wine Festival license.* Class B (on-sale) beer, wine and liquor licenses.* Alcoholic beverages caterer's license.* Howard County Sheriff's Department.* Circuit Court judgeship.

The Howard County delegation to Annapolis completed its public hearings on local legislation Thursday. The second evening of hearings, originally scheduled for this Thursday, has been canceled.The delegation's next meeting is a work and voting session Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ellicott Room of the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.A second work and voting session is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at the George Howard Building.A public hearing on topics of statewide concern will be held at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in the Banneker Room of the same building.

State Del. Pat McDonough, who stirred controversy this week when he said "roving mobs of black youth" terrorize Baltimore, shrugged off criticism Friday that he is using shock tactics to raise his political profile. McDonough, a Republican who represents Baltimore and Harford counties, refused to apologize for his comments. He has called for Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, to assign the Maryland State Police to fight the "consistent and dangerous attacks" in the city. McDonough has hosted a conservative talk show on WCBM for 20 years.

A Baltimore County delegate said Wednesday that the governor should send in the Maryland State Police to control "roving mobs of black youths" at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, prompting a colleague to label the message "race-baiting. " Del. Patrick L. McDonough, a Republican whose district includes part of Harford County, distributed a news release with the headline: "Black Youth Mobs Terrorize Baltimore on Holidays. " In it, McDonough said he had sent a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley urging him to use the state police to help prevent attacks and to declare the Inner Harbor area a "no-travel zone" until safety can be guaranteed.

It is always tempting to ignore the bluster and bombast emanating from the vicinity of Patrick L. McDonough, the Baltimore County delegate and radio talk show host who considers himself a man of the people but mostly is a self-promoting bomb-thrower. His is a career built on angry sound bites and finger-pointing, particularly at minority groups, while his actual legislative accomplishments in Annapolis can be contained in a thimble - with room to spare. But his latest bloviation demands attention - if only because ignoring it might suggest it was excusable (which it was not)

A carefully choreographed strategy to raise state income taxes to stave off so-called doomsday budget cuts faces a challenge in the General Assembly after several Democrats defied party leaders with a proposal to raise the sales tax instead. The brewing discontent within the Montgomery County House delegation stems from a belief that the governor's plan relies too heavily on their wealthy constituents. And though it faces little chance of passage, the proposal reveals a geographic fissure within the ruling Democratic caucus while underscoring the difficulty of forging consensus on a tax increase.

Alfred J. Lipin, a former Anne Arundel County hardware store owner turned Democratic politician who served in both the House of Delegates and state Senate, died Friday of a heart attack at Hanover Hospital in Hanover, Pa. The lifelong Glen Burnie resident was 92. He was born and raised in Pasadena at Lipin's Corner, where his parents owned and operated a combination grocery store and gas station. After graduating from Glen Burnie High School in 1938, he attended the University of Baltimore for three years.

About 10:30 p.m. Monday, House Speaker Michael E. Busch walked across the State House and delivered a grim message to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller: There weren't enough votes in the House to pass the gambling bill. Everything was unraveling. The legislature's leaders had spent the day crafting a deal. The Senate would agree to the House approach to raising income taxes. The House would pass, or at least attempt to pass, a gambling bill that was a high priority for Miller.

Howard County residents should not expect a whole lot from their new delegation to Annapolis this year. Whether you believe that the prominence of Republicans in the delegation will cause fireworks or reap benefits for the county, the reality will probably be less so. Even in his vaunted role as House minority leader, Del. Robert H. Kittleman says he expects "nothing sexy" to happen as far as the delegation is concerned.Part of it is more structural than political. Much of the delegation's work will involve issues with statewide ramifications: welfare reform, taxation, juvenile justice.

//TO BE CLEAR: Added school bonding did not pass. Died when budget deal collapsed.// Del. Curt Anderson, head of the Baltimore city delegation, told Baltimore lawmakers to hold their votes on the Prince George's casino until they are sure that the goodies they've requested pass. At the top of the list is a tenative deal to allow the city to have an extra $100 million in school construction bonding authority -- money that the schools leader has said could fund air conditioning in all of the city's schools.

Baltimore members of the House of Delegates will vote unanimously against any expansion of gambling in Maryland unless at least three conditions are met, delegation chairman Curtis Anderson said Monday morning as the General Assembly rushed toward what could either be adjournment or overtime. Anderson said the 18 city delegates would not vote for the gambling expansion sought by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller unless: 1.  The budget conference restores $2.5 million the Senate stripped from the capital budget for expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center.