Finance Committee

The NFL got its first look yesterday at prospective Ravens owner Stephen J. Bisciotti. "I was very positively impressed. He was the prototype of the perfect NFL owner in my opinion," said Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and chairman of the league's finance committee. Bisciotti appeared yesterday before the committee at a meeting in West Palm Beach, Fla. Kraft described it as a "get-acquainted" session that included Bisciotti's wife. Kraft said Bisciotti is passionate about football, the Baltimore community, and his family.

Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola, who was elected to the Maryland Senate in 2002 as its youngest member and appeared destined for higher office, said Thursday that he is leaving the General Assembly to return to private life. Garagiola, a Montgomery County Democrat, said his resignation will take effect Sept. 1. Under Maryland's Constitution, he will be replaced by a candidate chosen by his party's local central committee. Now 40, Garagiola was 30 when he defeated the last Republican senator to represent increasingly Democratic Montgomery County.

CONGRATULATIONS to a unanimous Senate Finance Committee that had the political guts to attack fundamental long-range financial problems of the Medicare system. It proposed raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67 in 30 years and, more explosively, means-testing so the affluent elderly are no longer subsidized by working-age families, some of whom cannot afford health insurance even as they pay Medicare payroll taxes.Predictably, the American Association of Retired People blasted the proposal as "unworkable" and a threat to turn a social insurance plan into a form of welfare that would undercut its popular support.

City of Annapolis Alderman Richard E. Israel announced this week that he's resigning from the City Council, effective immediately. Israel told the council he's moving out of his Shaw Street home into the Ginger Cove Community, a community in Annapolis that's not in the ward he was elected to represent. He said he's resigning now, rather than when he moves in May, so that his successor will be able to participate in upcoming city budget deliberations. Israel, who represented the city's First Ward, thanked his colleagues on the council, and also, "the voters of the First Ward for twice entrusting me with this office.

PHOENIX -- Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said last night that progress has been made in talks with Howard Milstein on his proposal to buy the Washington Redskins, but there is still no deal to present to the owners.After the powerful finance committee delayed making a recommendation, Tagliabue said: "We really have made some substantial progress in the last 72 hours. We'll see if we can get something nailed down that we can present to the membership [at the annual owners' meeting this week]

WASHINGTON - Moving quickly to deliver the tax cuts pushed by President Bush and endorsed by Congress, the Senate's chief Republican and Democratic tax-writers offered a plan yesterday calling for income rate cuts - worth about $300 per taxpayer - retroactive to the start of the year. The bipartisan legislation, which the Senate Finance Committee is expected to approve next week, includes a broad range of other benefits for families, businesses, students and retirees, to be phased in over the next decade at a cost of $1.35 trillion.

The average Westminster homeowner would pay about $60 more in property taxes next fiscal year under a proposal to help the Carroll County seat meet the needs of a growing population. The Common Council's finance committee has proposed raising the tax rate - the first increase in five years - to balance a $12 million budget for fiscal 2003, which begins July 1. The increase would mean about $500,000 in additional revenue, said L. Gregory Pecoraro, the finance committee chairman. Trying to balance the proposed budget, city officials have slashed $2.1 million in spending - mostly for public works projects such as road improvements, a skate park expansion, and street lighting.

THE SENATE of Maryland has been around for more than 350 years, so the departure of one senator doesn't make much of an impact in the grand scheme of things. Some senators, however, leave a void that is felt many years after they move on. They become part of Senate lore -- Jack Cade, Fred Malkus, Harry "Soft Shoes" McGuirk. And now Tommy Bromwell. The Baltimore County Democrat, who is leaving to become head of the Injured Workers' Insurance Fund, has been a commanding figure in the Senate during the eight years he has served as chairman of the powerful Finance Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola, who was elected to the Maryland Senate in 2002 as its youngest member and appeared destined for higher office, said Thursday that he is leaving the General Assembly to return to private life. Garagiola, a Montgomery County Democrat, said his resignation will take effect Sept. 1. Under Maryland's Constitution, he will be replaced by a candidate chosen by his party's local central committee. Now 40, Garagiola was 30 when he defeated the last Republican senator to represent increasingly Democratic Montgomery County.

Herbert W. "Bill" Acker, a retired Price Waterhouse Coopers LLD regional managing partner, died Friday of kidney cancer at his Stone House Farm in Churchville. He was 70. Herbert William Acker — who was known as H. William "Bill" Acker — was the son of a Ford-New Holland worker and a postmistress. He was born and raised in Intercourse, Pa., where he graduated from Pequea High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1963 in accounting from Lebanon Valley College, he began his accounting career at Price Waterhouse in New York City.

Herbert W. "Bill" Acker, a retired Price Waterhouse Coopers LLD regional managing partner, died Friday of kidney cancer at his Stone House Farm in Churchville. He was 70. Herbert William Acker — who was known as H. William "Bill" Acker — was the son of a Ford-New Holland worker and a postmistress. He was born and raised in Intercourse, Pa., where he graduated from Pequea High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1963 in accounting from Lebanon Valley College, he began his accounting career at Price Waterhouse in New York City.

James Gabriel Thompson, a retired savings and loan association president, died of cerebral vascular disease Jan. 29 at Oak Crest Village. The former Guilford resident was 84. Born in Baltimore and raised in Gwynn Oak, he was the son of Stephen Thompson, a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad chief clerk, and the former Sue Jones, a homemaker. He was a 1945 Loyola High School graduate. After serving in the Coast Guard in Washington, he earned a degree in business at what is now Loyola University Maryland.

A change in the membership of a key Maryland Senate committee could hand Gov. Martin O'Malley a long-sought victory on a measure to foster development of a wind power industry off Ocean City. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has replaced Sen. C. Anthony Muse on the Finance Committee with Sen. Victor R. Ramirez, Miller's office confirmed Thursday. The switch, which replaces one Prince George's County Democrat with another, was first reported on the Washington Post's web site.

A powerful Senate committee chairman who scuttled Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to promote development of an offshore wind energy industry last year, said Thursday that he's "100 percent" in favor of this year's version of the administration bill. Sen. Thomas M. "Mac" Middleton, who heads the Finance Committee,  said the legislation has been improved significantly since last year and now involves much less risk to ratepayers. Middleton, a Charles County Democrat, gave a favorable appraisal of the bill -- a centerpiece of O'Malley's environmental agenda -- two days after the governor appeared before his panel to testify on its behalf.

Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center remains in crisis mode as a new executive and national consultants look into safety concerns after three killings at the hospital, state health officials told two Senate committees Wednesday. "This hospital is still in crisis and security is the most important issue," Dr. Gail Jordan-Randolph, medical director of the state Mental Hygiene Administration, told the members of the Finance and Budget and Taxation Committees. But Randolph and other high-ranking officials said that the state's maximum-security mental hospital has also made several changes to improve safety measures and employee confidence, and is working to identify systematic problems that may have led to the killings.

Despite vehement opposition from operators of downtown hotels and parking garages, Baltimore City Council members stood firm Thursday in their support of a contentious package of new taxes, saying the money was needed to stem a torrent of red ink. "We're facing a $121 million deficit," said Councilwoman Helen L. Holton, head of the council's finance committee. "What do we do?" Holton and other committee members gently chided a group of business leaders who came to a public hearing to complain, reminding them repeatedly of the city's dismal financial state and all but declaring that, if taxes are not raised, disaster will follow.

Prospective Ravens owner Stephen J. Bisciotti will likely win the unanimous recommendation of the NFL's influential finance committee in his bid to buy the team, predicted Giants co-owner P. Robert Tisch yesterday. "He's a first-class guy. We were very impressed with him," Tisch said, the day after Bisciotti appeared before the finance committee in Florida. Tisch is a member of the finance committee. The committee asked Bisciotti and current Ravens owner Art Modell to wrap up final negotiations on the sales agreement by Friday.

The Senate Finance Committee overwhelmingly approved yesterday union-backed legislation intended to improve wages for school construction workers. The bill now heads to the full Senate. The Glendening administration bill would require that workers on many school construction and renovation contracts be paid the "prevailing wage" in their region, as is the case with other state public works projects. A number of Republicans call it payback for the support unions have given Glendening in his election campaigns.

In Annapolis, when the going gets tough, it's time to make it appear like you're suffering, too. Let us not shed too many tears for Maryland lawmakers for surrendering their free E-Pass transponders and their days of toll-free driving. House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller announced the sacrifice Wednesday and justified it as a way to "find efficiencies and reduce unnecessary spending." Well, that may produce savings running into the tens of dollars - or none at all since lawmakers receive $500-a-year expense accounts for business travel costs that could be applied to tolls.

Health care must become the civil rights movement of our time. And it is becoming clear that achieving guaranteed health care for every American will require all the tools that helped win earlier civil rights fights. Earlier this month, eight health care advocates, including me and two other Maryland physicians, stood up to Sen. Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and the Senate Finance Committee during a "public roundtable discussion" with a simple question: Will you allow an advocate for a single-payer national health plan to have a seat at the table?