Gansler

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler endorsed fellow Democrat Kevin Kamenetz for Baltimore County executive on Wednesday, saying the councilman's support for "innovative crime-fighting technology" had made the county safer. The two attorneys, both former prosecutors, discussed crime prevention and video surveillance of shopping centers at a press conference near Towson Town Center. As a member of the Baltimore County Council, Kamenetz sponsored legislation that requires major shopping centers to install video devices.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. are starting the year flush with seven-figure campaign coffers, while Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's roughly $2 million political bank account dwarfs that of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, who has just $152,000. Annual campaign finance reports, due by midnight yesterday to the state Board of Elections, provide some insight into the political standing of the state's most prolific Democratic fundraisers, while raising questions about the statewide ambitions of Maryland's best-known Republicans.

On Monday, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is expected announce a partnership with Facebook on a national campaign to educate teens and parents about safety and privacy when using social media. Gansler, president of the National Association of Attorneys General, will discuss the initiative as he kicks off the NAAG Presidential Initiative Summit, "Privacy in the Digital Age. " The summit is being held at National Harbor, in southern Prince George's County. According to a release from the attorney general's office, the goal of the summit is to bring together attorneys general and representatives of the information technology industry, government and education and others to explore privacy risks and how to limit them.

The state's highest court will hear the legal challenge to the candidacy qualifications of Democrat Douglas F. Gansler for Maryland attorney general. On Friday, an Anne Arundel County judge rejected the arguments, made by lawyer Jason W. Shoemaker, that Gansler lacks the required 10 years of legal experience in Maryland. Shoemaker - representing Nikos S. Liddy of Bowie, who filed the lawsuit - is the campaign manager for Scott L. Rolle, the Republican nominee for attorney general in the Nov. 7 election.

Douglas F. Gansler will remain the Democratic nominee for state attorney general for Tuesday's election after Maryland's highest court rejected a challenge to his eligibility. In a brief order, the Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the legal challenge to Gansler's candidacy was filed too late, but it did not address the substance of the case. The ruling came hours after the court heard arguments in the appeal filed by a Bowie man - and argued by the campaign manager for Gansler's Republican opponent in the election - who claimed that Gansler lacked the constitutional requirement of 10 years of practicing law in Maryland.

It was late one afternoon when the email went out, warning of "hot front page news" that could be a "big embarrassment" to Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. The message came from an assistant attorney general , writing to alert her supervisor that a Baltimore lawyer was angry at the state health department lab for destroying blood test records of children with lead poisoning. This private attorney wasn't just any lawyer, her email said, but "a great supporter of the AG's governor aspirations" and "a good buddy" of Gansler's, who is widely viewed as harboring higher political ambitions.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler on Wednesday morning released a long-awaited opinion saying same-sex marriages performed in other states could be recognized by Maryland's legal system. Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., a Democrat, asked in May asked if such marriages could be recognized. "The answer to that question is clearly 'yes,'" Gansler wrote in a 40-page document. The opinion does not enable same-sex couples to wed here. It also does not carry the weight of law, but is meant to guide judges and state agencies.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler asked the state's health department Friday to remove all caffeine-infused alcoholic drinks from the state's liquor stores and taverns. "I ask you to exercise your authority … to take all steps available to you to prevent any further distribution or sale of these unsafe, unadulterated, and mislabeled products wherever found in Maryland," Gansler wrote in a letter to John M. Colmers, the state's secretary of health and mental hygiene.

Seventeen years ago, before he was chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr. argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that a suspect's invocation of Miranda rights should have certain limits. But he never got the chance to find out if the justices agreed because the respondent in the case died, rendering it moot. Now, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler might be able to get a ruling on that question. Today, Gansler plans to stand before the country's high court, which now includes Roberts, arguing similar principles to those the chief justice raised in 1992, when he was deputy solicitor general.

Two state senators have asked Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to investigate executive pay at Constellation Energy Group and whether CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III's compensation package amounts to an unlawful waste of assets shouldered by customers. Noting the national backlash against "excessive" executive compensation, Democratic Sens. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County and James Brochin of Baltimore County asked Thursday for a legal opinion on whether Gansler or any government official has the authority to void pay arrangements for Shattuck, or whether the General Assembly can restrict his pay. "It seems like excessive greed for a public utility," Brochin said.