Glendening

Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley plans to announce today his nominees to head two key state agencies, once again choosing veterans of former Gov. Parris N. Glendening's administration to run the health and environment departments. Sources close to the O'Malley administration confirmed yesterday that John M. Colmers, the former head of the Maryland Health Care Commission, will be the nominee for health and mental hygiene; and Shari T. Wilson, who helped lead Glendening's signature Smart Growth initiative, will be the governor-elect's pick for the Department of the Environment.

For the third time this month, Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley filled a key post for his new administration from the ranks of government leaders exiled from Annapolis when Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. came to town four years ago. Yesterday, O'Malley named T. Eloise Foster - the budget secretary in the last years of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's administration - to return to her old job. She follows Tuesday's announcement that John D. Porcari would...

Foster to be named to Md. budget post, Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley is scheduled to announce today his nomination of T. Eloise Foster to head the state Department of Budget and Management, a critical position for the incoming administration as it grapples with how to close projected budget shortfalls of more than $1 billion in coming years, a source familiar with the transition said. Foster was state budget secretary from 2000 to 2003 under the administration of former Gov. Parris N. Glendening, and had been deputy secretary of the agency for four years before that.

Promising more emphasis on mass transit and a return to Smart Growth principles to ease Maryland's traffic gridlock, Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley announced yesterday that he will nominate former Glendening administration official John D. Porcari to his old job of transportation secretary. Porcari, 48, of Cheverly in Prince George's County was considered by many Annapolis watchers to be a top pick for the O'Malley administration because of his experience in managing one of the state's largest agencies.

Maryland environmental advocates backed Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley at the polls this year, and now say they want him to make good on his promises to protect open space. The state's nationally recognized land preservation programs took a hit over the last several years when Govs. Parris N. Glendening and Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. diverted $480 million in open space funds to fill budget shortfalls. With more budget problems on the horizon, leaders of several environmental groups gathered yesterday to make sure O'Malley doesn't follow in his predecessors' footsteps.

Peter Franchot's victory in the race for state comptroller yesterday could be attributed to many factors - his reputation for independence, his positions on the environment and education, or the clean campaign he ran. But Franchot knows better. "I've got a lucky yellow tie I've worn every day for the last two months," he said. He had the tie on again yesterday. But it wasn't his only defense. "I always tie my right shoe before my left shoe," he said. "Politicians are superstitious." Especially on Election Day, when those on the ballot are careful to uphold the rituals and traditions that have carried them to victory in the past.

Every hotly contested election spawns a few whispers - sometimes petty questions that float just beneath the surface of public debate - that arouse great interest among campaign stalwarts. For example, was Democrat Ken Ulman "Director of the Board of Public Works and Special Projects," as he claims, or a less exalted staffer when he worked in the late 1990s for Gov. Parris N. Glendening? Is C. Stephen Wallis, the independent candidate for county executive, really a conservative Republican in disguise?

On the campaign trail, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. boasts that he has preserved more than 60,000 acres of land since taking office almost four years ago. "One in five acres in Maryland today is in permanent easement protection -- that's a big deal," he said last week. What he doesn't say is that his administration has preserved a fraction as much land as former Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who made land conservation a signature policy. Maryland protected 220,000 acres from development under Glendening in the four years before Ehrlich became governor, and more than 80,000 acres during the Democrat's first term, according to state agencies.

Former Gov. Parris N. Glendening strolled onto the Annapolis City Dock and back into the spotlight yesterday, declaring that he will spend the coming months making sure candidates who fight for the environment will win in November. Once the dominant force in Maryland government, known for his ability to get what he wanted, help friends and punish enemies, Glendening has been in self-imposed political exile for nearly four years. But now, the former governor says he has been raising money and giving advice.

Glendening backs Mfume for Senate Former U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, has landed his biggest endorsement yet, his campaign said yesterday. Former Gov. Parris N. Glendening will endorse the five-term congressman and former NAACP chief during a news conference tomorrow at City Dock in Annapolis, the campaign said. "I've got a lot of respect for Governor Glendening," Mfume said yesterday. "I'm one of his biggest fans with respect to the notion of smart growth and protecting our environment, our wetlands, our lakes and streams and making sure that urban development was planned urban development."