Kasemeyer

WITH SEN. Paula C. Hollinger facing no opposition in the 11th Legislative District of northwest Baltimore County, the contest is in the delegates' race. The question is: Can Republicans break the Democratic lock on power in the district, which includes such county population centers as Reisterstown and Owings Mills?The GOP candidates with the best chance to win are Christian Cavey, 43, an insurance executive, and Virginia G. Schuster, 70, a real estate agent. If we had to choose between the two, our favorite would be the spunky Mrs. Schuster, whose motto is "been there, done it."

THERE IS a change in the personality of Maryland's 12th Legislative District from east to west. Blue-collar area in Baltimore County such as Lansdowne and Arbutus meet more affluent communities in Howard County. There is little difference, however, in the issues that concern residents. They want good schools, less crime, lower taxes.The 12th District senator, Democrat Edward J. Kasemeyer, deserves re-election. Republican challenger David P. Maier lost to Mr. Kasemeyer in 1994. Voters will again have a clear choice between a Democrat who is an abortion rights advocate and who supports gun control and a Republican abortion opponent who does not. The election of Mr. Kasemeyer four years ago indicates that his views more closely match the district's.

Republican state Senate candidate David P. Maier's electric hand-waving machine suffered a broken mechanical arm on Frederick Road the other morning. But if Catonsville Democrats see a busted campaign gimmick as an omen, they're dead wrong, he said.Maier, who lost by 2 percent of the vote four years ago, is on the attack against incumbent 12th District state Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, 53, a veteran Democrat trying to build on his narrow 1994 victory."He's so far out on the social scale," said Maier, 41, of Elkridge, who accuses Kasemeyer of supporting needle exchanges to combat AIDS and of being a tool of special-interest contributors and trying to hide it.Kasemeyer, who denies his opponent's claims, is fighting back hard in a district that has become a battleground for the traditionally dominant Democrats and Republicans who believe they have momentum on their side.

State Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, whose 12th District includes Catonsville and parts of Howard County, said yesterday that he would not run for Howard County executive, something he had considered for many months.Instead, said Kasemeyer, a Democrat who lives in west Columbia, he plans to run for re-election to the Senate."I just enjoy what I'm doing in this stage of my life and want to keep doing it," said Kasemeyer, 51.In announcing his decision, Kasemeyer noted his position on the Senate's influential Budget and Taxation Committee and his role as deputy majority leader.

Candidates for General Assembly seats from Howard County wasted no time in attacking their opponents at a forum last night, and a former county executive and a current hopeful made an unusual display of Democratic unity last night.Democrat James P. Mundy, a state Senate candidate in District 14, criticized the county legislative delegation for its inability to get money for mass transit projects."We're the Rodney Dangerfield 14 . . . in bringing money back," said Mr. Mundy, 42, who teaches politics and government at Glenelg High School.

State Senate candidate Edward J. Kasemeyer, joined by the parents of a college student who was shot to death at a Severna Park doughnut shop last August, said yesterday that society is "indirectly encouraging violence by the lack of control and regulation of handguns."Mr. Kasemeyer sought to distinguish himself from other candidates in newly redrawn District 12 -- which stretches from largely liberal Columbia to more conservative southwestern Baltimore County -- by announcing his support for comprehensive gun-control legislation at a news conference at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia.

The state prosecutor's office has determined that Democratic state Senate candidate Edward J. Kasemeyer has been a resident of District 12 long enough to legally run for the office.Responding to a complaint filed Oct. 20 by the Maryland Republican Party, a state prosecutor's investigation last week concluded that Mr. Kasemeyer had moved to a Columbia condominium he owns in early March, about eight months before the Nov. 8 general election and in time to meet the six-month requirement for residency under state election law.David P. Maier, Mr. Kasemeyer's Republican opponent, asked the state Republican Party to look into whether Mr. Kasemeyer met residency requirements for the district, which includes west Columbia, southern Ellicott City, Elkridge and southwestern Baltimore County.

State Senate candidate Edward J. Kasemeyer, joined by the parents of a college student who was shot to death at a Severna Park doughnut shop last August, said yesterday that society is "indirectly encouraging violence by the lack of control and regulation of handguns."Mr. Kasemeyer sought to distinguish himself from other candidates in newly redrawn District 12 -- which stretches from largely liberal Columbia to more conservative, southwestern Baltimore County -- by announcing his support for pTC comprehensive gun-control legislation at a news conference at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia.

Republican state Senate candidate David P. Maier charged at a candidates forum last night that his Democratic opponent is a "professional politician" who doesn't have the same commitment District 12 residents that he does."

Former state Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer got out of one political race yesterday and into another.Soured in his gubernatorial bid, but still sweet on public service, Mr. Kasemeyer said he hopes to return to the state Senate, this time from District 12.He was elected to the Senate from District 14 in 1986 after serving a term as a General Assembly delegate from the "B" portion of that district."

The idea that a huge partisan divide separates Democrats from Republicans in the Maryland General Assembly seemed absurd at the Howard County Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative wrap-up discussion last week. The Senate's majority and minority leaders - Republican Allan H. Kittleman and Democrat Edward J. Kasemeyer - blew rhetorical kisses at each other, and Del. James E. Malone Jr., a Democrat, spoke of his close relations with at least one conservative county Republican. "Warren Miller is one of my best friends in Annapolis," Malone said at the breakfast event at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, noting that conservative and moderate Democrats often work together with the vastly outnumbered Republicans.

Many Howard County members of the General Assembly are using their summers for professional travel, going as near as Washington and as far as Kazakhstan. While Del. Guy Guzzone attended a weeklong seminar in Washington last month, state Sen. Allan H. Kittleman is preparing to go halfway around the world for a cultural exchange trip to the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan with Maryland schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick and others. This large, former portion of the old Soviet Union, skewered a few years ago in the comedy film Borat, will host the Marylanders from Friday to Aug. 16. Kittleman, a Republican, said he is looking forward to it. "I've been very involved with literacy in Maryland," he said.

Stung by public backlash, a growing number of lawmakers are considering the repeal of a new law requiring that all Maryland homeowners apply for a tax credit they previously had received automatically. A bill heard yesterday by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee would restore the automatic protection homeowners have had from being taxed for the full value of their homes when property assessments rise rapidly. Last year, the General Assembly unanimously approved the new law, which requires that all homeowners apply for the Homestead Tax Credit.

Rarely does a week go by without a headline demonstrating the ethical quandaries posed by political fundraising. Most recently, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold drew attention for receiving more than $100,000 at a fundraiser hosted by Sallie Mae Executive Chairman Albert L. Lord, who, four days later, won a key approval from the County Council for an 18-hole golf course he's building. "No quid pro quo," insists Mr. Leopold, and indeed, the proposal had no apparent opposition on the council to overcome - but the timing stank.

Two of Howard County's three state senators sit on the Budget and Tax Committee and participated in key votes for the first set of changes that are reshaping Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax plan. Democratic Sens. Edward J. Kasemeyer and James N. Robey supported the committee majority in lowering O'Malley's suggested top income tax rate for Maryland's highest-income residents, while rejecting his idea for relief for people earning less than $15,000. O'Malley has proposed a series of tax increases and changes designed to help close a projected $1.7 billion budget gap next year.

The vote won't come until after tomorrow's 7 p.m. swearing-in at Centennial High School, but chances are that Calvin Ball, an east Columbia Democrat, will be the new chairman of the Howard County Council. Ball, 30, is pooh-poohing predictions. The new council members discussed leadership at a two-day retreat last week at Belmont Conference Center in Elkridge, but they would not give specifics. "There was a lot of conversation and team building and getting to know each other," Ball said.

Three Baltimore-area lawmakers will take on new leadership positions when the General Assembly convenes in January, assuring the region a voice in setting the legislature's agenda. Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden of Baltimore will become Senate president pro tempore, the second in command in that chamber. Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, who represents Baltimore and Howard counties, will take McFadden's place as Senate majority leader. And Del. Talmadge Branch of Baltimore will become House majority whip.

On Wednesday, December 17, 2003, MARY ELIZABETH TAYLOR, 91, passed from this life. She was the beloved wife of the late William Taylor, living mom to Mr. Ronald W. Kasemeyer, Savage, MD, and Senator Edward J. Kasemeyer, of Columbia, MD, loving stepmother to William Brandes of Boston, MA, Nancy Kasemeyer, of West Friendship, MD, Terry McLeod, of Monkton, MD, loving grandmother to twelve and eleven great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends at the Witzke Funeral Home of Catonsville Inc., 1630 Edmondson Avenue (one mile west of beltway exit 14)

Senate opponents of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s bill to allow slots at Maryland racetracks girded for a floor fight today while conceding their chances are dismal in the face of Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller's determined support. The legislation was the subject of a preliminary skirmish yesterday when it made its first appearance before the full Senate. Critics peppered the floor leader, Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, with barbed questions before action on the bill was postponed for a day to let senators draft amendments.

The outcome of this year's race for the seats in the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates in the 12th District may well depend on whether the incumbent legislators representing such diverse communities as Columbia and Lansdowne have kept in touch with their constituents. "It's a very unique and diverse district and the best way to stay on top of it is to be responsive to constituent problems," said state Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer of Columbia. He and Del. James E. Malone Jr., the two 12th District incumbents, ranked constituent service as their top priority.