Lame Duck

Seldom have I read a more biased and offensive article than Ross Mackenzie's op-ed, "To congressional Democrats: Merry Christmas and thanks for nothing" (Dec. 26). One could have expected such a distorted statement in the Wall Street Journal or the Weekly Standard but not from the usually balanced and mainstream Baltimore Sun. The article cries out for repudiation. Most observers have concluded that the Congressional session just ended was one of the most active and progressive since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.

CHICAGO -- Election Day is approaching, and like kids on Christmas Eve, both parties are atwitter over what they might get. Democrats and Republicans are both hoping for control of the Senate, which the Democrats now dominate. Normally, one party is doomed to disappointment. But this year, both could get their wish. How can that be? It's the result partly of some oddities of this particular election -- and partly of a grossly outdated constitutional provision that leaves a long delay between the time voters choose their representatives and the time those representatives take office.

The five defeated incumbents on the Baltimore County Council last night voted to help attract a research firm -- and 300 new jobs -- to Catonsville.It was the council's last official meeting under the outgoing administration of County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen.The 5-2 vote on the Catonsville project authorizes the county to spend $300,000 for site improvements for a proposed 85,000-square-foot office building on the campus of the University of Maryland Baltimore County just off Interstate 95.The county is looking to the state to put up $3 million more for roads, sewers and utility connections.

Dennis Dugan, who directed episodes of "Moonlighting," "Wiseguy' and "Hunter" for television, invited some friends over to Universal Studios to give their opinion of his first feature film, "Problem Child.'The friends were David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Pat Proft, whose names should conjure up the credits for "Airplane!' and "Naked Gun.""So they came over," said Dugan, "and gave us really good notes; and an hour later, David called and said, 'There's a script on the way over to your house.

The Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee has voted unanimously to appoint a task force to investigate the legality of a recent vote by the county's House delegation to allow full voting rights to three nonresident representatives from Prince George's County - all of whom are Democrats. The delegation decided the matter in a split vote at a meeting Monday. The move infuriated Republicans who wanted to take back control of the delegation's chairman and vice chairman positions.

WASHINGTON -- On a day when Democrats celebrated their sweep of both houses of Congress, President Bush and Democratic leaders pledged yesterday to put the bitterly fought election behind them and work together. But the lame-duck congressional session that begins next week is shaping up as an early test of bipartisanship. Republicans and Democrats are already quietly jockeying to set the agenda. Just minutes before Bush sat down to a lunch at the White House with Rep.

WASHINGTON -- In its final weeks before leaving office, the Bush administration took a series of little-noticed steps to allow the petroleum industry to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in additional royalty and interest payments to the government.At the same time, Bush administration officials lowered the government fees for some ranchers who graze livestock on federal lands.The actions were taken in late December and January as outgoing administration officials prepared to relinquish control to the Democrats.

PLUGGING HOLES in Maryland's constitution is an on-going process. Six sensible amendments are on the Nov. 5 ballot.QUESTION NO. 1 seeks to give public members greater say in deciding if judges should be disciplined for misbehavior. The amendment adds four public members (for a total of five) and a third lawyer member while cutting the number of judges on the Commission on Judicial Disabilities from four to three.These steps should give the panel better balance in assessing allegations against judges, making the group less of a legal insiders' club.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - For most of his time in office, Gov. Jeb Bush has all but walked on water, pushing through changes that a less confident or less pedigreed politician would not have dared. But with less than two years left in power, Bush is experiencing something strange: defeat. His mind was plainly on his legacy in March, when he used his State of the State address to call for "bold, brave ideas" to "define us as dreamers, builders and problem solvers." Among his top goals were expanding a school voucher program that has been found unconstitutional and is under review by the Florida Supreme Court, and scaling back a costly constitutional requirement to reduce class size in public schools.

The governor's plan to give Norplant to poor women passed with surprising ease. His budget escaped virtually unscathed. One of his gun control bills is on the move, and at least part of his crackdown on "deadbeat parents" appears headed for final approval.All in all, for a lame-duck governor whose popularity peaked years ago, William Donald Schaefer is not having a bad year.Although he's not winning the victories he did during his first term -- when a voter mandate swept him into office -- he's not suffering the losses he did at the start of his second term in 1991.