Legislative Session

Maryland's political leaders, virtually all of them Democrats, spent the recently concluded General Assembly session whistling past the graveyard. They had their reasons. It was their graveyard. And they know the ghosts are real. They're determined to find the bright side because they know the voters and the corporate interests that help finance their campaigns would like to whistle along with them. The graveyard in question is Maryland's unsupportable financial situation. The cost of government has gone up, boosted by altogether worthy state initiatives.

Upstairs at the Middleton Tavern, a near-quorum of Maryland's 188-member General Assembly settled in for a winter's eve of succulent Chesapeake Bay oysters, mounds of colorful crudites, hand-carved meats and an open bar -- courtesy of lobbyist Dennis C. McCoy and one of his many clients, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons.McCoy is host of one of the legislative session's most popular receptions, generating enough good cheer to erase boundaries between Republican and Democrat, city and suburb, haughty reformer and unrepentant schmoozer.

Extending their criminal investigation of Del. Tony E. Fulton's relationship with State House lobbyists, federal authorities have subpoenaed the lawmaker's legislative records and voting history going back to 1996, according to federal documents.The broad subpoena is part of investigators' efforts to find out if Fulton might have been helping State House lobbyists Gerard E. Evans and John R. Stierhoff generate business beginning in 1997, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

YOU might call it the curious case of the disappearing governor. Just past the mid-point in this year's General Assembly session, Gov. Parris Glendening has yet to become fully involved in legislative activities.It's almost as though he's focused on something else -- like positioning himself for a possible high-level Washington appointment after the 2000 presidential election.Low-key approachThe administration has taken a low-key approach toward this 90-day meeting of state lawmakers. Occasionally, the governor speaks out -- often by letter or formal announcement -- on a subject.

Mayor Schmoke gave Baltimoreans a voice in the state's affairsAs chairpersons of Baltimore's state Senate and House delegations, respectively, we take exception to The Sun's editorial "Transition starts today for new administration." Its criticism of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's relationship with the Maryland General Assembly does not reflect Mr. Schmoke's lobbying efforts.For 12 years, Mr. Schmoke has been the voice of Baltimore's citizens -- and his voice has been heard in the halls of Annapolis.

After a year of negotiations, Baltimore County and state officials have worked out an agreement to buy a controversial city-owned park in Cub Hill for $1.9 million, according to a legislator involved in the talks.Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell, who is helping to orchestrate the deal, said he anticipates state approval to buy Graham Memorial Park off Harford Road in a few months -- a proposal that has sent ripples of relief through the community."That's great to hear," said Jana Leonard of Parkville, a park visitor for 20 years.

After a plea from prosecutors that "the wealthy and powerful" be treated the same as any convicted criminal, a federal judge sentenced one of Maryland's most influential lobbyists to a 10-month term yesterday for a campaign-contribution fraud scheme.Bruce C. Bereano, who also was fined $30,000, choked back tears moments before being sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and said he won't quit being a lobbyist or a lawyer."I know my heart is good," Bereano, 53, said in a courtroom packed with his friends and political supporters, among them former Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel.

REGIONAL, ETHNIC and gender voting blocs -- their strengths trumpeted so proudly during the recent legislative session -- get headlines, but the legislative soul is lost or saved by individuals.One person, one precious vote.We are talking about the frightening power and responsibility riding on each yea and nay flashed to the electronic tote boards, House and Senate, during any General Assembly session.Votes and speeches that are of significance often are of no value to a politician in search of an accomplishment to run on. They come at moments of low drama and often when the lawmaker is struggling to keep pace with a torrent of bills.

The Maryland General Assembly ended a yearlong struggle over how to reclaim polluted industrial land yesterday as the House of Delegates passed the so-called brownfields bill unanimously and without debate.The legislation offers regulatory and financial incentives to clean up contaminated sites so they can be redeveloped.On Monday night, the Senate unanimously passed an identical version -- guaranteeing that the legislation will be enacted by the time the Assembly reaches the midpoint of its 1997 session Friday.

HAVRE DE GRACE -- In the very olden days in Annapolis, when legislators were paid $2,400 a year and didn't even have telephones at their desks on the House or Senate floor, there was nostalgia mixed with excitement each year as the General Assembly droned toward its final adjournment.The legislators were weary, of course, but they knew they'd been doing important stuff, and for the most part having a pretty good time, too. They liked one another, and they liked playing the government game.

The need for publicly financed campaigns for seats in the General Assembly has seldom been greater. With record sums likely to be spent on Senate and House of Delegates races next year, the influence of big donations on the legislature never more obvious, and some high-profile Maryland politicians under criminal investigation, one might assume support among legislators would be overwhelming. But the chronically delusional are not so easily swayed. Public financing died late in the last legislative session through a combination of tactical error (a Senate bill that was fatally amended by opponents on the floor)

It's Christmas in June for state house reporters in Albany. In the waning days of the legislative session there, Senate Republicans staged a coup and, with the help of two Democratic defectors, threw control of that chamber into such confusion that it went on literal lockdown. With no lieutenant governor in New York for the moment, the Senate president is next in line, making Gov. David A. Paterson unwilling to leave the state while the Republicans might or might not be able to take over.

Sen. John C. Astle wore banana-colored slacks to a recent voting session, and lobbyist David Carroll has worked the State House hall in Nantucket Red trousers. But it was the Maryland House of Delegates and the Seersucker Six who won the premature preppiness award on the last day of the 2009 session. Dels. John A. "Johnny O" Olszewski Jr., Craig L. Rice, Shawn Z. Tarrant, Jay Walker, Nathaniel T. Oaks and State Trooper Stanley Slide all showed up to represent their constituents in seersucker suits, braving the mockery of their colleagues and the raised eyebrows of fashion scolds who don't abide thin, dimpled, striped cotton before Memorial Day. "These people have no sense of class," said Del. Justin D. Ross, though his mock scorn might have been sour grapes at not being invited into the Boys of Summer clique.

As he delivers the State of the State address Thursday, Gov. Martin O'Malley reaches the midpoint of his term. On the morning the General Assembly opened its 2009 legislative session, I sat down with him in Annapolis to take stock of the state of his governorship at the two-year mark. As he munched a bacon-and-egg-on-rye sandwich in the specially designated governor's booth at Chick and Ruth's Delly on Main Street, I asked him to rate his performance. He rattled off various policies, assigning mostly A's and B's on everything from public safety to energy conservation.

What is the mood coming into the legislative session this year? We are very carefully optimistic. We've overcome much more severe crises in our state's history than what we consider a yearlong blip on our economic radar. ... I'm an historian, and I know what our country has gone through in the past, and this is nothing. It's a deep recession. We're not facing a world war, we're not facing a depression, we're not facing a plague. We can learn from it, and we can survive. How do you manage a projected revenue gap of $1.9 billion?

Congolese rebels declare cease-fire NAIROBI, Kenya: Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo announced yesterday a unilateral cease-fire that should stem violence that has displaced 200,000 people since August. Earlier in the day, false reports about advancing rebels sent thousands of panicked families fleeing a displacement camp and storming into the city of Goma, where they jammed streets, rioted and attacked U.N. vehicles. A spokesman for rebel leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda confirmed the cease-fire agreement but provided no further details.

Maryland farmers are getting more respect in Annapolis these days. This was evident during the recently ended 90-day session of the General Assembly. "Most members of the General Assembly realize that farmers are doing their part to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay," Valerie Connelly, director of government relations at the Maryland Farm Bureau, said after the close of the annual legislative session. "The farm community and the legislature have a lot better rapport now than in the past," she added.

A handful of Anne Arundel County nonprofit organizations are going forward with renovations after gratefully emerging from a bruising legislative session with more than a million dollars in funding. Though state officials cut more than $500 million in spending during the 90-day General Assembly session, lawmakers managed to award $25 million in bond money requested for projects across Maryland. Anne Arundel County organizations beat the curve, receiving $1.26 million of the $1.74 million they sought.

At the end of a legislative session, every bill is connected to every other bill. - Anonymous A keen observer, Anonymous. The universal linkages of legislative life are on display almost every day in the state capital, but never more so than on the hectic last day of the 90-day annual session. It's springtime for strange bedfellows. I give you this year's sweet nexus of cake and computers. We are talking the repeal of a tax on computer services and an effort to make the Smith Island cake Maryland's official dessert.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and top General Assembly leaders capped off a whirlwind legislative session yesterday, signing into law the final piece of a foreclosure reform package and legislation that repealed Maryland's new computer services tax. After the traditional post-adjournment bill signing ceremony yesterday, O'Malley said he was looking forward to putting behind him a "really grueling" period. "With the conclusion of this session, my sense is that some of the dark clouds have passed ... and the road ahead is clear," he said.