Lobbyist

Maryland's highest paid lobbyist of 2012 earned $1.3 million during a busy legislative year that included two special sessions and millions spent by gambling interests. Timothy Perry, who last year ranked No. 2, tops the 2012 annual lobbyist compensation rankings recently released by the State Ethics Commission. Last year's top earner, Gerry Evans, dropped to the fifth spot on the list. While the order may have been shuffled, the same 10 lobbyists populated top-10 list. Lawmakers this year held two special sessions, one in May to pass a state budget and another in August to put gambling expansion on the state ballot.

If you're in a business that seeks to influence government policies in Baltimore, chances are you've hired the lobbying firm of Harris Jones & Malone. Various companies have on file with the city ethics board a total of 56 forms stating that they are paying a lobbyist to represent them before the municipal government. Twenty-three of those - about 41 percent - come from Harris Jones & Malone, according to the most recent documents available. That's noticeably more than any other firm.

When a reporter gets an exclusive, it's called a scoop. But what do you call it when a lobbyist gets to a key  opportunity to influence legislators that all of his colleagues have missed? Whatever you call it, that's what W. Minor Carter got late Easter Sunday when he was the only lobbyist who managed to get into a locked House office building for the opportunity to talk with members of House leadership about the most heavily lobbied legislation of the year: casino gambling. Carter represents the National Harbor development in Prince George's County, where Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller wants to locate a new luxury casino.

A spokesman for the National Rifle Association in Maryland said Tuesday that his organization would not be opposed to requiring people to get a license before purchasing a handgun — as long as the licensing fees were reasonable. I was surprised to hear Matt Daley say this on my radio show Tuesday afternoon because most of the gun-rights advocates I've heard from are opposed to licensure — period. They say it violates the Constitution. So I checked the recording of my conversation with Daley to make sure I heard him correctly.

Kim Washington, Baltimore's chief lobbyist, will leave her post early in the coming General Assembly session, city officials announced Monday. Washington, a lifelong friend of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, will take a post in the city's housing department, where she had worked previously. Del. Curt Anderson, head of the city's House delegation in Annapolis, said Washington informed him over the weekend that she would be leaving in early February. Washington had worked closely with legislators over the past month to craft the city's priorities in the session that begins Wednesday, he said.

Democrats in Maryland, worried about a punishing election-year climate, want voters thinking of something more damning than "incumbent" when they go to the polls. Their preferred enemy: the lobbyist. The strategy became clear last week when former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. confirmed that he wants to unseat Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley. The message from O'Malley's campaign: Voters will have a choice between a sitting governor who made tough decisions in a down economy and an ousted opponent turned high-priced lobbyist for corporate interests.

Kim Washington, a top aide to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore's chief lobbyist, will leave her post early in the coming General Assembly session, city officials announced Monday. Washington, a friend of Rawlings-Blake's since childhood, will take a post in the city housing department, where she worked previously. Del. Curt Anderson, head of the city's House delegation in Annapolis, said Washington informed him over the weekend that she would be leaving in early February.

Leo W. "Corky" Doyle, a retired attorney and lobbyist who represented the insurance industry before the Maryland General Assembly, died of lung cancer Dec. 17 at his Crofton home. He was 81. Born in Baltimore and raised on Inglewood Avenue in Hamilton, he was the son of J. Joseph Doyle, a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. attorney, and Mary Meyer Doyle, a homemaker. He attended St. Dominic's Parochial School and was a 1947 Polytechnic Institute graduate. He served in the Army Signal Corps during the Korean War. While stationed in Southern California, he met his future wife, the former Donna Gene Rogers.

Any person paid to influence the votes of Baltimore's elected officials — regardless of the amount they receive — would be required to register as a lobbyist under a measure proposed Monday by Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young. Lobbyists would be barred from claiming they could "control or obtain" the vote of an elected official under the proposal. "The public deserves to know how much money was spent and who was involved in a legislative fight," said Young, adding that the measure would help dispel a sense that City Hall has been "plagued by scandal.

I think that the characterization of the lobbyist occupation as "dirty" is unfair (Debate on dirty word: 'lobbyist,'" April 4). Lobbyists play an important role in our political process. Their advocacy on behalf of a client's of a point of view on pending legislation and on needed legislative changes serves a valuable role in the process of deliberating new and existing laws in our society. There are always many points of view, and for interested parties to hire a spokesperson on their behalf who has access to law makers is not "dirty" at all. What is "dirty," in my opinion, is when our elected representatives take money from lobbyists for election campaign support, take boondoggle trips to exotic locations under the guise of a seminar and the like, and in general promise a quid pro quo arrangement with the lobbying firms in return for special consideration on matters which benefit the lobbying entity.

The National Rifle Association and a trade organization representing the $13.6 billion gun industry began work in Annapolis this week as the General Assembly prepared to debate some of the nation's strictest gun laws. The NRA held a meeting for about 25 lawmakers Thursday to discuss strategy in a conversation expected to intensify as early as Friday morning, when Gov. Martin O'Malley releases details of his gun control plan. On Wednesday, the National Shooting Sports Foundation registered prominent Annapolis firm Alexander & Cleaver on its behalf.

Kim Washington, a top aide to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore's chief lobbyist, will leave her post early in the coming General Assembly session, city officials announced Monday. Washington, a friend of Rawlings-Blake's since childhood, will take a post in the city housing department, where she worked previously. Del. Curt Anderson, head of the city's House delegation in Annapolis, said Washington informed him over the weekend that she would be leaving in early February.

Kim Washington, Baltimore's chief lobbyist, will leave her post early in the coming General Assembly session, city officials announced Monday. Washington, a lifelong friend of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, will take a post in the city's housing department, where she had worked previously. Del. Curt Anderson, head of the city's House delegation in Annapolis, said Washington informed him over the weekend that she would be leaving in early February. Washington had worked closely with legislators over the past month to craft the city's priorities in the session that begins Wednesday, he said.

Maryland's highest paid lobbyist of 2012 earned $1.3 million during a busy legislative year that included two special sessions and millions spent by gambling interests. Timothy Perry, who last year ranked No. 2, tops the 2012 annual lobbyist compensation rankings recently released by the State Ethics Commission. Last year's top earner, Gerry Evans, dropped to the fifth spot on the list. While the order may have been shuffled, the same 10 lobbyists populated top-10 list. Lawmakers this year held two special sessions, one in May to pass a state budget and another in August to put gambling expansion on the state ballot.

Ayatollahs seem to just appoint themselves and then start enforcing their own brand of orthodoxy. Grover Norquist has been doing that in the Republican Party for years. Mr. Norquist has never been elected to anything. Nobody ever said he should be in charge of the GOP's true religion (although he claims President Ronald Reagan urged him to found his lobbying group, Americans for Tax Reform). But he certainly has been the Republicans' key political theologian who made opposition to tax increases the party's central tenet for more than 25 years.

The gridlock in Washington is blamed on men like Grover Norquist, and rightfully so ("For GOP, was it the message or messengers?" Nov. 12). The powerful lobbyist coerces or threatens spineless Republicans to promise him in writing never to pass any tax increases. How does he get away with this? The president tries to forge compromise across the aisle. These nefarious lobbyists should be thrown out of Washington, and our members of Congress should perform the duties they were elected to do. Betty Eisenberg, Owings Mills

Maryland Business for Responsive Government, a state business advocacy group with a bipartisan mission and hundreds of members, on Tuesday named an Annapolis lobbyist with nearly 20 years' experience to be its new president. Kimberly M. Burns, an attorney and lobbyist with Government Affairs Maryland, her father's firm, replaces Robert O.C. "Rocky" Worcester, who had led the group since its formation in 1983. "It's a broad-based opportunity to utilize my skills for something I strongly believe in and I'm very passionate about," said Burns.

Massive girders and freshly poured concrete form a bump in the middle of the low-slung terminal, almost as if BWI Marshall Airport is expecting. In a way, it is. Before next summer, a glassed-in walkway, new shops and a modern security checkpoint will spring from the framework. Passengers will be able to get from the concourses used by Southwest and AirTran to the one used by American and Spirit without leaving security. By the time summer is out, the oldest part of BWI will be modernized and directly connected to the busiest part.

Annapolis lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano has been fined $13,000 by the Maryland Department of the Environment for allegedly violating state lead-paint regulations on two properties he owns in the capital. But Bereano disputes the state's charges, saying the homes he rents out are lead-free. According to a state complaint, an MDE inspector saw chipping, peeling or flaking paint on the exterior of one of the two properties on Pinkney Street in June. The department had been asked to check out the properties by the city of Annapolis, which also regulates rental housing.