Lobbyist

?It?s all about choice. Individual proprietors can say they want to be smoke free, but a blanket statewide law would certainly hurt small businesses.? Frank D. Boston III, lobbyist for Baltimore Licensed Beverage Association. Article, PG 1A Up Next Tomorrow COLLECTION We offer some tips on starting a collection of vintage posters. in GO TODAY Sunday Boomers The stories of two Baltimore-area women, one born on the first day of the "baby boom" in 1946, the other at the end, in 1964.

Bruce C. Bereano, one of Annapolis' top lobbyists, will appeal to Maryland's highest court to overturn a suspension of his lobbying license, his attorney said yesterday. The Court of Special Appeals issued an amended ruling yesterday, reiterating its November decision that upheld Ethics Commission sanctions against the lobbyist for entering into a contract that paid him in part based on his success at securing government work for a client. Bereano is fighting a 10-month suspension of his lobbying license and a $5,000 fine.

WASHINGTON -- A former Bush administration official, once described by Jack Abramoff as "our guy" at the Interior Department, pleaded guilty yesterday to lying to Senate investigators probing the scandal surrounding the convicted Republican lobbyist. J. Steven Griles, a coal mining official who was deputy to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton between 2001 and 2005, became the ninth figure to be convicted of a crime as a result of the Justice Department investigation into Abramoff - and the second to have held a high-ranking position in the Bush administration.

U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, former Gov. Marvin Mandel and the chief judge of the Maryland District Court were among three dozen witnesses who came to Annapolis yesterday to praise the character of Bruce C. Bereano -- attorney, lobbyist and convicted felon.Battling to hang on to his law license despite a 1994 mail-fraud conviction, Bereano mounted an extraordinarily aggressive defense in Anne Arundel Circuit Court.Over eight hours of testimony, his witnesses included four current or former judges, two former county executives, a prosecutor, several prominent lawyers and four of the lobbying clients he was convicted of defrauding.

HERE'S a brain-teaser that seems to have stumped those in charge of Maryland's General Assembly: If a business deal between a lobbyist and a legislator is deemed an unethical conflict of interest today, why wasn't it viewed that way last year at this time?It was pretty flagrant: A $10,000 real estate commission steered to Del. Tony E. Fulton of Baltimore by lobbyist Gerard E. Evans when he purchased a downtown Annapolis office building.Leaders in Annapolis shrugged off this deal when The Sun wrote about it a year ago. The Assembly's so-called ethics panel later gave it a cursory glance, despite the pungent aroma of scandal.

Under pressure from legislative leaders after his indictment on federal mail fraud charges, Del. Tony E. Fulton gave up two House leadership posts yesterday and agreed to abstain on votes affecting clients of his co-defendant, State House lobbyist Gerard E. Evans.The Baltimore Democrat agreed to the moves at the urging of House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr."I ... want to avoid any cloud hanging over the actions I take in the legislature to represent my constituents while this matter is pending," Fulton said in a statement released by Taylor's office.

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens announced yesterday that she is removing her chief of staff because the aide is the sister-in-law of a lobbyist being paid to try to persuade the county to endorse a 60,000-seat auto racing stadium.Owens said she is transferring Linda Gilligan to a lower-profile job in the county's finance office because Owens does not want voters to suspect her administration's objectivity on the track proposal.Gilligan is related to Michael Gilligan, whom Owens dismissed as an unpaid adviser last month after learning that he was working for the Chesapeake Motorsports Development Corp.

Filling another key post in his administration, Mayor-elect Martin O'Malley has tapped NAACP executive Jeanne D. Hitchcock to be Baltimore's chief lobbyist in Annapolis and on Capitol Hill.Hitchcock will leave her post as chief operating officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to become head of intergovernmental relations for the O'Malley administration. An attorney, she is also a former executive with the Southland Corp., owner of 7-Eleven.O'Malley said he hasn't determined what Hitchcock's title will be, but said that she will part of his inner circle when he takes office Dec. 7."

EVERY once in a while, I get amazed. Gerry Evans, the millionaire lobbyist, amazes me. Here's a guy who can probably walk into a Mercedes dealer in the next hour and buy a brand-new car off the showroom floor. I'll bet there's a constant supply of Godiva Chocolates in a dish in his office. I'll bet he uses $5 cigars to light up $8 cigars. He can probably get courtside seats for any Terps game. He makes plenty of money as a white-collar action hero in Annapolis; at $1 million last year, he was the highest-paid lobbyist in the state.

Lance W. Billingsley, chairman of the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents and one of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's closest political friends, has begun offering his services as a lobbyist on behalf of clients with business before the General Assembly.Billingsley, 58, said he is not planning to leave the unpaid regents post from which he directs policy making for College Park, 10 other university campuses and two research institutes with a total budget of $2.2 billion."Unless I'm missing something," he said, "there's nothing that says I can't lobby.

Man is fatally shot in Belair-Edison neighborhood A man was fatally shot Wednesday night on a street in the Belair-Edison neighborhood in Northeast Baltimore, and police said no arrest had been made and they knew of no motive. The victim's name was withheld pending notification of family members, police said. About 9 p.m., Northeastern District police responding to a report of a man shot in the 3400 block of Cliftmont Ave. found the victim bleeding from at least one gunshot wound. The crew of a city Fire Department ambulance pronounced him dead at the scene.

In the lost cause of reversing Maryland's recently adopted speed camera law, few soldiers stormed the barricades with more gusto than Annapolis super-lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano. The Baltimore Sun reported that Bereano claimed to have collected more than 1,500 signatures in the failed effort by hauling petitions to political fundraisers and other events. "I just feel personally very strongly about this," Bereano told The Sun. "The state presumes guilt, which is contrary to American tenets of law; ... it's making a mockery of justice."

Carolyn T. Burridge, a well-known Annapolis lobbyist whose firm represented businesses that included heavy manufacturers and industrial operations, institutions of higher learning and associations for children with multiple disabilities, died of cervical cancer May 6 at Gilchrist Hospice Center. The longtime Homeland resident was 62. Carolyn Taylor was born and raised in Springfield, Mo., and graduated from Greenwood High School, a private school. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1967 from the University of Missouri at Columbia and a master's degree in journalism two years later from American University in Washington.

Despite the cold winds outside - or, perhaps because of them - the atmosphere inside Valley Mansion was downright giddy at The Children's Guild "7th Annual Cabaret for Kids." It seemed that the hundreds of folks in formal frocks and tuxes couldn't wait to shed their heavy coats. "The place looks great; a lot of beautiful people," said Towson area attorney John Bartkowiak. "It's good to get out and have fun when you're seeing and reading gloom and doom everywhere you go. Getting dressed up and getting out and having fun is just what's needed," said Joan Worthington, principal of JW and Associates.

WASHINGTON -Marvin Hoffman is listed in campaign finance records as one of the many lobbyists with the powerful PMA Group donating money to lawmakers. But Hoffman is a soon-to-retire information technology manager in Marina del Rey, Calif., who has never heard of the suburban Arlington, Va., lobbying firm or the Indiana congressman to whom he supposedly gave $2,000. "I've never heard of this company," Hoffman, 75, said in an interview. Another contributor listed as a PMA lobbyist is, in fact, a sales manager for an inflatable-boat manufacturer in New Jersey.

Maryland lawmaker Heather R. Mizeur shepherded a bill through the General Assembly this year to establish a new fund supporting the emerging field of nanobiotechnology. In the process, she also succeeded in securing a potential funding source for companies she had registered to represent on Capitol Hill. The Montgomery County Democratic delegate acknowledges working extensively for a nanobiotechnology company as a congressional lobbyist with the Washington law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, but she says she got clearance from the state legislature's ethics counsel to sponsor and vote on the legislation.

Lost amid the turmoil of this year's exciting presidential campaign is what's shaping up to be a potentially fascinating congressional cycle. Here in Maryland, results from the "Potomac primary" provided an early whiff of the changing landscape of congressional elections. Incumbent members of Congress are normally untouchable. But sophisticated challenges mounted by conservative and liberal activists helped unseat, respectively, Eastern Shore Republican Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest and Prince George's County-based Rep. Democrat Albert R. Wynn.

Annapolis lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano, who has been fighting a suspension of his license over an alleged ethics violation for years, won a partial victory at Maryland's highest court yesterday. The Court of Appeals, in a 54-page opinion yesterday, reversed lower court rulings upholding sanctions against Bereano and remanded the case to the State Ethics Commission for further proceedings. It is unclear what further action the commission might take against the lobbyist; its executive director, Robert A. Hahn, said the body would review the matter.

He stood at the witness table with an expression of respect for the legislative committee he was addressing. And though he had become a fixture in Annapolis, he always introduced himself. "My name is Jim Doyle, and I'm a lawyer from Baltimore," he would say. Then would come brief, sharply focused testimony. "There was an air about him that stood out above us all," says his friend and colleague, George N. Manis. "It was the silver hair, the blue suit, the blue tie, his presentation, his demeanor.

James Joseph Doyle Jr., a retired lobbyist and attorney who was once one of the most well-known figures in Annapolis, died of pneumonia complications Thursday at Sinai Hospital. The Pasadena resident was 81. Among his many clients were area newspapers for which he was an advocate for open public meetings and access to public records. Born in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton, he attended St. Dominic's Parochial School and was a 1944 Polytechnic Institute graduate. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army's Air Corps and served in the occupation of Germany.