Maryland Citizens

After 20 years as president of Maryland Citizens for the Arts, Sue Hess last week announced that she is retiring in June.Hess, as leader of the statewide advocacy group, has worked cheerfully and relentlessly to ensure that state and federal governments continue to fund the arts. The organization, which has 600 members and a data base of 10,000 names of supporters whom it routinely rallies, will be headed by Mary Toth, who was named executive director last year.Beginning in June, "I'm going to be on the other side," says Hess, who will continue to sit on the group's board.

Sue Hess has been heard to say that when she falls in love, she falls in love forever.This explains much about her life, including her long love affair with the arts -- a romance she has shared with Maryland for two decades.As president of the Maryland Citizens for the Arts (MCA), Hess has spent the years coaxing, cautioning, and convincing politicians that the arts should be an integral part of every life and should receive government support. By just about anyone's reckoning, her tenure has been a terrific success.

On some mornings when Mary Toth leaves her Columbia home to drive to her new job as executive director of the Maryland Citizens for the Arts, she finds herself heading for her old office at the Howard County Arts Council.That's understandable. Toth was executive director of the county's Arts Council for 12 years.Her new office -- in the historic George Ellicott House just east of downtown Ellicott City -- is only a mile or so from the Howard County Arts Council on High Ridge Road. And she's been going there for only two months.

The total impact of Maryland's nonprofit arts organizations on the state's economy rose to more than $600 million last year, a figure comparable to the state's horse-racing industry, according to a study released yesterday by the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development.The study found that in 1995, Maryland arts organizations spent a total of nearly $70 million on programs and payroll, employing more than 5,700 people.The direct economic impact of the arts industry, which came to $290 million last year, was calculated by adding the total spending of arts groups and the related spending of audiences attending performances (including restaurant visits and souvenirs)

Although not connected with the AFRAM festival, the Maryland Humanities Council (which is a member of the Coalition for Maryland History and Culture) is presenting "The African-American Experience in Maryland" on Saturday. It takes place at Baltimore City Community College, 2901 Liberty Heights Ave., from 9: 30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free public forums will focus on family roots, oral history, family photographs, documents and artifacts.This is the fifth of six scheduled presentations that are being held around the state.

Although legislation pending in Congress could effectively eliminate her agency's role later this year, Jane Alexander, chairwoman of the National Endowment of the Arts, says arts supporters can count on one thing: "The artists always have the last word."On a visit to Baltimore yesterday, she said that she remains optimistic that the federal agency, which provides support to a variety of arts institutions and individuals, will survive."I am still an optimist, because the arts are life-giving . . . and the arts are needed in society more than ever," she told a luncheon session of the Association of Art Museum Directors, whose annual meeting has been taking place this week at the Walters Art Gallery.

An article in yesterday's Today section incorrectly reported which organization is leading a lobbying campaign to support the National Endowment for the Arts. That organization is the Maryland Citizens for the Arts.* The Sun regrets the error.With the future of the National Endowment for the Arts at stake, arts advocates across Maryland are joining forces to defend the federal agency from Republicans in Congress who would like to eliminate it.The NEA, which gives grants to arts institutions, organizations and individual artists throughout the nation, is under attack from House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others who argue the federal government should not be in the business of underwriting the arts.

Annapolis -- Yellow postcards and several hundred outspoken supporters of the arts greeted Jane Alexander yesterday as the chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts told legislators here that art was an integral part of American culture.The cards, symbols of support for the arts, contained the message: "I support public arts funding . . . I support the NEA . . . and I supported you. Now, please support me!" They would be signed by arts supporters and mailed to politicians here and in Washington to try to shore up support for the NEA and for funding for arts programs.

Generations to come will pay our deficitsFor the first time in several decades, Congress has the opportunity to restore fiscal responsibility by balancing the federal budget. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to stop borrowing from their future to finance our current expenses.Deficits conceal the cost by deferring the payment. One doesn't need to be an economist or business person to understand that future generations will all pay dearly for the current multi-billion deficit levels through inflation and interest rates, an overvalued dollar and trade deficits, fewer investments and a weaker economy, with higher unemployment levels.

An article in yesterday's Today section incorrectly reported which organization is leading a lobbying campaign to support the National Endowment for the Arts. That organization is the Maryland Citizens for the Arts.* The Sun regrets the error.

This summer, Gov. Martin O'Malley asked the public for suggestions about how to make budget cuts during this time of austerity. Citizens responded with thousands of suggestions, for which they deserve praise. But many of these suggestions also showed little understanding of how citizens can benefit from robust and efficient government services. Maryland needs to better inform its citizens about the many benefits its government provides. Even after the economy improves, Maryland will still face large budget deficits.

Making voting easier dilutes its meaning Early voting is permissible for some people: members of the military, the handicapped and in very limited circumstances. However, the emphasis on early voting is mostly a backdoor way to get votes from citizens who are less than committed or responsible, one sold and promoted mostly by liberal organizations as a way to get more voter participation and support, mostly, if not always, for liberal candidates and issues ("Yes on Question 1," editorial, Oct. 19)

Act to safeguard integrity of vote To almost no one's surprise, Tuesday's election was a fiasco. It is just fortunate that it was a primary rather than the general election ("Election woes elicit calls for firings," Sept. 14). For years, warnings from many organizations about the integrity of the ballot have been ignored. The legislature dithered, failing to pass legislation requiring adequate security, quality assurance and a clear, auditable trail for the electronic voting machines.

Proposed rules wouldn't alter water quality The Sun's article "Changes sought on Md. rules for water" (March 14) contained incomplete explanations and omissions of key facts in an important debate about how best to clean Maryland's waters. The Ehrlich administration is deeply committed to high water quality. And it is important to understand what our water quality proposal does and doesn't do, rather than jump to conclusions based on an incomplete story. The federal Clean Water Act requires us to do everything we can to fix water quality problems, and the Ehrlich administration is committed to doing so. The proposal to add a "limited use" category would only be applied when everything technologically possible is still not enough to enable a waterway to meet current quality standards.

Cutting grants to AmeriCorps takes heavy toll As The Sun's article "Community service groups lose U.S. grants" (June 15) noted, AmeriCorps has announced significant reductions in funding and "slot allotments." It would be more accurate to say that AmeriCorps is being gutted like a fish. These reductions are devastating for Maryland. Of the 17 Maryland programs that applied for AmeriCorps competitive "slots," only one is funded for next year. More than 1,000 AmeriCorps members usually serve our state each year, but only 24 will serve next year.

ON MONDAY, Kendl P. Philbrick becomes the chief steward of Maryland's air, water, open spaces and the Chesapeake Bay. He has much to prove. A businessman with no experience as a governmental regulator, his title will be acting secretary of the Department of Environment, the agency charged with protecting the state's most precious resources. The General Assembly's chief environmental expert, Sen. Brian E. Frosh of Montgomery County, says Mr. Philbrick is less qualified to police the environment than Lynn Y. Buhl, who was rejected in a bitter fight during the last legislative session.

MARYLAND House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. says he has always had "a love-hate relationship" with Maryland Business for Responsive Government, "and to this day I still do." The sentiment once tipped more toward the hate. Pro-markets, anti-tax, Republican-oriented MBRG had a talent for getting under the fingernails of even moderate Democrats such as Taylor. An Anglo-Saxon term for cattle manure issues from my telephone receiver when Taylor describes the tough scorecard MBRG keeps on legislators.

New regulation will help save bay's blue crabs The Maryland Department of Natural Resources should be commended for protecting the blue crab by prohibiting the importing of egg-bearing females into Maryland ("The cost of conservation," May 21). It has been illegal to harvest egg-bearing female crabs in Maryland, but until this regulation was enacted, egg-bearing females were harvested in Virginia and imported for processing. The negative impact on the crab population in the bay was the same as harvesting them in Maryland.

Maryland needs campaign finance reform legislation The Sun's article "Corporate gifts flow to incumbents" (Feb. 17) uncovered a huge failing in the way the Maryland General Assembly makes our laws. It demonstrated how corporations and other wealthy campaign contributors keep obtaining legislation that favors their interests instead of the public interest. By steering contributions mainly to the committee chairmen who control the legislative process, special interests get a high return on the funds they invest in campaign contributions.

Maryland citizens and leaders of several civic and advocacy groups expressed concern last night over the proposed conversion of nonprofit CareFirst Inc., the state's largest health insurer, to for-profit status and eventual sale to a larger, out-of-state company. Critics said they worry about escalating premiums, the possibility of dwindling health coverage, the fate of seniors in rural areas and the presumed loss of control of in-state health care decisions to an out-of-state, for-profit company.