Maryland Senate

It just would not be the Maryland Senate without Larry Young.Suharto agrees with whoever pounded his table last. There is nothing sick or senile in that.Britain and Ireland have no problem agreeing on Northern Ireland. The people who have to live there won't have it.Explain again how it was really global warming that froze Canada.Pub Date: 1/14/98

The rule of law and sanctity of constitutional institutions are more important than who wins. Q. When is a public record not a public record? A. When the Maryland judiciary finds it inconvenient. Larry Young could do for the NAACP what he did for the Maryland Senate. If the American people are not able to cull the deer herd with guns, we'll just have to do it with cars.

In response to your editorial about state Sen. Ulysses Currie's bribery trial ("Too dumb to be corrupt?" Oct. 19), I say: Right on! The Maryland Senate is both bumbling and corrupt, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller is the chief corrupter. This is confirmed by the state Senate's passage of Governor O'Malley's gerrymandered — read corrupt — redistricting map. Marie Mullen, Joppa

With no thanks to the Democratic state senator who represents the area, the Baltimore County community of Perry Hall is safer from gun violence than it was six months ago. We can say that much. Sen. Kathy Klausmeier might have voted against the important gun control bill that her colleagues in the Maryland Senate passed on Thursday, but Bobby Gladden has gone to prison, and that means his former fellow students at Perry Hall High won't have to worry about seeing him with a gun in the cafeteria again.

Regarding your recent editorial on making it easier for families to commit a mentally ill relative to a mental institution against their will, Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and some state delegates apparently are missing the urgent need to clarify the state's civil commitment standards ("The tricky question of involuntary commitment," April 6). Many relatives of individuals with serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, recently testified about the consequences of the denying timely treatment under the current law. Those consequences include homicide, suicide, homelessness, job loss and permanent brain damage.

Two Republican members of the Maryland Senate will announce their plans over the next few days to leave the legislature and run for the top executive positions in their home counties. Sen. Barry Glassman plans to announce his bid for Harford County executive Saturday in Havre de Grace. Senator Allan Kittleman will kick off his campaign for Howard County executive Tuesday in Columbia. Glassman, 51, would succeed David R. Craig, who announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor Monday.

PRESIDENTIAL RACECANDIDATES.. .. ..MARYLAND.. ..GEORGIA.. ..COLORADODEMOCRATS.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..BROWN.. .. .. .. .. .. .8%.. .. .. .8%.. .. .. .29%CLINTON.. .. .. .. .. .34%.. .. .. 57%.. .. .. .28%HARKIN.. .. .. .. .. .. 6%.. .. .. .2%.. .. .. . 2%KERREY.. .. .. .. .. .. 5%.. .. .. .5%.. .. .. .12%TSONGAS.. .. .. .. .. .41%.. .. .. 24%.. .. .. .25%REPUBLICANS.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .BUCHANAN.. .. .. .. .. 30%.. .. .. 36%.. .. .. .30%BUSH.. .. .. .. .. .. .70%.

Repeat sexual predators who rape or molest children could face life in prison without possibility of parole under a bill approved, 41-2, by the Maryland Senate yesterday. The measure is aimed at offenders who target children younger than age 16. Prosecutors could seek a life-without-parole sentence after a second conviction for raping or molesting a child. The bill stems from the case of Christopher Lee Ausherman, 9, of Frederick, who was sexually assaulted and killed Nov. 19, 2000, by Elmer Spencer Jr., 46, who has previous sex crimes convictions.

Comptroller Peter Franchot, considered one of the leading prospective Democratic candidates for governor in 2014, said Dec. 11 that he will not run that race and will instead seek a third term in his current office. A few hours after Franchot's announcement, District 21 Sen. Jim Rosapepe, who was among those who had expressed an interest in running for comptroller if Franchot ran for governor, issued his own statement, saying he intends to seek re-election to the state Senate in 2014.

The only bigger disgrace than the Maryland Senate failing to remove Sen. Ulysses Currie from his job was the Ethics Committee's prior hearing on the matter which recommended Mr. Currie's censure ("Disgrace in the Senate," Feb. 19). It was troubling to this reader to learn that a freshly retired Maryland Court of Appeals judge appeared before that committee with his new client and his client's other already retained counsel to give the judge's pedigree of integrity to someone who was a criminal in all but name.