Morella

MARYLAND Reps. Steny H. Hoyer and Constance A. Morella, colleagues for many years in the General Assembly as well as Congress, also share the distinction of bucking party trends in last week's elections. Mr. Hoyer, of Southern Maryland, is one of the few Democrats with something to celebrate in the wake of sweeping GOP victories. Ms. Morella of Montgomery County was one of only three House Republicans ousted. Through them, Marylanders stand to both gain and lose in a changing of the guard that is bittersweet.

From my 16 years of experience serving as a Republican congresswoman, I recognize the fact that our country is facing major economic difficulties. I also believe that today's times necessitate pragmatic approaches and sound policy that will help us fix our economy and create jobs — not partisan political tactics that defy common sense and are a threat to Americans' well-being. I cannot stand with my party leadership in their dual attempts to undermine women's health by eliminating the Title X national family planning program and prohibiting federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

WASHINGTON -- Now it's official. Rep. Constance A. Morella is the least loyal Republican in the House of Representatives, at least when measured by her votes during the first 100 days of the 104th Congress.Among House Republicans, none voted against more of the bills in the party's "Contract with America" than Mrs. Morella of Montgomery County. And it wasn't even close.No other Republican voted against more than four of the Republicans' 15 bills (covering 10 broad issues), while Mrs. Morella voted "no" seven times.

The actor Paul Morella has been on stage for his whole life, though in the early years, his platforms rarely came with the traditional proscenium arch and wings. As the eldest child of former Rep. Constance A. Morella, young Paul made frequent campaign appearances that included a script of sorts. ("Elect my mother," he would tell potential voters, "and get her off the streets. ") In theater and politics, private lives are exposed for a public viewing. Performers in both arenas are taught to look natural while hitting their marks.

The 8th District congressional campaign of Christopher Van Hollen Jr. accused his Republican rival yesterday of using her U.S. House stationery for campaign purposes. During the weekend, Rep. Constance A. Morella distributed a campaign letter to the press with the words "House of Representatives" and a rendering of the Capitol at the top. The letter asked Van Hollen to join her in an agreement to keep their campaigns free of so-called "soft money" advertising funded by political party committees and other outside groups.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Constance Morella and Sen. Paul Sarbanes have joined forces with Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to build a monument honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington."

WASHINGTON -- A new federal ethics law prevents a National Security Agency employee in Pasadena from writing about the outdoors and a Central American affairs specialist from covering professional hockey in their spare time.The two are among thousands of federal workers who are barred from receiving writing or speaking fees for activities unrelated to their work, part of a sweeping Ethics Reform Act that took effect Jan. 1."We overreached. We overreacted. We went far beyond what we needed to do," acknowledged Representative Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.

WASHINGTON -- For months, some of the Senate's most conservative Republicans courted the Montgomery County congresswoman. Run, they implored her. Run for the Senate.The arm-twisters included Minority Leader Bob Dole and Sens. Phil Gramm of Texas, John McCain of Arizona and Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming. The unlikely object of their attentions was the most liberal Republican of the 175 GOP members of the House: Rep. Constance A. Morella, from Maryland's 8th District.The daughter of Italian immigrants who has raised nine children, Mrs. Morella is a staunch supporter of abortion rights.

WASHINGTON -- Blockading abortion clinics -- a tactic frequently used by abortion foes in the last decade -- would become a federal crime under a bill proposed yesterday by Maryland Rep. Constance A. Morella.If passed, the bill would overturn the effect of the Supreme Court decision last month banning the use of a Reconstruction-era civil rights law to protect abortion facilities.Without the federal statute, clinics must now rely on a patchwork of state and local codes to stay open in the face of blockades, rather than the more effective federal protection.

WASHINGTON -- Two Republican House members from Maryland laid their hands on the actual levers that help turn the great machine of government for the first time last week. Both declared they liked the feeling.Power, in modest proportion, came to Reps. Wayne T. Gilchrest from the Eastern Shore and Constance A. Morella from Montgomery County. He assumed control over the Public Buildings and Economic Development Subcommittee. She took charge of the Technology Subcommittee.They are the only Marylanders to chair either a committee or subcommittee in the new Congress.

At a couple of points in "A Passion for Justice," the engrossing one-man play about Clarence Darrow on the boards at Everyman Theatre, the famed lawyer reminds his listeners that "history repeats itself — that is one of the problems with history." Paul Morella, who co-wrote the play with Jack Marshall, delivers those words in a slightly world-weary way that speaks volumes about the cases and causes that occupied Darrow. From his efforts on behalf of organized labor and victims of racial hatred (the jurors "were prejudiced and they rose above it")

Clarence Darrow had a carefully cultivated, aw-shucks persona that barely concealed an abrasive core. As a defense attorney, he was caught red-handed trying to bribe a juror to acquit two brothers accused of a bombing in which 21 people died. He treated the women in his life with callous disregard. It's an unlikely biography for a great American hero. "Performing this role is like peeling an onion," says actor Paul Morella. "After 10 years, I've just scratched the surface."

One of the worst things about any big trouble is the way it isolates us at the precise moment we're most in need of comfort. It matters not one whit if the people sharing our dinner table or office cubicle are going through the identical crisis, because no two traumas are exactly the same. Every loss, every grief is as individual and specifically coded as a set of fingerprints.

The writing really is on the wall. In the engaging and nuanced production of Sight Unseen running at Everyman Theatre through Oct. 7, the signature of Jonathan Waxman -- reproduced again and again -- surrounds the characters. That wide, aggressive loop on the capital "J," the confident swoop of the final "n" -- it covers the walls of Jonathan's art gallery in London, and of a British farmhouse near the North Sea. That signature is worth millions. It belongs to a painter so famous that his canvases are bought for exorbitant prices before he has even had a chance to create them -- hence the title.

In the role of playwright Eric Weiss, actor Paul Morella hides immense rage, fear and pain behind an affable smile. Those emotions are telegraphed by the amused, downward glance, the wry upward tilt of Morella's lips. In an instant, the people in Weiss' life who have been pummeling his ego - the playwright's withholding father, his estranged wife - are dispatched to a safe remove. Morella watches them flail away silently, as if they were under water. If you go Brooklyn Boy runs at the Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, through Aug. 5. Show times are 7:45 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, with matinees at 1:45 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen has raised a pile of campaign cash, hired a high-profile consultant, taken polls and made a string of appearances across Maryland. What he has not done - three months after Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes announced he would retire in 2006 - is declare himself a candidate for the Senate. Van Hollen, a Democrat from Montgomery County, says he will make a decision by early next month. Until then, despite all the outward trappings of a campaign for higher office, he's sticking to the same lines he has uttered since March: He is seriously considering it and has been getting encouragement from the people he's talked to all over the state.

Ruthann Aron, the Montgomery County developer who ran a combative campaign for U.S. Senate last year, is considering a run for the congressional seat held by Rep. Constance A. Morella, a fellow Republican.Ms. Aron said yesterday that she has been approached by Republicans who were displeased with Mrs. Morella's votes against portions of their party's "Contract with America."Those Republicans, whom she declined to name, urged her to challenge Mrs. Morella in the GOP primary next year, Ms. Aron said.

Democratic Party leaders relish the prospect of new blood at the top of the ticket as Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes departs the political scene. While well respected and a solid campaigner, Sarbanes, 72, has been part of a venerable old guard, which includes 83-year-old Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and 73-year-old Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., all of whom are serving in terms that expire next year. The powerful trio has blocked the upward movement of prospective leaders for decades.

Top Maryland Democrats agreed yesterday to back former congressional candidate Terry Lierman as the next state party chairman, according to several sources familiar with the decision. The agreement came at a breakfast meeting in Columbia attended by Democratic members of the state's congressional delegation, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and others. Lierman, 56, of Bethesda ran unsuccessfully against then-U.S. Rep. Constance A. Morella in 2000 and directed former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's presidential campaign in Maryland this year.