Nomination

In a testy outburst over the weekend, President Bush dug in his heels on his nomination of Robert Gates to head that most shadowy and enigmatic mechanisms of American government, the Central Intelligence Agency.As a former head of the CIA himself, Bush no doubt knows what kind of person he wants in that job, but if we read the convoluted language of Washington correctly, Sen. Bob Dole is telling the president he should consider withdrawing the nomination in light of new revelations of deceit and lying to Congress at the top levels of the CIA. "If the president wants to pursue the nomination," said Dole, "then we should move very quickly."

The Maryland State Soil Conservation Committee is accepting nominations for appointment to the Harford Soil Conservation District Board of Supervisors. The appointment will be to fill the unexpired term of Michael S. Birch on Oct. 17, 2016. Nominations should be sent to: State Soil Conservation Committee, Department of Agriculture, 50 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Room 306, Annapolis, MD 21401. Any interested individual or organization may submit a recommendation. Nomination forms are available at the Harford County Extension Office, P.O. Box 663, 2335 Rock Spring Road, Forest Hill, MD 21050.

U.S.House candidate Wendy Rosen shifted her attention to the general election Thursday after her opponent conceded the race for the Democratic nomination in Maryland's 1st District — ending the final disputed contest from last week's statewide primary. Rosen, a Cockeysville businesswoman, led Chestertown physician John LaFerla by 82 votes out of more than 25,000 cast after state election officials had counted most of the absentee and provisional ballots. The district includes portions of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties as well as the Eastern Shore.

The Tewaaraton Foundation today announced the Tewaaraton Award men's and women's nominees, including 2012 winners Katie Schwarzmann (Maryland) and Peter Baum (Colgate). Twenty-five women and 25 men were selected as nominees, from which 10 finalists (five women, five men) will be announced May 9. The winners will be honored May 30 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. On the men's side, five schools had two players nominated, including Albany (Lyle Thompson, Ty Thompson)

Maryland Republicans pushed Mitt Romney closer to the GOP presidential nomination Tuesday, giving the former Massachusetts governor a double-digit margin of victory on a day when he also won in Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. With the sweep, Romney now has more than half of the 1,144 delegates he needs to secure the nomination, and remains on pace to pick up the rest before the primaries end in June. "Thank you, Wisconsin!" he told supporters in that state. "And Maryland!

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WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton's name will be placed into nomination at the Democratic National Convention later this month, ending months of speculation about how her candidacy -- and supporters - would be represented there. "I am convinced that honoring Sen. Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong, united fashion," Barack Obama said in a statement issued jointly by their two press offices.

There is no reason to question whether Dr. Henry Foster deserves the high esteem in which he is held or that he could ably serve as surgeon general of the United States. The real problem with this nomination is political: The last thing the Clinton administration needs as it tries to deal with a hostile Congress is the prospect of mounting a nomination fight keyed to an issue as volatile as abortion.If President Clinton lacked a clue as to how difficult that fight would be, he got it Friday in the announcement from Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that he would vote against Dr. Foster.

President George Bush nominated Delegate John R. Leopold, R-Pasadena, to the National Commission on Disabilities yesterday.Bush released the nomination to the national media while touring Chicago. Meanwhile, Leopold -- who is running against state Sen. Philip C.Jimeno, D-Brooklyn Park, for the state Senate seat in District 31 -- notified county newspapers.The 15-member Commission on Disabilities recommends new laws to the president and Congress, dealing with the disabled in the workplace and the hearing impaired as well as other issues concerning the handicapped.

The integrity of both the Maryland state Senate and the Maryland judiciary are at stake today as the nomination of former Del. John S. Arnick comes up for an expected final vote in Annapolis. In our view, Mr. Arnick's undisputed displays of gender bias and his aggressive demeanor, especially toward women, make him ill suited for a seat on the District Court.Few members of the legislature have addressed the central issue: Mr. Arnick's fitness for serving as a judge. Instead, they have rallied around their longtime colleague, even using subtle forms of intimidation to keep women from coming forward to testify against the nominee.

Just as they did when Thomas E. Perez was nominated to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, Republicans are seeking to hold up his confirmation to head the U.S. Department of Labor, using any excuse they can think up, no matter how flimsy. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama criticized Mr. Perez, a former Montgomery County councilman and Maryland labor secretary, for his one-time service on the board of CASA de Maryland. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa complained that the president had nominated Mr. Perez for a cabinet post despite a congressional investigation into the Civil Rights Division and questions about whether he engineered a quid pro quo with the city of St. Paul, Minn.

Woodberry Kitchen's Spike Gjerde wasn't the only Baltimorean who got good news at Monday's announcement of the James Beard Award finalists.  Paul Lukacs, director of the Center for Humanities at Loyola University Maryland, was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Book Award. Lukacs' book, Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures , was among three finalists in the Beverage category. Lukacs was a James Beard Foundation Book Award winner in 2001 for his previous book, American Vintage . The James Beard Foundation Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards Dinner will take place on May 3 at Gotham Hall in New York City.

Fresh off becoming the first director since 1990 to helm a Best Picture winner without being nominated himself, Ben Affleck swore that's not a distinction he loses sleep over. "I'm not going to spend a lot of time second-guessing" the academy, he said, clutching the Oscar he'd just won as a producer for "Argo. " After all, he noted, academy voters did give him an Oscar, just not one for directing. Still, the normally self-effacing Affleck promised, people might see some changes in him, now that he's a two-time Oscar winner (he'd previously shared a screenwriting award with pal Matt Damon for "Good Will Hunting")

After a heated meeting, members of the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee have selected the director of the Oliver Community Association to replace Del. Hattie Harrison, who was the longest-serving member of the House of Delegates.  Committee members voted Friday to appoint Nina Harper to fill the open seat in the 45th District, which includes much of northeast and east Baltimore. She did not respond to a call seeking comment Monday. Scherod C. Barnes, of the central committee, said the full committee would likely approve Harper's nomination Wednesday, sending the pick to Gov. Martin O'Malley for final approval.

Laurel Park Winter SprintFest nominations announced Nominations for the three races that highlight the Presidents Day holiday weekend at Laurel Park were released by the Maryland Jockey Club's racing office Friday. Winter SprintFest features two graded, seven-furlong contests - the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap (G2) for fillies and mares next Saturday and the $250,000 General George Handicap (G3) for 3-year-olds and up on Feb. 18. The card next Saturday also includes the $125,000 John B. Campbell Handicap at nine furlongs.

The Restaurant Association of Maryland is now accepting nominations for its annual awards, which will be given out at its 59th Annual Awards Gala on April 15. The public is invited to submit nominations in categories like favorite restaurant, favorite new restaurant, chef of the year, wine and beverage program and favorite food truck. The nominations page is here . Follow Baltimore Diner on Twitter @gorelickingood

WASHINGTON -- The long-delayed nomination of Shirley Sears Chater to head the Social Security Administration, which has been without a permanent director for nearly a year, could come as early as today, according to a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services."

Local film fans may have a leg up on the competition when it comes to their Oscar pools, thanks to the folks at the Maryland Film Festival and Chesapeake Film Festival. "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which enjoyed a long run at The Charles Theatre last year, received four nods among the Oscar nominations announced Thursday morning in Los Angeles. The film had its Baltimore premiere June 5 at MICA, before an audience culled from members of the Maryland Film Festival's Friends of the Festival program.