Party Chairman

Republican National Party Chairman Michael S. Steele smiled broadly as he pressed the flesh Tuesday night in the large study of businessman J.P. Bolduc's 8,077-square-foot Clarksville mansion, where he was the guest of honor for a fundraiser to benefit Dennis R. Schrader's County Council campaign. A reporter was asked to leave the premises after getting that one glimpse, though Schrader and others who attended said Wednesday that Steele's comments were ordinary campaign fare. Steele had insisted the event be private, Schrader said.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean slapped Maryland Democrats yesterday, saying state leaders need to promote more black candidates in the future so "we do not have another Michael Steele problem." "I just think we have got to do a better job in Maryland four years from now about diversity on the ticket," Dean said during a Washington breakfast, raising particular concerns about Steele, the state's black Republican lieutenant governor who ran a competitive race for U.S. Senate partly on a theme that Democrats have taken African-American voters for granted.

Some influential Democratic lawmakers criticized yesterday the involvement of their state party chairman in helping an Indiana-based casino company pursue a racetrack casino venture in southern Prince George's County. Michael E. Busch, the incoming House speaker, said he is concerned about Wayne L. Rogers' role as an adviser and prospective partner in Centaur Inc.'s project at Rosecroft Raceway. The effort by Rogers to assemble a group of investors and find a lobbyist for Centaur was reported yesterday by The Sun. Rogers is concluding a four-year term as state Democratic party chairman.

DENVER - A rare undercurrent of emotion crept into the voice of Baltimore's Michael Cryor - the only black state party chairman in the nation - as he spoke to Maryland convention delegates the morning after the nomination of the nation's first major-party African-American presidential candidate. "We have to make inclusiveness real," Cryor said in hushed tones during the final meeting of the Maryland convention delegation yesterday. "It can't be a matter of convenience." Cryor, 62, has built a career by staying cool under stress and providing sound advice in confidence.

The chairman of the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee filed a lawsuit yesterday under the Maryland Public Information Act, demanding all records related to a state delegate's survey on how Carroll should be divided into five commissioner districts. Martin Radinsky, a member of the redistricting committee that worked six months to create a map dividing the county into five commissioner districts, said he repeatedly asked Del. Tanya T. Shewell, a Carroll County Republican, for the results of an informal survey she conducted last year on map options for the new districts.

Annapolis businessman Wayne L. Rogers will not seek a second term as state Democratic Party chairman, and is expected to be replaced by former Montgomery County Councilman Isiah Leggett when local party officials convene tomorrow to pick new leaders. Rogers' decision comes in the wake of criticism of his recently disclosed involvement with a racing company that wants slot machine gambling at its horse track in Prince George's County. In October, at a time when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was campaigning against slots, Rogers reached agreement with Centaur Inc. to become a financial partner in Rosecroft Raceway in southern Prince George's.

When one of our two major political parties does not hold the White House and has no clearly identifiable prospective presidential nominee for the next election, it often falls to that party's national chairman to become its temporary leader and spokesman. Such is the circumstance these days in the Republican Party, with Democrat Barack Obama in the Oval Office and the job of 2012 GOP standard-bearer up for grabs among a field of retreads and wannabes of little notoriety or distinction.

DEMOCRATS in the House of Delegates didn't shoot the messenger, but they want him to work on his message. In a strategy meeting last week, some delegates expressed concern about the state of the Maryland Democratic Party under the chairmanship of Isiah Leggett, the former Montgomery County councilman. Attending the closed-door session, Leggett briefed lawmakers on his party-building travels and fund raising. Some delegates said they were troubled that the party has not developed a stronger message to counter Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and his popular no-new-taxes pledge.

Former Howard County GOP Chairman Allan Kittleman, who learned politics at his father's side, announced yesterday the beginning of his own campaign for a seat on the County Council.Kittleman, 39, is the son of state Del. Robert H. Kittleman, the House minority leader and a revered figure in the local Republican Party. That may give the younger Kittleman an edge against party rival Gail Bates in September's primary election.But despite talk of a "Kittleman dynasty," many supporters said yesterday that Allan Kittleman has earned his own reputation as a hard-working party loyalist and is ready to take over the council seat being vacated by Charles C. Feaga.

MOVING company owner John M. Kane's first task as chairman of the state Republican party will be to revise the GOP's 10-year strategic plan, which is suddenly obsolete. The optimistic blueprint of how to rebuild a perpetual minority party was the handiwork of former chairman and now Lt. Gov.-elect Michael S. Steele. It was Steele's experience in creating the document that the party used to justify the $5,000-a-month consulting fee it began paying him immediately after Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. picked him as a running mate.