Petition

This is an excerpt of a New York Times editorial that was published yesterday:THE fight over campaign finance reform has now begun in earnest. By the close of business Friday, 189 Democrats in the House had signed a petition to force a floor vote on legislation that would outlaw the unlimited, unregulated donations to political parties that are known as soft money.The petition strategy has been forced by the resolute refusal of the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, to move quickly on the bill and thus leave enough time to rally support in the Senate before the campaign season begins next year -- and hundreds of millions of dollars from special interests start polluting the system all over again.

The Maryland State Police paramedic who successfully sued his bosses for bias for denying him parental leave has asked the agency to pay his lawyers' fees and expenses of $493,642.36.That would be in addition to the $375,000 a Baltimore federal court jury awarded Tfc. Howard Kevin Knussman last month after deciding that the state police illegally discriminated against him because he is a man.The 22-year trooper from Easton made the request for the payment of legal fees in a petition last week to U.S. District Judge Walter E. Black Jr., noting provisions of federal civil rights statutes that enable parties who prevail in lawsuits to recover their costs.

ANNAPOLIS -- Nearly 200 protesters who undertook a 23-mile march from Lanham in Prince George's County in an effort to highlight an alleged case of police brutality arrived at the state capital yesterday afternoon.The marchers delivered a petition calling on Gov. Parris N. Glendening to appoint a special prosecutor to reinvestigate the 1993 death of Archie "Artie" Elliott III. The march, which began Friday afternoon, was made after 16 weekly protests at the Prince George's state's attorney's office and a nearly six-month fast by a local activist.

A Finksburg man who barricaded himself inside his home -- after struggling with deputies who tried to serve him a petition for medical evaluation -- surrendered after a 45-minute standoff yesterday, authorities said.The man, 48, of the 2400 block of Sandymount Road was not identified by authorities to protect his medical privacy, said Col. Robert Keefer, spokesman for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office.The man was taken to Carroll County General Hospital for an emergency evaluation after he walked out of the house at 4: 50 p.m. with one hand in the air.As instructed by police negotiators, the man held a cellular telephone to his left ear, listening to instructions as he walked out the front door and down the steps to police.

Claiming that the nation's conversion to digital television may be in danger, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said yesterday that it has filed a petition calling on federal regulators to adopt a new technical standard for digital broadcasting.The petition marks the latest round in Sinclair's battle to change the way digital television is developed in the United States. The Cockeysville-based company has waged an aggressive public relations campaign, inviting broadcasting executives from around the country to Baltimore to lobby them.

The Maryland insurance commissioner has asked a Circuit Court judge for permission to fire four top executives of PrimeHealth Corp., the Lanham health care company at the center of the scandal surrounding former state Sen. Larry Young.In a petition filed in Baltimore Circuit Court, Commissioner Steven B. Larsen contends the services of the executives, three vice presidents and a general counsel are no longer needed and their salaries -- each makes about $100,000 per year -- are depleting the assets of the health maintenance organization.

Damian Bohager of Bohager's Bar & Grill Inc. is being threatened with involuntary bankruptcy by two of his brothers.The dispute dates to the 1992 death of Bernard C. Bohager Sr., who owned the Fells Point property at 515 S. Eden St. The building was put into a trust with equal ownership among his six children. Two of the children, Robert and Bernard Bohager Jr., were named trustees and now control the property. That same year, their younger brother, Damian Bohager, and several partners opened the bar and grill, paying rent to the trust.

A municipal referendum could determine whether Sykesville can annex the state-owned Warfield Complex and develop the 131-acre tract into a business center.Nearly 600 residents in the town of 3,500 signed petitions to force a vote on the proposed annexation of the complex -- 15 aging buildings that were once part of Springfield Hospital Center on Route 32.No date has been set for a referendum.The state formally offered Warfield to the town in December. Sykesville organized a weeklong planning session, open to all residents, in April and held several public hearings before the council unanimously approved the annexation Sept.

A petition circulating through the Clay Street community yesterday aims to end the Annapolis Housing Authority's HOPE VI project, a controversial plan to raze and replace the area's two public housing complexes.The petition states that tenants of Obery Court, College Creek Terrace and surrounding neighborhoods believe the project "will destroy the entire black community and its history in Annapolis," and that "people will be left without housing."About 100 signatures have been amassed and will be presented to city housing officials before June 29, the deadline for the agency to file a grant application for HOPE VI funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Two groups of Jessup homeowners have filed separate appeals with Howard County Circuit Court protesting a county agency's decision to approve a controversial rock quarry in their area.Attorney David A. Carney entered an appeal May 23 on behalf of four residents -- Leah and Donald Woodbury, Susan Boswell and Timothy Maier. A day earlier, Rosemary Ford and Russell Olson filed their own appeal, less than two weeks after Ford entered a disputed petition with the Howard County Board of Appeals alleging a conflict of interest involving Carney, the community's lawyer.

Selected comments on today's editorials from baltimoresun.com/secondopinion: GM bankruptcy This administration has proven there is NOTHING it is capable of doing without it being politically motivated. What makes anyone think they will start now? GM needed to go bankrupt months ago and - for political reasons - the Obama administration didn't allow that to happen. What's more political than getting in the middle of something like this and giving a company to a union? Frank I'm 30 years old, and I bought my first car when I was 14. I'm proud to say I've never bought American.

Here are some highlights from last week's entries on The Baltimore Sun's Maryland Politics blog, plus selected comments from readers. Smile for the camera? Voters who don't want to see speed cameras in their neighborhood now have a chance to vent their frustration. A petition drive is being launched to overturn the law authorizing speed cameras approved by the Assembly this month. It's not easy to get a law overturned. Petition gatherers have to collect more than 53,000 signatures - and they can't all come from one jurisdiction; they have to be spread out across the state.

Maryland's election board voted unanimously Thursday to impose stricter rules on referendum petition drives, based on a Court of Appeals ruling that critics say will make it much harder for citizens to take an issue to the voters. The board voted 4-0 with one member absent. Under the new rules, people signing petitions must use either their full name, including middle initials, or sign their name exactly as it appears on election board voting rolls. In addition, a printed name required on a petition must exactly match the accompanying signature.

The Annapolis Business Association has started a petition to encourage city officials to pass legislation that would permit the Market House at City Dock to be occupied as soon as possible - a move the mayor said would be a "bailout" for the company managing the property. The Market House has been a point of debate for city residents, officials and business people for years. Mayoral hopefuls, in fact, are using their plans for Market House as campaign pitches to appeal to residents who want to see something done about the near-empty waterfront property that's snarled in legal woes and maintenance issues.

The fight over an attempt to block a 55,000-square-foot supermarket from being built as part of a village center-style development at Turf Valley in western Ellicott City is intensifying. The County Council approved a bill in November allowing the supermarket to be larger than the 18,000-square-foot limit in earlier regulations, but some residents objected and began a petition drive for a referendum in the November 2010 elections. Marc Norman, a Turf Valley resident and persistent critic of growth plans at the 800-acre hotel/golf course community submitted petitions Feb. 3 containing 6,079 signatures.

Members of the Anne Arundel County chapter of the NAACP moved closer to ousting the group's leader last night, circulating a petition at the monthly meeting asking for his resignation. Already faced with a no-confidence vote by the chapter's executive committee, Wayne Jearld, in office since January, has previously vowed to hang on to the post for the rest of his two-year term. In a letter drafted last week, members of the executive committee listed more than a dozen examples of Jearld pointedly criticizing board members and other community leaders.

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein and 15 other experts petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday to tell the public that over-the-counter cough and cold remedies are ineffective and potentially dangerous for young children. As many as 900 Maryland children younger than 5 overdosed on the medications in 2004, the petition states. The deaths of at least four children in Baltimore have been linked to unintentional overdoses in the last six years. "Over-the-counter cough and cold preparations are neither safe nor effective for use in young children," the petitioners argue.

LOS ANGELES -- Reporters and editors at the Los Angeles Times yesterday began a petition drive to support Editor Dean P. Baquet's opposition to further newsroom job cuts. The petition sends a signal to the Tribune Co., of Chicago, the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, that the ouster of Times publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson on Thursday is unlikely to quell the unrest among 940 reporters, editors and other newsroom workers. The Times is the nation's fourth-largest daily paper by circulation.

The president of the Howard County sheriff's union criticized Sheriff Chuck Cave yesterday for not taking action against employees who improperly circulated a petition on county time supporting his re-election bid. After learning from a reporter of the petition, Cave said that he distributed an e-mail to staff members the week of Aug. 21 ordering them "to cease and desist" its circulation. He followed up with a letter to his staff, restating the order. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 131 President Andrew Mackert confirmed those notices, but he called the petition a "flagrant violation" of the county rules.

When Invasion, the ABC science-fiction show, ended its first season May 17, a key character was in mortal peril and alien-human hybrids had rounded up nonhybrids, concentration-camp style, in a storm-drenched south Florida town. The ending had all the makings of a cliffhanger, but ABC had announced its fall-season schedule the day before -- and Invasion wasn't on it. No second season. No cliffhanger resolution. No indication of a bounce to, say, a cable network. That wasn't good enough for Lizzie Ernst, a Dallas artist and FedEx Kinko's employee.