Public Interest

Are the telephone and scheduling records of Maryland's governor confidential, or must they be disclosed? It is the question at the heart of a case the state's highest court takes up tomorrow.The lawyers for Gov. Parris N. Glendening argue that he and his top aides need privacy to hold delicate negotiations and deliberate policy. But the Washington Post, seeking the records for six months of 1996, maintains they help the public understand the actions of key government officials.The records don't "reflect the substance of any deliberation," said Patrick J. Karome, a lawyer for the Post, but they let the public know "whether campaign contributors are getting more than their fair share of attention, whether government employees are using public equipment and public money for personal business."

Open meetings best antidote to secret schemesAnne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens got it exactly right when she said that the public had the right to see the expendi- ture of public funds.She was referring to highly questionable financial transactions by the board of the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corporation as reported in The Sun.It is difficult to believe that such blatant self-enrichment actually would have occurred if the public and the media had been able to attend the meetings of this board.

AT THE 40th reunion of Harvard Law School's class of 1958, held on a recent weekend in Boston, the expected displays of conventional success were on full and gilded view. These were senior partners at major corporate law firms, federal judges, old-hand loophole lawyers and fixers, and the settled and secure usually found in the novels of Louis Auchincloss.That would have been it, except that this group had a collective achievement that went well beyond the soarings of any individual alumnus.

Using 'public interest' as fallacious excuse to assail our 0) libertiesThe release of the videotapes of President Clinton's testimony to the grand jury has me aghast. It is frightening to think of the damage that has been wreaked on our personal liberties by this media feeding frenzy.A free society rises and falls on the ability of the citizens to identify the real issues and to distinguish the causes and effects of these issues. The past few years have brought an alarming increase in the loss of privacy under the fallacious guise of "in the public interest."

The recent controversy over the fate of two old Baltimore County buildings points up just how iffy historic preservation is.Some structures attract enough public interest, sympathy -- and the all-important dollars -- to be rescued, said John W. McGrain, historian in the county's Office of Planning and Zoning.Others simply disappear, losers in an intensifying competition for dwindling public preservation funds and victims of suburban sprawl.Every case is different and A key factor in every decision, beyond historical or architectural significance, is whether a restored building would serve a practical use, Mr. McGrain said.

A lawyer for Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. yesterday asked for dismissal of a lawsuit that seeks to determine whether thecouncilman-elect met a city residency requirement, arguing that the courts shouldn't intervene because Baltimore's election board didn't decide the issue.But an attorney for the election board countered that it was in the "public interest" to have a court ruling on the case, saying a "serious question" exists about Mr. Mitchell's residency.Baltimore Circuit Judge Richard T. Rombro said he would rule on the motion before Friday's tentative trial date.

"Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment," by Newton N. Minow and Craig L. Lamay. 224 pages. New York: Hill and Wang. $20The debate over television violence and children is back on the front burner this summer, and 'Abandoned in the Wasteland' is one of the primary reasons. It's not especially well written and the thesis is not original, yet it has the potential to be one of the most important books ever published on children and American television.The central argument - and this book is such a fervent argument for reform that it calls to mind political pamphlets of the Colonial period - is that television is doing grievous harm to children.

Depending on where you sit, whistle-blowers are a menace to society or valiant protectors of the public interest. Bureaucrats hate them, public interest groups and journalists love them.The State Bank Commissioner is one who thinks they need to be curbed. The agency regulating Maryland banks is backing a bill that would make it a crime to disclose the contents of an examiner's report.Examiner's reports are not public information, and that is not at issue. They contain confidential appraisals of a bank's financial condition, management and operations that are not meant for general circulation.

THE General Services Administration's decision to build a major government headquarters in suburban Woodlawn instead of downtown Baltimore is a triumph of technique over policy and technicians over policy-makers.The issue is not only about the location of the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration. It is also about urban policy, regional progress, public leadership and the role of the GSA (the government's real estate agency) in matters of fundamental importance to this nation's cities.

As a result of certain statements made at the Feb. 19 budget work session by members of the Howard County School Board, we, the supporters of the Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP), find it necessary to respond publicly.On behalf of those of us who spoke in supportof the Black Student Achievement Program, Bowyer Freeman, president of the Howard County NAACP, invited you to meet with us away from thespotlight in an attempt to clear the air regarding comments made during our testimony and those made by several of you to the Howard County Sun in response to that testimony.

Maryland energy regulators said Thursday that more time is required to review Constellation Energy Group's $4.5 billion deal with a French utility, forcing the company to miss its deadline to close the transaction. Constellation said it was disappointed and warned that "any delay in a transaction of this magnitude adds to the risk of it not closing, which would be a real loss for Maryland." The Public Service Commission had expected to issue a decision by Sept. 17 on whether the company's agreement to sell half its nuclear power business to Electricite de France is in the public's interest.

Over the last few weeks, there has been much talk of Constellation Energy's latest battle with the Public Service Commission and a lawsuit the company has filed to block a public interest inquiry into a $4.5 billion corporate merger. To hear Constellation's side, this is a case of overzealous government regulation. But I believe that if we had had more scrutiny of corporate behavior, rather than less, perhaps some of the egregious abuses and bad behavior that caused the collapse of our financial system last fall might have been avoided.

Constellation responsible for impasse with state Your editorial attacking Gov. O'Malley for insisting that the Constellation/EDF merger benefit ratepayers, shareholders and the environment rather than just a handful of Constellation executives ("Separate Politics, Power" June 15) is based on several significant factual mistakes: * Constellation got itself into its latest self-inflicted mess in December by filing a frivolous legal challenge to the Public Service Commission's responsibility to review whether or not the transaction is in the public interest.

Federal prosecutors will not pursue a criminal case against Dutch food conglomerate Royal Ahold NV related to a 2000 accounting scandal at its U.S. Foodservice division in Columbia. U.S. Foodservice overstated income by about $800 million from 2000 to 2003. Ahold's market value plunged two-thirds after the accounting fraud was uncovered. U.S. Foodservice, the nation's No. 2 distributor to restaurants and other food-service establishments, recorded false promotional allowances that inaccurately reduced its cost of sales and inflated its earnings.

Act now to redress BGE rate increase I agree wholeheartedly with Edwin Hill's column "Maryland needs new PSC to protect public interest" (Opinion * Commentary, May 19). It's past time for the governor and the Democratic leaders of the state's House and Senate to put political games aside and take action to modify the 72 percent electricity rate increase, which is due to begin in July. Obviously, the Public Service Commission will do nothing. Its members need to be replaced. Also, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers need to be reimbursed for the $528 million paid to Constellation Energy Group in anticipation that its power plants, including the Calvert Cliffs nuclear facility, would decrease in value, which didn't happen.

WASHINGTON -- Before utility industry deregulation reared its ugly head, rate increases and merger proposals were aired in the public arena. Sadly, the process has lost much of its transparency, and the consumers, workers and the industry itself are worse off for it. With two energy corporations, Constellation Energy Group and Florida-based FPL Group, proposing a merger that would create the second-largest utility in the United States, the need for...

WASHINGTON -- On the day that lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for conspiracy and wire fraud, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation reining in lobbyists, but the bill's prospects of becoming law are uncertain. Public-interest advocates derided the measure for failing to address key areas of influence-peddling, such as privately funded travel for members of Congress and flights on corporate jets at greatly reduced fares. Several prominent senators who had fought for strict ethics rules voted against the bill, saying they were disappointed with the final version.

Public financing can purify politics Public financing of political campaigns is the most important issue before the General Assembly ("Reform that counts," editorial, March 8). If legislators were relieved of the corrupting influences of money on the decision-making process, decisions could be made only on the basis of what is in the best interest of the public. We could then have far greater confidence that the important issues would be decided on their substantive merits, rather than be tainted by how a vote might adversely affect financial contributions to lawmakers' re-election campaigns.

Anna Moffo, 73, an American soprano who was beloved for her rich voice, dramatic vulnerability and exceptional beauty, died of a stroke Friday at a hospital in New York City. Though Miss Moffo's career began splendidly, her voice had declined by her late 30s. With her radiant appearance, she was drawn early on into television and film, playing host of her own variety show on Italian television for many years. For several years she enjoyed enormous success and won a devoted following at a time when her competition for roles like Verdi's Violetta, Puccini's Mimi and Donizetti's Lucia included Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi and Joan Sutherland.

A U.S. District Court Judge yesterday sided with the state in a $7.7 million lawsuit filed against the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association alleging that the state was discriminating against home-schooled students by disallowing them from competition against public-schoolers. Judge J. Frederick Motz ruled that a compromise, called The Standards of Competition, proposed by the MPSSAA allows home-schoolers to compete against public schools provided they follow a series of rules, including age and academic restrictions, created by the state.