Race For County

In Harford County -- a once-rural area now dotted with housing developments and big-box retailers -- the race for county executive has become a battle over how best to protect the county against what many see as runaway development.On one side is businessman Arthur H. Helton, 60, a Democrat and former state senator who advocates tight controls on development while the county tries to expand services to meet the needs of a growing population.Opposing him is Republican Del. James M. Harkins, a 44-year-old deputy sheriff and two-term state delegate who warns that too many restrictions could alienate business and who instead would concentrate on preserving open space and farmland.

Wanda Hurt, Republican candidate for County Council, swears she suffered during her 13 years as a Democrat in Howard County.She suffered as she labored during the 1980s and early 1990s to register Democratic voters, help organize party events and volunteer for local and statewide Democratic candidates.She "couldn't understand" being nominated Democrat of the year in 1991, and said it was difficult to serve as president of the Columbia Democratic Club in 1992. She certainly didn't mean it when she called herself a "radical feminist," or when she later wrote of "the collective loss of national intelligence with the elections of Nixon, Reagan and Bush."

Howard County Councilman Charles C. Feaga, a Republican candidate for county executive, raised more than $5,000 at a weekend fund-raiser that featured a visit by his potential Democratic opponent, James N. Robey.Robey, the recently retired Howard police chief, received a largely warm welcome from the estimated 350 guests at the event. But his attendance surprised some Republicans."To have your opponent come to a fund-raiser and receive a warm round of applause is bizarre," said Carol Arscott, a former Howard GOP chairwoman and a consultant to Dennis R. Schrader, Feaga's rival for the Republican county executive nomination.

Small, but potent, political symbols have ruled Baltimore County politics in recent years.The Lincoln Town Car used by former County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen became a symbol of his perceived excesses -- and of his political demise in 1990.The austere Roger B. Hayden -- another one-termer -- got rapped by leaders of county employee unions for giving department heads 4.5 percent raises in 1992 when union members had received no cost-of-living boost.Yet in his first eight months, County Executive C. A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger III has hardly been scratched after several similar moves.

A Westminster attorney who says Carroll needs a new approach to prosecuting crimes planned to enter the race for county state's attorney this morning.Linda A. Holmes, 37, will become the nominee of the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee."Being state's attorney is not just about knowing the law, it's about making choices and it's about managing people," she said yesterday."I believe that I will bring a fresh perspective and new approach to how the state's attorney's office is run."

Former County Councilman William H. Brill dropped out of the race for county executive Friday, saying his commitments as an expert witness on crime and security did not leave him with the time or energy he needed for the campaign.The departure of Mr. Brill, who registered at the last possible moment for the Sept. 13 primary, reduces the field of Democratic candidates to four.Mr. Brill, who was on the County Council from 1978 to 1982, owns a security planning and crime analysis business in Annapolis and travels to courtrooms across the county to testify in criminal trials.

Robert D. Agee, who was a top aide to former County Executive O. James Lighthizer, filed yesterday to join a growing Democratic field for the county's top elective post.He joins Annapolis security consultant William Brill, former state Sen. and County Councilman H. Erle Schafer, state Del. Theodore J. Sophocleus and Cpl. Larry Walker, a county police officer, on the Sept. 13 Democratic primary ballot for county executive.Mr. Agee, 46, a vice president at Chaney Enterprises, a gravel and concrete company based in Southern Maryland, said crime, education, governmental restructuring and finances will be key issues in the campaign.

An aide to former County Executive O. James Lighthizer has joined the hunt for the county's top elective post, setting the table for a political primary that one Democratic official predicted will be a "blood bath."Robert Agee, known as a trouble shooter in the Lighthizer administration, said yesterday that he intends to run for the Democratic nomination for county executive.Mr. Agee, 45, of Crofton said he has appointed a finance rTC committee and expects to hold a $100-a-ticket fund-raiser on June 21.He could face state Del. Theodore J. Sophocleus, who announced his intentions last week, in the September primary.

For much of this half-century, the tale of political power In heavily Democratic Baltimore County has been an east-side story. This has been especially true of campaigns for the county executive s office.Various factors -- Including demographic shifts and, possibly, the unusual absence of a home-grown candidate from the east -- could dictate a different ending to this summer s Democratic primary race for county executive. But the consistent power of the large eastern voting bloc is not something candidates can afford to take lightly, despite the fact that the old east-side Democratic political machine has been dead and buried for at least 20 years.

Because Anne Arundel County's best-known Democrats have been reluctant to commit to a race for county executive, the first declared Democratic candidate for the post is a political newcomer.Cpl. Larry Walker, a county police officer, said yesterday he will file to run for county executive tomorrow. A 24-year veteran of the force, Corporal Walker lately has been involved in community relations and drug education.If elected, Corporal Walker said he would concentrate on paring bureaucracy and improving county services.