Raiser

West Columbia Republican Greg Fox raised $4,000 last week at his first major fund-raiser for his brewing campaign for the Howard County Council.Fox, 30, plans to challenge Democratic Councilwoman Mary C. Lorsung, whose liberal politics will make her tough to beat in a district that includes West Columbia and Fulton.But Fox, who lives in Columbia's Hickory Ridge village and works for a subsidiary of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., has raised more than $10,000 -- including $3,000 of his own money and $4,000 from last week's fund-raiser.

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.

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton raised between $70,000 and $80,000 for her Senate race in New York at an Annapolis fund-raiser last night, according to Democratic Party sources. Clinton attracted a crowd of about 70 people at the home of Annapolis businessman Thomas L. Siebert, the former ambassador to Sweden. Each paid at least $500 to attend. Clinton is running for the U.S. Senate against Rep. Rick A. Lazio, a Republican from Long Island who entered the race after New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani bowed out. Recent polls show the race to be extremely close.

It's sporty, speedy and sleek, and it might just keep a cash-strapped program for homebound seniors running for another year. Seniors Keep in Touch, a program that reaches out by phone to about 80 residents a day, will benefit from the raffle of a 2003 Harley-Davidson motorcycle next month. "Right now, we are bone dry with no grant money available," Patricia Owen, phone project coordinator, said. "We really need to keep this program going. It is so important to our seniors." Owen and one assistant made almost 20,000 calls last year, helping seniors connect with meals, medicines, housing and, recently, snow shovelers.

POTOMAC - Rep. Constance A. Morella, who benefited handsomely from a June fund-raiser attended by President Bush, was aided in a similar fashion yesterday by first lady Laura Bush as she appeared at a campaign lunch in Montgomery County with the 8th District congresswoman and about 250 supporters. It cost $500 to get in and $1,000 for a private reception with the first lady, Morella's campaign said. The fund-raiser with the president netted about $400,000 for the Republican's re-election campaign against Democrat Christopher Van Hollen Jr. Yesterday's event, held at a Potomac home and off-limits to the press, was smaller.

Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure's involvement in planning a fund-raiser for Gov. Parris N. Glendening held just days before she was appointed to the bench last year is drawing sharp criticism from her electoral opponents and a government watchdog group.Leasure -- who was appointed by the governor with Judge Donna Hill Staton on Oct. 24 -- was one of a dozen people who served on a planning committee that organized a $350-a-person golf tournament sponsored by a Howard County law firm for the governor Oct. 16.Her application for a judgeship was before Glendening at the time.

IS IT unusual for someone with their sights set on being Howard County executive to hold a $250-a-plate fund-raiser? Councilman C. Vernon Gray recently held such a fete, which was described in this newspaper as perhaps "the steepest ever charged in Howard County for a local fund-raiser."Perhaps it is the largest this early for a seat that won't come open until 1998, but County Executive Charles I. Ecker held several similar fund-raisers during his successful re-election bid last year. One was a golf outing in which Mr. Ecker charged $200 per participant.

A gubernatorial fund-raiser for Baltimore County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger has been canceled by east-side supporters now that the leader's political future appears to point toward Washington rather than Annapolis. Backers of Ruppersberger - some of whom successfully fought Senate Bill 509, his property condemnation law, last year - said the fete slated Thursday for a Turkey Point nightclub was called off because the executive is distancing himself from the governor's race. In recent weeks, Ruppersberger has met with major-domos of the state Democratic Party who have encouraged him to campaign for a new district that would be created next year by Gov. Parris N. Glendening when he reshapes Maryland's congressional districts.

All of the 200 people who gathered at a fund-raiser last night at Decoy's Seafood Restaurant in Middle River had some connection to Joseph Palczynski. There was the woman who registered Jennifer McDonel, 37, one of Palczynski's victims, at Franklin Square Hospital Center on March 8. There was a man who worked with the father of David Meyers, who was shot by Palczynski March 7. Linked to tragedy And there was the extended family of George and Gloria Shenk, the Essex couple who were shot to death by Palczynski while attempting to shelter the gunman's estranged girlfriend.