Wayne Gilchrest

Open-water dumping would hurt the bay and the economySince they are shipping industry executives, perhaps M. Sigmund Shapiro and George Thomas care only about the the Chesapeake Bay as a shipping channel ("Dredging the port is crucial to economy, won't hurt the bay," letters, July 27). Fortunately, people such as Rep. Wayne Gilchrest are trying to protect the bay.I keep hearing how economically important the port of Baltimore is to Maryland. Yet, apparently money isn't available to dredge it unless dredged material is dumped in the cheapest way possible.

ONCE AGAIN it appears as if Sen. Paul Sarbanes will not need his running shoes for his re-election run. The same scuffed loafers will do for this politician who has not faced a threatening opponent in years.Mr. Sarbanes' election to an unprecedented fifth term as a U.S. senator from Maryland seems inevitable but for one possibility that promises the thrill of forcing him to break a sweat in the next campaign. After the March 2000 primary, a well-financed Rep. Constance Morella, a Montgomery County Republican, could be standing next to him at the starting line.

KENNEDYVILLE -- Campaigning in a suit that reeks of cat urine would be a disadvantage for most politicians. But for Wayne Gilchrest, it was a money magnet.Back when Gilchrest was first running for Congress, his wife, Barbara, draped his only suit on a windowsill in their home to air it out. That night, a cat urinated just outside the window. In the morning, Gilchrest was a walking litter box.After a day driving across the Eastern Shore in his Plymouth Horizon, he pulled up to a big house with white columns in Easton seeking a little more money for his low-budget campaign.

WASHINGTON -- Consideration of campaign-finance reform is stymied because much of it begins with a false statement of the problem. This was so in the presidential debates.Moderator Jim Lehrer asked in the first debate: ''How do you avoid being influenced by people who contribute money and services to your campaign?'' Put that way, the question accepts the perspective of Washington players who see the problem as corruption, or the appearance of it.President Clinton's answer was to deny that money has influence: First come his positions, then the money.

Help needed to combat terrorismThe March 10 article, "Terrorist mind game," attempted to give a broad analysis on the subject of world terrorism.However, the article contains a gross error.Having mentioned the recent bombings in Britain, Israel and Sri Lanka, the author writes: "The bombs in Britain and Israel are particular because they have damaged two peace processes."It is not clear to me why Sri Lanka was left out. In fact, the massive bomb that exploded in Sri Lanka recently, killing 84 and maiming or injuring 1,400 others, was solely targeted to derail a peace process initiated by the Sri Lankan government.

Help TeachersAs a parent and professional in Baltimore County, I want to know why the politicians, the media and the educators cannot seem to work together. I grew up in Baltimore County and attended the public schools, but I never dreamed that when my child entered the public education system I would have so many worries.Shouldn't we as grown-ups be giving our children a positive example? How can we expect them to respect their educators and their education when the community does not? I am tired of picking up The Sun in the morning and reading about what is wrong with the education system.

We're three weeks into the general election campaign and the two gubernatorial candidates still have not had a face-to-face exchange.Don't blame Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey. Slightly behind in the polls and constrained in her spending by public financing laws, Mrs. Sauerbrey is eager to do battle with Democrat Parris N. Glendening.But the Prince George's County executive has played hard to get.He turned down WBAL-TV, which wanted the two candidates to appear together on an interview program.

When it comes to backing up President Clinton on his gutsy decision to continue normal trading relations with China, the Maryland delegation in Congress provides an Alice in Wonderland glimpse of party loyalty. On a roll-call vote last week, Democrats Benjamin Cardin, Steny Hoyer, Kweisi Mfume and Albert Wynn voted against the Democrat in the White House. Republicans Roscoe Bartlett, Wayne Gilchrest and Constance Morella gave Mr. Clinton their support.This reversal of partisan behavior probably would not have been complete had Republican Helen Bentley, a stalwart protectionist, voted.

Witty ReviewerStephen Hunter's wit is a great asset to your paper.One would hope that the editors realize this fact, but after reading the letter from Paul J. De Luca (May 20), it becomes necessary to rise to his defense.Mr. De Luca blames him for thinking "that we are more interested in what he has to say, and how witty and stylish he is when saying it, than in finding out about the movie under review."Well, if Mr. Hunter thinks that, he is right. I read all his reviews, even when I know that the picture is dreadful.

Rep. Wayne Gilchrest is a Republican from the Eastern Shore, and the fact that he is going to vote to ban 19 specific assault-type weapons should serve as a wake-up call to other members of his party. The shore is Hunter Country. If he can vote for this, anyone can.His decision is in our view every bit as important as is the decision of Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois to support the assault weapons ban. Mr. Hyde represents a dense suburban district near Chicago's O'Hare Airport. He is a solid conservative (the Hyde of the "Hyde Amendment," which forbids federal spending for abortions)

Twenty-six years ago, Maryland farmer Robert Bealle finished second in the Federal Duck Stamp art contest, when his painting of redheads lost to a pair of American wigeons. This year, he won by painting a wigeon himself. Bealle beat entries from 223 other wildlife artists from across the country Saturday to win the 2010-2011 Federal Duck Stamp contest held at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge. His oil-on-Masonite painting of the colorful waterfowl will be on the $15 stamp, which is purchased by migratory bird hunters and collectors.

KENNEDYVILLE - Coaxed to reflect on his 18 years in Washington, Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest acknowledges a single regret. "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have run," he said. "I probably would have rested my days as an outfitter taking people on horseback rides in the northern Bitterroot towns of Idaho. Lived out a peaceful existence, in a log cabin that was still filled up with snow in May." It is a typically idiosyncratic answer from the Eastern Shore Republican, who spent time counting moose in Idaho between jobs as a high school history teacher and a house painter before he won his seat in 1990.

Last year I met a young woman who had lost her brother in the war in Iraq. Although obviously grieved over her family's loss, she spoke proudly of her brother's service and the ultimate sacrifice he made on our behalf. In relaying the events of his return home, she described her family's deep disappointment that the Army had not presented them with his Purple Heart. They had hoped they would have it in time for his memorial service. They called Congressman Gilchrest's office to see if he could help in this matter.

Robert Banks came clean the other day about who put him up to running for Congress. He did it at a news conference teased this way: "Banks To Reveal Source of Congressional Candidacy." "I will admit that there is some truth to the idea to run for Congress did not originate solely with me, and that there was in fact some outside influence," Banks said in the release. So, did he confirm the claims of Republican rival Andy Harris - that Rep. Wayne Gilchrest & Co. got Banks in the race to split the anti-incumbent vote?

GRASONVILLE -- Taking the highly unusual step of opposing the re-election bid of a congressman from his own party, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. threw his weight last night behind state Sen. Andrew P. Harris's bid to unseat nine-term Republican Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest. Recalling a 2004 episode when Gilchrest testified against Ehrlich's proposal to legalize slot machine gambling, Ehrlich praised Harris for being a "team player" in a state where Republicans must work together to fight the politics of majority Democrats.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is on the cover of next month's Irish America magazine, which was throwing a dinner in his honor last night at the New York Yacht Club. Let's just say that Patricia Harty, editor-in-chief and co-founder of the 23-year-old publication, is a fan. "Martin O'Malley is easy on the eye - very easy on the eye," Harty begins her piece. "He's handsome, young, and he's got talent. He paid his way through college playing music - Irish music. ... He's an orator in the truest sense.

Ever since the eight-way primary he won on his way to Congress in 1990, Wayne Gilchrest has had to duke it out with fellow members of the GOP. The pro-environment, pro-choice, social libertarian isn't every Republican's cup of tea, so more conservative candidates have tried to pick him off in the primary. That changed last year, his first without a primary challenger. Does this mean that 1st District Republicans have finally accepted Gilchrest as one of their own? Andy Harris apparently hopes not. I hear the state senator is telling people he plans to run against Gilchrest.

Everybody talks in politics about cooperation across the partisan divide, of cooperating for the greater good. All very nice - even smart - and yet almost nobody does it. So photographs in the newspaper last week featuring Republican Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest and Democrat Rep. Elijah E. Cummings on a happy-talk tour of Maryland's Eastern Shore had a certain shock value. One of the shots caught the Republican helping the Democrat into a pair of protective booties. They were about to start wading through manure on a Kent County dairy farm owned by Howard McHenry.

In his first bid for public office, Democrat Kostas Alexakis knows the odds don't generally favor little-known candidates who take on seven-term incumbents like Republican Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest. He also knows that Democratic voters in the far-flung 1st Congressional District frequently cross party lines to support Gilchrest. Alexakis, 50, is challenging the veteran lawmaker on the one issue that has defined Gilchrest's public career -- the environment, and the Chesapeake Bay in particular.

WAYNE T. GILCHREST paddled his canoe with determination against the Sassafras River's currents near his Kennedyville home on a damp, cloudy morning. He was returning from a trip into a nature wonderland, almost in his back yard, where water lilies bloom and blue heron nest. He angled the canoe to buffer the vessel against the strong current and eventually guided in for a smooth landing. Oncoming waves didn't bother Mr. Gilchrest, Maryland's 1st District congressman. Not one bit. The congressman is accustomed to paddling against the tide, whether it's in the rivers he fights to make pollution-free or turbulent political waters.