Wynn

FYI Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck is on assignment. Her column does not appear today.

Silver Spring -- The problem, says Rep. Albert R. Wynn, is that he believed Vice President Dick Cheney. Little more than a year had passed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. And when Cheney and others alleged that Saddam Hussein had been developing weapons of mass destruction, Wynn says, he bought it. The Prince George's County Democrat voted against the majority of his party by authorizing President Bush to use military force in Iraq. Today Wynn is one of the war's leading critics.

Home-invasion robbery brings man, 23, a sentence of 83 years A 23-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced in Circuit Court yesterday to 83 years in prison for a home-invasion robbery. Terrance Wynn of the 3100 block of Chesterfield Ave., near Clifton Park, was convicted in January by a city jury of robbery, assault, using a handgun in the commission of a felony, reckless endangerment and false imprisonment. He was sentenced by Circuit Judge Allen L. Schwait Prosecutors say that on Aug. 28, 2004, Wynn entered a home in the 3100 block of Ravenwood Ave. under the guise of purchasing a T-shirt.

Here is how members of Maryland's delegation on Capitol Hill were recorded on important roll-call votes last week:Y: Yes N: No X: Not votingHouse: Head StartVoting 346 for and 20 against, the House passed a bill (S 2206) that reauthorizes Head Start through 2003 with an emphasis on returning the Great Society program for needy pre-schoolers to its educational roots. It requires sponsors to spend most of their federal funds on upgrading quality rather than expanding operations.0$ A yes vote was to pass the bill.

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Al Gore rewarded a loyal Democratic ally yesterday, attracting donations of about $120,000 for Rep. Albert R. Wynn's already flush campaign coffers.During a private Capitol Hill breakfast, which more than 70 labor officials, entrepreneurs and lobbyists paid at least $1,000 apiece to attend, Gore lashed out at the Republican-led Congress, saying GOP leaders were intent on accomplishing little except inflicting damage on President Clinton."Whatever the proposal is that's pending, they put it not only on the back burner, they take it off the stove," Gore said, "They've done less than the 'Do-nothing Congress' of Harry Truman, some years ago."

Here is how members of Maryland's delegation on Capitol Hill were recorded on important roll-call votes last week:Y: Yes N: No X: Not votingHouse: ShutdownBy a vote of 227 for and 197 against, the House moved to keep the government open in the event of a deadlock on spending bills.A yes vote backed a GOP plan for automatic fiscal 1998 funding.Y N X MemberY * * Ehrlich, Robert L. Jr., R-2ndY * * Hoyer, Steny H. D-5thY * * Bartlett, Roscoe G., R-6thY * * Wynn, Albert R., D-4thY * * Cardin, Benjamin L., D-3rdY * * Cummings, Elijah E., D-7thY * * Gilchrest, Wayne T., R-1stY * * Morella, Constance A., R-8thSenate: AbortionBy a vote of 36 for and 64 against, the Senate rejected outlawing abortions after the fetus has reached "viability."

NOW endorses Salima Marriott, citing her activismDel. Salima Siler Marriott, a second-term delegate from West Baltimore's 40th District and a social work professor at Morgan State University, has received the endorsement of the National Organization for Women.Ms. Marriott is one of 27 Democrats running for the 7th Congressional District seat in Tuesday's primary election.NOW cited Ms. Marriott's "more than 30 years of activism, advocacy and leadership on issues important to Maryland women and children."

Here is how members of Maryland's delegation on Capitol Hill were recorded on important roll-call votes last week:Y: Yes N: No X: Not votingHouse: Barracks in GermanyBy a vote of 121 for and 289 against, the House declined to cut $17.4 million from a bill to fund U.S. military construction at home and abroad in fiscal 1997. As later sent to the Senate, the bill (HR 3517) provides $10 billion to be spent mainly on upgrading base facilities. The amendment rejected by this vote sought to eliminate funds -- not requested by the Pentagon but added in a House committee -- for renovating Army barracks in Mannheim, Germany.

Here is how members of Maryland's delegation on Capitol Hill were recorded on selected roll-call votes last week:Y: YES N: NO X: NOT VOTINGHOUSE: BUDGET CUTBy 201 for and 214 against, the House declined to cut $36 million from legislation (HR 655) to accelerate research into hydrogen as a renewable, nonpolluting, affordable fuel.A yes vote supported the budget cut.Y N X Member* N * Ehrlich, Robert, R-2ndY * * Hoyer, Steny H. D-5th* N * Bartlett, Roscoe G., R-6thY * * Wynn, Albert R., D-4thY * * Cardin, Benjamin L., D-3rdY * * Mfume, Kweisi, D-7th* N * Gilchrest, Wayne T., R-1st* N * Morella, Constance A., R-8thHOUSE: SPENDING ISSUEVoting 155 for and 257 against, the House rejected an amendment to HR 655 (above)

Artist, newsman have photo show at the JCCThe work of the two artists who constitute the latest show at the Jewish Community Center involves photography, but in different degrees. Doris Rief's abstractions on paper and canvas, such as "Gettysburg," reproduced here, combine various media including collage, painting, photographs and sometimes writing. Craig Terkowitz is a news photographer who also branches out in other directions. He works for the Baltimore Jewish Times but has also published in other newspapers and magazines.

True to the scouting report, Ravens rookie offensive tackle Michael Oher played quick and tough in Thursday night's preseason opener against the Washington Redskins. Oher opened a gash on his forehead when he lost his helmet taking veteran defensive end Renaldo Wynn down on the Ravens' opening drive, but after getting three stitches, returned to deliver a sterling opening-night performance. As he has shown throughout training camp, rookie Paul Kruger hustled from sideline to sideline as the starting linebacker replacing the injured Terrell Suggs.

WASHINGTON - -Former Rep. Albert R. Wynn's first client as a registered lobbyist is a unit of a Finnish company that has been sharply criticized by human-rights advocates for its work in Sudan, according to a recently filed disclosure report. The Maryland Democrat quit his House seat last year, months before his term was up, in order to join a powerful Washington lobbying firm. The early departure gave Wynn a head start on an ethics law that requires members of Congress to wait one full year after leaving office before they begin lobbying their former colleagues.

Edward William Eldridge Jr. took his own life at the age of 62. He lived alone in a small semidetached, red-brick house on Daywalt Avenue in Northeast Baltimore. He had no wife, no known children, no brothers, no sisters, and his parents died years ago. He listed his only aunt as a beneficiary, but she, too, had passed away. He had no friends, at least none close enough or willing enough to stay with him at the hospital for a few hours so he could undergo the arthroscopic knee surgery he was scheduled to have on the day he died.

Voters go to the polls tomorrow to replace Rep. Albert R. Wynn in a $1.3 million special election that state officials say will give his successor an edge of seniority in the new Congress that convenes in January. The race pits Democratic activist Donna Edwards - who defeated Wynn in the February primary - against Republican Peter James. The winner of the special election will have to run again in November but is expected to have a substantial advantage in that contest. In a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-1, Edwards is considered the prohibitive favorite to replace Wynn, who announced in March that he would vacate his seat and join a powerful Washington lobbying group.

Political interest groups working outside the traditional confines of campaign finance laws spent more than $4.3 million in two Maryland congressional races during this year's primary, according to newly released campaign finance reports, and their success in defeating two incumbents here could portend an expensive and aggressive effort nationwide to target other swing districts in the coming months. Liberal groups have gone after Rep. Albert R. Wynn before, and conservative activists have long tried to unseat Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest.

Gov. Martin O'Malley set a special election date yesterday to fill a vacancy left by the departure of Rep. Albert R. Wynn, who is leaving Congress to join a lobbying firm after eight terms. O'Malley signed emergency legislation that would allow the state to hold the special election and said that he will issue a proclamation setting the date on June 17. Late last month, Wynn announced his departure from office in June, and the General Assembly quickly drafted and passed legislation permitting the state to skip a special primary -- giving the central committees of each party the power to choose nominees.

Rep. Albert R. Wynn, who is leaving Congress at the end of May to become a lobbyist, has resigned from the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Ethics watchdogs had called on the Prince George's County Democrat to step down from the committee for the remainder of his House tenure, citing the potential for conflicts of interest involving clients of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, the Washington lobbying firm he is to join in May. In a statement, Wynn said he believed he had complied with "both the letter and the spirit" of the congressional ethics laws, but would resign from the committee to avoid becoming a "distraction."

On behalf of the people of Maryland, I am sending Rep. Albert R. Wynn a bill for $500,000 -- his share of the cost of a special election that must be staged on account of Wynn quitting his congressional seat seven months early to take a fat-juicy job with a Washington lobbyist. It's a reasonable request. Wynn is in such a rush to take his new job -- and his next employer is so eager to get him -- that certainly they can split the cost of a special election to fill Wynn's seat. What's half-a-mil to a Washington lobbying firm that counts Bristol-Myers Squibb and Time Warner among its clients?

WASHINGTON -- When he decided to leave Congress before the end of his term to join a Washington lobbying giant, Rep. Albert R. Wynn left his constituents with a choice: Pay for a costly special election to fill his seat or go unrepresented in the House for the remainder of the congressional session. The dilemma is rankling even some of his fellow Democrats. "Congressman Wynn's decision makes more financial sense for him than it does for the state," state Sen. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County, a Democrat whose district overlaps Wynn's, said yesterday.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is working with state lawmakers to pass emergency legislation that would allow him to call a special general election to replace Rep. Albert R. Wynn, the Prince George's County Democrat who is leaving Congress in June to join a Washington lobbying firm. O'Malley wants to skip the special primary election now required under Maryland law and go straight to a general election to get the seat filled before Congress concludes its business for the year. With the 4th Congressional District leading the state in housing foreclosures, and service members from the region "coming back from Iraq in body bags," O'Malley said, constituents should not go unrepresented in Washington.