Gotta be true to friends, even on different sides

Friday, Nov. 3, 2006

Former delegate Rushern Baker was in attendance at two very different news conferences this week.

On Monday, he was in the audience as former Prince George’s county exec and Dem Wayne Curry blistered the Democratic Party and crossed party lines to endorse Michael Steele for the U.S. Senate. Curry was joined by Prince George’s five black council members and Major Riddick, Parris Glendening’s former chief of staff, in their criticism that the Democratic Party has taken African Americans’ votes for granted.

Then on Thursday, there was Baker standing behind the podium as Jack Johnson, the county’s current exec and late Baker opponent, endorsed Dem Ben Cardin for the Senate along with Rep. Al Wynn.

What gives?

Baker said he called Cardin shortly after the primary to offer his endorsement. He went to the Steele shindig because of Curry, who had backed Baker in the primary, and because he agrees that the Democratic Party has to do more when it comes to promoting minorities for statewide offices.

Baker, like others Thursday, noted that it took many weeks for Johnson, who backed Kweisi Mfume against Cardin in the primary, to formally endorse Cardin.

‘‘It’s surprising that it took this long,” he said.

— Thomas Dennison

Once there were giants

Samuel Culotta is a footnote in Maryland’s political history — the last Republican to have been elected to the House of Delegates from Baltimore city. That was 52 years ago.

At 82, Culotta will not make public predictions about the outcome of Tuesday’s general election. But he thinks Ehrlich will sweat quite a bit before it’s over.

‘‘He’s not a McKeldin,” Culotta said, referring to Theodore Roosevelt (as in Teddy) McKeldin, the legendary Republican who not only was elected twice mayor in Democrat-controlled Baltimore but also became an influential governor.

Culotta, who served asMcKeldin’s secretary, says his mentor was successful because ‘‘he knew how to compromise, knew how to work with Democrats and had a good moderate philosophy.”

McKeldin wasn’t a strict party man. His finest hour probably came in 1952 when he rousingly nominated Dwight Eisenhower for president. Yet a decade later, McKeldin broke ranks with the GOP. He endorsed Democrat Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater, the darling of the Republican right wing.

When elected, Johnson sent a helicopter to fetch McKeldin to the White House.

Pragmatic moderation is much needed these days but sorely lacking, Culotta says. He says he has given up on active politicking. Instead, he puts in six hours every day in his Northeast Baltimore law office.

— Antero Pietila

Now it’s Schaefer time

Any guesses? Anyone?

William Donald Schaefer says it’s gonna be a second term for Bob Ehrlich when all the shouting is over on Tuesday.

Schaefer, who was defeated in the Democratic primary, described Ehrlich as ‘‘honest as the day is long,” and predicted that he would beat Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley. Schaefer’s comments came on the same day that The (Baltimore) Sun published a poll that showed Ehrlich and O’Malley in a dead heat.

The reason the guv’s poll numbers are going up, the comptroller opined, is because ‘‘he’s done a superb job.”

Schaefer, who was scheduled to be honored on Thursday night by hundreds of guests for his 85th birthday in Baltimore, stopped short of giving Ehrlich an all-out endorsement.

— Thomas Dennison

Where’re Ben, Chris and Al?

MoCo Dems are getting a sample ballot in the mail that suggests how they should vote, and natch! the ballot picks all D’s.

Although the thing sure looks complete, there’s no mention of Ben Cardin, Chris Van Hollen or Al Wynn.

It turns out U.S. law requires that if federal candidates appear on a mailing, a federal candidate account has to pay for it.

About 20 different ballots had to be produced for the county, with different combinations of legislative and County Council candidates. It cost between $80,000 and $100,000, said Simon Atlas, treasurer for the county’s Democratic Central Committee.

Future (!?) mailings will have Cardin’s name prominently, state party spokesman Derek Walker said.

‘‘At the end of the day, I don’t think there’s going to be a net effect,” he said.

Strangely, another mailing from the Dems criticizes Michael Steele’s opposition to abortion. Not once is Cardin’s name mentioned.

— Douglas Tallman

Tomes are exhausting

Political operatives say campaign literature is supposed to be flashy and concise — something that will catch the attention of the recipient and present a direct message.

John White, the GOP nominee for the 3rd Congressional District, must have missed Campaign 101 the day that lesson was taught.

His latest ad has more text than a Tolstoy novel.

The 8 1⁄2 x 11 leaflet expounds on illegal immigrants and has 17 bullet points listing deficiencies in Maryland and the nation — crime, the cost of health care, school dropout rates, medical malpractice, poverty and Social Security.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s a reverse side that contrasts White with Democratic nominee John Sarbanes on 13 points!

We’d explain more, but our eyes are tired.

— Alan Brody

He’s hot!

E.J. Pipkin has racked up a victory even before Election Day.

The Eastern Shore Republican who played a prominent role in the electricity deregulation issue earlier this year was chosen as outstanding rural legislator of the year by the Rural Maryland Council.

Pipkin has ‘‘spearheaded efforts to adopt legislation that will result in the deployment of broadband communication services throughout many of the state’s rural and underserved areas,” wrote Stephen McHenry, the council’s executive director.

The council also applauded Pipkin for drafting legislation that paved the way for the creation of the Upper Shore Regional Council, a consortium of leaders from Queen Anne’s, Cecil and Kent counties who will collectively promote economic development, workforce housing and other regional planning initiatives.

— Alan Brody

Art imitates politics

Not even the Maryland GOP can keep track of the latest leaning of its recent convert.

In a glossy campaign piece touting the Ehrlich-Cox ticket in mailboxes this week, party-loving, party-swapping John Giannetti appears in photos on both sides.

The catch is the GOP identified Giannetti as a Democrat in a photo of the Oct. 17 ‘‘groundbreaking” for the ICC — although Giannetti switched parties weeks earlier in a bid to keep his Senate seat after losing the Democratic primary.

— Margie Hyslop

Just joking

While doing an Internet search of MoCo council candidates, one voter came across an August 2005 blog entry by County Council at-large candidate Marc Elrich.

At issue are some Elrich comments mockingly calling for the annihilation of Jews, Christians and Muslims, the voter wrote in an e-mail.

The entry was part of a thread in a blog titled ‘‘Terrorist Threat” by blogger and slam-poet Steve Colman on The Huffington Post host site. In the entry, Elrich says his solution to ending the conflicts in the Middle East would be to place Jews, Christians and Muslims — groups that claim ownership to the holy lands — on top of three mountains. The groups would have to sit atop the mountains without food, water and shelter until God inscribes his true intent on a concrete slab poured in the middle of the mountains.

Elrich called the entry ‘‘just a joke.”

‘‘People had been posting outrageous things, and I just tried to offer something as a joke to one-up the other posts,” he said. ‘‘For those who know me, they know that these are not my beliefs.”

The post continues with Elrich getting serious on the issues and offering real solutions and opinions on the problem.

— Janel Davis

Of portables and politics

Following Monday’s formal announcement of MoCo school super Jerry Weast’s proposal to cut down the number of those blasted learning cottages — aka portable classrooms, aka trailers — pols and others toured Takoma Park Elementary’s portables.

School board member Steve Abrams, however, declined.

The GOP County Council candidate said the announcement, which included remarks by incumbent Council President George Leventhal, Del. Charles Barkley and Del. Nancy King, all Dems, was overly partisan.

Del. Jean Cryor, a Republican, was listed as a speaker, but did not show up.

Those who did speak called on the state to ante up what they see as MoCo’s fair share of school construction dollars.

‘‘If we want a chance of working together with the governor, who is going to be re-elected, they have to be more objective about how they make their presentation,” Abrams said. ‘‘The shortfall in Montgomery County is a result of all the years of Democratic governors overspending and leaving the governor with a budget shortfall and no identifiable funding.”

County officials should be ‘‘kissing this governor’s ring for being able to find the money he has,” Abrams said in nonpartisan manner, we assume.

Leventhal disagreed, not unsurprisingly. ‘‘I think we need to change the governor,” he said. ‘‘I know Steve Abrams would like to see the state run by Republicans. But that’s not going to happen.”

He cited charts showing that the state’s share of construction aid dropping from 32.5 percent from 1994 to 2000 to 18.5 percent from 2001 to 2007. The first chart represented spending under Parris Glendening, Leventhal said. The second represented spending under Ehrlich. ‘‘That’s not a partisan comment,” he said. ‘‘It happens to be true.”

Weast said the charts were ‘‘trying to depict the data. I am not ashamed of depicting it.”

What may have especially irked Abrams was Leventhal’s mention during the news conference of County Councilman Mike Knapp and board-member-turned-council-candidate Valerie Ervin as the future of the council’s Education Committee.

‘‘I didn’t think you filled positions until after the election,” he said a day later.

— Sean R. Sedam

President Daddy

George Leventhal’s 7-year-old son, a second-grader at Takoma Park Elementary, recently came home with exciting news, his father recounted on Monday.

‘‘Daddy, we have some very important people coming to my school,” the boy said.

‘‘Really,” the elder Leventhal replied.

‘‘Yes,” the boy said. ‘‘The president of the Montgomery County Council is coming with Dr. Weast to my school on Monday.”

While pols and school officials faced cameras and reporters, Leventhal’s son remained in a portable classroom behind the main school building.

‘‘I was kind of hoping you’d let him out,” Leventhal said to Principal Zadia Gadsden.

‘‘Your pull as County Council president only extends so far,” Weast said.

— Sean R. Sedam