True test of clout rests with Chick and Ruth’s

Friday, Dec. 1, 2006

Annapolis was abuzz this week about, of all things, a roast beef sandwich.

Forget filling dozens of Cabinet posts and reshaping state government. Martin O’Malley has to select what lunch item will bear his moniker at Chick and Ruth’s Delly, the Main Street institution that has been a popular gathering place for lawmakers and tourists for decades.

Specific ingredients are unknown, but roast beef is the gubbie-to-be’s deli meat of choice, according to the Annapolis Capital newspaper.

That left us wondering what other changes will be made as some titleholders do not return to office and must be retired from the menu and some newcomers will be added, per house rules, said Ted Levitt, the deli’s owner. (The only exception is Marvin Mandel, whose corned beef with chopped liver on rye has a permanent spot on the menu.)

Say goodbye to ‘‘The Teitelbaum” (roast beef, raw onion and lettuce on rye bread), the ‘‘Comptroller William Donald Schaefer” (grilled hot pastrami, swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye), ‘‘The Ida Ruben” (grilled turkey reuben), ‘‘The Paula Hollinger” (grilled chicken breast, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato and swiss on a Kaiser roll), ‘‘The Janet Owens” (salami, swiss and onion on rye), ‘‘The Leo Green” (tuna, onions, lettuce, tomato and toast), ‘‘the Joseph Curran” (Jewish pizza bagel) and, of course, ‘‘The Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich” (white meat turkey, lettuce, tomato on whole wheat toast), among others.

The additions will include freshman senator Bryan Simonaire, a regular customer who will have a corned beef sandwich named after him. Anthony Brown will assume Mike Steele’s tossed salad with sliced ribeye steak and French fries, if desired. And the chicken noodle soup will be known as ‘‘The John Leopold,” Levitt said.

The oft-quotable Peter Franchot also has a menu request, which he wants to call ‘‘The Franchot Watch Dog,” a play on one of his campaign pledges. He said the hot dog would have ‘‘a lot of hot mustard, of course,” but nothing has been finalized.

‘‘This has been a subject of discussion at the highest levels of the Franchot campaign,” the comptroller-elect quipped.

— Alan Brody

Who zoo

O’Malley has tapped Peggy J. Watson and Matthew D. Gallagher as deputy chiefs of staff, reporting directly to Chief of Staff-appointee Michael R. Enright.

Watson was Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke’s deputy finance director. O’Malley promoted her to finance director in 2000. Over the next five years, she maintained the city’s positive bond rating and built the city’s rainy day fund from $17.3 million in 1999 to $56 million in 2004.

Gallagher has run Baltimore’s CitiStat program, the mayor’s signature management initiative, since 1999. Gallagher was also in his Cabinet and Security Council. He was a member of city management negotiating and budget planning committees.

‘‘Peggy and Matt will bring a wealth of knowledge to the State House, and I look forward to their continued leadership guiding our State over the next four years,” O’Malley said in a statement.

The transition team has received thousands of résumés from potential appointees, although there’s no timeframe for rolling out names, spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said.

— Douglas Tallman

Cross him off the list

One name you won’t hear in connection with the new administration in Annapolis: Doug Duncan.

The outgoing MoCo county exec tells us he has not been offered a job by O’Malley, does not want a job with O’Malley and would not take one if offered.

And just a few days ago, Mike Miller was touting Duncan as a potential transportation secretary.

— Janel Davisand Douglas Tallman

On the road

There’s no keeping a good man down, goes the saying, which holds true for Duncan.

Duncan, who dropped out of the governor’s race to battle clinical depression, is educating the public about the illness and its importance during a NIH forum in Bethesda on Dec. 12.

Duncan will present the segment, ‘‘Not the Usual Wear and Tear of Stress.”

‘‘I view it as an illness, now I’m back to good health,” he said.

— Janel Davis

Politics hurts

Life on the campaign trail can be bruising and Rick Weldon has the wound to prove it.

Several weeks before Election Day, the Frederick County Republican was door-knocking in Ijamsville with his 15-year-old son, Rick III, when he took a nasty tumble on a steep driveway.

Would the injury to his left elbow disrupt Weldon’s canvassing plans? Not with several hundred homes left on his route.

‘‘At two weeks out, you do what you’ve got to do,” he said after easily defeating Democrat Paul Gilligan.

As the pain and swelling increased, Weldon realized it was no ordinary bump. After completing the neighborhood sweep, he went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a radial head fracture of the left elbow, which left the southpaw unable to write or type for an extended period of time.

He started physical therapy this week and expects to be in tip-top shape by the start of the legislative session.

So what has Weldon learned from the unlucky mishap? ‘‘If you’re going to fall, don’t fall on your elbow.”

— Alan Brody

Changeover

Sonny Minnick is stepping down as longtime chairman of the Baltimore County delegation, and the contest to succeed him is pitting youth versus age.

Next week, the 29-member delegation will choose between 29-year-old Eric Bromwell, who will begin his second term in January, and 66-year-old Emmett Burns, entering his fourth term. Minnick has led the delegation since 1995.

— Alan Brody

All about the moolah

O’Malley borrowed a half-million bucks in the run-up to the Nov. 7 election, and Gov. Bob Ehrlich closed his campaign with nearly $380,000 unspent.

The loan, at about 8 percent interest, came from John P. Coale, a retired Washington lawyer (who’s married to Greta Van Susteren).

‘‘The campaign made a strategic decision we needed additional dollars in the final weeks of the campaign,” O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said.

For the four-year cycle, O’Malley raised $14.9 million. Ehrlich raised about $17 million.

On Thursday, Coale said his money helped to influence the election. ‘‘We were way behind on money and we needed to answer those ads at the end,” he said.

The loan helped pay for an ad featuring President Bill Clinton.

Coale is known for his work on the tobacco settlement as well as on a pro-bono case in 2001 that closed Maryland’s boot camps for juvenile offenders.

— Douglas Tallman

Call me — really

Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer welcomed new lawmakers to her town on Tuesday, encouraging the freshmen to dial her number whenever questions or problems arise.

It seems there’s just one exception.

‘‘Parking tickets,” Mike Miller piped in, which elicited a hearty chuckle from the mayor, but no promise of immunity.

— Alan Brody

All about the clothes

Kumar Barve was beaming at the elevation of Talmadge Branch to majority whip, and not just because of his legislative skills.

‘‘Leadership has never looked so good,” Barve said, referring to his new seatmate’s unique coiffure and his collection of chic pinstriped suits.

Oh, and he brings some political know-how to the front row.

‘‘He has a talent and a knack for getting people to support leadership. He’s very savvy,” said Barve, no apparel slouch himself. ‘‘I also take my fashion cues from him.”

— Alan Brody

We thought it was harder

With Uly Currie and P.J. Hogan joining freshman legislators for lunch on Tuesday, Mike Busch couldn’t help but target the Senate budget maharajahs.

‘‘If you’d just leave your bond requests at their table before you leave, we’ll get conference committees set up before the session and that will make it a lot easier,” he cracked.

— Alan Brody

Reality packs a punch

There are some mornings when Martin O’Malley awakens and wonders whether the dizzying gubernatorial race is in the rear-view mirror or if the past year has all been a dream.

But he jokingly told newly elected lawmakers on Tuesday night that reality hit when the media shifted its focus shortly after Nov. 7.

‘‘You know a long campaign is over when the newspapers, instead of proclaiming the virtues of a whopping surplus, are telling you that there is a whopping unsolved structural deficit,” he said to a roomful of laughs.

— Alan Brody

Who zoo, too

Kevin O’Keeffe, who ran for the congressional seat Ben Cardin vacated in his senatorial quest, has joined the Annapolis lobbying firm of Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver.

O’Keeffe — who was director of government affairs for Baltimore city and later Anne Arundel County — joins the firm’s government relations division in Annapolis.

Also joining the firm is Derrick L. Green, deputy chief of staff for Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson.

Green, who joins the firm Dec. 11, will work with the land use division and help the government relations division. He will manage local government issues as director of county affairs.

Green previously was projects director for U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, now governor of New Jersey.

— Douglas Tallman

Changeover II

Maryland Republicans will be choosing a new leader with a vote Saturday morning in Annapolis.

Nominations can be accepted until Friday evening, but an early favorite appears to be Davidsonville veterinarian Jim Pelura.

Pelura was the Maryland state chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004. He also served on the AA central committee.

‘‘I want to take the party back to the citizens of Maryland because I believe the majority of citizens of Maryland are basically conservative and basically in touch with Republican ideology,” he said this week. ‘‘I just don’t think the ideology has been articulated clearly to the voters of Maryland.”

He is expected to be challenged by John White, who ran for the 3rd Congressional District in November, losing to John P. Sarbanes.

White has not submitted the three nominations he needs to place his name on the ballot, GOP officials said Thursday.

The party will also elect a first vice chair, treasurer, secretary and five regional vice chairs.

— Douglas Tallman

Comin’ home

Common Cause’s Bobbie Walton is leaving Annapolis to return to the MoCo Council as chief of staff for new councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg. The two women had traveled across the country working on domestic violence issues and referred to themselves as ‘‘Batman and Robin.”

Who was Batman? we asked.

‘‘I was,” Walton told us. ‘‘I’m taller” — referring to Trachtenberg’s diminutive stature, which has nothing whatsoever to do with her considerable presence.

Walton was an aide to Councilman Phil Andrews for eight years before taking the Common Cause job.

So far, no word on her successor.

— C. Benjamin Ford

He’s baaaaack

Sebastian Johnson, a former MoCo school board student member who at times during his yearlong tenure demonstrated more maturity than some of his colleagues, wants to return to the board.

But this time, he’s doing it as an adult — and hopes to win the full voting privileges on budget matters that separate adult board members from their student counterparts. Johnson is one of two former board members — along with Kermit V. Burnett of Silver Spring — on a list of 20 applicants seeking to fill a vacant seat.

The Georgetown University freshman lives in Takoma Park.

‘‘I’m only 18, part of what I see as a youth movement in Montgomery County,” he said. ‘‘But I’ve shown the maturity and responsibility of an adult.”

Johnson said he wants to be a part of the board’s ongoing effort to address the achievement.

Since his time away from the board has been so short — his final meeting was June 26 — ‘‘I anticipate most of the issues will be the same,” he said. ‘‘I know they’re still dealing with sex education. I know they’re still dealing with minority education.”

Johnson might have another advantage in his bid for the board. He is friends with Sarah Horvitz, who succeeded him as the student member, and he recently campaigned for board member Nancy Navarro as well as with Valerie Ervin, whose election to the County Council last month opened up the seat Johnson’s applying for.

The board plans to appoint the new member Dec. 9.

— Sean R. Sedam

Jetset Jerry

MoCo schools chief Jerry Weast has had quite the travel log over the past six months.

In June, he was in Belfast, where he discussed how school systems can use technology in management and governance, as well as the importance of good teaching to student achievement, his spokesman, Brian Edwards, tells us.

Two weeks ago, Weast was even farther from home in Tokyo, where he talked about the impact of the federal No Child Left Behind law and sat on a panel of British and Japanese education officials who fielded questions from about 400 educators. Alan Goodwin, principal at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, was also on the Tokyo trip, presenting separately on the federal law and serving on the panel.

Following the conference, Weast and Goodwin visited the home of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, where they met the prime minister’s wife and the deputy chief cabinet secretary. Weast presented Mrs. Abe with framed digital art by Diane Smith, a student at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring.

In both cases, the conference organizers picked up Weast’s tab, Edwards said.

It’s a good thing. After news of Weast’s Belfast trip popped up among parents in online chats in October, one parent pleaded: ‘‘Someone please tell me our tax dollars didn’t pay for him to go to Northern Ireland.”

Amid recent reports that some Prince George’s County Council members used county credit cards to charge personal purchases, including a hotel stay in Jamaica, it seems that taxpayer patience for high-priced travel on the public dime is growing thin.

As one parent e-mailed us: ‘‘Between Abramoff & Tony Williams, people have had pretty much enough of fancy conferences in exotic spots. Lucky for [Weast] it wasn’t Corsica or Rome.”

— Sean R. Sedam

What gall? Where?

In case you missed this one: Smuggling drugs is one thing, but two Maryland men pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court to smuggling the gall bladders of black bears into the country.

Terrence Beaulac, 39, of Chesapeake Beach and Richard Dempsey, 38, of Lothian admitted in court they traveled from Baltimore to Saskatchewan, Canada, to hunt the bears. They killed nine and removed the gall bladders, smuggling them into the country inside a suitcase. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents stopped them when they changed planes in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The gall bladders are used in Chinese herbal medicine. The two men admitted they sold bear gall bladders in the past to a Maryland buyer for $50 to $100 each.

Trafficking in wildlife carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. That’s at least 2,500 black bear gall bladders.

— C. Benjamin Ford