VICTIMS’ DAUGHTER PLEADS WITH O’MALLEY: A woman whose father and stepmother were killed two decades ago by one of Maryland’s death-row inmates said she repeatedly asked Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) not to commute the inmate’s sentences during a difficult 20-minute phone conversation on Monday, reports John Wagner of the Post.
- The conversation came days after The Baltimore Sun reported that O’Malley had reached out to two relatives of people killed by men on death row — moves that fueled speculation that, with two months left in office, the governor may be poised to take action on the death penalty cases, writes Justin Fenton in the Sun.
WIND DEVELOPER ASKS DELAY: A western Maryland wind farm developer is asking state regulators for a third construction delay while it seeks an exception to local land-use regulations, according to an AP story in the Daily Record. The filing by Dan’s Mountain Wind Force LLC was made public Monday by the Maryland Public Service Commission.
DEL. KAISER NAMED MAJORITY LEADER: All that hard work is paying off, says Del. Anne Kaiser. The District 14 Democrat from Calverton was named House majority leader last week by Speaker Michael Busch, Terri Hogan writes in the Gazette. “Anne Kaiser has worked tirelessly for the House Democratic Caucus and demonstrated leadership capabilities on crucial legislative priorities,” said Busch in a news release.
GROUPS LOBBY CALVERT LEGISLATORS: State legislators representing Calvert County heard from 25 community groups during a meeting last week held by the League of Women Voters regarding the legislative priorities of the community. Maryland Senate President Mike Miller, Sen.-elect Steve Waugh, Del. Anthony J. O’Donnell and Del.-elect Michael Jackson attended the meeting, Sarah Fleishmann reports in SoMdNews.com.
CHARLES CLOUT MAY GROW: Though redistricting brought in powerhouse Senate President Mike Miller to represent the county, new appointments by leadership in the House of Delegates seem to indicate Charles County may carry even more clout as the legislative session looms, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf reports in SoMdNews.com.
ULMAN HAS NO REGRETS: It has been busy year and a half for Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, who balanced running a county with campaigning as the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown. Brown lost the race on Nov.4 in a stunning upset against Republican candidate Larry Hogan. With the ups and downs, Ulman says he has no regrets about his decision to partner with Brown, according to a report at WMAR-TV.
CHANGES? NOT MUCH: Josh Kurtz of Center Maryland writes about the changes that Marylanders can expect from the new legislature (not much) and from the administration of Gov. Larry Hogan (who can tell?). Obviously one thing is certain, Kurtz writes, the permanent government remains in place.
GAZETTE PULLS PLUG ON BLAIR LEE: The Gazette newspapers pulled the plug on political columnist Blair Lee IV last Tuesday, ending his 27 years of vociferous weekly opinionating in Montgomery County newspapers. Lee’s last column about the winners and losers of the Nov. 4 election, as pungent as ever, was posted online Nov. 18. Two days later the Gazette editor who canned Lee due to budget cuts, Doug Tallman, got his walking papers as well, writes Len Lazarick of MarylandReporter.com.
BLAINE YOUNG’S NEW POST: In the final hour of their terms, Frederick County commissioners Monday executed a surprise maneuver by naming Commissioners President Blaine Young to a county panel dealing with growth and development, Bethany Rodgers reports for the Frederick News Post. Young’s appointment to roughly five years on the Frederick County Planning Commission gives him some continued ability to defend the development decisions made during his administration.
“The Long Shot” Illustration of Martin O’Malley from The Atlantic.
O’MALLEY TRAILS IN N.H. POLL: Outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley continues to trail a field of presidential hopefuls in a poll of likely New Hampshire voters, reports Bryan Sears for the Daily Record. Of those polled in a new Bloomberg Politics-Saint Anselm poll, just 1% said they would vote for O’Malley, who is term-limited and will leave office in January when Republican Gov.-elect Larry Hogan is sworn in.
O’MALLEY’S MYSTIQUE: While Maryland’s governor looks perfectly presidential on paper, Democratic voters outside the state have proved staunchly resistant to forming an impression of him. By Molly Ball in The Atlantic magazine.
- O’Malley also gets extended treatment in a New Yorker article by Ryan Lizza on Hillary Clinton and her competition.
CITIZEN OVERSIGHT BOARD IN WICOMICO: Momentum is building behind a proposal to create a citizen-run police oversight board in Wicomico County, writes Jeremy Cox for the Salisbury Daily Times. The county’s top prosecutor on Monday called on the county’s two busiest police agencies — the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office and the Salisbury Police Department — to form a panel to study the idea.
EX-HARFORD COUNCILMAN FACES POT CHARGE: Lance Miller, a former eight-year member of the Harford County Council, is facing drug charges after more than two pounds of marijuana were allegedly found in his possession in late September. Miller, 45, was indicted on four charges by a Harford County grand jury on Nov. 12; however, the charges weren’t unsealed until late last week, David Anderson writes in the Aegis.
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