By Matthew Mosk and Ann E. Marimow
Saturday, March 11, 2006

A legislative committee has rejected an effort by Anne Arundel Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. to remove from the bench the Baltimore circuit judge who in January ruled that the state's same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional.

In a heated debate between 10:30 and 11:15 Thursday night, apparently timed to limit Dwyer's media exposure, members of the House Judiciary Committee called Dwyer's effort "ridiculous and frivolous" before rejecting it by a vote of 20 to 3.

Dwyer (R) argued that Judge M. Brooke Murdock showed incompetence in disregarding the legislative record surrounding a 1973 law that defined marriage as being the union of a man and a woman. He said the judge's declaration that the law was discriminatory should be grounds for her removal. Had he succeeded in persuading the committee members to give his impeachment effort a hearing, it would have been the first in Maryland since the Civil War.

Democrat Curtis S. Anderson (D-Baltimore) led a series of speakers in a lengthy legal analysis of Dwyer's proposal. "I don't see there are even remotely any grounds for taking the action you suggest," Anderson said.

Even many of Dwyer's Republican colleagues called the proposal a dangerous idea.

Only two -- Christopher B. Shank (Washington) and Tanya Thornton Shewell (Carroll) -- voted with him.

The committee's chairman, Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George's), said he was relieved that the matter was behind him. "I just don't believe that judges should be subject to harassment or intimidation just because someone didn't like their opinion."

Legislation to reduce air pollution from Maryland's oldest and largest power plants cleared a Senate committee yesterday over the objections of Republicans.

The measure, approved 7 to 4, would require cuts in nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions from coal-fired plants and require Maryland to join seven other Eastern states in seeking reductions in carbon dioxide, which studies have linked to global warming.

During legislative negotiations, the differences between the bill by Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George's) and regulations proposed by Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. have narrowed, although the governor's rules leave out carbon dioxide.

"Every day, there's a new study on the danger of greenhouse gases," Pinsky said after the vote by the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. "We think you have to show some backbone. We think it's reasonable to do the right thing."

The governor stuck by his plan yesterday, saying in a news release that the legislation would "dramatically increase the costs of electricity" and "potentially cause rolling blackouts."

As governor, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) would seek an $8.5 million increase in dedicated spending on Maryland's drug courts, a program he said has not been consistently funded at sufficient levels.

Maryland has 27 drug courts, which steer nonviolent offenders to alternatives to jail.

"With me, you will have a governor who knows that investments in our drug courts yield many times their value in cost savings for the future," Duncan said yesterday at a news conference, where he was joined by Baltimore's top prosecutor, Patricia Jessamy , who has endorsed Duncan's bid for governor over that of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D).

Duncan also voiced support for Jessamy in a dispute this week with two Baltimore City Council members, who criticized the performance of her office at a testy hearing. Duncan said the dust-up was an attempt by two of O'Malley's allies to divert attention from questions about the mayor's crime statistics.

O'Malley said yesterday that he had no role in the episode. A spokesman said the mayor supports increased support of drug courts.

Staff writer John Wagner contributed to this report.