As Lieutenant Governor, Steele Has Been Quiet in Dissent

Republican Senate candidate Michael S. Steele talks with students at Morgan State University during one of many campaign stops. (By Michael Robinson Chavez -- The Washington Post)

In campaign commercials and appearances, Republican Senate candidate Michael S. Steele presents himself as fiercely independent, someone who would stand on principle against his party.

Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin has tried to link Steele to President Bush, but he has responded sternly in television ads: "Listen to me, Mr. Cardin. I think for myself."

But a look back at Steele's four years as lieutenant governor shows that he has rarely publicly challenged Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. on issues on which they have disagreed, such as the death penalty, teacher pensions and the minimum wage.

Instead, Steele said he has made his case privately, because, he said, "He's my boss. I know my role."

That deference to the governor has allowed Democratic critics to question his independence. "The lieutenant governor was there to support the Ehrlich administration. He did not separate himself," said Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's).

The show of unity is not something he would continue in the Senate, Steele said in an interview this week. As lieutenant governor, he has employed a lesson learned during a stint as a Catholic seminarian: "Check your ego. Check your own particular interests or desires to get your way."

As a senator, "the only person I have to account to is me, and when the decision is made it's mine. It is a very different environment than if you've got someone above you who gets the final say."

The lieutenant governor's job description in the Maryland Constitution is vague, providing "only the duties delegated to him by the governor." But Steele promised much when he took office in 2003, including a full review of capital punishment in Maryland and more help for minority businesses.

He emphasized his commitment to education reform. To that end, Steele visited nearly 40 schools, taught classes, rode a school bus and talked to more than 1,000 students as part of his research for an education commission he led. The commission produced a 40-page report on improving Maryland's schools.

Del. Nancy J. King (D-Montgomery), a former school board president who served on what became known as the Steele Commission, said she viewed the exercise as little more than a "showcase for the lieutenant governor."

"For all the time people put into this report, nothing substantive has really come out of it," King said.

Robert J. Kemmery, the commission's executive director, said the intent was not to "mandate everything through legislation but to surface ideas." He ticked off 26 of 30 initiatives that he said have been or would be put into action, primarily through the state budget.