O'Malley Aide Gets Critical Task

Michael Enright Named Chief of Staff as Transition Takes Shape

Michael R. Enright, right, a senior mayoral aide in Baltimore, with Maryland Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley. (By Chris Gardner -- Associated Press)

Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley yesterday tapped a longtime friend and trusted adviser as his chief of staff and turned to a diverse group of 42 Marylanders to help guide his transition to office.

O'Malley (D), Baltimore's mayor, announced that Michael R. Enright, one of his top aides at City Hall, will move to Annapolis with him in January, taking on the role of his gubernatorial chief of staff.

Enright, a friend of O'Malley's since their days together at Gonzaga College High School in the District, has served as first deputy mayor since O'Malley was inaugurated in Baltimore in 1999. Previously, he worked for other prominent Maryland Democrats.

O'Malley, who defeated Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) in last week's election, praised Enright, 43, as "a force for progress" during an afternoon news conference in Baltimore, where the governor-elect was also joined by members of his transition steering committee.

The group will help O'Malley fill out a Cabinet whose members he will begin to announce after Thanksgiving, aides said.

Among the committee members are former congressman and NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume (D), who ran unsuccessfully this year for the U.S. Senate from Maryland; former governor Harry R. Hughes (D), who previously helped O'Malley pick his running mate; and former Maryland attorney general Stephen H. Sachs (D). The team also includes business leaders, other former government officials, labor leaders and representatives of minority community organizations.

O'Malley said that the committee would "help us find the most capable, competent professionals from every single corner of the state" to fill the administration. "We're going to build an administration founded on our shared belief as Marylanders that our diversity is truly our greatest strength," O'Malley said.

The group, which also will help O'Malley grapple with a worsening budget outlook, plans to have its first substantial meeting Tuesday. T. Eloise Foster, a former state budget secretary who is on the panel, will lead efforts to examine the state's finances, said Lt. Gov.-elect Anthony G. Brown (D).

O'Malley and Brown appeared yesterday in a state office tower in downtown Baltimore named for William Donald Schaefer (D), who in 1986 was the last Baltimore mayor elected governor.

Yesterday afternoon, workers at the building were applying plaster and paint in a suite of 20th-floor offices that will be O'Malley's transition headquarters.

Several other senior aides from Baltimore City Hall are expected to join O'Malley in Annapolis. Others who are likely to be named include Steve Kearney, O'Malley's communications director, aides said.

Enright, a graduate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, played a key role in developing O'Malley's nationally lauded CitiStat program, which uses statistical trends to hold the heads of city departments accountable. O'Malley has pledged to implement a similar program at the state level.

Addressing reporters yesterday, Enright said that O'Malley's team has "a lot of learning and a lot of listening" to do in coming months.

Besides building a new administration, O'Malley and his family are also wrestling with a number of personal decisions, including whether to move from their northeast Baltimore home for the governor's mansion in Annapolis. The governor-elect and his wife, Catherine Curran O'Malley, have four children.

In response to a reporter's question, O'Malley said yesterday that his wife probably will continue in her job as a district court judge after he takes office.

"I can't imagine that she wouldn't," O'Malley said.