Earlier Primary Schedule Pushes Wynn Into Fundraising Circuit Faster

By Annapolis Notebook
Sunday, June 10, 2007

Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.) formally kicked off his bid for reelection at a fundraiser attended by about 1,000 people at a Prince George's County banquet hall Friday morning.

Wynn survived a tough challenge in the 4th District from community activist Donna Edwards in September's primary. Now, because of the quirks of the presidential primary calendar, a rematch between Wynn and Edwards is already heating up.

That's because when Maryland decided to move its presidential primary up a month to Feb. 12 next year, primaries for other offices, including Congress, were pushed up.

That might be why Wynn's aides wanted a big turnout for Friday's event, where they hoped to raise $250,000. Many of the county's state legislators showed up, as did Democratic Comptroller Peter Franchot, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson.

"Make no mistake about it: It's on!" Wynn told the room. "Let's go get 'em!"

There was a bit of buzz about Wynn's selection of a keynote speaker for the event: former U.S. representative and Tennessee Senate candidate Harold E. Ford. Ford is head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.

Edwards built her campaign around attacking Wynn from the left, especially because he voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq in 2003. Ford, meanwhile, is widely seen as a fairly conservative Democrat.

"He's not representative of the district. I don't think he represents the Democratic Party," Del. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Prince George's) said of Ford. "I don't see how it helps" Wynn, he added.

Edwards plans to launch her campaign June 30.

-- Rosalind Helderman

Gansler Skips Breakfast With Party

The Prince George's Democratic Party's annual breakfast fundraiser drew a who's who of local and state Democrats Thursday, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, Comptroller Peter Franchot and U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin.

One notable absence: Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. The former Montgomery County state's attorney is feuding with Prince George's Democrats over $15,000 the party claims he owes for promoting him during the November campaign.

According to Arthur A. Turner Jr., first vice chairman of the Prince George's Democratic Central Committee, Gansler agreed to pay the money to appear on the Democratic slate on the party's sample ballot.

"There is a cost associated with us mounting a successful effort," Turner said. "When there is a bill to pay, we would encourage it to be paid up."

Turner said the party has paid its bills from the 2006 election but needs the funds for 2008. He questioned Gansler's commitment to one of the state's largest Democratic jurisdictions. "Looking at his reluctance and refusal to pay this cost does not make us happy, does not make us feel good, and we would hope that he would respect and value us more."

Gansler said -- and state Democratic officials confirmed -- that his campaign raised $60,000 for the state party to pay for poll workers, sample ballots and other Election Day resources used by Democrats in Prince George's and elsewhere.

A Prince George's official approached his campaign for additional money days before the election but was turned down "because Doug was already helping raise money for the coordinated campaign," said his campaign manager, Sandy Brantley.

Gansler said he heard nothing more from the local party until a reporter for a local newspaper called last week. "I've never heard of him," Gansler said of Terry L. Speigner, the local party chairman. "And I've never gotten a bill from them."

-- Rosalind Helderman and Lisa Rein

Dimmer Light on Democrats' Firings?

Loyalists to former Republican governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. are accusing Democratic lawmakers of applying a double standard to the firing practices of the past and present governors.

In recent weeks, Republicans have been circulating a list of a couple of dozen state workers, some of them active in GOP politics, who have been fired or demoted since Gov. Martin O'Malley's arrival in January.

Ehrlich's firings prompted a 14-month investigation by the Democrat-led General Assembly, which culminated in a lengthy report that found that the governor dispatched loyalists into state agencies to identify people to fire.

Anne Sunderland, a former public information officer at the Department of Aging under Ehrlich, said she expected to be shown the door after O'Malley won the governor's race.

"To the winner go the spoils," Sunderland said. "I have no problem with that, but when Governor Ehrlich did the same thing, everyone went ballistic."

Democrats argue that what O'Malley is doing is hardly the same thing. For starters, the scope of Ehrlich's firings was far greater: His aides put the count at 284.

And Ehrlich's methods attracted a lot more attention. During the first two years of his tenure, for example, a longtime aide, Joseph Steffen, worked in three state agencies, fostering a reputation as a hatchet man by placing a figurine of the Grim Reaper on his desk and telling co-workers that he had a "death list" of people marked for dismissal.

O'Malley aides said terminations in the new administration are being directed by Cabinet secretaries with no direct guidance from the governor's office. And, they said, only at-will employees, who serve at the pleasure of the governor, have been fired.

"Governor O'Malley is committed to building a professional and competent state government for the people of Maryland and has recruited highly qualified, professional Cabinet secretaries," said O'Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.

-- John Wagner