No Hard Feelings After End-of-Session Squabble

By Rosalind S. Helderman, Ovetta Wiggins and Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 27, 2008

Apparently, state Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's) has patched up any lingering tension with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert).

Muse clashed with the state's two most powerful politicians in the waning hours of the legislative session in April over a bill that would have provided new liquor licenses for the National Harbor development.

Muse, who was sponsoring the bill, pushed for amendments opposed by the project's developers, who ultimately asked that the bill be shelved. Negotiations over the details became heated as County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), Miller and O'Malley encouraged Muse to drop the amendments, saying they would hurt the massive project.

Along the way, one confrontation between Muse and Miller became so animated it briefly attracted the attention of a state trooper, an observer said at the time.

At a contentious closed-door meeting with Johnson, Prince George's state senators and O'Malley, participants have said that the governor told Muse he was concerned that the senator's actions might be perceived as a "shakedown." To which Muse shot back, "are you calling me a crook?"

But all is forgiven, apparently.

Muse held a fundraiser at Woodmore country club in Mitchellville last week. According to an invitation, which suggested donations from $250 to $1,000, the event was hosted by seven of Muse's elected colleagues. They included O'Malley and Miller.

Roomful of Lobbyists Pick Over Legislation

Council member Thomas E. Dernoga (D-Laurel) could not help but notice the makeup of the audience that filled the County Council chamber on the body's final legislative day.

"This room is packed with people who are paid to be here," Dernoga said before withdrawing his bill to create a land-use plan that would have permitted the sale and purchase of transferable development rights.

Anyone who lobbies in Prince George's or represents a developer probably was in the crammed chamber last week, as the council took up several controversial pieces of legislation.

The audience was a who's who of lobbyists and lawyers.

Included in the crowd were Marva Jo Camp and Bruce Bereano, who were representing tobacco interests and lobbying against a bill to ban the sale of single cigars.

Among what Dernoga called a "cavalcade of zoning lawyers," fighting against the transferable development rights bill were Arthur Horne, Russell Shipley, Ed Gibbs, Tom Hamer and Lawrence Taub.

Michael Arrington, Andre Gingles, Gregory S. Proctor Jr. and Derrick Green attended the meeting, but they did not speak on any bills.

Also in the crowd: former state senator Tommie Broadwater Jr. (D), who spent about 10 minutes in the back room before the beginning of the meeting, and former county executive Wayne K. Curry (D), who spoke in opposition of Dernoga's bill.

When Curry's three minutes were up, Vice Chairman Marilynn Bland (D-Clinton) asked him to stop speaking. Curry continued. Bland insisted. Curry continued and then walked away when he had finished making his final point.

Tulip Grove Teacher Wins Milken Award

Shannon Landefeld, a Prince George's County elementary school teacher, won one of the largest cash awards in education this week, capping off a successful awards season for the county.

Everything about the $25,000 Milken Educator Award was hush-hush, until it wasn't. Unlike most teaching awards, there is no nomination or application process, and teachers don't know they are being considered for the award until they receive it.

Landefeld was no exception. The first-grade teacher at Tulip Grove Elementary School in Bowie was summoned like everyone else to a morning assembly. She might have suspected something was up when she saw Nancy S. Grasmick, the state schools superintendent, and William R. Hite Jr., the Prince George's deputy superintendent, as well as members of the Board of Education.

Then they announced the award, complete with a large novelty check, to the cheers of Landefeld's colleagues and students. Landefeld will receive the real money, which she is free to spend any way she chooses, at a conference this spring.

Grasmick said in a statement that Landefeld, a nine-year teaching veteran, had a style that brought together technology, art, music and writing for the betterment of her students' lives.

The award is the second big win for the county in recent months: In October, William Thomas, a social studies teacher at Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School in Upper Marlboro, was named the 2009 Maryland Teacher of the Year, the state's highest honor for teachers.