Strange Bedfellows

Republican Del. Pat McDonough and his wife recently returned from a trip to Myrtle Beach, Florida (he said it wasn’t hot enough here) but it wasn’t the beaches or the weather that left a lasting impression on the delegate who represents the 7th District, which includes Cockeysville, Kingsville and Middle River.

No, it was the giant 3-D IMAX movie featuring “dinosaurs and sea monsters.”

“It was really impressive, I thought one of the dinosaurs was going to come out of the screen and bite my head off,” McDonough said. Then he added, “It was 40 million years ago and William Donald Schaefer and Helen Bentley were just walking around the landscape.”

Comptroller Peter Franchot is vowing increased pressure on merchants who have video poker machines in their establishments, especially if those shops are in Baltimore city and county.

“The city and the county have turned a blind eye,” Franchot said. “With a wink and a nod they have allowed these devices to continue to be used.”

In Baltimore County, merchants can buy a license for a video poker machine for $180 and have a maximum of four devices. Franchot said a two-decades old Court of Appeals ruling makes such devices automatically illegal and that jurisdictions should not be issuing licenses.

The Democratic first-term comptroller said the mere possession of the machines will be enough to draw some unwanted attention of his office.

“If one of my enforcement officers walks in and gets the sniffles, it won’t take much for the shop owner to catch the flu,” Franchot said.

About 7,200 letters were sent out warning shop owners of the coming enforcement wave and that “Liquor licenses may be in jeopardy simply because of the possession of these machines,” Franchot said. Enforcement officers who find the machines will report those locations to both the local liquor board and to the police and local prosecutors.

About two weeks ago Franchot, an outspoken anti-slots advocate, announced his intention to target video poker machines in businesses across the state, especially those that sell alcohol. He estimates that there are as many as 7,200 such locations. The city and the county have more machines than any jurisdiction despite a 1985 Court of Appeals ruling that stated the machines are de facto illegal gambling devices.

That ruling does not require that authorities see any money change hands in the form of payouts, Franchot said, adding the machines are still illegal even if they have “for amusement purposes only” signs attached to them.

The new enforcement actions are already under way, he said.

Sen. Jim Brochin says Maryland should now consider a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole for anyone convicted of raping a child.

Brochin, a Democrat who represents the 42nd District, made his comments after learning of the June 24 Supreme Court decision striking down a Louisiana law that applies the death penalty to anyone convicted of raping a child. (You can read the text of that decision here.)

The 42nd District includes Towson, Timonium and part of Pikesville.

In an interview three years ago, Brochin called for a minimum sentence of life in prison for such cases, adding “I wouldn’t rule out the death penalty either.” (more…)

It seems that neither the county executive nor the council is willing to repeat the past when it comes to one appointment on the Baltimore County Revenue Authority Board.

Five years ago, the council and County Executive Jim Smith squared off on the appointment of one member of the authority board - Towson attorney Leslie Pittler.

The council saw Pittler as their appointment to the board. Smith wanted Baltimore Orioles majority owner and attorney Peter Angelos.

The five-member board is, by County Charter, appointed by the county executive with the approval of the council. Each member serves a five-year term.

Nearly a dozen years ago, the council and then-County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger agreed to make one of the slots a council appointment. Smith initially refused to acknowledge that arrangement.

A brief standoff ensued in which the council kept Pittler on the board past the end of his term by refusing to confirm his replacement. Smith eventually relented and agreed to send Pittler’s name to the council.

Pittler’s term ends June 30. But the council and Smith are playing so nice on this one that each side is waiting for the other to do something. Pittler’s name, or a replacement, has not been forwarded to the council. If his name were sent up soon, the council could vote on it at its July 7 meeting.

If they don’t take it up then, Pittler, who has never missed a board meeting, will continue to serve until a replacement is confirmed.

“From our perspective, it’s a council appointment,” said Don Mohler, Smith’s spokesman. “I’m assuming (the council) wants Les so it will be Les.”

Council chairman Kevin Kamenetz offered a slightly different take.

“My understanding of the arrangement is it’s still a county executive appointment but one that would be made in consultation with the council,” Kamenetz said.

Kamenetz declined to say whether or not the council would ask for Pittler, saying that he had not had discussed the matter with anyone from Jim Smith’s office. But he hinted that Pittler would not likely face a lot of opposition on the council.

“If the executive chose to send the name of Mr. Pittler to the council, I suspect the other council members would not object,” he said.

Pittler was pretty clear about his desire to remain on the job for a third term.

“I’m interested in being reappointed,” Pittler said.

Ronald H. Lipscomb, a Baltimore developer who is tied to an investigation of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, donated $11,000 through four companies to County Executive Jim Smith.

Smith’s campaign received a $1,000 donation from RHL Strathdale, $2,000 from Arizona Crossing, and two donations of $4,000 each from RHL Development and Doracon Development LLC on Dec. 9, 2005, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections. All four companies list an address at 3500 E. Biddle Street, the headquarters of Doracon Contracting, the company founded by Lipscomb. (more…)

Blaine Taylor is on the ballot.

The Towson resident appears as a Democratic candidate for president of the United States on the Maryland State Board of Elections official list of candidates for the Nov. 4 election. (more…)

No pressure on state Sen. Andy Harris’ bid to win Maryland’s 1st District Congressional seat. Really.

It’s 137 days from the Nov. 4 election (as of this post) and Chris Cavey, the elected chairman of the county Republican Central Committee, is predicting a win for the senator from Cockeysville over Frank Kratovil, a Democrat and Queen Anne’s County state’s attorney. (more…)

Is he or isn’t he?

That’s the question that continues to swirl around the Old Courthouse concerning the possible political future of Wiltondale resident Ed Gilliss.

Gilliss, the current planning board chairman and former county attorney, says he is not currently a candidate for any office. Nor is he raising money nor allowing anyone else to raise money in his name.

And still, the rumor persists. The most recent permutation has a group of lawyers looking to raise money for a Gilliss bid for county executive in 2010.

Gilliss is a partner at the Towson law firm of Royston, Mueller, McLean and Reid. He also is on the board of trustees of St. Joseph Medical Center and is a past president of the Maryland and Baltimore County bar associations. (more…)

Welcome to Patuxent Publishing Co.’s Baltimore County government and politics blog.

I may be familiar to many of you who have read my articles in the Towson Times, Catonsville Times, Owings Mills Times, North County News, Northeast Booster or our other publications. (more…)