One of President Bush’s top aides will be the star attraction at a fundraiser in Washington later this month for Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.
Although Mr. Steele has not publicly committed himself to run for the U.S. Senate next year, the fundraiser headlined by Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, sends a strong signal that the lieutenant governor will be the Republican candidate.
Dan Ronayne, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, confirmed Friday that a fundraiser with Mr. Rove and Mr. Steele will be held July 26. It will be in Washington, but Mr. Ronayne said he did not have other details.
Mr. Steele is a consensus choice by top Maryland Republican Party leaders to be the party’s senatorial nominee next year for a seat that will come open with the retirement of Democrat Paul S. Sarbanes.
The lieutenant governor also has been lobbied by high-ranking Republicans on the national level, who see him as the party’s best chance to break a long Democratic hold on Maryland’s two Senate seats.
“Michael has received a lot of encouragement from many people to run. Now he is obviously considering it, but he is also doing his due diligence to determine if the things he needs for a competitive race are there,” Mr. Ronayne said.
Mr. Steele announced June 15 that he was setting up an exploratory committee to help him decide whether he will forgo running with Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. for a second term as lieutenant governor or strike out on his own.
• Movin’ on up
One of the top-ranking women in Maryland’s General Assembly plans to announce her candidacy for Congress this week.
State Sen. Paula Colodny Hollinger is expected to begin her campaign Wednesday for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for retiring U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes’ seat.
Mrs. Hollinger, a former nurse who has spent 26 years in the legislature, plans to make the announcement at the University of Maryland-Baltimore’s School of Nursing.
The 3rd Congressional District covers portions of Baltimore city, and Howard, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties. Mrs. Hollinger’s state Senate district includes northwest Baltimore city and central Baltimore County.
Former Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Peter Beilenson and Delegate Neil Quinter of Howard County already have announced bids for the Democratic nomination.
• On tour
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan is continuing his trek across Maryland to boost his name recognition before a possible run for governor.
Mr. Duncan, a Democrat, recently told WTOP Radio he plans to visit every county before Labor Day.
Mr. Duncan said it is his job to get people to know more about him. He said the visits also help him learn about the problems of each county.
Mr. Duncan said most people he has talked with are concerned about education and he expects that to be a big part of next year’s campaign.
Mr. Duncan hasn’t formally announced whether he will run for governor.
• Keep the ban
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams went to Capitol Hill again to try to stop what he calls lawmakers’ “cavalier disregard” for the District when it comes to gun control.
D.C. law requires licensed guns to be kept at home — unloaded, disassembled and with a trigger lock.
But the House voted last week to repeal those rules. Some lawmakers wanted to repeal the handgun ban entirely, but Mr. Williams and police Chief Charles H. Ramsey testified against that.
Now the measure goes to the Senate, where Mr. Williams, a Democrat, said he is lobbying hard.
Chief Ramsey estimates there are about 80,000 legal guns in the District, all of which were registered before the ban took effect in 1976. The provision in question doesn’t cover rifles, shotguns or antiques.
• World support
The District’s aspirations for full congressional representation got a boost Tuesday when delegates of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) unanimously supported a declaration backing that idea.
“We’re generating sufficient international heat,” human rights activist Timothy Cooper said after the vote.
Mr. Cooper helped put the voting rights issue on the agenda of the OSCE meeting in Washington.
Although D.C. voters are mentioned in just one paragraph out of 45 pages of recommendations and rebukes aimed at various countries, advocates say the international awareness gives city residents the leverage they need to demand congressional representation.
The U.S. is operating in “abject violation” of international norms by denying D.C. residents the same vote as other U.S. citizens, said D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and the District’s nonvoting congressional representative.
“Once that becomes known, it will fall,” said Mrs. Norton, who can vote in House committees but not on the floor.
She noted it was international pressure that helped end racial segregation in Washington and earned the District its presidential vote.
Mr. Cooper said he will try to bring the issue before the OSCE’s gathering of foreign ministers in Slovenia in December. And he plans to push Congress to hold the same sort of hearings on the issue that it would if a foreign country were being censured.
• Leadership shift
Republicans in the Maryland House of Delegates have announced some changes to the leadership team.
Delegate William J. Frank of Baltimore County has been named to succeed Charles R. Boutin as chief deputy whip. Mr. Boutin has left the House for a position with the Public Service Commission.
Delegate Jeannie Haddaway of Caroline County succeeds Mr. Frank as assistant minority whip and Delegate Don Dwyer Jr. of Anne Arundel County has been named deputy whip.
All three have been members in the House of Delegates since 2003.
They will serve under House Minority Leader George C. Edwards of Garrett County and Minority Whip Anthony J. O’Donnell of Calvert County.
• Smokescreen
Supporters of a plan to outlaw smoking in the bars and restaurants of the District are hearing a call to arms.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network began running ads on 10 local radio stations last week, rallying support for a smoking ban.
“The fact is waiting tables or bartending in a smoky place puts D.C. workers at a significantly higher risk for heart disease and cancer,” an announcer says in the ad.
It goes on to tell listeners that a ban “doesn’t stop people from eating in restaurants or drinking in bars. It stops people from dying,” before urging listeners to call the D.C. Council and tell its members to pass the bill.
“It brings the issue back to a health issue,” said campaign director Renee McPhatter of the Cancer Action Network, which is the political action committee of the American Cancer Society.
At a D.C. Council hearing last month, restaurant industry groups opposing a ban cited statistics showing that it would drive business to Northern Virginia and Prince George’s County.
Eateries in neighboring Montgomery County are smoke-free.
Miss McPhatter said the radio ads cost $250,000 and that the money came from donations to the PAC, not to the American Cancer Society.
• New county leader
Havre de Grace Mayor David Craig is the new executive in Harford County.
The County Council named Mr. Craig Tuesday to complete the term of James M. Harkins, who left last month to take a job with the Ehrlich administration.
Five council members voted for Mr. Craig, a Republican. One voted against him, and one abstained.
Mr. Craig, 56, who had been considered the strongest candidate since Mr. Harkins announced in May that he was leaving, will serve the remaining 16 months of Mr. Harkins’ term before next year’s election. Mr. Craig had been planning to run for the post next year anyway.
Mr. Harkins is director of Maryland Environmental Service, an independent quasi-state agency that operates dozens of water and wastewater plants.
• This column is based in part on wire service reports.
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