Reporters Notebook: StateStat debuts, but only a little at a time

‘‘Everything that we’re doing here is getting the genie of openness and transparency out of the bottle,” Martin O’Malley told about 35 Cabinet secretaries, appointees and other staffers.

StateStat, modeled after Baltimore’s CitiStat, which was modeled after New York’s ComStat, will require government managers to meet every two weeks to drill down into what the data shows.

One version of StateStat will be created for the Chesapeake, aptly coined BayStat.

‘‘We’re ‘pragmacrats,’” O’Malley said, defining the neologism as bureaucrats who identify what works and then do more of that, and who identify what doesn’t work and then do less of that.

In Baltimore, CitiStat became a budget monitoring device, said Matthew Gallagher, O’Malley’s deputy chief of staff and CitiStat czar. That segued into O’Malley’s comment that secretaries could be asked to make ‘‘really big reductions” in their budgets in coming years because of the state’s fiscal woes.

‘‘This is an exercise in democratization that we’re involved with here,” O’Malley said and with that the meeting was closed. (To be fair, Cabinet meetings are rarely opened to the public.)

— Douglas Tallman

Bully for Franchot

Looks like Peter Franchot is serious about that bully pulpit thing.

The first sermon came Monday when he announced his office will target unpaid taxes from coin-operated video gambling machines in Baltimore. Millions in unpaid amusement taxes are waiting to be vacuumed up by the comptroller’s Hoover.

Sermons No. 2 and 3 covered the same subject, just different congregations. On Tuesday, Franchot called on his Board of Public Works colleagues to help him promote energy-efficient, ‘‘green” buildings.

In a letter to O’Malley and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, he suggested the state create a Green Buildings Council to review projects that come before the BPW.

The letter recalled sermons past, recalling the ‘‘villainy” of Bob Ehrlich. ‘‘Much of the ground we have lost on this issue is a direct result of the previous administration’s lack of commitment to environmental protection in general, and energy efficiency in particular,” its says.

On Wednesday came another letter, this time to Uly Currie, chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. This time, the comptroller offered his support for bills from Sens. Brian Frosh and James Brochin that would call for an investment in energy efficiency.

‘‘The environmental advantages of moving toward green construction are undeniable, but what cannot be stressed enough are the economic benefits that we will also enjoy. The savings in energy bills, the lower cost of maintenance and repairs, and the overall boost in worker⁄student production will greatly outweigh the upfront costs we would experience,” he sermonized.

Finally on Thursday, the Right Reverend Franchot was joined by safety acolytes calling for safer cigarettes and passage of a Senate bill that would require smokes in the Free State to pass a performance standard.

— Douglas Tallman

He’s Mr. Lonely

Tony O’Donnell was seated at the head table set up for state legislators at the Southern Maryland Association of Realtors breakfast Monday munching on some eggs and bacon when someone in the audience noted that he was the sole lawmaker who arrived early.

Recalling the encounter as he talked about opposing Democratic tax increase proposals to ease the state’s budget woes, O’Donnell noted that the person said, ‘‘You look like you’re all alone up there.”

His response: ‘‘Yeah, I’m used to that.”

— Alan Brody

Leaving for a new gig

Another one of Mike Miller’s aides is trading in her legislative staff badge for a lobbyist tag.

A couple months after ex-chief of staff Tim Perry flew the coop for Gordon Feinblatt’s lobbying team, Hannah Powers, Miller’s legislative aide, is heading to Alexander & Cleaver, which has one of the longest client lists in Annapolis, including Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, Discovery Communications and Lockheed Martin.

‘‘Senator Miller gave me my start in politics and I’ll always be extremely grateful,” said Powers, who begins her new job as a government relations consultant on Monday. ‘‘I had a wonderful experience working for Senator Miller and I very much look forward to working for Alexander & Cleaver.”

Miller hired Powers shortly after she graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2001. She was a liaison to the Prince George’s and Southern Maryland delegations, as well as the Senate Finance Committee.

‘‘Adding Hannah Powers to the mix of our experienced lobbyists is going to be great for our clients and great for her,” said Gary Alexander, the firm’s managing partner. ‘‘She brings terrific experience from the Senate president’s office and we look forward to our clients getting next to her. Anybody that could survive at Senator Miller’s office for five years certainly is going to be a great team player with us.”

— Alan Brody

Little things count

There’s been a whole lot of noticeable changes on Capitol Hill since Democrats reclaimed control of both houses — and at least one subtle difference that Steny Hoyer picked up on after watching the Grammy Awards Sunday night.

‘‘Not only did the elections bring Democrats to control in Congress, but the Dixie Chicks won five awards,” he cracked during a luncheon with reporters in Bowie. ‘‘How times have changed!”

— Alan Brody

Star turn

What’s Rich Colburn’s mug doing on the home page of the state GOP’s web site? He’s the party’s legislator of the week, a new feature.

So what has the Middle Shore senator done to earn such accolades? Well, nothing.

Party spokeswoman Audra Miller said each GOP lawmaker will have their turn on the site, which links directly to their state biography. Legislative leaders in both chambers were featured in the opening weeks of the session, and the party is now highlighting all 52 of its legislators in alphabetical order — all the way down to Rick Weldon, whose profile will round out the year.

‘‘It’s important for people to know when they visit our site not only who we [the party] are, but to introduce them, if they don’t know, to who our legislators are and the work that they do,” Miller said.

Using the same format, it would take Democrats two years just to go through their delegates and until September 2009 to highlight their entire caucus. That’d be one heckuva long wait for Bobby Zirkin.

— Alan Brody

No ID, argh!

The Senate debated three amendments to the early voting bill on Thursday.

One, offered by Allan Kittleman, would have required some form of identification in order to vote early. The amendment failed on a 30-17 vote.

Following the vote, Senate Prez Mike Miller took a quorum call.

‘‘Mr. President, my button is not working,” Kittleman said.

‘‘There’s a reason for that, son,” Miller replied.

Roy Dyson, who had just finished arguing against Kittleman’s amendment, had an idea why.

‘‘Mr. President, no ID,” he said.

— Sean R. Sedam

Boos for Babs

About 20 people opposed to the Iraq war staged a protest in the lobby of Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s office on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning by reading the names of Americans and Iraqis killed.

The Baltimore Dem, one of 23 senators to vote against the authorization of force in Iraq, did not meet with the protesters. ‘‘There’s no question that President Bush’s decision to send us to war in Iraq was reckless, and I will continue to fight to bring our troops home swiftly and safely,” Mikulski explained in written statement. ‘‘Our men and women in the field should not have to pay the price for the president’s irresponsible decisions. When it comes to protecting the protectors, I will never abandon our troops. Until we can bring them home to their families, I will continue to make sure they have the body armor they need to stay safe in Iraq.”

‘‘How does she square support for the troops when she continues to send them back to an unwinnable quagmire with no end in sight?” asked Gordon Clark of PeaceAction Montgomery County, who was at the protest. ‘‘We’re going to continue to come back until Senator Mikulski agrees to end funding for the war. She says the president is reckless yet she continues to fund the war.”

— C. Benjamin Ford

High spirits

Freezing rain didn’t dampen the spirit that about 200 advocates for same-sex marriage brought to Annapolis Monday as Equality Maryland held its annual rally and lobby day.

Speakers drew parallels between the fight for same-sex marriage rights and the civil rights struggles of African-Americans in the mid-20th century.

Sen. Gwendolyn Britt, who was part of that struggle, including time spent in a Mississippi jail for sitting in a white waiting room at a train station in 1961, has pledged to sponsor a marriage equity bill if a pending Court of Appeals case does not allow same-sex marriage.

Britt evoked Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights work in her speech. ‘‘He was preaching that if a right is denied to one person it was truly denied to all of us ...,” she told the crowd. ‘‘I am equally compelled to ... speak out for your civil rights here in the state of Maryland and in the United States.”

Dan Furmansky, Equality Maryland’s executive director, introduced a bit of levity, with his strong voice overcoming a quiet microphone.

‘‘Can you hear me back there?” Furmansky asked the crowd. ‘‘Last year I tried to speak low because sometimes on the news they like to portray me as an angry homosexual. But I don’t think I have any choice this year.”

After the rally, Furmansky said that while advocates await the Court of Appeals decision, ‘‘you can’t put a social justice movement on a timeline.”

‘‘This is about families and people putting a face on the issue and telling their stories,” he said. ‘‘We’ll fight at the General Assembly until equal protection under the law is achieved.”

— Sean R. Sedam

Catching some Z’s?

A high school junior gave a few lawmakers a wake-up call last week.

The state Department of Education has insisted all along that passage rates on the state High School Assessments would improve once students are required to pass them in order to graduate.

The Class of 2009 — this year’s sophomores — would be required to pass or receive a combined minimum score on tests in algebra, biology, 10th-grade English and government in order to earn a diploma if the state school board approves the plan next year.

About 25,000 of the roughly 63,000 students in the Class of 2009 statewide have already failed at least one of the tests.

Many students did not take the tests seriously because they knew they did not count for anything, said Haywood Perry, a student at Oxon Hill High School who testified before the House Ways and Means and Appropriations committees at a three-hour hearing last week.

‘‘Some took the opportunity to take a nap, as some of you are now,” he told delegates.

— Sean R. Sedam

Whadda you drive?

Last week, Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind took issue with the clean cars bill being debated in Annapolis. The issue wasn’t that the cars will be too expensive or have to use specially formulated gasoline. Those arguments have been left to the car manufacturers and dealers.

The 50,000-member federation is concerned that the cars will be too quiet — a concern for blind pedestrians who rely on traffic noise to navigate.

This week the House Environmental Matters Committee passed a version of the bill that included an amendment calling on the state to take the federation’s concerns into consideration. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee seemed poise to do the same during a brief discussion of the bill last week when Sen. Anthony Muse mentioned that some vehicles already don’t make much engine noise.

‘‘On a Lincoln you can hardly hear it at all,” he said.

‘‘Yeah, my Lexus with the $2,200 air bag, you can hardly hear it either,” Sen. Nancy Jacobs said with a smile.

— Sean R. Sedam

Ready when you are

Having trouble getting to sleep at night? Maryland Public Television may have a cure for insomnia.

The Owings Mills network has launched on-demand broadcasts of General Assembly proceedings, which are available around the clock on its Web site. Online video will be posted within 48 hours of original broadcast. You can set your TiVos, DVRs and VCRs now.

— Alan Brody

Not one of us

Seems there’s no end to the controversy surrounding some of MoCo Exec Ike Leggett’s choices for department chiefs. Before it was county employees and union representatives up in arms, now it’s a whole country — at least some members of a country who are upset.

What was originally scheduled as a nice meet-and-greet for some of Leggett’s new appointees, specifically those of Indian descent, has gone awry. The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin is hosting the reception for Pradeep Ganguly, director of Economic Development; Uma Ahluwalia, director of Health and Human Services; and, Nadim Khan, chief of Special Needs Housing. But now some of the Indian organizers are angry because Khan is apparently of Pakistani, not Indian, descent.

There is even talk, way over in Prince George’s County, of some of the organizers pulling out of the reception or showing up to the Woodlands Restaurant in Langley Park on Sunday and questioning Khan’s appointment, said health consultant and free-lance photographer Shonali Roy, who is helping organize Sunday’s reception.

— Janel Davis

Be my Super Valentine

Competition in the cable industry is fierce, with companies taking ‘‘any means necessary” approaches to getting — and keeping — customers. Now Comcast is taking its communications ventures another step with the option to ‘‘Date a Model.”

The program is an extension of the company’s Dating on Demand service, which allows its digital cable subscribers to view dating profiles on their televisions. With Date a Model, viewers can now select their next dates from a lineup of models in addition to regular people.

Models so far include Jaymar: ‘‘a Hawaiian-born nutritionist who likes a woman understanding the importance of healthy living, but is a sucker for a girl who likes to eat ... a lot.” Men can choose from models like Brooke Brown: ‘‘a fresh-faced blond as all-American as apple pie.”

No word yet on whether any other cable companies are following suit. Maybe they’re content to leave matchmaking up to the experts: Dr. Phil, the Psychic Friends Network, friends and bathroom stalls.

— Janel Davis

Putting a feud to rest?

A ceremony Thursday night to honor Leo Green of Bowie not only salutes one of the city’s best-known politicians, but also offers a chance to bury the hatchet between two powerful Bowie families.

In 1978, Green challenged the late Edward T. Conroy for his Senate seat. Conroy won, and although Green eventually became senator after Conroy’s death, there has been a long-standing division between the two Irish Democratic families.

‘‘It divided the town right down the middle and surprisingly is still that way to this day,” said Bowie City Councilman Kevin Conroy, Edward’s son and president of the Gov. Oden Bowie Democratic Club, which is honoring Green. ‘‘The ironic thing is that both families meant to do the same public service.”

Conroy’s mother, Mary A. Conroy, spent four terms in the House of Delegates.

‘‘Leo is an average guy, but he served so admirably,” Kevin Conroy said. ‘‘He’s why Bowie schools are better than other schools. Green is one of the handful of people that has molded the city and is an example of the way of life in Bowie.”

Green would not comment on the feud. The 74-year-old will be spending the spring watching baseball training camp instead of legislating in Annapolis. ‘‘I remain ambivalent,” he said. ‘‘You miss the issues of being senator. But I enjoy spending time with my family and my 24 grandchildren. ... Life is good, and I feel blessed.”

— Jason Flanagan