The so-called Bubba bill by Del. Kevin Kelly (D-Dist. 1B) of Cumberland, which would require traffic in the left lane to move right to make way for faster vehicles, resulted in a virtual food fight on the House floor Tuesday and Wednesday, with perhaps the best debate to date in this low-on-accomplishments session.

Kelly noted that the state driving handbook already urges drivers to get over to the right, and argued that the law would make roads safer by cutting down on road rage and drivers who weave in and out of slower traffic.

But Del. Carmen Amedori (R-Dist. 5A) of Westminster declared the bill a "macho" bill for pickup-truck-driving men who wanted to speed, and urged women and those over 45 to vote against the bill.

Kelly protested that the bill had nothing to do with pickup trucks or gun racks.

Del. Gareth E. Murray (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring said the bill would not make much difference in Montgomery County, where the traffic is just too bad for anyone to be able to go faster.

On Tuesday, Amedori and the opponents were successful, with 69 voting in favor of the bill and 65 against; 71 votes are needed for passage.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis then allowed the bill to be reconsidered Wednesday, saying "the ayes have it" on a motion when the nays clearly did. Busch laughed broadly, as did many others in the chamber.

On Wednesday, the bill passed easily with 90 votes, as some good old-fashioned politicking appeared to work its magic.

Del. Anthony G. Brown (D-Dist. 25) of Largo reversed his no to a yes, noting that he is neither a woman nor over 45.

Raising Kane

Who has Maryland Republican Party Chairman John Kane been hanging around with in order to earn an editorial in The New York Times?

"Probably nobody good," Kane jokingly replied when asked about a Feb. 18 editorial in the newspaper that conservatives love to hate.

The opinion piece, "Who Says No New Taxes," does nothing to mend the paper's relationship with Republicans. It compares Kane to an old-style Tammany Hall boss and accuses the state GOP of selling access and influence.

"'There is a conversion tax now,' Mr. Kane exulted soon after the inauguration," the editorial says, referring to Kane's comments about a fresh infusion of campaign cash to after Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s victory. "[Kane] was explaining his view that corporate donors who for years backed the entrenched statehouse power of the Democrats were now being asked to pay his 'conversion tax' -- contributing $1.25 to his party for every dollar they had been paying the opposition."

The editorial goes on to point out that Maryland's last Republican governor, Spiro Agnew, had "taken envelopes of money and bags of free groceries as his bonus for public service."

"The way they spun it made it look a little slimy," Kane said. "Nobody is buying or selling access."

Democratic Party spokesman David Paulson disagreed.

"This is a page right out of [U.S. Rep.] Tom DeLay ... in which you strong-arm and push even your friends to the limit in order to pack your bank account," he said.

Kane said his point was donors were interested in sustaining a viable second party in a state so long dominated by the Democrats.

"The fact that the Republican Party has caught the attention of The New York Times is interesting and relevant," he said. "The way I look at it, bad breath is better than no breath."

When you gotta go ...

Lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano sometimes needs to answer nature's call real bad, but he doesn't want to force his clients -- Safeway and other retail establishments -- to open up their toilets to shoppers on demand.

Bereano disclosed his personal requirements "because I'm old," but argued a bill backed by Sen. J. Robert Hooper (R-Dist. 35) Hooper that would charge retailers a $50 fine and remove their immunity from civil liability if they deny immediate access to their restrooms would be a burden on businesses.

Sen. Jim Brochin (D-Dist. 42) of Towson, who also confessed to needing restrooms pronto from time to time, questioned whether it would be a burden.

"All they would have to do is say yes," Brochin said.

Bereano said some businesses use their restrooms for storage -- yuck -- and were concerned about liability issues.

Hooper proposed the bill on behalf of people who suffer from bowel ailments.

"It would be nice if I was able to once not have to have to stand there begging," testified Denise Holcomb of Bel Air, who has Crohn's disease.

The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America also backs the bill.

A compromise suggested by Judicial Proceedings Committee Chairman Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda would eliminate the civil liability part of the bill and require people with ailments that require immediate access to a toilet to carry a so-called I Can't Wait card.

S-s-smokin'

Speaking of Bereano, Bruce was at his black-hat best Thursday when he testified against a bill by Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville aimed at cracking down on retailers who sell cigarettes to minors.

The bill would explicitly authorize sting operations involving children and potentially lead to the revocation of retail licenses if store owners allow the sales to go through.

"It is draconian," Bereano said, charging that supporters' true purpose was putting people out of business.

Bereano charged that the sting operations are used at the busiest time of day in an effort to "trick" employees. He claimed some counties might use the bill to increase the legal age for purchasing cigarettes above 18. And he noted that it is already against the law to sell cigarettes to minors.

Forehand noted that Montgomery County, which has passed a number of world-renowned anti-smoking measures, is merely trying to cut down on cancer.

Maryland's fortune

Ehrlich may be the first Republican governor of Maryland since the infamous Spiro T. Agnew, but Parris Glendening is still the chief -- at least according to Fortune magazine.

The March 3 issue features a full-page ad urging businesses to "choose Maryland." Listed at the bottom of the page are Glendening and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Business and Economic Development, which took out the ad, said it was one of several rotating promotions that were used by the state's advertising agency. "The wrong ad got picked up," she said.

It wasn't the magazine's fault, the state employee said, but she dodged questions about who messed up. "We're not going to fix blame," she said.

Perhaps the ad was wishful thinking. Ehrlich is cutting DBED's budget by 15 percent, and his budget calls on the department to "focus its efforts on operating more efficiently."

Pot for patients

Backers of legalizing medical marijuana emerged from a Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing Wednesday hopeful that a bill will finally get through the General Assembly and be signed by the governor, who has long backed the issue.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Paula C Hollinger, would allow people with certain illnesses to obtain a state license to grow up to seven marijuana plants for personal use under a doctor's care.

But a few thorny issues were raised by fence-sitting senators. Ralph M. Hughes (D-Dist. 40) of Baltimore has voted for similar measures in the past, but he worries that the bill will be abused by some and could result in neighbors getting a high off drifting smoke. Nancy Jacobs (R-Dist. 34) of Abingdon, who backs the concept, wondered where the patients would get the seeds.

"I have never seen people out on the street selling seeds," she said.

Hollinger acknowledged that her bill does not include a way for the patients to obtain seeds legally, and they still would be breaking federal law. But her bill avoids a pitfall in the California medical marijuana law that resulted in the recent federal conviction of a person contracted by the city of San Francisco to grow medical marijuana.

Sen. David R. Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) of New Market, a cancer survivor, testified. "Whether you like it or not, people are going to the street to buy it and use it," he said.

Former Del. Donald E. Murphy, who has made the issue his cause celebre, said after the hearing that both parties are failing to deal with the issue at a national level.

"The Democrats don't have the guts, the Republicans don't have brains, and people are dying every day," said Murphy, chairman of the Baltimore County Republican Party.

One fear among backers is that Hollinger's bill will eventually be watered down by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Dist. 27A) of Upper Marlboro to the compromise he backed last year. That bill would have reduced the penalty for medical use of marijuana to a $100 fine.

But that would still be a victory compared to the current law, which calls for jail time.

Differences

Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele and his boss the guv are normally pretty buddy-buddy, but they don't see eye to eye when it comes to matters of life and death.

Steele will participate in an annual anti-abortion march in Annapolis Monday, showing once again that Ehrlich's No. 2 is his own man. Steele is pro-life; Ehrlich is pro-choice.

The two also differ on the death penalty, which Ehrlich favors but Steele does not.

Safe haven?

Boston's embattled Cardinal Bernard Law is moving to Prince George's County, where he will be chaplain for the Sisters of Mercy of Alma in Clinton.

The Sisters of Mercy of Alma invited Law to be an adviser to their convent of five sisters.

Law, 71, resigned in December after 18 years following the firestorm over decades of sexual abuse by priests in the Boston Archdiocese.

"Cardinal Law will be living here as a private citizen, since he's retired from the Archdiocese of Boston," said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington. "He does not do any work for the archdiocese, and I do not expect him to request it."

In a written statement, Law said, "I am very grateful to the Sisters of Mercy of Alma for their kind invitation to be their guest during this time of transition. It is my hope to be of assistance to the sisters as a chaplain. No date has been set for my move."

Not everyone is as generous as the nuns.

"I consider him a criminal, and I think he should be in jail instead of free," said Ed Evans, a longtime Clinton community activist.

Cutting down the wind

Sen. Ida G. Ruben may have come up with the perfect recipe to control long-winded lawmakers: With the eight-member Montgomery County Senate delegation set to take up several controversial bills, she has scheduled a public hearing for 8:45 Monday night. Ruben (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring acknowledged her colleagues won't be happy, but said she has no choice after other hearings conflicted with her plans to hold the meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Among the six bills before the committee are a controversial proposal that would allow the Montgomery County Council to impose a $54 surcharge on vehicle registrations every two years and a bill that would allow the county to install automatic radar cameras to catch speeders.

More on mother's milk

No one had the temerity to testify Wednesday against Hollinger's bill codifying an explicit right to breastfeed in public. After all, it was in Hollinger's committee.

But nursing mothers did show up, decrying the discrimination they say they experience in stores, shopping malls and elsewhere when they want to nurse and do not want to use dirty bathrooms or uncomfortable dark corners.

Advocates also noted that breastfeeding provides numerous health benefits to babies and should be encouraged.

The bill, which was killed in the House two years ago, does not have an age limit on the child being nursed. Another bill, sponsored by Hooper of Street giving nursing mothers an out on jury duty, would place a two-year limit on the age of the kid.

Here comes the cavalry

Former House Speaker Casper R. Taylor (D) was hired by the governor this week to rally the troops in a highly skeptical House to back slot machines -- a position opposite that of Mike Busch, a Taylor protege and his replacement as speaker.

We, of course, find Cas' hiring ironic.

Ehrlich is one of the reasons why Taylor is not in the House these days, seeing as how the governor tied Taylor and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to the same sinking ship of popularity -- better known as Parris N. Glendening -- during the fall campaign.

Ehrlich and Taylor both support slots, but Taylor has long pushed for a referendum approach, which Busch likes and Ehrlich has dismissed. Taylor sponsored bills increasing the sales tax that would generate additional revenue for transportation, but which Ehrlich has promised to veto.

As recently as two weeks ago, Taylor told The Gazette that the House is missing an opportunity and Ehrlich has his head in the sand by systematically ruling out a sales tax increase to help solve the budget mess and refuel the dwindling Transportation Trust Fund. Three Southern Maryland Democrats -- all former Taylor allies -- have sponsored a penny increase in the sales tax, but it is stuck in committee while the House leadership continues to iron out its budget-balancing strategy.

The other interesting note in the Taylor hire is Paul E. Schurick, Ehrlich's communications director and a top administration strategist. Schurick worked for Taylor's campaign committee in 1996 and 1997 when the former speaker was pondering a primary run against Glendening in 1998.

That never happened. Schurick went to work for Ehrlich a short time later, and now everyone is back together in Annapolis for the slot machine prizefight.

Neighborly advice

Montgomery lawmakers are confident that if they pass that radar camera bill, the General Assembly will sign off as a matter of "local courtesy."

But don't be so sure, warns Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr. (D-Dist. 21) of Laurel.

"People who live in my county would go to Montgomery County and get a ticket," he said. "When you're dealing with speed cameras, you have to look at local courtesy a different way."

Giannetti also is opposing a statewide radar camera bill in the Senate.

Can't we all get along?

Some delegates appear to be working at cross-purposes. Take Del. Eric Bromwell's bill requiring regulations limiting the weight of textbooks for school kids.

Doesn't that go against the spirit of Del. Joan Stern's bill creating an Advisory Council on Obesity in Children and Youth?

House Minority Leader Al Redmer, meanwhile, is bringing back the Ferret Protection Act again.

And a fun bill from Del. Ann Marie Doory would prohibit slot machines from going into Pimlico unless the rights to the Preakness were given gratis to the state.

More landings

*Kevin Hughes, a former Glendening legislative liaison, has a job with Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan and Silver, a powerhouse Annapolis lobbying firm.

Hughes will not be one of the firm's lead lobbyists on the effort to legalize slot machines at racetracks, but will work on issues.

*Joseph C. Bryce and Roz Hamlett, who were part of Glendening's lobbying corps, are now working for the University System of Maryland.

*Former Del. Cheryl C. Kagan (D) has been named executive director of a Montgomery County philanthropic foundation.

She will oversee day-to-day operations of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation in Potomac, which gives grants and organizational assistance to family-friendly nonprofits.

The Freeman Foundation was established in 1968, and is led by the founder's son, Joshua M. Freeman. Some of its beneficiaries include The Olney Theater, the Montgomery College Foundation and the Strathmore Hall Foundation.

Mr. Smith goes

to Washington

Eric J. Smith, the highly touted and highly paid superintendent of the Anne Arundel County public schools, moved to Maryland a few months ago from Charlotte, N.C.

But Smith, who earns about $300,000 a year leading a 75,000-student school system, has already caught the attention of federal education officials. He has been appointed chairman of a panel evaluating Title I funding for schools with large numbers of poor and disadvantaged students.

Smith isn't the only well-known Maryland superintendent -- or former North Carolina import -- who has caught the attention of federal officials.

Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, who earns about $280,000 a year managing a 140,000-student district, has been meeting with feds to talk about the county's preschool and early literacy programs.

Consensus?

An attempt by the Montgomery County Council and County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) to forward a shared list of transportation projects for federal authorization is working for the most part -- with only a few minor hitches.

After all, it's not easy to craft such a document when two parties are diametrically opposed on, say, alignment options of the Purple Line.

In a meeting Monday, Thomas E. Perez (D-Dist. 5) of Takoma Park, who supports the Inner Purple Line, didn't like the cost range of $400 million to $600 million for a segment of the project. He would rather see a bottom estimate of $371 million for the light rail, which he supports.

"I'm not saying anything that's inaccurate," he said, but "the cost of the good-guy version is 371 million."

Perez later withdrew the "good guy analogy."

Steven A. Silverman (D-At large) of Silver Spring couldn't resist a sarcastic question:

"And why is the paragraph the executive advocates three lines longer than the council's?"

Enough is enough

Perennial candidate Lih Young testifies at every public hearing at the Montgomery County Council, regardless of the subject, and always gets confused looks and giggles from the audience. People have no idea what she's talking about due to her thick accent and, um, unconventional views.

She begins every speech by listing the offices she has run for and lost: twice for Congress, twice for state comptroller, twice for state Senate, twice for mayor of Rockville and once for Rockville City Council.

In the past, different council presidents have taken different approaches to Young. Isiah Leggett (D) and Blair G. Ewing (D) would let her say her piece and move on. Steve Silverman (D) would diplomatically tell her that her time has expired. But current prez Michael L. Subin (D-At large) of Gaithersburg has never been very patient with Young.

So this week, when Young inveighed against a proposal to spend $100,000 for a county memorial remembering victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a waste of taxpayer money, Subin stopped her in mid-spate.

Instead of creating a memorial, people should "rethink our history," Young said. "If there is a problem that's a cruel tyranny, whether in government or a fraud criminal network ..."

"I don't want to hear about fraud and criminal networks," Subin interjected. "I'm not letting you talk."

Young protested.

"If I'm wrong, then you go to the state's attorney," Subin shouted. If that didn't work, she should go to the attorney general.

"You should go to John Ashcroft," Young yelled back. "You are a possible terrorist."

"O-V-E-R," Subin countered, had the microphone turned off and ended the hearing.

@#$% sprawl

Utne Magazine, a publication that reprints articles from "alternative media," has named Montgomery County the most "enlightened suburb" in America.

The magazine cites the county's efforts to curb sprawl by preserving farmland and to increase affordable housing by requiring developers to include a percentage of affordable units in new projects.

Doug Duncan brought up the mention at a news conference Wednesday and had to repeat the name of the magazine a few times.

"You don't read the Utne Reader?" he asked, referring to the mag's old name and clearly dating himself (and us, since we remember the old name, too). "I read it in my basement."

To keep it out of his kids' sight, no doubt. The same issue that praised Monty included this article: "F-- Hip Hop," which argues that rap music's "failure to 'keep it real' points a damning middle finger toward mainstream rappers' grotesque materialism, zero-content lyricism, and Courvoisier-induced amnesia about how the art form began."

Punch cards for posterity

The Montgomery County Board of Elections has donated an old punch-card voting machine and sample ballots to the Smithsonian Institution.

That's one down and approximately 4,800 to go. With the new touch-screen voting machines in place, the board is trying to sell the dinosaurs, which date back to circa 1978. Prince George's County sold some of its machines to Haiti.

In America, though, it's a little more difficult. Federal law says punch-card machines must be completely phased out after the 2006 elections.

"There are some fairly inventive things being done with the device," said elections director Margaret Jurgensen. Some jurisdictions have sold them to the military to serve as laptop stands for soldiers e-mailing home from the Middle East.

Final word

Del. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington, chairman of the two-member openly gay caucus, opined on the smutty reality TV boom, including Fox's "Married by America," in which viewers will vote on which strangers should tie the knot and watch mayhem ensue. The show is being aired by the network that also engineered the "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" fiasco.

"People claim gay people are threatening the institution of marriage," Madaleno said. "Fox is threatening the institution of marriage."