GANSLER ADDRESSES PREMIÈRE EVENT
OF ‘BALTIMORE DEMOCRATIC FORUM’

Stops short of predicting Md. governor’s race

The Democrats are going to lose a ton of seats in this election.
— A.G. Doug Gansler, in Baltimore, May 3

By Alan Z. Forman

The Attorney General of Maryland Monday night predicted a dismal outcome for Democrats in the fall 2010 elections, but stopped short of including Gov. Martin O’Malley in his dire assessment.

Addressing the première public meeting of the newly formed Baltimore Democratic Forum at the First Unitarian Church in downtown Baltimore, Douglas F. Gansler, the Maryland Attorney General, said, “It’s going to be a rough year; some good Democrats are going to lose.”

JOHNS HOPKINS AGREES TO UP-FRONT BED TAX PAYMENT;
COMMITTEE MEMBERS HEDGE ON ‘YES’ AND ‘NO’ VOTES

Councilman flip-flops on parking ticket amnesty


By Alan Z. Forman and Stephen Janis

While lobbyists prowled the chambers of the Baltimore City Council, a bill that would add a four-cent tax to bottled beverages passed a key hurdle towards adoption Monday.

However, even as several key council members cast votes for the measure that city finance officials say would raise an estimated $11.4 million in new revenues, they expressed reservations about the bill, which has been fiercely opposed by a broad coalition of city business.

Another controversial tax — on hospital and dormitory beds — neared resolution when it was learned that Johns Hopkins University/Hospital had agreed to make an up-front payment to the city in lieu of a bed tax.

ATTY. GEN. GANSLER TO ADDRESS GROUP’S INITIAL EVENT
SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY AT FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH

A pair of upstarts; a Forum, not a party

By Alan Z. Forman

When the 55-year-old Mount Royal Democratic Club closed its doors for the last time last Christmas following its annual holiday shindig famous for attracting every major politician in the state for more than half a century, who knew that a young, vibrant Forum would arise to take the place of the once-venerated moribund political organization?

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of its suicidal parent, the Baltimore Democratic Forum — an upstart organization formed against the wishes of the founding fathers of the old Mount Royal Club — launches itself this week, not with a lavish holiday party at the Maryland Institute College of Art like the old club, but with a substantive political seminar at the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, which is co-hosting the landmark event.

The Forum’s first featured speaker will be Maryland Atty. Gen. Douglas F. Gansler, himself an upstart of sorts with a reputation of playing to the media when he served as Montgomery County state’s attorney prior to succeeding J. Joseph Curran Jr. as Maryland’s highest elected legal official.