Lingering tension over the Ehrlich administration's failed efforts to oust state elections administrator Linda H. Lamone spilled onto the floor of the Maryland Senate yesterday, as Republicans fought a proposal to give lawmakers a greater role in picking the elections chief.

The debate was the latest manifestation of ill will between Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly. The two sides have been fighting for weeks over whether Ehrlich is overstepping his authority in hiring and firing, and in making nominations to agencies and commissions.

Ehrlich "brings these hardball, conservative, right-wing little nincompoops that hang around up there on the second floor, and apparently people listen to what they say," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller after debate on the elections board bill. "They don't make government work. They want to cause government not to work."

Yesterday's flare-up had roots in Ehrlich's decision last year to name Gene Raynor, a Democrat and former state elections head, to the Maryland Board of Elections. Raynor - never vetted by Democrats in the Assembly - became the fourth vote Ehrlich needed on the five-member board to oust Lamone. The governor makes all nominations to the board, including those of the two opposition party members.

Lamone fought back and reached a legal agreement that allowed her to stay. But Democrats, stung by Ehrlich's actions, proposed legislation this year that would drastically alter the way the state's top elections official is chosen by abolishing the elections board and further insulating the administrator from the governor's wishes.

Election panel battle moves to Senate floor, Democrats want control of their party's nominees by David Nitkin, Baltimore Sun Staff, March 17, 2005 [complete article]