"Glendening's wife to lead transition." The Baltimore Sun, 17 November 1994.

The Baltimore Sun November 17, 1994, Thursday,

November 17, 1994, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: TELEGRAPH (NEWS), Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 1796 words

HEADLINE: Glendening's wife to lead transition

BYLINE: John W. Frece, Sun Staff Writer

BODY:

Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening turned his attention to the task of governing yesterday, naming a diverse 12-member group to oversee the two-month transition of power from the Schaefer administration to his own.

As many Glendening insiders expected, the committee will be headed by his wife, Frances Hughes Glendening, a 43-year-old lawyer with the Federal Election Commission. She will co-chair the panel with James T. Brady, 54, managing partner of the Baltimore office of Arthur Andersen & Co., an international accounting and consulting firm.

Mr. Glendening made the announcement at his first State House news conference since clinching the Nov. 8 election after a weeklong count of absentee ballots. That count gave him a margin of slightly more than 5,000 votes, or a fraction of 1 percent of the 1.4 million votes cast, over Republican Del. Ellen R. Sauerbrey. Mrs. Sauerbrey has yet to concede and is investigating alleged voting irregularities in the apparent hope of reversing the election's outcome.Mr. Glendening pressed forward, naming a transition panel that includes three women, three African-Americans and one Indian-American.

Professionally, the group includes three college professors, a banker, a Montgomery County legislator, a city lawyer connected to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, the county administrator in Prince George's County, a Baltimore school system employee, the former owner of a Western Maryland newspaper, and a longtime Eastern Shore farmer.

Mr. Glendening said his transition team will eventually involve 200 to 300 Marylanders, many of whom will serve on a half-dozen policy subcommittees, arranged on topics such as education, public safety, economic development, environment, human services and "effectiveness in government."

In addition, he will name a personnel work group, a budget work group, and an inaugural committee, all answerable to the 12-member executive committee, which will be key in setting the policies and making the staffing decisions that will shape Maryland government for the next four years.

Mr. Glendening said that the work of the transition committees may not be completed until about the time of his Jan. 18 inauguration, but that staff and Cabinet appointments as well as interim policy decisions will be announced as the process moves along.

He was pressed repeatedly yesterday to explain why he had chosen his wife for such an important position, and whether he expected to receive the same type of criticism President Clinton received for giving his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, responsibility for developing a health care reform proposal.

"Frances Anne is not going to do health care," Mr. Glendening quipped, one of several light-hearted replies he and Mrs. Glendening offered to questions.

More seriously, he said his wife had chaired his transition team when he was elected Prince George's county executive in 1982 and oversaw a similar process in 1986 and 1990 -- all before most people had heard of Mrs. Clinton.

Work as a team

"I'm confident about the capabilities of Frances Anne," he said. "If people wish to draw analogies that I think have no bearing, I have no control over that."

Mrs. Glendening said she "has a great deal of respect for Mrs. Clinton, but I really don't think of this in those terms. I'm just being myself. Parris and I have always worked as a team. I also am pursuing my own career goals, while remaining a good mother." The Glendenings have a teen-age son, Raymond.

Mrs. Glendening noted she was born in Baltimore, reared in Western Maryland, spent summers on the Eastern Shore and has lived in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. "I have a great appreciation for every aspect of this state," she said.

Asked if she will stay on with the administration once the transition is over, she laughed and said no. "He can't afford me," she said.

Mr. Glendening once again said he "heard" the voters in this year's agonizingly close election, including those who backed Mrs. Sauerbrey because of her pledge to cut taxes.

He promised to make government more efficient, to avoid any general tax increase and to reduce unspecified business taxes to make the state's economy more competitive.

However, as he did during the campaign, he left open the possibility he might support a gas tax increase if he is convinced that it is needed to bolster the state's sagging Transportation Trust Fund.

Schaefer aides watch

As Mr. Glendening and his wife stood behind the podium before a bank of 10 television cameras and a roomful of reporters and photographers, veteran Schaefer administration aides lined the side and back walls of the room, watching with interest as their successors began the first step of moving in.

Behind the Glendenings stood nine of the 12 executive committee members, each of whom was formally introduced by Mrs. Glendening. Off to one side, seated on a couch by herself, was Lt. Gov.-elect Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

Noticeably missing in yesterday's announcement was any immediate role for her, but Mr. Glendening promised that would be announced next week after he has time to sit down with her and discuss it.

The transition committee will set up shop in offices made available by Gov. William Donald Schaefer in both the state office complex on Preston Street in Baltimore, and in two locations adjacent to the State House in Annapolis.

Mr. Schaefer was in Western Maryland yesterday, but allowed the governor-elect and his entourage to use the large reception room outside his office for the news conference and to take a quick tour of some of the offices they are about to inherit.

The governor-elect said the emphasis of his transition team will be to develop a focused, four-year approach to policies and budgeting "so the people know the priorities of government and know where the state is going. . . ."

"I am after broad goals, but defined narrowly enough that the public and the press can see this is the game plan for Maryland," he said.

TRANSITION COMMITTEE

Here are the 12 people named yesterday by Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening to his transition's executive committee:

CO-CHAIRS

Frances Hughes Glendening: The governor-elect's 43-year-old wife is executive assistant and chief legal and policy adviser to one of the commissioners of the U.S. Federal Election Commission. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Maryland College Park and a law degree from Catholic University in Washington. She has been active in women's rights issues, hospice services and suicide prevention. She chaired Mr. Glendening's transition after he was elected Prince George's County executive in 1982, 1986 and 1990.

James T. Brady: Managing partner of the Baltimore office of Arthur Andersen & Co. He has been with the firm since he received a bachelor of business administration degree from Iona College in 1962. He was chairman of the board of directors of the United Way of Central Maryland's 1991 campaign and has served as a commissioner with the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission.

OTHER MEMBERS

Thomas B. Finan Jr.: Was an executive and owner of the Cumberland Times-News, the daily newspaper of Cumberland, until it was sold in 1986. He is chairman of the board of Memorial Hospital in Cumberland and past board chairman of Allegany Community College, the Cumberland YMCA and the Allegany County Development Co.

Patricia S. Florestano: Professor of government and senior research fellow in the Schaefer Center for Public Policy of the University of Baltimore. She was vice chancellor for government relations for the University of Maryland System from 1984 to 1990. She is past president of the American Society for Public Administration. She teaches courses in state and local politics, Maryland government, urban management and bureaucracy and politics.

Lalit H. Gadhia: An attorney specializing in immigration, business and international transactions. He serves on Baltimore's Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals. He was treasurer for Mr. Glendening's main campaign finance committee. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics, statistics and political science from Bombay University in India, a master's in economics from the University of Maryland College Park and a law degree from the university's School of Law.

C. Vernon Gray: Recently elected to a fourth term on the Howard County Council. He has been a professor of political science at Morgan State University for the past 22 years. He is past president of the Maryland Association of Counties and has been a member of its board of directors since 1985.

Joseph Haskins Jr.: President, chief administrative officer and founding director of Harbor Bank in Baltimore. He began his career with the Chemical Bank in New York and later became vice president for business and finance at Coppin State College. He is chairman of the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority and Associated Black Charities.

Nancy K. Kopp: A member of the House of Delegates from Montgomery County since 1975, Mrs. Kopp has been a member of the Appropriations Committee and vice chairwoman of the capital budget subcommittee. She was speaker pro tem from 1991 to 1992. She has a bachelor of arts degree from Wellesley College and a master's from the University of Chicago.

Kevin O'Keeffe: Director of intergovernmental relations for the Baltimore school system. A Baltimore native, he has served as assistant to the president of the Baltimore Development Corp. and as an aide to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

Major F. Riddick Jr.: Chief administrative officer for the Prince George's County government, where he has been employed for the past 16 years. He was formerly the director of the county housing department and the county office of management and budget. He is responsible for the daily operations of Prince George's County's 6,000 employees and oversees the county's $ 1.6 billion budget.

John T. Willis: Author and historian and a political strategist for the Glendening campaign. Born in Baltimore and raised in Carroll County, he received a bachelor's degree in economics from Bucknell University in 1968, and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1971. He served in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1975. He worked for the Baltimore law firm of Weinberg and Green before accepting the post of chief-of-staff to Mr. Glendening in 1990. He is an adjunct professor at Western Maryland College.

James M. Voss: A former dairy and grain farmer from Caroline County (from 1953 to 1988), he now serves as executive director of the Maryland Farm Service Agency for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has a bachelor of arts degree from Western Maryland College.