Democrats pick Miller to lead Senate

17th year as president likely when full body casts vote in January

By David Nitkin
Sun Staff

November 20, 2002

The Democratic senators assembled in the Senate chambers yesterday cast the identical vote made every year since 1986.

Thomas V. Mike Miller was unanimously selected as Senate president by the Democratic caucus, making it all but certain he will serve as leader for the 17th consecutive year. The full
Senate will cast its vote in January.

"I appreciate the trust you've placed in me," Miller told a chamber loaded with newly elected faces. "I won't let you down."

The waves of change cascading through the State House since this month's elections have stopped at the dais where Miller, 59, wields his gavel.

The man who became a top target in the Republican Party's campaign against the "arrogance of power" in Annapolis, who was reprimanded by fellow senators for telephoning judges
presiding over redistricting cases, who has a grievance against his law license pending, remains standing.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening is leaving office after two terms. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was defeated in her bid to succeed him. House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. lost his
Western Maryland district in an upset.

But Miller has kept his grip on one of the three most powerful jobs in state government, fending off a series of challenges and bad publicity that began two years ago.

"He is a survivor," said Sen. Paula C. Hollinger of Baltimore County.

With broad shoulders, wavy reddish hair, deep creases around his eyes and a passion for Democratic politics, Miller inspires a mixture of fear and respect from colleagues.

Sen. Brian Frosh of Montgomery County recalled a meeting with the Senate president more than a decade ago, when, as a new delegate, he was trying to get a House-approved bill
assigned to the Senate's environmental committee.

Miller sent it to the judicial committee instead, dooming its chances. But as he escorted Frosh out, Miller draped his arm around him, and said, "It sounds like you've got a great bill. Let
me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"I walked out of his office saying, 'That guy just killed my bill, but what a great guy,'" Frosh said.

Miller cemented his standing two weeks ago, when he named a fresh slate of committee chairmen and vice chairmen, handing out powerful positions to colleagues who returned the favor
yesterday by naming him as their leader.

He also used money to achieve his goals.

A campaign committee he created, the Maryland Democratic Senatorial Committee, spent $263,000 through October on selected races. As a result, Republicans gained only one seat in
the Senate, compared with eight in the House of Delegates.

"This size of our Democratic majority is due in large part to him," Frosh said.

To be sure, Miller has his detractors.

Two years ago, a group of Republicans and insurgent Democrats plotted a coup against his leadership, picking former Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell as a successor. Gov.-elect Robert L.
Ehrlich Jr., then a congressman, was involved in the talks.

The plan failed, but Bromwell kept his position as chairman of the Finance Committee, until resigning to take a job with the quasi-public Injured Workers Insurance Fund.

Miller was also one of the chief architects of last year's legislative redistricting plan, which earned him many enemies.

When Republicans and other groups sued to have the plan overturned, Miller telephoned the Court of Appeals judges presiding over the case, berating them over an interim decision.
The judges disclosed the inappropriate contact, then tossed out the map and drew their own.

The resulting districts contributed to Taylor's loss, and Miller's actions gave credence to the GOP's claim that Democrats in Annapolis have been corrupted by power.

The accusation was leveled most vocally by party Chairman Michael S. Steele, later picked by Ehrlich as a running mate.

That message helped Ehrlich become the first Republican governor chosen in 36 years. But it didn't work in Miller's home district in Prince George's and Calvert counties, where he was
re-elected easily.

"Unfortunately, on the Senate side, not a lot has changed," said Paul Ellington, executive director of the state Republican Party. "He's still there. We took our best shot. You have to
respect the man. He's the longest-serving Senate president in [Maryland] history. But at the same time, it's a new day."

As he has for months, Miller dismissed the accusations against him as "political rhetoric."

"It wasn't a tough year," he said. "It was a political year."

Despite conflicts with Ehrlich and Steele, Miller predicted that he would work well with the new Republican administration.

"I think we have similar goals and similar ideas about what government should be about," he said.

"I'm a facilitator," Miller said. "I'm the oldest of 10 children. My job has always been to bring people together."

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun