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Political leaders, ideally, would find a way to show voters the realities of governing in a complex world. A certain amount of truth telling would be part of the equation. But if teaching and truth telling were the standards, this ...

Tagged with: C. Fraser Smith

My, my just look at the emperor’s new slots machines! What taste, what élan, what a guy! We, of course, are bankrolling the deal. We just laid out $50 million for 1,000 machines — $46,542 per. We were led to ...

Tagged with: C. Fraser Smith

When he left The Sun five years ago, he admitted to a certain loss of enthusiasm. The “Hey, Martha!” reflex had gone a’ glimmering. (This refers to the idea that a newspaper reader or reporter, learning something new, calls out ...

Tagged with: C. Fraser Smith

I feel like we’re drowning: in oil, in debt, even in (gulp) opinion. I give you these examples: BP and the Gulf of Mexico; Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the Baltimore budget, and this column. As to the oil, I’ve been ...

Tagged with: C. Fraser Smith

Comptroller Peter Franchot headed out on a listening tour recently, pretty much knowing what he’d hear. The stock market shows signs of recovery but things are still rough. He’d gotten handwritten notes from taxpayers who couldn’t pay this year. But ...

Bill Bronrott was a lawmaker before he had the title. Thirty years ago at age 25, he was press secretary for then-Congressman Michael D. Barnes of Maryland. In that job, he became a shaper of public attitude. He helped anguished ...

Consider the politician of conscience looking for traction in the dizzying vortex of politics. He or she must weigh the idea of trusted representative against decision-making by poll. The on-site representative knows the issues intimately and at great depth, but ...

Democrats were exultant last week as Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski announced her campaign for a fifth term. Many of the usual Democratic suspects turned out to wish her well in what is expected to be a cakewalk. Gov. Martin O’Malley ...

Tagged with: C. Fraser Smith

Hope lives. Despite the drumbeat of talk radio dystopia, despite the job-resistant economic recovery and despite often venomous political language, the can-do spirit of America endures. And election season can bring with it a burst of patriotic risk-taking. As a ...

Tagged with: C. Fraser Smith

Campaign 2010 and a real stock-taking are — or should be — upon us. Having tiptoed around reality for 90 days, the General Assembly left the heavy lifting to the men who are offering themselves as governor for post-recession Maryland. ...

Tagged with: C. Fraser Smith