State Political Analysis: This Government Employee Is There to Help You - Really

By Len Lazarick

Steve Gallison is from the government, and he's here to help you.
Seriously, he really is. Gallison runs the Professional Outplacement Assistance Center (POAC) in Howard County, which he believes is the only state-run labor department in the country. He's sure it's the only such entity in Maryland.
What POAC does is help people in the professional, technical, managerial and scientific professions get the skills to locate and nail a new job. It's based in Columbia Gateway Business Park and articles about the center have appeared in The Business Monthly on two occasions (in early 2008 and 10 years ago; search Gallison's name in the bizmonthly.com archive and you'll find them).
Needless to say, business is good for Gallison and his crew of trainers, which means the economy is bad. The week before Memorial Day, they had 123 people in their training sessions. To accommodate the recent demand, the JumpStart sessions have been cut from three days to two.
"We're seeing more people now than we've had in the past," Gallison said. Six to eight of his customers that week made $125,000 or more.
Headhunters and recruiters have been contacting POAC. "The talent is out there, but it's hard to find them," he said. On the other hand, "I think the average job seeker is somewhat overwhelmed. A lot of the people are so in shellshock. Whatever happens to you when you lose your job, you feel like you did something."
But the great thing here is that you don't have to be unemployed to take the POAC training. You can be afraid of losing your job or just know you need to move on.
To learn more about POAC and sign up for a session, go to www.dllr.state.md.us/poac. Read about the program. And if you're a taxpayer, you've already paid for it.

The President Is Calling
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin was giving the main speech at Howard County's Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner May 19 when he mentioned that President Obama had called him that day to discuss the nomination to the Supreme Court.
It turns out that Obama was contacting all the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but it gave Cardin an open opportunity to tell him what he was looking for. He said he told the president that the next justice "should be a leader on the court," particularly on "protecting our rights under the Constitution."
According to Cardin, Obama told him other potential nominees who had not been mentioned were being considered and, sure enough, some fresh names came out the next day. But ultimately, Obama chose the woman who was at the top of the list from the start, Appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
In his first term as a senator after 20 years in the House, this is Cardin's first opportunity to vote on a high court nominee and the stakes are high. "This new justice can serve for a generation and have a profound influence on this closely-divided Supreme Court," Cardin said the day of Sotomayor's appointment.
Not that he's prejudged the matter, but Cardin told the Dems, "I know we're going to get the right person because we have the right president."

Next Year's Election
Next year's Howard County races are looking fairly tame compared to the hot races for open seats four years ago. All the incumbents are expected to seek reelection.
Cardin made the rather hyperbolic claim that Democrats would make "a clean sweep" in Congress, picking up the Western Maryland district of Republican Roscoe Bartlett. "We do run the risk of complacency," Cardin said. As for him, "I'm going to be working very hard for Barbara Mikulski's reelection." Mikulski has not officially announced, and there are murmurings about the health of the 73-year-old - largely wishful murmurings from hopefuls who know she would be hard to beat - but there have been zero smoke signals that the dean of women in the U.S. Senate will hang it up with her party in control of the White House and Senate.
But "2010 isn't going to be a cakewalk," warned Susan Turnbull, the new chairman of the state Democratic Party, noting that the party in power typically loses seats in the off-year. "No matter how blue we are, we need to be bluer in 2010."
Incumbent Democratic Comptroller Peter Franchot was hardly complacent, positioning himself as the official greeter, ˆ la Wal-Mart, outside the only open door at the Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville. Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith is raising money for a statewide race, but has not announced what he'll use it for. A primary run against Franchot is a possibility, however.

Challenging O'Malley
While there are no challengers mentioned yet to Mikulski, there are several Democrats and Republicans contemplating a run against Gov. Martin O'Malley.
George Owings of Calvert County, the secretary of veteran's affairs for Gov. Bob Ehrlich and briefly for O'Malley (as well as a former House of Delegates majority whip), is mulling a primary challenge to the governor from the shrinking conservative wing of the Democratic Party.
On the Republican side, Baltimore County attorney Mike Pappas has already formed an exploratory committee; another (very) dark horse is Charles Lollar of Charles County. There's already a web site to "Draft Charles Lollar for Governor" (DraftLollar.com). He has the ramrod straight posture of the Marine Corps Reserves major that he is, as well as a Cintas executive.
He's also canvassing the state to push for a taxpayer bill of rights. "This state is ripe for a political revolution," Lollar said. He serves on the Republican Central Committee, but has never run for higher office. "The people are ready for something different," as they were with the relatively inexperienced Obama.
What if Ehrlich seeks a rematch with O'Malley? Lollar points out that the ex-gov may not be as strong as his ardent supporters think, suggesting this columnist compare Ehrlich's support in 2002, when he beat Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, to 2006, when he lost to O'Malley. Sure enough, in 18 counties (including mostly conservative rural jurisdictions) Ehrlich got thousands of fewer votes as an incumbent, indicating some weakness from the conservative base.
Lollar is not committing himself to a race, but he's crisscrossing the state, addressing GOP groups.

Leopold's Problems
Some time ago, Republican Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold was expected to run for reelection, and then be a serious contender for governor in 2014. (Yes, politicos are always thinking about the election after the next election.)
Now, all that is cast in doubt as more women have come forward on the record with charges of sexual harassment - while other women who have worked for him have come to his defense.
The Washington Post and The Capital in Annapolis have been bird-dogging this story and the best response Leopold can come up with is flat out denials and charges of partisan subterfuge. He was always seen by Republicans as a prickly maverick who did his own thing, but now he may face a reelection challenge from within his own party in one of the few swing counties in the state.




APL Names
Top Inventions
A "smart" polymer that automatically releases medicine into the bloodstream and a super-thin flexible microchip share the honor as The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory's (APL) top invention for 2008.
The winners were selected from the 129 inventions reported by 193 APL staff members last calendar year. An independent panel of 30 representatives from industry, the high tech sector and patent law selected the top inventions based on their benefit to society, improvement over existing technology and commercial potential.
APL Director Rich Roca and Technology Transfer Director Kristin Gray presented plaques and cash awards to the inventors, listed with their inventions below, during APL's recent 10th annual Invention of the Year ceremony on its campus in North Laurel.
- Lance Baird, Jason Benkoski, Andrew Mason and Jennifer Sample have conceived "Physiologically Responsive Polymers," self-regulated polymers that would sense a physiological change (such as an allergic response) and release an appropriate therapeutic (such as an antihistamine) in proportion to the physiological condition. Acting simultaneously as a sensor, dispenser and medicine, the polymers would remove the need for expensive implant devices and, in some cases, mitigate the need for continuous medical supervision.
- Harry Charles, Shaun Francomacaro, Allen Keeney and John Lehtonen have developed a method -known as "Ultrathin, Flexible Multichip Modules" - for making rugged, lightweight and compact microelectronic assemblies that are about half the thickness of a human hair. The assemblies can be inexpensively mass produced, use little power and can be mounted or laminated to curved surfaces, leading to potential uses in smart cards, active circuit appliquŽs, implantable biomedical devices and even fabrics. The process not only drastically reduces substrate thickness, but also increases wiring density, allowing several conductor layers to be stacked in extremely small spaces.
"These awards not only recognize and reward the work of the winning inventors, they also celebrate inventiveness and innovation across the lab," Gray said. "After 10 years, the inventions keep getting better and our inventors continue to creatively address the nation's critical technical challenges."
APL engineer Jack Roberts also received a Master Inventor award, joining 21 other past and current APL staff members who hold at least 10 patents.
APL opened its Office of Technology Transfer in 1999 to facilitate the transfer of APL-developed technology to the private sector. It accomplishments include:
- 1,200 inventions disclosed
- 261 U.S. patents issued
- 1,300 U.S. patent applications filed
- 231 license agreements executed
- 19 startup companies and more than 50 jobs created
- More than $31 million in licensing and related research and development income
- 52 products based on licensed APL technologies
For more information on APL's Technology Transfer programs, visit www.jhuapl.edu/ott.