Business Executive Runs With Ecker

by Len Lazarick

What’s a blonde trucking executive doing running around with Chuck Ecker?

Barbara Windsor says she’s never done this before, and it’s a new and exciting experience, generating cards, flowers and phone calls.

"I’ve absolutely been thrilled," Windsor said in mid-July. Of course, Ecker and Windsor are doing the same thing as Ellen Sauerbrey and Dick Bennett or Eileen Rehrmann and Sidney Kramer are doing.

They’re running for governor and lieutenant governor. On the July 6 filing deadline, Ecker announced that he had chosen Windsor, 48, executive vice president of Hahn Transportation in New Market. She has never run for public office or been active politically.

Ecker said he was looking "for someone who had private sector experience to complement my public sector experience.... I wanted someone that uses a common sense, pragmatic approach to solving problems" and "I wanted someone that listen to people, that trusts employees, that empowers employees."

"I have no political knowledge but a lot of business knowledge," Windsor said in an interview. The trucking company was founded by her grandfather, James Russell Hahn. His daughter, Rebecca Hahn Windsor, who was the first employee of the company, has been chairman and CEO for decades. Her husband Robert Windsor is president.

Barbara Windsor grew up around trucks. "I didn’t realize everybody didn’t have trucks in their backyard," she jokes. After two decades in Kansas City, Missouri, working for Trans World Airlines, first as a flight attendant and finally as a traveling recruiter, Windsor returned to Maryland and became an executive at Hahn in 1991.

Since then, she’s been an officer and finally chairman of the 1,100-member Maryland Motor Truck Association, only the second woman to hold the post. The first was her mother, who also serves as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Baltimore.

Barbara Windsor also serves on arts and community boards in Frederick County, continuing the community service that she pursued in Kansas City.

Windsor’s trucking activity has occasionally taken her to Annapolis to lobby on legislation, but that is the extent of her political involvement. She was a registered Democrat until she returned to Maryland.

Asked about the state’s business climate, Windsor said, "it’s improved, but it has a long way to go." She is conscious of the differences between Maryland and its competitors, especially Virginia, since Hahn also operates Dayton Transportation in Virginia.

Windsor said that she had heard of Ecker’s successful management of Howard County, and was impressed with him when they met a few months ago. "I felt he’s one of the most honest individuals that I’ve every met... very likable."

What would the Ecker-Windsor team do if elected? "We would listen to the people," said Windsor, creating advisory boards on public policy. She compares their approach to government with the kind of hands-on involvement with employees used at Hahn. "We use everyone’s input."

Their key issues would be education and making Maryland more business-friendly. Windsor says her role would be to deal with "different aspects of the business outlook" and other business developments.

While cutting taxes and regulation has been a major theme of Ellen Sauerbrey, Ecker’s opponent in the Republican primary, Windsor notes "you can’t reduce taxes" without looking at its impact on government programs. Does she believe Maryland taxes are too high? "Don’t we all believe that?" says Windsor. "Everyone thinks they should have higher wages and lower taxes."

The Windsor-Ecker ticket does oppose a hefty $1.50 a pack tax on cigarettes, to be used to fight smoking. This would create a black market for cigarettes from surrounding states, says Windsor.

She rejects the idea that the Ecker campaign, faced with continuing low numbers in public opinion polls, is a hopeless cause. "The next two months are really the important time," she said. But she conceded that there was disappointment that the campaign did not qualify for public matching funds.

"The last quarter of the game is the most important," said Windsor and the Ecker campaign will be taking its message directly to voters in visits throughout Maryland.