A non-profit, government watchdog group lauded state Sen. Gerald Winegrad, D-Annapolis, last week for his efforts this year to improve Maryland's open-meetings law and to limit the influence of special-interest groups.

Winegrad, the co-chairman of a Senate subcommittee onopen meetings, helped pass reforms that give citizens access to mostgovernment meetings but still allow meetings to be closed for "legitimate reasons," said Phil Andrews, executive director of Common Cause/Maryland.

The three-term senator also helped enact limits on contri

butions from political action committees to a state or county candidate, Andrews said.

"Sen. Winegrad's diligence and tenacity played a critical role in the reform of Maryland's open meetings law and the passage of the first-ever PAC limits in Maryland," Andrew said, awarding Winegrad the Common Cause Certificate of Merit.

Three other Maryland officials -- Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., Delegate BrianFrosh, D-Montgomery County, and Delegate Anne Perkins, D-Baltimore, -- also were honored.