For much of this half-century, the tale of political power In heavily Democratic Baltimore County has been an east-side story. This has been especially true of campaigns for the county executive s office.
Various factors -- Including demographic shifts and, possibly, the unusual absence of a home-grown candidate from the east -- could dictate a different ending to this summer s Democratic primary race for county executive. But the consistent power of the large eastern voting bloc is not something candidates can afford to take lightly, despite the fact that the old east-side Democratic political machine has been dead and buried for at least 20 years.
The machine, controlled by Michael J. "Iron Mike" Birmingham Jr., Roy N. Staten, James A. Pine Sr., Dale Anderson and other pillars of Dundalk, Essex and Parkvllle, was a model of centrallzed power. It fielded tickets and then, calling In chits for past political favors, tapped the vote-rich east county to send Its candidates to Towson, the official seat of power In Baltimore County.
How strong was the organization? In 1970, the seven Democrats on the machine ticket overwhelmingly won the at-large election for the seven County council seats -- though two of the winners did not carry the areas they were to represent.
By the early 1970s, reforms had finally finished the machine politics that had ruled the county since the Civil War. The switch from at-large elections to district races (for state senators and delegates In 1966, for County Council members In 1974) killed centralized power. Clout was to be enjoyed all around the county.
In addition, the development of a merit system for government employees and the replacement of the local Magistrate Court with a District Court appointed by the governor brought an end to the machine s patronage games.
Still, In the years since the machine's demise, the east side has continued to play the key role In Democratic executive primary campaigns, particularly in the three most closely contested races -- 1974, 1978 and 1986. (The 1982 and 1990 primaries amounted to rubber-stamping of the Democratic Incumbents.)
In 1974, Theodore G. Venetoulis ran from the Pikesville-Randallstown area.
Ordinarily, that would have been a hopeless position for an executive hopeful, but 1974 was a year of great public hostility toward the machine. County Executive Dale Anderson recently had been convicted for misdeeds In office (32 counts worth). So had Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, a former Baltimore County executive who, although a Republican, had scooped up an impressive number of east-side votes In the 1962 general election when two factions of the Democratic machine feuded.
Selling himself hard as the candidate of change, the youthful Mr. Venetoulis won his home turf and easily took the east county against Frederick L. Dewberry, a machine-backed pol completing Mr. Anderson's term, and George P. Mahoney, the man who launched a thousand losing bids for sundry elective offices in Maryland.
Four years later, as Mr. Venetoulis vied to become governor, State Sen. Donald P. Hutchinson of Essex fought off six other Democrats to win the executive primary. He prevailed by only 3,500 votes over then-state Sen. John C. Coolahan of Halethorpe (now a District Court judge and, after he resigns from the bench next month, a probable candidate again for county executive). Mr. Hutchinson held his own elsewhere in the county, but it was his huge vote total in the east that secured his victory.
Ironically, the Coolahan campaign had been endorsed by most of the old eastside chieftains. His second-place finish confirmed the death of the machine. Also, the Hutchinson field organization had been extremely thorough and efficient.
The east came through for another native son eight years later, in 1986, when then-state Sen. Dennis F. Rasmussen of Essex likewise scored solid totals countywide -- in this case, against three other candidates--while winning big on his home base.
Even in the absence of the machine, then, the east side has remained a king maker primarily through its voluminous voter rolls. And it could again wield its old clout because it has about 40 percent, or roughly 100,000, of the county s 242,000 registered Democrats, according to county election board figures from February.
The question is, will any of the expect candidates for this year's Democratic executive primary be able to grab most of those east county votes?
To date, only state Sen. Nancy L. Murphy of Catonsville has officially announced her intention to run for the chance to unseat the incumbent county executive, Republican Roger B. Hayden.
Mr. Hayden could prove vulnerable to defeat over the county's slow economic development, his reductions of certain public services and some well-publicized personal problems.
Three other well-known Democratic candidates -- Judge Coolahan and County Council members Melvin G. Mintz of Pikesville and Charles A. Dutch Ruppersberger 111 of Timonium -- have all but announced for the primary.
There isn't an east-sider in the bunch. Each of them, however, knows the importance of conquering that section of the county.
The conservative west-siders, Senator Murphy and Judge Coolahan, might have natural appeal in the east. But their similarities could serve to cancel out their candidacies -- just as then-Senator Coolahan's 1978 primary bid was neutralized by another Murphy from Catonsville, Councilman John V. Murphy.
Mr. Mintz and Mr. Ruppersberger, meantime, hope to win their respective home bases and then gain decent totals elsewhere. Both are betting that high voter turnout in their districts, )R customary in the north and northwest (but not much higher than in the east), will propel them to victory.
Yet it's just as sure a bet that these two councilmen from neighboring districts will see some ballot overlap, each candidate taking votes from the other's turf.
All of which suggests that the east side with so many registered Democrats and no clear-cut local favorite, could again be the decisive battleground.
Demographics-watchers remark that the area has grown more yuppified in the last decade or so, notably in its northern reaches. Thus it is viewed as less homogenous and predictable than before.
History nonetheless reveals that the county's eastern half tends to vote together in Democratic executive primaries. And it always picks the winner.
In other words, no Democratic executive candidate of the past generation has won a primary election without dominating the east side.
During the weeks leading up to the July 5 filing deadline, other candidates could emerge, such as Joseph Bartenfelder of Fullerton.
A potential east-side favorite, the state delegate and farmer has hinted he may enter the executive's race.
Delegate Bartenfelder's address and locally familiar surname still might not guarantee him heavy support in the east or, for that matter, anywhere else in the county. That could be why he is also considering a race closer to home, for the County Council or the state Senate.
The opening chapters of this campaign are lust being written. Will it follow form and once more end up an east-side story? If not, it will be a Democratic executive primary unlike any in the recent history of Baltimore County.
I= Patrick Ercolano writes editorials for The Baltimore Sun.