When Parris N. Glendening begins planning his new government this week, the one person the Democrat is most likely to turn to is a Republican on whom he has depended for political advice for years: his wife, Frances Anne Hughes Glendening.
Even before last Tuesday's election went into overtime, many in the Glendening camp speculated that Mrs. Glendening, a 43-year-old lawyer for the Federal Election Commission, would be named to head her husband's transition team. In any incoming administration, the person in that post is critical in shaping the priorities and structure of the new government, and in selecting many of the top people who will run the state the next four years.
Mr. Glendening has little time to waste, especially after losing a week while absentee ballots were counted. Barring a successful legal challenge to his election, he will be inaugurated in two months. Between now and then, he must make hundreds of decisions and appointments that will set the course for his administration.
Getting off on the right foot could be important to the success of his full four-year term.
He must pick a Cabinet and staff, set his initial legislative and budgetary priorities, begin to mesh his goals with those of General Assembly leaders, and deal with an infinite number of logistical details, from learning the phone system to assigning office space to moving into the Governor's Mansion. He also will be involved to some extent in Wayne Curry's transition as his successor as Prince George's County executive.
Mr. Glendening said yesterday that he expects to announce his first transition team appointments tomorrow or Thursday.
Whether or not Mrs. Glendening gets the actual title of transition chief, those who have worked with her husband in Prince George's County say she unquestionably will have his ear on key decisions. Some say that when people talk about Mr. Glendening's "innermost circle" of advisers, she is it.
"She definitely will be a key player," said Tim Ayers, who was Mr. Glendening's press secretary before becoming his chief-of-staff in Upper Marlboro. "She is absolutely the key-est. She's his sounding board."
At Mr. Glendening's post-election news conference outside the State House last Wednesday, Mrs. Glendening was at his side, correcting him when he said he had a "61-vote lead" over his Republican opponent.
"Sixty-one hundred," she said quickly. "That's a big difference."
In a pre-election interview, Mr. Glendening recalled how his wife co-chaired his transition committee when he was first elected county executive in 1982, and did so again after his re-election in 1986 and 1990 -- positions of influence that predate but mirror the advisory role Hillary Rodham Clinton has exercised at the national level.
"Frances Anne has always been one of the broad oversight committee coordinators for it," he said. "Frances Anne will be involved in some significant capacity, as she has in the past."
Mr. Glendening's kitchen cabinet includes many current and former staff members from Prince George's and others from his political circle there. Among those whose names are most frequently mentioned are Major Riddick, the county's chief administrative officer; John T. Willis of Baltimore, one of Mr. Glendening's closest political strategists; and John P. Davey, a lawyer and the campaign finance chairman who helped Mr. Glendening raise an estimated $6 million.
Others close to Mr. Glendening include Mr. Ayres; Lance Billingsly, a politically connected lawyer in the county; Ronald D. Schiff, general counsel of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission; and Alvin Nichols, the deputy under Mr. Riddick.
But Mr. Glendening insisted his team will be much broader and more diverse than that, drawing advisers from around the state, including many women and minorities. All, he said, will have "equal weight" with the Prince George's contingent in setting the administration's direction. For instance, Mr. Glendening said he wants to reward those who stood up for him early in the campaign. Two who fit that description, and who may find themselves on the transition team, are state Del. Nancy K. Kopp of Montgomery County and C. Vernon Gray, chairman of the Howard County Council.
Mr. Glendening has declined to specify who will do what in his transition, addressing the subject only in general terms. "We have always used a broad-based citizen input transition process," he said, saying business and community leaders, lawyers and professionals from various disciplines will be involved.
Mr. Glendening said his transition committees in the past have always been large affairs, sometimes involving several hundred people. His style, he said, has been to name a transition chief and a core committee, members of which then head individual subcommittees on various policy topics.
"You'll see far more diversity -- women, geographically, racially, ethnically -- than this state has seen in the past," he said.
Gov. William Donald Schaefer wrote both candidates identical letters Oct. 21 offering to put his staff in touch with the winner's "for an orderly and systematic transition."
Cabinet secretaries have been instructed to compile briefing books of issues the new governor will inherit -- everything from shortages of money in the state Transportation Trust Fund to the status of regulations aimed at conserving the Chesapeake Bay blue crab.
Mr. Glendening and Lt. Gov.-elect Kathleen Kennedy Townsend are scheduled to be inaugurated Jan. 18, a week after the new General Assembly is seated.
Although Mr. Glendening and Governor Schaefer both are Democrats, they are not close. And the degree to which Mr. Schaefer will allow his successor to become involved in the preparation of the next state budget remains unknown.
The state constitution requires the budget to be submitted just two days after inauguration. Governor Schaefer began his internal budget hearings this week, and most major decisions are likely to be made by Christmas. That means Mr. Glendening's first budget will bear the stamp of his predecessor.
In his letter to both candidates, Mr. Schaefer said: "I intend to govern and carry out the duties of this office fully until the final day of my term. While the transition will not be allowed to interfere with that task, we are committed to working with the governor-elect on behalf of the state."
Administration aides say they have already readied floor plans of executive department office space in the State House, in Baltimore and elsewhere, as well as an inventory list of executive personnel and their positions.
The transition between administrations is a time of personal upheaval and high anxiety for hundreds of political appointees and other staff who must watch as their jobs, their government careers, even their ability to earn a living are left to the whim of their patron's successor.
Some Schaefer administration officials privately concede that when they took over in 1986, they showed a lack of sensitivity to the job worries of clerical staff and others who worked for departing Gov. Harry R. Hughes -- a sensitivity they obviously are hoping the new governor will have for them.