Maryland's new governor is off to a rough start.
During the five weeks since taking office, Gov. Parris N. Glendening has been dogged by one controversy after another, some rooted in his days as Prince George's County executive, others he brought on himself since the election.
Almost everyone agrees it is too early to say whether the damage will be lasting. Some Maryland Democrats, however, say they are worried about the governor's ability to get things accomplished in the short run. They also wonder whether his problems will rub off on them at the polls next time around.
The damaging revelations have included:
* Sweetheart pension deals and lucrative benefits that helped the governor and several of his top aides;
* A budget deficit of more than $100 million in Prince George's County, which has prompted Mr. Glendening's successor there to threaten to lay off more than 800 employees -- a threat complicated by the no-layoff union contracts the governor and his aides negotiated before leaving.
* Questions about why a Baltimore businessman would give nearly $100,000 to the governor's legal defense fund and thousands more to his inaugural and campaign committees.
The revelations, each one piling atop the one before it, have taken a toll, tarnishing the reputation of the new administration before it has had a chance to get going.
"It made a bumpy start downright rocky," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., a fellow Democrat from Prince George's County and sometimes critic of the governor.
Democratic legislators, initially enthusiastic about the new governor's modest but middle-of-the-road agenda, are suddenly panicked. Republicans, sensing Mr. Glendening's potential vulnerability in an election four years hence, are salivating.
"Every additional episode makes the problem a little more severe. . . . Every day there seems to be another one," said House Minority Leader Robert H. Kittleman of Howard County. "People are really worried now that the kinds of things that are going on in Prince George's County are going to be exported to Annapolis."
Delegate D. Bruce Poole, a Washington County Democrat and Glendening supporter, acknowledges that he is worried that the governor's problems are hurting all Democrats.
"I certainly wouldn't start writing his tombstone yet. That would be way too much of an overstatement," he said. "But I am !B concerned when I talk to some people in the administration who think this is just a spring shower. I hope they recognize just how seriously this has been received and that they face up to it."
The governor's attitude and that of his top staff has been that long-term success will overshadow any short-term embarrassments.
"I can almost guarantee you that the hot issue next year won't be this one," said Maryland Secretary of State John T. Willis, a top political strategist to Mr. Glendening.
The governor and his aides say they are moving ahead with their policies for the state and that Mr. Glendening is not letting his political problems bother him. If it wasn't the pension and benefits issue grabbing the headlines, Mr. Glendening has said, it would be something else.
But his aides privately acknowledge the obvious: The governor's carefully orchestrated self-image as a "good government" policy wonk has been shaken. His political problems have caused legislators and the public alike to look upon the new administration with a level of skepticism they may not have had ** before.
"The point is, issues come and go. Credibility doesn't," said one House Democrat who asked not to be identified. "If you don't have credibility, you can't go forward with any issues. That is the problem."
Aides say the governor has been concentrating on the appointments of his Cabinet and top staff and is pushing ahead with budget priorities. He has proposed ways to crack down on juvenile crime, they note, and already has scored a major economic development coup by persuading McCormick Co. to expand operations in Maryland.
"As for the future effect [of his current political problems], he's going to be judged on his record -- long range -- and on accomplishments," Mr. Willis said. "Do a half-dozen more McCormicks and the prism will change again."
The governor's problems, however, may be more serious than that.
James Gimpel, a political science professor and faculty colleague of Mr. Glendening's at the University of Maryland College Park, said, "The consensus, even among some of his friends down here in the department, is that had a lot of this stuff come up before the election, he never would have been elected."
Mr. Gimpel agrees that if the governor has a successful legislative session, it could eclipse his current problems. But he notes that the governor did not come into office with a strong base.
"After all, he didn't exactly win with much of a mandate. He didn't come in riding a tide of enormous popularity. And it doesn't get him off to a very good start," he said.
Republican Party Chairwoman Joyce L. Terhes said she is thinking about ordering bumper stickers that say, "Parris Glendening: Three counties' gift to the Republican Party."
"I think he is fumbling and fumbling badly," she said.
Ms. Terhes, legislators and others who have watched Mr. Glendening stumble out of the gate say his start reminds them of President Clinton's, a comparison not meant as a compliment.
Just as things Mr. Clinton did before he became president have become political liabilities since his election, so actions Mr. Glendening took before he became governor are nagging him now.
While Mr. Clinton fends off attacks about his Whitewater real estate deal and allegations of sexual improprieties, Mr. Glendening has been forced to explain repeatedly why he and his top aides developed a pension and benefits package that seems to have enriched only themselves and a handful of other top county officials.
Some say it all reminds them of how Mr. Clinton got off on the wrong foot with his politically disastrous policy involving gays in the military. But the difference, they say, is important: The president's problems stemmed from a policy decision, while Mr. Glendening's stem from an action that reflects on his personal integrity and motives.
"That's what they're missing," said the Democratic delegate who asked that his name not be used. "They seem to think this is just another issue, like gun control or whatever. It is not. It is a matter of trust with the public."
Responds Mr. Glendening: "I've been in public office for 22 years. I've always followed the highest standards of ethics. I continue to do so and . . . will continue to do so through the rest of this term and, voters willing, eight years."
Time-consuming though his political problems have been, it is not as if the governor has been totally preoccupied by them.
He has delivered three major addresses; submitted his first budget and legislative package; appointed dozens of people to Cabinet, staff and commission posts; helped put together a vehicle emissions program compromise; defended his controversial decision to eliminate a state disability program; and put the brakes on casino gambling by announcing his intention to veto any casino bill passed this year.
But each time he has taken a step forward, another revelation has pushed him back.
The pension and benefits scandal began to unfold two days after he delivered a pro-business State of the State address that seemed particularly well-received by the legislature.
The problem then spread to his appointees when it became clear that the men he had named to head his personnel and labor departments, Michael J. Knapp and Frank W. Stegman, were the Prince George's aides who put in place the pension package and generous contracts for county employees.
That connection already has made lawmakers wary of the governor's campaign pledge to give state employee unions collective bargaining and binding arbitration rights, something he says he intends to push next year.
On Friday, the Senate Executive Nominations Committee recommended both nominees to the full Senate, which is expected to take action Tuesday. But the 11-6 victories came only after what committee Chairman Larry Young, a Baltimore Democrat, described as an intensive "full-court press" lobbying campaign.
"I've been in the governor's office as much in five weeks than over the last 10 years," Senator Young said.
Last week, the governor ran into trouble again for, at first, refusing to release the names of those who contributed to the defense funds set up to pay his more than $300,000 in legal bills stemming from the election challenge mounted by Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey.
When he relented and made the list public, he unleashed a new, more damaging controversy.
The list showed that of the $173,000 in donations the governor has received, $85,000 came from wealthy Lutherville businessman Willie Runyon and an additional $10,000 from his daughter and his Baltimore ambulance company.
The governor and his staff spent the next few days explaining why he would accept so much from one person and answering questions speculating on what Mr. Runyon might expect in return.
"Parris Glendening has had no honeymoon," said the University of Maryland's Mr. Gimpel. "It's too bad in a way. A lot of times you can get things accomplished in the early days of a first term."