The wheeling and dealing, marathon committee hearings and partisan sniping will come later for the 35 new senators and delegates elected to the General Assembly last month.

Yesterday was a day for awe.

The Class of 1999 assembled for orientation and initiation into the mysteries of lawmaking in Maryland. For most of them, it was their first opportunity to sit in the ornate chambers of the nation's oldest working State House and to feel like the legislators they will become next month.

"I'm humbled," said Lisa Gladden, an incoming Democratic delegate from Baltimore. "I look at this and go 'Wow.' People died for this."

Delegate-elect William A. Bronrott, a Montgomery County Democrat, said it was "an extraordinary feeling" to walk into the House chamber and take a seat.

"Every day since the election, I've been pinching myself a little bit just to make sure it's still real," he said. "Today gave me the sense I've arrived."

The group ranged from fresh-faced 27-year-olds to retirees. They included lawyers, former congressional staffers, environmental activists, a bail bond company president, an anesthesiologist and two insurance investigators.

Three new Democrats and four new Republicans will take take seats in the Senate -- three of them delegates moving across the hall. Their entry will bring no change in the Democrats' 32-15 majority.

In the House, the freshman class reflects the strong Democratic showing in November. Of the 28 new members, 22 are Democrats -- as are the two returning former members and the three appointed delegates who won their elections. The 141-member House will include 105 Democrats -- five more than the previous term -- and 36 Republicans.

"I have an adjustment being in the minority now," said Delegate-elect Barry Glassman, who is moving to the House from the all-Republican Harford County Council. Glassman said it was "a big moment" for him to return as a member to the House, where he was an intern 18 years ago.

Ancestor's inspiration

Gladden, elected to an open seat in West Baltimore's 41st District, said the moment was especially meaningful for her because of her family history.

The 34-year-old public defender said her great-grandfather, Ned Rawles, was one of a handful of African-Americans elected to the North Carolina legislature in 1887 during the waning days of the Reconstruction Era.

Gladden said that in researching Rawles' career, she found voting rolls that showed her ancestor's name listed at the end, behind white men whose names began with "W."

His political career ended after the white majority passed laws that destroyed black voting power. But Gladden couldn't help wondering if her great-grandfather was watching her yesterday as she embarked on her career as a state legislator.

That career began, after a Democratic caucus and a brief greeting from legislative leaders, with a lecture on ethics.

Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, chairman of a commission working on a revision of the state's legislative ethics law, gave incoming and returning legislators a stern exhortation about the need to pay attention to the rules.

"Ask first and find out whether it's a problem or not," said the 3rd District Democrat. "You may not think it's a problem, but the public is concerned about it."

After lunch, the incoming lawmakers got a vivid picture of life in the legislature as they heard presentations on such soul-stirring zTC topics as "Infrastructure and Quality of Life."

For the spouses

New lawmakers' family members also were receiving an orientation from the spouses of veteran legislators.

"When you get those phone calls at home, simply take down their name and number," said Shirley Gravely-Currie, wife of Sen. Ulysses Currie, a Prince George's County Democrat. "Otherwise, if they get to talking, you could be on the phone all day -- and into the night."

Paul Hollinger told the spouses that they would soon discover they had a "new mate" who would invariably suffer from "politic- itis." Some of the symptoms, he joked, include "fishbowl-itis" -- the belief that the rest of the world is watching them -- equal only to their conviction that Annapolis has become "the center of the geopolitical universe."

"They all think the world revolves around Annapolis," said Hollinger, husband of Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, a Baltimore County Democrat.

"Do not try to change their mind."

Pub Date: 12/02/98