A week after declaring his run for Congress, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger was back doing what he has loved most as county executive.
The kind of politician who has never seen a ribbon-cutting he didn't like, Ruppersberger was in Woodlawn for the kickoff of a $700,000 watershed rehabilitation program where he was able to give a speech, joke with people and, best of all, put on a hard hat.
The construction workers set up a Bobcat, a sort of mini-bulldozer, for the kind of photo-op in which a normal politician gets in, drives a few feet and smiles for the cameras. Not Ruppersberger. He put it in gear, lowered the blade and drove 30 yards down the embankment, tearing underbrush out of the way. Then he turned around and took another pass.
He jumped out and asked, "You think they let you drive a Bobcat in Congress?"
His environmental director, David A.C. Carroll, a former congressional staffer, shot back: "Not when you're a freshman, they don't."
Ruppersberger, 56, is looking to make the biggest transition in his 17-year career as an elected official, going from being the man with almost total authority to run a county of 750,000 people to being one vote out of 435 in the U.S. House of Representatives, a freshman in a party that might well remain in the minority.
Those who have watched him during the past eight years say he has a personality ideally suited to the office of county executive - he's the guy who likes to get things done, to fix the problems and seal the deal. Those traits have sometimes gotten him into big political trouble, but many in county government said they have also made him one of the best executives the county has had.
They also might make him hate being a congressman, at least at first.
"He loves politics, and he'll acclimate himself to it, but it's difficult," said Theodore G. Venetoulis, the Democratic county executive from 1974 to 1978. "As executive, you do all the talking, and people listen and have to do something. In Congress, you do all the talking you want, and nobody has to pay attention."
Donald P. Hutchinson, a Democrat who was county executive from 1978 to 1986, has called the House of Representatives "a lateral move at best."
What makes Dutch run?
So why is Ruppersberger running?
The short answer is because he didn't think he could beat Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in the gubernatorial primary. Gov. Parris N. Glendening drew a favorable district for him, and party leaders convinced Ruppersberger that he could help Democrats regain control of Congress by running for the seat representing Maryland's 2nd District, which contains parts of Baltimore, Harford and Anne Arundel counties as well part of Baltimore City.
Ruppersberger said his perspective as someone who knows what federal policy decisions look like from the local level would be valuable in Congress.
"I want to bring our communities to Congress and Congress to our communities," he said.
But what really keeps him from taking his $89,000-a-year pension and retiring to his patch of Ocean City sand, those who know him said, is that he could just as easily give up politics as breathing.
"That's his oxygen line," said Robert J. Barrett, Ruppersberger's longtime top aide. "He may act like there's life after politics. I don't buy it. He loves helping people, believe me."
Since his days as captain of the Leith Walk Elementary School safety patrol, Ruppersberger has built the All-American political story: star athlete at City College high school, married to his prom date, earned a law degree and became a prosecuting attorney.
To this day, Ruppersberger compares political campaigns to athletic contests, and he approaches the job of county executive in the same vigorous, physical way.
The hallmarks of his first term were school renovations of unparalleled scope, repaving of hundreds of miles of alleys and putting more police on the streets and teachers in the classrooms.
Barrett said Ruppersberger's do-it-now spirit reminds him of William Donald Schaefer from his days as mayor and governor.
"He's very focused on something that is before him. He gets a call, he's got a project, got an issue, get it done. Have a short meeting, get it done. He wants to see it accomplished, get it done by the end of the day," Barrett said.
Deal maker
Ruppersberger's colleagues said his gregarious personality is one of his strongest political traits. He likes to bring people into his office and pull together a deal.
Legislators, even those who are ordinarily critical of him, said Ruppersberger's ability to unite the county delegation behind a single agenda helped Baltimore County get far more money for schools and other projects than it would have otherwise.
But all those tendencies that made him successful also contributed to his two biggest political black eyes: Senate Bill 509, his property condemnation and community revitalization initiative, and the decision to expand the Towson jail.
In 2000, Ruppersberger unveiled an ambitious plan to clean up the beleaguered east side of the county, part of which involved giving the government the right to condemn certain properties and hand them over to developers.
He put together the plans and pushed through the enabling legislation, but, he now admits, he made a mistake in not going to the community first to get its input and support.
The community balked and petitioned to take the legislation to referendum.
Ever the competitor, Ruppersberger set out to convince the voters that they should support the plan. He even agreed to seven debates with a relatively unknown state delegate, Republican James F. Ports Jr. of Perry Hall, who had become a leading opponent.
Even as the issue got away from him, Ruppersberger could have turned a loss into a victory, Ports said, but for some reason, he wouldn't do it.
"I told him, I said, 'Dutch, what you could do is you could tell people to vote against this bill at the referendum and say you're going to revitalize the area anyway and have a big group hug, and you can be the person to say, "Look, my heart was in the right place, but I just got a little ahead of myself." People would respect you for that,'" Ports said. "He looked dead at me and said, 'Jim, I can't do that.'"
Ruppersberger said he knew as soon as the petitions were turned in that the bill would be defeated, but he felt he had to fight it so people would know what he wanted to do and why.
"There was such a scare tactic put out by the proposal's opponents," Ruppersberger said. "People that were not really cognizant of the issue really believed the propaganda that they were going to lose their homes. That's not what it was about. It was very upsetting to me."
The plan went down by a stunning 2-to-1 margin at the polls. Ruppersberger has continued his other efforts to revitalize the east side, but candidates are still beating the S.B. 509 drum from one end of the county to the other.
Ruppersberger's critics say the decision to expand the Towson jail is another example of the seal-the-deal, do-it-now approach at its worst.
In 2000, Ruppersberger announced, with little warning, that the Kenilworth Drive facility in Towson would be expanded to alleviate overcrowding.
He said having one facility near the courthouse was the best thing to do because it minimized duplication of services and transit time for prisoners.
After the fact, Ruppersberger met with community leaders, and the administration held input meetings to discuss the facade, landscaping and other issues, but the location was never up for negotiation.
"When we went to him to talk to him, he said we could get on the train or not be invited to the party, and he thought that went great," said Cathi Forbes, an expansion opponent. "It was, 'Community leaders, take this back and sell it, and it's going to be fine.' But if you look at it from my perspective, there wasn't anything that proved this was the right place."
In the end, Ruppersberger said, the jail and S.B. 509 didn't keep him from running for governor - it was his inability to penetrate the Washington suburbs that stopped him.
But if Ruppersberger goes to Congress, his skill as a behind-the-scenes negotiator could prove more valuable than his ability to build public support.
Dan Glickman, the former congressman and secretary of agriculture who now runs Harvard's Institute of Politics, said the way for a freshman member of the House to get involved is by building relationships with the leadership and other freshmen.
"Building alliances early, particularly with key members of your own state delegation, is very critical," he said. "You don't get here and all of a sudden you're Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and you're on top of the world and it's all glamorous. It's a lot of hard work."
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
Born: Jan. 31, 1946, Baltimore.
Education: Graduated City College, 1963. Attended University of Maryland, left early to attend law school. Graduated University of Baltimore Law School, 1970.
Job history: Baltimore County Assistant State's Attorney, 1970-1980. Partner, Ruppersberger, Clark and Mister, 1980-1994.
Elective offices: Appointed to Baltimore County Council, 1985. Elected to council, 1986 and 1990. Elected Baltimore County Executive, 1994 and 1998.
Family: Married to the former Kay Murphy, with two children, Cory and Jill.