Two years ago, after he helped engineer the stunning defeat of County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger's unpopular property condemnation bill, Del. James F. Ports Jr. looked like the rising star in Baltimore County politics. After Tuesday's election, he is out of a job.
But not for long, it seems. Those who know Ports say the energetic and outspoken politician who made a career out of standing up to the state's Democratic power establishment and winning -- at least occasionally -- will not disappear from the political scene anytime soon.
"Oh, no, absolutely not," said Del. Alfred W. Redmer Jr., the House minority leader and Ports' officemate in the legislature. "There might be a few politicians that wish that were the case, but it's not."
Last spring, Ports spent months publicly speculating over which office he might seek. After mentioning Congress, then county executive, he finally set his sights on a County Council seat, a post that he said would put him closest to the people.
He beat one incumbent, Republican Wayne M. Skinner, in the primary, but in Tuesday's general election couldn't get by Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, a scrappy Democrat from Perry Hall who hit Ports hard in critical mailings in the final days of the campaign.
Ruppersberger's victory party was awash in glee at the news that Ports had lost on the night Ruppersberger won a seat in Congress.
But county Republicans, and Ports most of all, insist that Tuesday's defeat was only a temporary setback for the 43-year-old from Perry Hall.
From the beginning of his council campaign, Ports emphasized his relationship with Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- nearly every sign and piece of campaign literature Ports produced had Ehrlich's name or picture on it. Ehrlich, Ports said yesterday, has mentioned on more than one occasion the possibility that he might find a place for Ports in his administration.
"I will shine his shoes. Whatever. I'd do anything for Bob Ehrlich, anything he asked me," Ports said.
Republican Sen. Andrew P. Harris, who cruised to re-election Tuesday in a revamped 7th District, said Ehrlich wouldn't be foolish enough to pass up someone with Ports' talents and energy.
"That was not Jim Ports' last hurrah in either politics or policy in Baltimore County or the state of Maryland," Harris said. "If Jim Ports wants a position in the administration, if Ehrlich doesn't put him in some key role, I think they're passing over someone with tremendous qualifications and abilities."
Not everyone has such a high view of Ports' loyalty to Ehrlich and the party. In the spring, Ports said he would do whatever Ehrlich thought would be best for the gubernatorial campaign, even if that meant not running for office. But when he declared he would run for County Council against Skinner, an incumbent Republican, many Skinner supporters saw the move as a slap at the party.
Skinner never endorsed Ports.
Republican politicians and activists in the county differ in their reading of Skinner's action. Some say Ports should have known better than to challenge a popular Republican incumbent. Others say Skinner acted inappropriately in not backing Ports and shoulders the blame for his loss. Some say portions of both arguments are true.
Regardless, the Skinner factor appears to be key in Ports' undoing. The new 5th District in which Ports ran stretches from Towson through Perry Hall to Chase. Ports won the Perry Hall precincts but lost Towson, Skinner's home base.
"I didn't ask anybody to do anything -- I don't tell my volunteers what to do, they make their own decisions -- but the majority I know went to help Vince one way or another," Skinner said.
Ports said he thinks the biggest factor in his defeat was the literature that Gardina sent out in the final weeks of the campaign criticizing (Ports says "distorting") his record in the legislature. One featured a picture of a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"I didn't have any money or time to respond to that. I think the good part is, everywhere where they knew us both, people weren't fooled into believing it, but everywhere people did not know us, they may have been. Where we both represented people for 12 years, I beat him in every precinct but one," he said.
Ports said Ehrlich's victory was most important to him, and it softens the impact of his loss.
Donald E. Murphy, the chairman-elect of the county Republican Central Committee, said he is sure that someone who has been as loyal a supporter as Ports will find a job in Annapolis.