Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.176) on December 06, 2000 at 20:53:
It is who you know
Josh Kurtz, The Gazette, Dec. 1, 2000
John Astle, Ed DeGrange, Phil Jimeno and Bobby Neall Tuesday night discovered far more friends than they ever knew they had.
These four state senators from Anne Arundel County and a colleague hosted a crowd of more than 750 for a fund-raiser at Laurel Park racetrack. The colleague happens to be a fella named Mike Miller, whose tri-county district includes a piece of Anne Arundel.
It was the maiden fund-raising voyage for Miller's new political slate for the Anne Arundel senators. Tickets were $250 and up. You do the math.
"I think we broke even," Jimeno joked.
Due to a loophole in state campaign finance law, the slate will not have to make public how it spends its money. But that seemed of little concern to the overflow crowd that included U.S. senators, congressmen, countless state and local officials, powerbrokers from every corner of Maryland and State House lobbyists. It would probably be easier to list who wasn't there than who was.
Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in that other Senate, was the featured speaker. He milled easily through the crowd, sans entourage, which surprised and pleased a lot of people.
"There are more Democrats in this room than I think there are in South Dakota," Daschle said, referring to his home state.
And of course, he paid tribute to that other Senate Democratic leader.
"I know what a treasure you know you've got in Mike Miller," he said. "I'm here to take notes."