Ticker tape

Jet, Jan 27, 2003 by Simeon Booker

Confidential: The stage is set for Republicans to battle Democrats for Black voters within the state of Maryland. When GOP Gov. Robert Ehrlich took office, his running mate, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, became the first Black to hold the lieutenant governor's post in 350 years. Since Steele's appointment, Ehrlich has named other Blacks to high posts as well, including a Black female Cabinet member.

In response, Democrats are touting the selection of Baltimore Rep. Elijah E. Cummings to succeed Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Another Black Maryland congressman, Rep. Albert Wynn, has waged an offensive on the broadcast airwaves with speeches urging Black Democrats to maintain their allegiance. Meanwhile, in a popular show of non-partisanship, Lt. Gov. Steele earned points by keynoting a fundraiser for Del. Howard P. Rawlings, a Democrat and chairman of the Maryland House Appropriations Committee ... Retired Army Maj. Gen. Alfonso Lenhardt was asked to stay on as the U.S. Senate's first Black Sergeant-at-Arms by GOP Majority Leader Bill Frist. Previously, the general was asked to resign by Sen. Trent Lott, who withdrew from the post after criticism of his racial remarks ... With the Mississippi Supreme Court yet to rule on his case involving school segregation, Alvin O. Chambliss is fighting poverty while trying to keep four children in college. He's lost jobs in Mississippi and Texas after he refused to quit his legal effort to improve schools ... When Stephen M. Case quit as chairman of the slumping AOL Time Warner corporation, the next official in line became Richard D. Parsons, a Black chief executive who now chairs the company's board meetings. He would become one of the country's highest-ranked Black corporate officers.