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by Rosalind S. Helderman and John Wagner


Concealed weapons permit holders in Virginia will be al- lowed to carry guns into restau- rants that serve alcohol provided they don’t drink, and Maryland residents will gain mediation rights before possibly losing their homes to foreclosure as hundreds of new laws go into effect Thurs- day in both states. Almost 900 laws approved dur- ing winter legislative sessions go on the books in Virginia, and more than 170 take effect in Maryland. A much larger batch of laws will take effect in Maryland


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THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010 Va. concealed gun law, Md. foreclosure measure go into effect


on Oct. 1. In a long-sought victory for


supporters of gun rights, the Vir- ginia legislature lifted a ban on guns in establishments that serve alcohol. Lawmakers had passed a similar measure twice before, but it was vetoed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D). This year, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), who took office in January. About 300 gun rights supporters plan to celebrate Thursday night by visiting res- taurants that serve alcohol while carrying their weapons. In Maryland, the new foreclo-


sure law was a priority for Gov. Martin O’Malley (D). It is in- tended to keep more families in


their homes by requiring lenders to attempt to negotiate new pay- ment plans in many cases. O’Mal- ley said the law will put families on “a more equal footing with mortgage companies that too of- ten can’t be bothered to pick up the phone before beginning a foreclosure proceeding.” Another high-profile measure


in Maryland, championed by House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), is intended to curb gang activity by requiring greater communication between schools and law enforcement offi- cials. And a Chesapeake Bay Con- servation Corps Program will be launched as a law designed to en- courage environmentally friendly


community service projects takes effect. A variety of rules of the road will change in Virginia. The speed limit will rise from 65 to 70 mph on a stretch of In- terstate 295 outside of Richmond, and it could soon rise on rural in- terstates as a law giving the Vir- ginia Department of Transporta- tion the ability to raise the limit goes into effect. Seat-belt laws have also been


strengthened in Virginia, with a new law that requires 16- and 17- year-olds to wear seat belts in the back seat of vehicles. Previously, only children 15 and younger were required to wear seat belts in the back. Also, juveniles who


Lawmaker wants complete Arlington grave survey arlington from B1 Five have been examined so far,


an Army spokesman said. In each case “the map was in error,” McHugh said. “There were no re- mains in those graves, and those graves will be reclaimed and re- used for appropriate purposes and a fallen hero sometime in the future.” The Army also found 94 graves


that had tombstones and burial cards but were not listed on cem- etery maps. Twenty-two of those sites have been probed so far and found to be occupied, a cemetery spokeswoman said. Committee Chairman Ike Skel-


ton (D-Mo.) said he thinks a com- plete survey of graves at the cem- etery should be conducted to check for burial mistakes. Skelton said the Army ’s recent


investigation into mistakes at the cemetery was so “limited” that it probably revealed “only a fraction of the problem.” “We must be prepared that a


100 percent survey of the cem- etery and all its operations, which I believe must now be undertak- en, will yield a larger number of problems that must be ad- dressed,” Skelton said. The Army has focused, so far, on only three of the cemetery’s 70 sections. McHugh said a com- plete cemetery survey was pos- sible but would be difficult. “To do that for 330,000 [graves]


is going to take a better system of record-keeping,” he said. As soon as the cemetery’s antiquated rec- ords system is improved, “we will begin checking and cross-check- ing those records for all of those graves.” In addition to the record-keep- ing problems, the inspector gen- eral found a dysfunctional man- agement system and a poisonous relationship between cemetery Superintendent John C. Metzler Jr. and Deputy Superintendent Thurman Higginbotham. The two men had been at odds as far back as 1992, the year after


CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES


Secretary of the Army John McHugh hears from an assistant while testifying before the House Armed Services Committee about a report on mismanagement at Arlington National Cemetery.


Metzler took over at the age of 39, said Lt. Gen. R. Steven Whitcomb, the Army’s inspector general, who also testified at the hearing. “It appears that they struck some kind of accommodation where they kept in separate lanes,” Whitcomb said. “Although what we found and what contrib- uted to the unhealthy work envi- ronment was those lanes tended to overlap.” Metzler, who had grown up at the cemetery while his father served as superintendent from 1951 to 1972, was issued a severe reprimand by the Army. He is re- tiring Friday. Higginbotham has been on paid administrative leave pending a disciplinary review. “I cannot understand how the Army has allowed the problem to


fester for years,” Skelton said. “There is clear evidence that in 1992 the Army was aware of a lev- el of leadership discord at Arling- ton that would not have been tol- erated at any other organization,” he said. “The situation cried out for intervention, but the Army’s response was to further withdraw from Arlington Cemetery opera- tions,” he said. Also at the hearing Wednesday


officials disclosed that the De- fense Department’s probe of the 2008 firing of cemetery public af- fairs officer Gina Gray did not find that firing constituted repri- sal because cemetery officials did not know of her whistleblowing when they decided to fire her. But the firing of Gray, whose later revelations helped spark the


current cemetery investigation, was an “obvious failure to exer- cise sound personnel manage- ment,” according to a one-page summary of the probe made pub- lic after the hearing. The department recommended


that the Army take “corrective ac- tion” against the responsible cem- etery officials and find an “appro- priate remedy” for Gray. In an e-mail Wednesday, Gray said cemetery officials “knew very well” of her whistleblowing when they fired her. “It’s hard to imagine how the Defense Depart- ment is ignoring those facts now,” she wrote. “But nothing is sur- prising me about this scandal, since it’s what I’ve been saying for years.”


ruanem@washpost.com


Police rounded up 700 people during protest near IMF


by Maria Glod A federal judge gave final ap-


proval Wednesday to a $13.7mil- lion settlement between the Dis- trict and people who were picked up in a mass arrest during a 2000 protest near the World Bank and International Monetary Fund buildings. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Fried- man said the class-action lawsuit, which has wended its way through the court for about a decade, will benefit “future generations” who want to speak out and air their grievances. He said it sparked a 2004 D.C. law that set out policies for police to follow at demonstra- tions, including a prohibition against encircling protesters with- out probable cause to arrest them. Under the settlement, each per- son arrested and found eligible for compensation will be awarded $18,000, and the record of that ar- rest will be expunged. It also re- quires additional training for po- lice officers. “It is an important settlement.


It’s an historic settlement,” Fried- man said. “This is a fair settlement to the plaintiffs and in the interest of the First Amendment.” Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the nonprofit Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which represents the plaintiffs, said the case has helped change the way police respond to large-scale protests and demon- strations. “This has been an ongoing effort


to make the nation’s capital hospi- table to cherished First Amend- ment activities,” Verheyden-Hil- liard said.


Brian Becker, who was arrested April 15, 2000, along with his


then-16-year-old son, recalled po- lice in riot gear surrounding a group of marchers peacefully pro- testing problems in the U.S. prison system. Becker, a group organizer, said he was arrested, spent hours on a bus, and later had his right hand and left foot cuffed together. “The police made a decision to arrest us not because we were do- ing something illegal but because we were demonstrating,” he said. Attorneys said Becker and his son are among 464 people arrest- ed that day who have come for- ward and are eligible for the award. They were in a group of about 700 protesters and bystand- ers arrested in the area of 20th Street NW and I and K streets. An additional 26 claims are pending. George C. Valentine, deputy at-


torney general for the District, said in court that officials concluded that “settling the case in a fair manner was in the best interest of the public.” The city, he said, “is paying a very high price.” Other lawsuits have stemmed from mass arrests in the District in recent years. Last year, the city agreed to pay $8.25 million to al- most 400 protesters and bystand- ers to end a class-action lawsuit over mass arrests in Pershing Park during 2002 World Bank protests, according to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which also rep- resents those plaintiffs. That case is awaiting final approval. Ike Gittlen, 56, then a local offi- cial with the steelworkers union, was heading to dinner with a date in April 2000 when they decided to walk near the World Bank to see the protests. Both were swept up in the arrest.


“I was amazed,” Gittlen said. “I came from a little town where you really do believe you have right to stand up and protest and, if you are peaceful, they will let you do it. Iwas truly amazed that in America this could happen.”


glodm@washpost.com D.C., Md. and Va. to get $207 million to operate high-risk insurance pools insurance from B1


thousands of people with preex- isting conditions related to dis- eases such as cancer and arthritis and who are commonly denied insurance. The administration said the program will offer proof that the health-care reform plan will work when it begins in 2014. Maryland is one of 29 states


that submitted proposals to Health and Human Services sev- eral months ago, and it plans to start operating its program im- mediately. Officials project they will be able to serve about 3,500 Maryland residents. Applications will be available Thursday in states where the federal govern- ment will operate the pools, in- cluding Virginia. The Web site www.healthcare.


gov tells how the program will work in each state. “We’re aiming for September 1”


to accept the first enrollments through CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, said Rex Cowdry, ex- ecutive director of the Maryland Health Care Commission. Cow- dry said the state’s proposal to operate a pool is expected to be signed this week.


Virginia is one of 21 states that chose not to operate a pool, opt- ing instead to allow the federal government to run it. The Vir- ginia General Assembly passed a law prohibiting the reform law’s “individual mandate” requiring residents to purchase coverage, saying it infringes on state stat- utes. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), who is su- ing the federal government over the law, will be in federal court in Richmond on Thursday to argue the state’s case. The Obama ad- ministration will argue that the lawsuit is frivolous and should be dismissed.


The District plans to join Mary- land and other states in operating a pool for about 600 eligible resi- dents after the Department of Health Care Finance negotiates a coverage plan with CareFirst and at least one other insurance com- pany. A spokesman for CareFirst said the insurer was asked by the department to develop a propos- al June 15 and return it by mid- July, about two weeks past the federal start date. “We are now developing our re- sponse and expect to submit it in . . . the timeline discussed,” the spokesman, Kevin Kane, wrote in an e-mail. District officials said a pool could start in late summer. Maryland is one of 35 states


that already offer high-risk pools for people who have been denied coverage, according to a Web site operated by the federal Depart- ment of Health and Human Ser- vices. The site, HealthRe-


form.gov, cited a study that said only 8 percent of the uninsured enroll in high-risk pools, mostly because of high premiums. State pools often limit enroll- ment to control costs. One state high-risk pool has been closed to new beneficiaries since 1991, the HHS Web site says. “Maryland was facing the pos-


sibility in the next 18 months of having to close enrollment in our state plan,” in which nearly 20,000 people are enrolled, Cow- dry said. The new pool “will take pressure off the state plan and al- low us to enroll people in the fed- eral plans. “We have to manage enroll- ment in the federal part of the program so that we don’t exceed our allocation,” as critics project, Cowdry said. “We have a lot of ex- perience in running the pro- gram.” Maryland residents who enroll


in the federal program will have an annual deductible of $1,500, state officials said. Premiums will range from $141 a month for indi- viduals under 30, to $354 per month for residents 65 and older. Nationwide, premiums will range from about $140 to $900 a month. The federal rates are market


value, an improvement on the state Maryland Health Insurance Plan (MHIP), which charges up to 150 percent more than market value, state officials said. But the federal plan has limits,


Maryland officials said: a $100,000 annual limit on phar- macy claims and a $2 million maximum limit on all medical claims over the course of the pro- gram. They said they do not ex- pect enrollees to reach the limit, but those who do will be dropped from the plan.


Residents enrolled in MHIP


are not eligible for the federal program. About 22 percent of residents of the District, Maryland and Vir- ginia younger than 65 have a pre- existing condition that can cause them to be rejected by insurance companies or forced to pay high insurance premiums, according to Families USA, a nonprofit con- sumer advocacy group. Nationwide, the group esti-


mates that 57 million Americans in that age group have a preex- isting condition. Some conditions are linked to chronic problems caused by cancer and heart dis- ease, and others are common ail- ments such as arthritis, depres- sion, obesity and pregnancy. Maryland has about 1million residents younger than 65 with preexisting conditions, Virginia has about 1.4million and the Dis- trict about 114,000. fearsd@washpost.com


Ehrlich taps Mary Kane as his running mate in governor’s race against O’Malley ehrlich from B1


less than required by federal con- tracts and for submitting “false and fraudulent documents” in- dicating it was in compliance over several years. Mary Kane, a lawyer, was a member of the board of directors of the Kane Co. from 1997 to 2003, according to a state-issued biography, when much of the al- leged misconduct is said to have taken place. John Kane, a former chairman of the Maryland Re- publican Party, has denied that any fraud took place and has called the allegations overblown. He has said in news reports that the allegations originated


through the complaints of a dis- gruntled former employee. The lawsuit is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Mary Kane’s name has circu-


lated as a possible Ehrlich run- ning mate for weeks, though Ehr- lich kept his choice a closely guarded secret until it was an- nounced on the social network- ing site. In a brief interview Tuesday night, Ehrlich said that “personal compatibility and philosophical compatibility” were the domi- nant factors in his selection. Ehr- lich said gender and geography were “secondary” issues. Some Republican insiders sug-


gested, however, that both factors played a strong role in the selec- tion. Jeanne Allen, a na- tional charter schools advocate who also lives in Montgomery County, was among other candi- dates Ehrlich closely considered, sources fa- miliar with the process said. A Washington Post poll in May found O’Malley led Ehrlich among registered voters by 49 percent to 41 per- cent — an eight percent- age point gap. Among women voters statewide, the gap


was 17 points. Among Montgomery voters, it was 30 points.


Ehrlich has acknowl-


Mary Kane, 48, has worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce since January 2008 as director of special projects.


edged he will have to run stronger than he did in 2006 in the Washington region — and in Montgomery in particular — to beat O’Malley.


Although it tilts Dem-


ocratic, Montgomery has more registered Re- publicans — about 120,000 — than any Maryland jurisdiction except Baltimore Coun- ty. Montgomery is also home to nearly 110,000 regis-


tered independents — nearly a quarter of all those in Maryland. Kane ran twice for public of-


fice herself, both times unsuc- cessfully: In 2000, she sought a seat on the Montgomery County Council. In 2002, she fell short in a bid for the state House of Del- egates.


Kane was named deputy secre-


tary of state in March 2003, shortly after Ehrlich was sworn in as Maryland’s first Republican governor in a generation. She as- cended to secretary of state in August 2005, a post she held un- til Ehrlich left office in January 2007. A Delaware native, Kane previ- ously worked as an aide to then-


Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and in the legislative office of the American Trucking Association. In two previous running mate picks, Ehrlich showed a flair for the bold. In 2002, he tapped Michael S.


Steele, who became the state’s first African American lieuten- ant governor and is now chair- man of the Republican National Committee. In his losing effort in 2006, Ehrlich picked Kristen Cox, who is legally blind. She was secretary of his Department of Disabilities.


Ehrlich said he gave serious consideration this year to about 10 to 12 possible candidates. wagnerj@washpost.com


are caught with alcohol twice will now lose their driver’s license for up to a year instead of six months. Starting Thursday, it will also be illegal to require Virginians to purchase health insurance, a measure designed by the General Assembly to put the state in con- flict with the new federal health- care law, which will require citi- zens to buy insurance or pay a fine beginning in 2014. Several initiatives championed


by McDonnell and intended to spur economic development also go into effect Thursday. They in- clude a tax credit for companies that create new jobs and a tax credit to encourage moviemaking in Virginia. In a statement, Mc-


Donnell called the measures “a critical step to turning Virginia’s economy around.” In Maryland, a measure cham- pioned by O’Malley has already taken effect: It offers companies a $5,000 tax credit for each unem- ployed worker that they hire. Virginians will also see court fees rise, as well as a $2 increase in the fee on car registrations as a new state budget goes into effect that included deep spending cuts but no tax increases. A new budg- et year also begins in Maryland on Thursday. Heading into an election year, lawmakers did not raise taxes and fees. heldermanr@washpost.com wagnerj@washpost.com


$13.7 million settlement in 2000 D.C. mass arrest


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