ABCDE METRO tuesday, november 2, 2010 Vent about the Redskins 40, 9 a.m. 48, noon 50, 5 p.m. 44, 9 p.m.


Obituaries George Hickenlooper directed acclaimed documentary on “Apocalypse Now” and much-awaited Jack Abramoff biopic. B6


Post columnist Tracee Hamilton is here to talk. She will be online Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the world of sports.


MARYLAND Ambulance fee suit dies


A Montgomery County judge rules that the complaint against the county over campaign fliers was filed a day late. B4


PETULA DVORAK


Figuring out what’s really scary in D.C.


T


he other day on the Metro Blue Line, a guy boarded my car carrying a really big


pitchfork. Everyone on the train had the


same reaction: We looked up from staring at one another’s shoes, and our eyes widened in trepidation. Then he got off, and we exhaled. Just another day of hunching


over and letting the persistent waves of fear in the nation’s capital wash over us. We’ve got all the usual stuff:


worries about losing our jobs or our homes in the worst economy any of us can remember. People across the country will be head- ing to the polls Tuesday with those fears first and foremost in theirminds. But if you live in theWashing-


ton area, you’re treated to an added layer of scary things to stress about on a daily basis. There’s the Ashburn dad ar-


rested for allegedly plotting to bomb the Metro with people he thought were al-Qaeda opera- tives, and an angry sniper on the loose taking shots atU.S.military sites in Northern Virginia. We start each day with a color-coded terror alert to let us know how likely we are to go kablooey and drive past highway signs urging us to report suspicious activity. Your preschooler hands you a


terrorism evacuation plan along with the field trip schedule, and office buildings have stashes of gas masks near the copy paper. Last week, we learned that ter- rorists in Yemen had tried to load two bombs onto cargo planes heading to the United States. How do we even manage to


make it out the door every day with somuch to fear? I asked newspaper vendorDoe


dvorak continued on B EZ SU


JOHNKELLY’SWASHINGTON The sum of their amps


While he was in the Army, Bud Becker devised a way to help musical acts work together instead of against each other at competitions. He’s giving a talk Saturday in Arlington. B2


Nurses call level of staffing unsafe


UNION FAULTS SHORTAGE


Washington Hospital Center questions report BY LENA H. SUN


The largest nurses union in


the United States asked the D.C. Health Department on Monday to investigate nurse understaff- ing atWashington Hospital Cen- ter that the union says is jeopar- dizing patient care. In a 19-page report filed with


PHOTOS BY JUANA ARIAS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Ashwini Jaisingh, left, of CASAofMaryland, listens toMaria Bolanos's concerns about legal representation for her hearing. Destined for deportation?


Salvadoran woman targeted by program designed to catch undocumented criminals Her case illustrateswhat immi-


BY SHANKAR VEDANTAM L


astChristmasEve,Maria Bolanosmade a decision she would later regret: During a fight with her partner, she called the


PrinceGeorge’sCountypolice and sought their protection. The call forhelphad disastrous


consequences for Bolanos, a 28- year-old undocumented immi- grant from El Salvador. Within months, she found herself in- volved in an increasingly contro- versial immigration enforcement program designed to deport un- documented criminals. Bolanos now faces deportation


and possible separation fromher 21-month-old daughter, who was born here and is aU.S. citizen.


grant-rights advocates and some local officials consider the short- comings of Secure Communities, the centerpiece of the Obama ad- ministration's immigration en- forcement efforts and a program that has helped generate a record number of deportations. Secure Communities, which


operates in the District, Mary- land, Virginia and soon will be running nationwide, relies on fin- gerprints collected by local au- thoritieswhenapersonischarged with anything froma traffic viola- tion tomurder. In Bolanos’s case, the officer


who responded to the domestic dispute at her apartment in Hyattsville later charged herwith


deport continued on B5 Bolanos picks up her daughter after working the first of her two jobs. ELECTION2010 Seven ways the gubernatorial election could change Maryland


Maryland’s leading candidates for governormade late appealsMonday, sharing their visions for the state at restaurants, small businesses and big rallies. Gov.Martin O’Malley (D) focused his pitch on Baltimore and Prince George’s County, two heavily Democratic jurisdictions that are key to his success Tuesday, while former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) capped his campaign with a rally near his boyhood home of Arbutus, the same place he stood the night he entered the race in April. The frenetic campaigning will soon come to a close—but the consequences of the choiceMarylandersmake will be felt for years. Here’s a look at seven ways the state could be different, depending on which way voters go Tuesday. Some of these issues have dominated the race; others have received relatively little attention.—JohnWagner


1


Sales tax An Ehrlich victory could saveMaryland


consumers every time they go to the store—but at a large cost to the state treasury. Themost expensive promise of the 2010 campaign has come fromthe Republican challenger: rolling back the state sales tax rate from6 to 5 percent. Ehrlich’s plan would


repeal an increase from early in O’Malley’s tenure. Legislative analysts say it would cost the statemore than $600million a year. Ehrlich has not said how he would compensate for the lost revenue. O’Malley says the state can’t afford the tax cut at a time when it is facing long-term budget shortfalls. Ehrlich, he says, is “trying to eat cake and lose weight.” If passed by a


Democratic-led legislature —no given—Ehrlich’s plan would save consumers about 40 cents on a basic pair of jeans, $2 on an iPod and $10 on a typical 46- inch flat-screen TV.


2


Purple Line The outcome of the election could


determine whether passengers on a future Purple Line will ride trains or buses. The O’Malley


administration is close to finalizing a proposal to seek federal funding for at least half of the estimated $1.68 billion in construction costs for a light rail line linking Bethesda and New Carrollton. Ehrlich wants to scrap


the plan and instead offer rapid bus service along the 16-mile route—amore practical alternative, he argues. O’Malley acknowledges Ehrlich’s proposal could savemoney in the short termbut says it would not spur the same kind of economic development a new rail line would. Ehrlich says the savings


could be used to help fund other transportation priorities, including the $60million a yearmore he has promised for local road projects.


3


Education funding Ehrlich has


declined to say


whether he will continue to fund a programthat would send $127million next year to 13 school systems where education costs are particularly high because of needy students, the cost of living and other factors. Montgomery County is


set to receive nearly $32 million in aid, and Prince George’s would get nearly $39million. O’Malley has promised to pay for the program, which is considered discretionary under the landmark 2002 Thornton education law in Maryland. O’Malley did not pay for


the programhis first year in office but has done so since.


likely to getmarriage licenses inMaryland if O’Malley is reelected. O’Malley has long


4


favored legalizing civil unions rather than same- sexmarriage. But he has said he would sign a marriage bill if it comes to his desk during the coming term. Ehrlich saysmarriages


should only be between a man and a woman, although he has supported measures expanding rights, such asmedical decision- making, to nonmarried couples. O’Malley and Ehrlich


also have disagreed over advice fromAttorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) to state agencies to grantmarried same-sex couples fromelsewhere the same rights asMaryland heterosexual couples.


Gaymarriage Same-sex couples


would bemore 5


Death penalty Maryland is likely tomake greater use


of capital punishment if Ehrlich returns to office. The state has not


executed a condemned prisoner since 2005, when Ehrlich was governor. In 2006, the state’s highest court halted the use of the death penalty until new rules on lethal injections were put in place. Ehrlich has accused


O’Malley, a death penalty opponent, of dragging his feet on the new rules. During his first three years in office, O’Malley instead tried unsuccessfully to get the legislature to repeal capital punishment in Maryland. O’Malley has since


pledged to take the steps necessary for executions to resume. But the governor has the power to commute death sentences— something O’Malley says he would decide on a case- by-case basis.


6


Table games The odds that


Marylanders will be


able to bet legally on blackjack, craps and roulette increase if Ehrlich wins. The first of five slot-


machine gambling sites authorized by voters opened this fall in Perryville. Ehrlich says he is open to adding table games at the slots locations, as well as at Rosecroft Raceway, the now-shuttered racetrack in Prince George’s County. O’Malley says that voters embraced limited


gambling and that now is not the time to be talking about full-service casinos. AWashington Post poll last month foundmore than half of voters are willing to allow table games. The addition of such


games—or any new gambling sites—would require approval of voters in another statewide referendum.


7


Health care Maryland’s


commitment to implementing the


federal health-care law would seemingly be far greater under O’Malley than Ehrlich, who says he would like to repeal President Obama’s initiative. In his last debate with


O’Malley, Ehrlich said the law is “anti-market, it hurts working people, it raises taxes and does not get the bottomline with regard to what it is supposed to do, which is increase access and affordable cost.” If Republicans take over


Congress, Ehrlich says he plans to work with themto come up with a better bill. O’Malley has called


Obama “courageous” for tackling health-care reform and says both the state and its residents will benefit fromthe law in the long term. If reelected, O’Malley is


expected to continue to implement rules extending subsidized health insurance to uninsured Marylanders. Ehrlich has not endorsed those efforts.


the department,NationalNurses United documented 50 instances of what it described as unsafe patient care this year in all departments in the hospital. No deaths were reported. The reports describe instances


of patients not receivingmedica- tion on time, newborn infants not being fed promptly and a patient who was rushed back to the operating room after the patient had stopped breathing and suffered cardiac arrest. The union did not know whether the patient survived. A group of nurses hand-deliv-


ered a copy of the report to hospital officials Monday morn- ing and urged them not to wait on regulatory action by the Dis- trict but to return to the bargain- ing table and address staffing issues immediately, union offi- cials said. Shortly afterward, the report was filed with the health department’s health-care facili- ties division. A spokeswoman for the hospi-


tal said that the report “is seri- ously flawed andmisleading.” “In our initial inspection of


the document, we see factual errors and grossmisstatements,” So Young Pak said. She said there


nurses continued on B8


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56