The Sugar House

acknowledgments

First and foremost: love and undying gratitude to John Roll, who makes everything possible. For those who believe nothing good ever came of the Maryland General Assembly, all I can say is that I met my husband on the floor of the Senate, and have never regretted it.

My colleagues at the Baltimore Sun continue to help me get things right in spite of myself. Mike James and Kate Shatzkin of the Sun wrote the articles that inspired this book. I am indebted to William F. Zorzi Jr. and Tom Waldron, who have long been my patient guides to the Maryland political scene. Tom Stuckey of the Associated Press and Rick Tap-scott of the Washington Post also contributed to this book, although they may not realize it. Thanks, too, to the editors-Eileen Canzian and Robert Benjamin, in particular-who gave me a front-row seat on the 1998 governor’s race. Joe Mathews shared his South Baltimore expertise. Peter Hermann, as always, was a cherished technical adviser.

Susie Rose arranged my first shooting lesson; any errors are the result of an inattentive pupil. I’d never have met Susie if it weren’t for Sherry Dougherty and Sandee Mahr, so a toast to the Misses Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet.

A factual note: Maryland has only forty-seven senate districts. There has never been a senator from the forty-ninth district in Maryland. There has, however, been a governor who held an AK-47 on a smirking reporter. Of course, he’s no longer governor. He’s now the state’s comptroller.