With a new mayor and Board of Aldermen elected, it's probably too soon to say if that will continue.

The commissioners have made it known that they unanimously oppose two approved annexations on the north side of town. Those annexations were approved with a third, the Summers farm, which drew less outcry.

Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr. is sticking by a proposal to bring up the annexations with the newly elected city officials in December. He hopes that they will take a second look at the proposals.

In the meantime, he's not feeling particularly sorry for the ousted city incumbents.

"I've not shed any tears over the fact that none of the aldermen who voted for these annexations will be returning," Thompson said.

He went on to say he hopes the new board will be interested in looking at the terms of the annexation agreements, instead of blindly following their predecessors.

On working with the new board, Commissioners President Jan Gardner said she is looking forward, but doesn't know how they will choose to address the annexations.

She does hope that before the current board members leave office, they can work with the county to decide on a school site for the Summers annexation.

She does have a bit of advice for the new board:

"I think since all of them are new, my advice would be to take their time, to learn all of the ins and outs of a wide variety of topics and work in a collaborative manner with the county and the other municipalities."

Lobbying class

Want to learn how to lobby in Annapolis?

The League of Women Voters of Maryland is hosting a citizen's lobbying course, taught by two lobbyists and featuring a talk from U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, D-3rd.

Effective lobbying techniques will be presented by Amy Fusting of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions and Neilson Andrews of the Maryland Medical Society. Lawmakers and chief legislative budget analyst Warren Deschenaux will also be presenting.

The half-day course in Annapolis will cost $25 without lunch, or $35 for just the luncheon at Rams Head Tavern. Attendance at both is $50.

Call the league office at 410-269-0232 for reservations.

Obama anniversary celebration muted

Supporters of President Barack Obama gathered Wednesday to celebrate the anniversary of his election.

They held a volunteer event at the Frederick Community Action Agency Food Bank in the morning and then had a party in the evening to toast to Obama's election.

But it was a little more muted than they had hoped. In addition to waiting for action on Obama's health care reform plan, they had more local concerns.

Mary Costello, who hosted the evening party, said everyone was deeply disappointed that Democrat Jason Judd was not elected mayor on Tuesday.

Judd himself turned out at the Community Action Agency for the service event, helping to wipe and clean shelves for the food bank.

"We were hoping to celebrate both," Costello said.

O'Malley honored

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has been selected by Governing magazine as a 2009 public official of the year.

He was the only governor to be recognized, and the magazine highlighted his data-driven approach to governing.

The article, which features a photo of O'Malley with Annapolis in the background, is available at www.governing.com.

A quote I found interesting was in response to questions about the budget, since O'Malley has battled with budget difficulties since taking office.

In 2007, just eight months into his term, he convened a special session where lawmakers approved broad changes to reduce a deficit, including raising the state's sales tax.

Republicans have said that move, and another to raise the income tax on the state's wealthiest residents was a mistake because the economy tanked after that.

O'Malley disagreed, attributing the state's relative good fiscal outlook, when compared with that of other states like California, to actions taken during the special session.

"And as difficult as it was, the fact that we did them before the recessionary tsunami hit has stood us well," he said.

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