20060703 KDDC Judge Beck put on prospective list for Public Service Commission

Judge Beck placed on short list to be possibly appointed to the Public Service Commission

By Kevin Dayhoff

July 3^rd, 2006

Last Friday, when the Democratic leadership of the Maryland General Assembly forwarded a list of prospective members of the newly constituted Public Service Commission, prominent Carroll countian, former Judge Raymond E. Beck, Sr., was one of the names submitted.

Included in the list of 10 names are the nominations for commission chair: Baltimore Circuit Judge Joseph H.H. Kaplan; retired Baltimore Circuit Judge Thomas J.S. Waxter Jr.; and former Public Service Commission (PSC) member Susanne Brogan.

In addition to Judge Beck Sr., a retired Carroll County Circuit Court judge and former Republican member of the House of Delegates and Senate; are J. Ernest Bell II, former St. Mary's County Democratic member of the House of Delegates; F. Vernon Boozer, former Republican member of the House of Delegates and Senate; Lawrence Brenner, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission administrative law judge; Paula M. Carmody, a former attorney in the Office of the People's Counsel; Michael J. Travieso, a former People's Counsel; and current member of the Public Service Commission, Democrat Harold D. Williams.

Approximately 40 candidates sent in resumes to be considered by Speaker Busch and President Miller, who apparently overcame their past differences to formulate a list of finalists for submission to the governor.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., has until July 15 to choose from the list of 10 names submitted or House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller will, by way of the recently enacted law, make the selection.

There have been suggestions that Gov. Ehrlich may not select the commissioners and allow Speaker Busch and President Miller to make the decision completing the Democratically controlled legislative body’s take over of the formerly independent regulatory body.

Late last week, aides for the governor said that it was premature to gauge what the governor will or will not do, in the face of yet another in a series of political squabbles over the unexpected negative outcome of the 1999 electric deregulation passed by the Democratically controlled Maryland General Assembly and signed by Democrat Gov. Parris Glendening.

In a special session of the Maryland General Assembly, called June 15, in a move many have criticized as politically motivated in lieu of the upcoming gubernatorial election this fall, the legislature fine tuned another in a series of electric rate relief packages designed to blunt the impact of the 72 percent increase in Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) bills beginning July 1.

The legislation adopted June 15^th, fired the current Public Service Commission, considered by many to be the scapegoats of the electric deregulation gone awry in the face of a difficult election year.

Under the plan adopted by the legislature, BGE consumers, who are located in the hotly contested Baltimore suburbs, consumers have no choice to opt-out of the plan.

However, in other parts of the state serviced by PEPCO and Delmarva Power customers have a choice on whether to participate in a rate plan, interest-free. Many political observers have mentioned that the area serviced by BGE, the Baltimore suburbs, will be hotly contested in the fall gubernatorial contest between Gov. Ehrlich and challenger Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley.

Judge Ray Beck has a long history of public service.

According to information on the Maryland State Archives, Judge Beck was born in Baltimore, Maryland, March 5, 1939 and attended Baltimore City and Baltimore County public schools.

From 1956 to 1959, he served in the U. S. Marine Corps. After his service in the Marines, he graduated from the University of Baltimore in 1964 and the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1967. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in1967.

Additionally he was a member of the American, Maryland State and Carroll County Bar Associations. He attained the rank of Brigadier General (Ret.), Maryland Army National Guard. He attended Judge Advocate Generals School, the basic & advanced courses, in 1986 and 1988; and U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1988. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law, from Western Maryland College now McDaniel College in 1988.

Judge Beck, a Republican, served Carroll County in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1972-82, where he was assigned to the Ways and Means Committee. He was the Minority Whip from 1974 to 78 and the Minority Leader from 1978 to 83.

He served in the Maryland State Senate from 1983 to 1989. In the Senate, he was a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee; and the Joint Budget and Audit Committee; Spending Affordability Committee; Special Joint Committee on Pensions; Joint Committee on State Government Revision; Special Joint Oversight Committee on Juvenile Services Initiative. In 1983, he was a member of the Joint Legislative and Executive Committee on Pensions. He also served in 1985 on the Task Force on the Administration of Human Services; the Task Force to Examine the School Construction Program in 1985; and the Task Force to Study Alternative College Financing Methods in 1987.

He as appointed to be Associate Judge, Carroll County Circuit Court, 5th Judicial Circuit, October 3, 1989, where he sat on the bench until he retired two years ago, on July 4^th, 2004. While on the bench, he was the County Administrative Judge from January 1991 to June 2, 2003. He also served as a member of the Civil Law and Procedure Committee from 1994 to 2000; Judicial Compensation Committee, from 2001 to 2004; and Legislative Subcommittee, Maryland Judicial Conference.

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