Parris Glendening

Glendening became the first Maryland governor elected from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region since Oden Bowie was elected in 1867.

Parris Nelson Glendening (born June 11, 1942) is an American politician and academic who served as the 59th governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003.

By the end of his first term, Maryland's national rank in job creation had moved from 43rd to 14th.

Glendening's job creation efforts focused mainly on biotechnology.

Seeking to make Maryland a world leader in this area, Glendening successfully recruited companies such as Human Genome Sciences, Gallow Lab, and Qiagen to Maryland.

Other financial aid later enabled him to attend the Florida State University, where he received a bachelor's degree (1964), a master's degree (1965), and a PhD (1967), becoming the youngest student in FSU history to receive a doctorate in political science.

When he graduated, he taught government and politics as a professor at the University of Maryland at College Park for 27 years.

Glendening's career in public service began in 1973 as a city councilman in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Hyattsville, Maryland.

He was elected to the county council of Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1974 and twice served as the council chairman.

In 1977, he co-authored Pragmatic Federalism: An Intergovernmental View of American Government with Mavis Mann Reeves.

He previously served as the county executive of Prince George's County, Maryland from 1982 to 1994 as a member of the Democratic Party.

In 1982, he was elected as the county executive of Prince George's county, eventually becoming the first county executive in Maryland history to be elected to three terms (1982–94).

Under Glendening's leadership, Prince George's county was selected as an "All America County" by the National Civic League, and City and State Magazine named him the "most valuable county official" in the nation.

He and his top aides stood to benefit from a controversial Prince George's county supplemental retirement plan that was not widely disclosed by the press until after he was elected governor in an extremely close contest.

Glendening was elected to his first term as governor of Maryland, edging out Ellen Sauerbrey, the Republican nominee, by 5,993 votes.

Sauerbrey challenged the result in Maryland circuit court claiming that widespread voting by dead people occurred in the African American community.

No evidence of ballots cast in the names of dead voters was introduced in court.

On the eve of the trial, Sauerbrey's attorneys talked of 89 such votes, but checking by reporters found no such ballots.

Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. ruled against Sauerbrey's claim and certified Glendening's win.

From 1994 to 1998, he cut or lowered more than 50 Maryland taxes, including the state personal income tax.

In 1998, Glendening won re-election to a second term, again defeating Sauerbrey, this time 55% to 44%.

Glendening's early administration was marked by tax reform and economic development.

In 1999, Glendening was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Glendening was born in The Bronx, New York City, but later in his youth moved to the state of Florida.

Raised Catholic, he attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.

He won a financial scholarship to Broward Community College.

In 2001, Maryland legislators passed a bill that Glendening had promoted for the previous two years banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Glendening signed the bill.

Though overseeing the executions of Flint Gregory Hunt in 1997 and Tyrone Delano Gilliam Jr.. in 1998, Glendening halted executions in Maryland by an executive order on May 9, 2002.

Glendening's successor, Robert Ehrlich, lifted the ban during his term in office.

During the 2002 Maryland gubernatorial election, Glendening was not eligible to run due to the state constitutional term limit.

His lieutenant governor, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, was nominated by the Democrats to run.

Townsend was damaged during the election due to wide criticism by rural voters, especially farmers, directed at Glendening for what they considered overzealous environmental legislation aimed at preventing rain runoff of pollutants from farm soils into tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, that significantly raised the cost of participating in agribusiness.

Townsend lost the election, 48% to 52%, to the Republican U.S. representative Robert Ehrlich of Arbutus.

The ban was re-instituted by Ehrlich's successor, former Baltimore mayor, Martin O'Malley, who eventually signed a bill in 2013 ending Maryland's use of capital punishment.

As of June 2014, Maryland was home to the second-largest biotech cluster per capita in the U.S.

Glendening also assisted in successfully bringing the National Football League teams Washington Redskins from Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in the neighboring District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) who now play in a new stadium in Landover, with then owner Jack Kent Cooke, and the relocated franchise Baltimore Ravens, from Cleveland, Ohio, as the former Cleveland Browns with owner Art Modell to play in Baltimore after two years in a new stadium as part of the sports complex at Camden Yards, west of the redeveloped Inner Harbor.

Glendening personally negotiated the relocation agreements with both owners and then undertook a politically heated battle against members of his own party – led by state senator Chris Van Hollen (future representative and senator) – to build the teams' new stadiums and pay for the needed road improvements and public works infrastructure.

During Glendening's second term, serious ongoing environmental issues concerning the Chesapeake Bay and the overdevelopment of rural areas prompted him to focus on issues of growth and environmental stewardship.

Glendening is widely recognized as a pioneer in land development issues and is credited for coining the phrase "Smart Growth."