Guest List: Today’s Newsmakers

• Sarah Phillips. Move over, Maryland crabs. Or maybe not—the lobsters washing up on the shores of the Potomac are likely the result of a Virginia church that releases crustaceans into the river as part of Chinese New Year celebrations, says Phillips, the Leesylvania State Park Chief Ranger. It’s too bad we’re not entering a new frontier in eating locally, but we’d love to know what other weird mysteries Phillips has to solve.

• Bob Buchanan. The president of the 2030 Group, a coalition of business and academic leaders who track growth and sustainability in Washington, is sounding the alarm on Maryland’s transportation planning. The state may have opened the first part of the Intercounty Connector yesterday, but that doesn’t mean Maryland is keeping up with neighboring states like Virginia, Buchanan says. Roads aren’t enough—Maryland needs to plan for tolls and public transportation.

• Bridget Siegel. O may have been a bust as a follow-up to Primary Colors, but come on, how much sex and drama were going to come out of either the McCain or Obama campaigns? Siegel, formerly the campaign finance director for John Kerry and John Edwards’s doomed 2004 run, knows better—and apparently other staffers are cooperating with her to help blow the lid off what it was like to deal with a politician dumb enough to have affair on the campaign trail in a new novel.

• Lisa Jackson. The director of intergovernmental affairs in Prince George’s County must be relieved that County Executive Rushern Baker and the County Council have finally reached a long-awaited agreement on ethics reform for the troubled county government. The new rules will make it harder for candidates to take contributions from developers or to hold up development projects in exchange for contributions.

• Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis. Who knew the most successful reality show out of Washington would be about a couple of women who bake cupcakes? TLC has ordered twice as many episodes of DC Cupcakes for the second season as it did for the first. And lines outside Georgetown Cupcake are set to get longer.

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