Harford County Council members are pondering how to cope with the continued absence of District C Council Member Robert Cassilly after he was deployed to Iraq and refused to relinquish his seat.
Though Cassilly has stopped taking county pay and will be serving in the U.S. Army Reserves for at least a year ? well after the end of his term in November ? he said in an e-mail to the council that he would not resign and open his seat to an appointed successor.
“We?ll have to cope the way we?ve been coping for the last couple of months,” said District E Council Member Richard Slutzky. “All of us have been talking directly with officials and constituents in District C.”
“I?d already resigned myself to the fact that he wouldn?t resign,” said District A Council Member Dion Guthrie.
Even if Cassilly had given up his seat, Guthrie said the process of choosing a replacement would have taken until the September primary elections ? making the appointment practically moot, he said.
Under the county?s rules, the Republican Central Committee would interview candidates for the seat and recommend its top three. The nominees would then be interviewed by the council and the replacement would be chosen by a majority vote ? tougher to get since Cassilly left the seven-member council with only six voting members.
Without a seventh sitting member, the county council has the potential for tied votes, which is considered an automatic rejection. The council has potentially contentious votes coming up on the 2007 budget and a rezoning bill.
“Between the interviews and the possibility of tied votes between the six council members … it?s distinctly possible that even if you go through this process, you?d not get a councilman until the primary,” Guthrie said.
Even if the council wanted to replace Cassilly, Guthrie said it would be neither feasible nor popular to do so. Reservists are legally protected from losing their civilian jobs when called to active duty, Slutzky said, so he could not be fired.
The council would lack the authority to remove Cassilly without a legal reason, he said, and even if there were legal recourse it might make the council look bad.
“It would not be popular to take somebody out of office who?s going to Iraq,” Guthrie said.
