House Republican leader Anthony O?Donnell denounced legislation that its sponsor said simply clarifies the powers ofspecial committees to compel testimony from witnesses as “the continuation of the witch hunt” against the Ehrlich administration.
The bill came out of the work of the Special Committee on State Employee Rights and Protections, which last year investigated the firing and hiring practices of Gov. Robert Ehrlich and his aides. The committee attempted to take testimony from several members of the Ehrlich administration who refused to testify, forcing the committee to take them to court.
Assistant Attorney General Robert Zarnoch told the House Rules Committee that two of those cases are still going on. Because of that, Zarnoch said, the special committee is still in business, though it has issued its final report and legislation to cure the personnel problems it said it found moving through the General Assembly.
O?Donnell said the committee?s special counsel, Ward Coe, is still billing for continuing work.
“The witch is not dead,” O?Donnell said. Republicans complained that the months of hearings were a partisan witch hunt that cost more than $1 million.
Del. Luiz Simmons, D-Montgomery, who served on the panel, introduced the bill that says legislative witnesses cannot have their subpoenas quashed by a judge.
The refusals to testify by Ehrlich aides Greg Maddalone and Craig Chesek “brought the hearings to a halt,” Simmons said. “People were upset” that the hearings weren?t wrapped up, but the lack of cooperation kept them going, he said.
Zarnoch, who has been chief counsel to the Legislature for decades, said nine months to resolve “what is essentially a discovery suit is unreasonable.” All the Simmons? bill does “is speed up the process,” Zarnoch said.
O?Donnell wasn?t buying testimony that the bill wasn?t an expansion of the Legislature?s investigative powers.
“I think this is very dangerous,” especially since it affects pending court cases, O?Donnell said. “These matters should be taken up in the House Judiciary Committee,” which handles court procedures.
Del. Sandy Rosenberg, D-Baltimore City, vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who also serves on the Rules Committee, said, “I would trust Bob Zarnoch” and Simmons to judge the impact of the bill.
