Leslie Johnson’s record as a county councilwoman took another hit Thursday, when County Executive Rushern Baker vetoed the only bill proposed by Johnson that the county council had approved.
The legislation required a separate mediation process for disputes between landlords and tenants under the Common Ownership Communities Program. Residents or homeowners could petition the county to provide a hearing examiner to make binding decisions in common ownership disagreements.
In a statement, Baker said he supported the concept of the legislation, but without a mechanism to pay for the hearing examiner, the bill amounted to an unfunded mandate on the county government.
The fact that Johnson sponsored the legislation had nothing to do with the decision to veto the bill, according to officials.
“It is clear that it would further jeopardize the county’s already strained budget,” Baker said in a letter to Council Chairwoman Ingrid Turner, D-Bowie. “I am concerned about the creation of an alternative mediation regime when our Office of Community Relations currently offers mediation services for disputes concerning county residents.”
Johnson pleaded guilty June 30 to charges of conspiring to commit federal witness and evidence tampering, admitting to stuffing $79,600 in cash in her bra and underwear and flushing a $100,000 check down the toilet at the instruction of her husband, then-County Executive Jack Johnson.
On Tuesday, after announcing that she would resign on July 31, Johnson withdrew a resolution that had been scheduled for discussion at a committee meeting Wednesday.
Officials with the common communities program had testified before the council that they receive few mediation requests. But Baker fears that the hearing examiner could become a popular alternative to the court system for landlords, driving up costs for the county.
If the state legislature granted Prince George’s the power to create a fee for use of the hearing examiner, Baker said he’d be willing to explore the issue again next yea
