Howard County executive candidate Chris Merdon, R-District 1, has come under fire for use of the county seal on a campaign mailing ? the second time he has been criticized for possibly blurring the line between candidate and council member.
“He clearly didn?t learn his lesson from doing it in the past,” said Council Member Ken Ulman, D-District 4, who is also running for county executive.
“It?s so much more of an issue because we have already dealt with this.”
Merdon came under scrutiny two years ago for a mailing about an election fundraiser that included the county seal, a move Ulman said caused the council to pass a bill prohibiting the use of the seal, or any reproduction of it, for political purposes.
This time, Merdon sent a two-page mailing to seniors, alerting them to the public hearing about a bill that would give a tax break to seniors age 70 and older with an income of $75,000 or higher.
The mailing included his title as county council chairman, as well as an authorization line from Merdon?s campaign for county executive, said Council Member Calvin Ball, D-District 2.
The second page had a picture of the county seal, along with more information on the bill, said Ball, who is running for re-election.
“It looks like the council is working on this,” Ball said, adding that he heard about the bill after a news conference in August with Merdon and Council Member Charles Feaga, R-District 5.
Lonnie Robbins, the deputy chief administrative officer with the county?s Ethics Commission, said he could not confirm that a complaint had been filed.
Merdon said the letter is “completely legal.” He said he did not use the seal on any campaign material, and the seal on the mailing, which was paid for by the campaign, was a photocopy of a government document detailing the bill.
“The Democrats know this is not an ethics violation, but if they can raise doubt in some peoples minds to capture more votes they will do it,” Merdon said.
