Common Cause of Maryland has filed a formal complaint with the state Ethics Commission against Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s personal attorney, David Hamilton, charging that he failed to register his lobbying activities for the dredging for a proposed liquefied natural gas facility in Dundalk.
A similar complaint against Hamilton also will be filed with the Baltimore County Ethics Commission this week, said Bobbie Walton, executive director of Common Cause.
Walton said her group wants “to see if in fact, as we believe, he violated the state law requiring you to register for lobbying.
“The state law was clearly intended to provide information about lobbying activities,” she said. “Failure to register violates the registration requirement and the reporting.” And acting as a lobbyist and being “a primary fundraiser for the governor ? is also a violation of state law.”
Hamilton helped Barletta Willis get a $150,000 state grant to begin the dredging, Walton said. He also spoke to a couple of state senators about the project and had a meeting with Baltimore County economic development officials to persuade them not to oppose the LNG plant.
Hamilton could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
Ehrlich practiced law with Hamilton at Ober Kaler Grimes and Shriver, and has employed him as his personal attorney. The governor has defended Hamilton?s representation of his clients, but has also testified against the location of the LNG plant in Sparrows Point.
In May, Bart Fisher, lawyer for the opponents of the plant, told The Examiner: “If it looks like a duck and squawks like a duck, it is a duck. If it looks like lobbying, and this certainly does, it is lobbying.”
