Attorney General Doug Gansler defended his plan to move some members of his office to the Washington area from Baltimore after a legislative budget analyst suggested that the move was “premature.”
He also argued against a recommendation that additional lawyers to prosecute gang and environmental crimes were not needed.
Gansler, the first Montgomery County resident to hold the job, has proposed that 17 members of the criminal appeals division be located in Silver Spring or Greenbelt to give local residents and lawyers greater access.
But analyst Chantelle Green told a Senate budget subcommittee the “decision to focus solely on locations in Montgomery County is premature.” She recommended that the AG look at other locations, including Annapolis, where the appeals courts are located.
“We don?t need to research this; we don?t need to investigate this,” Gansler said. “It?s not premature,” since no part of the attorney general?s office has been located near Washington in 200 years. There are about 420 lawyers working for the attorney general throughout state government, most of them in Baltimore.
“We feel we need to expand the office of the attorney general throughout the state,” Gansler said. “Something like this is going to happen anyway,” since “we?re out of space in central Baltimore.”
The appeals division principally writes and reviews briefs, and only occasionally argues cases at the appeals courts in Annapolis. Seven of the 17 lawyers now live in Baltimore.
Green also recommended that the legislature cut eight out of the 17 new positions Gansler requested to help prosecute gang members, polluters and gun traffickers.
She gave no policy reasons, other than to “mitigate statewide position growth.”
“I?m very much a fiscal conservative,” Gansler said. “I?ll only ask for the things we need.”
The new gang unit would coordinate prosecution of gang crimes on a statewide level, and Gansler said it is supported by 22 out of the 24 state?s attorneys, not including Patricia Jessamy in Baltimore. “We would only prosecute with the consent of the local attorneys,” Gansler said.
“What you?re saying is music to my ears,” said Sen. Donald Munson, a Washington County Republican. “I think it?s a great idea.”
