Conflicting testimony about the hiring and firing process in the early years of the Ehrlich administration has the counsel to a special legislative committee talking about the possibility of perjury charges against present or former members of the governor?s staff. Three hours of testimony by ex-Ehrlich aide Joseph Steffen, under close questioning by special counsel Ward Coe, contradicted what other Ehrlich administration had testified about his role in terminating employees at the Human Resources and Juvenile Justice departments, and other matters.
In May, Ehrlich Appointments Secretary Lawrence Hogan told the special committee on employee rights that he had only passing contact with Steffen and never asked him for recommendations about what state employees to get rid of.
But Steffen said he met with Hogan and his deputy, Diane Baker, on a regular basis, and “he did ask for recommendations” about personnel issues.
“If they?re not doing a good job, let us know,” Steffen said he was told.
Sen. Thomas Mac Middleton, D-Charles County, asked what were the consequences if any of the witnesses were not telling the truth.
“That?s perjury, and that a felony,” Coe said.
Assistant Attorney General Robert Zarnoch, counsel to the General Assembly, said that perjury before a legislative committee is only a misdemeanor, though it carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
“I think we need to pursue these issues, ” said Sen. Brian Frosh, a committee member who also heads the Judicial Proceedings Committee.
But committee members and Coe said that before they pursued any perjury action, they were going to first try to compel testimony by Steffen and others on questions they refused to answer and try to clarify any apparent conflicts between witnesses. Steffen denied that he had been fired by Gov. Robert Ehrlich in February 2005, as the governor and his aides have said, but said he voluntarily “offered a letter of resignation and it was accepted.”
