Baltimore County lawmakers Tuesday defended a proposed charter amendment that would allow them to take state jobs against critics who called the measure “self-serving” and “improper.”
The council is slated to vote on removing a charter provision that prevents them from working for state government Monday. If approved, residents will vote on the amendment during the November 2008 election.
Councilman Vince Gardina ? a Perry Hall Democrat who worked for the state in 2005 ? said lawmakers in 1994 changed the county code to allow certain state employees to hold public office in the county, but not the other way around. Councilman John Olszewski, D-Dundalk, said low-level state employees should not have to abandon their jobs if they are “fortunate enough to win election.”
“There is a mechanism in place,” Olszewski said at Tuesday?s council work session. “You recuse yourself if there is a conflict of interest.”
A handful of civic leaders have questioned whether Gardina ? and former Republican Councilman Wayne Skinner, who worked for the state during his entire four-year term ? knew they were in violation. Both have called it an oversight.
County Executive Jim Smith, then a circuit court judge, chaired a 1990 charter review commission that also included council secretary Tom Peddicord, said Steve Whisler, president of the Coalition for the Preservation of Southwest Baltimore County.
Their involvement indicates they are, or should be, intimately familiar with the charter and aware of the provision, he said. He joined others calling for Gardina to return a $100,000 court settlement he obtained after suing the state for wrongful termination.
“Those who violate our charter and others who fail to enforce it should be held accountable,” he said.
