By Stephen Janis
When the Maryland State Legislature convened a special committee to investigate the hiring and firing practices of the administration of then-Gov. Bob Ehrlich in 2005, Democratic Sen. Brian E. Frosh publicly proclaimed the administration's personnel practices as “illegal” and a “misuse of executive authority.”
But now, four years and more than a million dollars in taxpayer funds later, the Special Committee on State Employee Rights and Protections officially disbanded in November without a single finding of illegality or a sustained allegation of impropriety, both Democratic and Republican members of the committee admit.
The lack of substantive findings is fueling criticism that the committee was far from a fact-finding body meant to protect key state employees, as Democrats contended in 2005, but a politically fueled witch-hunt that used taxpayer dollars to a fund a purely partisan exercise.
In a joint investigation by Fox 45 and Investigative Voice, committee correspondence and financial records were reviewed, revealing conflicts over how much money was actually spent, the scope of the committee investigation, and the types of personnel terminations that warranted review.
“Taxpayers absolutely got nothing from this,” State Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-38), a committee member, said in an interview this month.
FIRINGS DEEMED POLITICALLY MOTIVATED
Stolzfus was one of four Republican members of the 12-member committee created by Democratic legislative leaders after rumors surfaced in 2005 that Joseph Steffen had been involved in several firings of “at will” employees that were deemed political motivated. The state employs roughly 7,000 "at will" political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the governor.
In 2006, Stoltzfus sent a letter seeking to terminate the committee’s probe after the investigation failed to produce substantive legislative reforms with regards to “at will” political appointees. The letter was rebuffed by Democratic committee members, leaving Stoltlzfus frustrated that his effort to save taxpayers’ money was stymied.
“The committee was purely political and things that are purely political don’t function well,” he said.
“They were just fishing; it was a witch-hunt.”
Larry Hogan, a potential 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate and appointment secretary for Ehrlich, said the former administration hired more members of the opposition party than any previous Democratic governor.
“No other governor in Maryland history ever hired or appointed as many members of the opposition party,” Hogan said.
“It was basically a taxpayer-financed dirty-tricks smear campaign.”
Hogan, who bore the brunt of the committee’s wrath for his role as overseer of Ehrlich Administration staffing policies, said he was personally defamed by the committee during hearings, which made allegations that the body could not substantiate later.
After “almost five years of investigating, not one single employee was ever found, not one single wrong termination,” Hogan said from his Annapolis office.
“Legislative immunity gives these guys carte blanche to say all they want in their legislative capacity.”
Still, a key Democratic leader who co-chaired the committee defended the group's probe, arguing that their investigation brought much-needed reform to the state’s hiring practices.
'SOME SIGNIFICANT REFORM'
“What came out of it was some significant reform in our whole personnel system,” said State Sen. Thomas Middleton (D-28).
“I think we felt that there was potential that Maryland employees were wronged for political purposes and that it merited a review and that is what we did,” he said.
“In my opinion it was worth it.”
One of the contentious disagreements on the committee’s work is the actual cost to the taxpayers.
A spreadsheet prepared by the state’s Department of Legislative Reference showed roughly $350,000 in direct expenses related to the committee's work.
But a minority report prepared by Stoltzfus, which included estimates of staff and legislators' salaries, puts the cost at roughly $1.1 million.
Interestingly, the committee overlooked a controversial firing that has been embroiled in court wrangling for nearly a decade: the dismissal of former Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Clark.
Clark was escorted from his office by a SWAT unit in the fall of 2004 after Gov. Martin O’Malley, who was then the mayor of Baltimore, characterized the police commissioner as a “distraction” to the city’s crime-fighting efforts. Clark sued for wrongful termination, arguing that he was appointed by a legislative body, and that under state law he could not be fired without cause.
In a letter to the committee, Stoltzfus suggested they investigate Clark’s dismissal, which is now part of a lawsuit alleging he was fired illegally, on appeal with the state’s Court of Appeals.
The committee turned down Stoltzfus’s request to probe Clark’s firing.
“It was purely a political vendetta,” Stoltzfus said.
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