Council To Introduce Ethics Law Amendments
Pdfs
Legislation intended to correct flawed ethics laws passed last year will be introduced tonight in the Baltimore County Council.
Included in the 11-page bill are provisions that bar elected officials from accepting tickets to sporting events.
The issue came to a head last month when it was reported that six of the seven council members and County Executive Kevin Kamenetz reported accepting tickets to Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles games in 2011.
Most notable on that list was a Super Bowl game attended by Councilman Todd Huff. The Timonium Republican attended the game in Dallas as a guest of J.M. Schapiro, a developer who owns and manages apartment complexes and shopping centers in Baltimore County. Schapiro's company, Continental Realty, is also a campaign donor to Huff as well as the landlord for one of Huff's tire businesses.
Originally, the council was excluded from accepting tickets in the bill drafted by Kamenetz. The county executive also barred general government employees from accepting sporting tickets but placed no such prohibitions on his own office.
A state Ethics Commission review of the law passed in December noted that the accepting of sporting event tickets is barred by state law and asked the county to bring the law into compliance.
The bill also requires the executive director and five-member board of the Baltimore County Revenue Authority to abide by the same ethics laws beginning October 1, 2012.
Graham Henry
10:06 pm on Monday, June 4, 2012
Come o about about this, ther is no way in this count can our elected officials or their worker will be bought a super bowl game.
If one cannot trust whom they voted to do the right things, the that person should not have been elected.
How do you think they feel or doesn't anyone care about that. Let's get real here,
moe green
10:06 pm on Monday, June 4, 2012
Dear council persons and Kevin,
Here is a thought,
You get paid plenty, have health care and county vehicles.
TAKE NOTHING FROM NO ONE
Buzz Beeler
7:26 am on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
If you can't meet the State's standards there is a problem. Heck they just lowered the bar on the No Child Left Behind issue because they left so many behind.
number9dream
7:45 am on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Does anyone, including Bryan P. Sears, really take any legislation like this seriously?
After the Todd Huff Super Bowl ticket story, does anyone really take Bryan P. Sears' articles seriously?
"Woody" H Wood
7:45 am on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
It only makes sense the Executive Branch have the same rules as the Legislative. Should have been done long ago.
Bart
9:38 am on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
This is a whole lot of nothing. Tickets? Pshawww. The councilpersons do not get health insurance, they are paid a part-time salary for what is a full-time PLUS job. Does your employer expect you to attend store openings, tree-plantings, Bull Roasts, etc. on YOUR Saturdays, Sundays, nights and holidays?
Do you get the complaints about pot holes, dying treees and bad produce bought at a Farmers' Market that just happened to be held in your district? I guess not.
Besides, my councilperson, David Marks is still driving the economy car he drove during his campaign.
Terry
11:49 am on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
It's about the fringe benefits and the power and what they can do for their friends and family. The money(at least their paycheck) is not the issue for them. It's about the afore mentioned. There should be no free perks, this just leads to wrong things happening.
Arbutus Town Crier
9:46 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Its the fox ruling the hen house, just enough for print for the news. But Really does it really address the problem. Is this the dog and pony show just to satisfy the public while its business as usual like the past decades?