Comments on: Cecil County Commissioners Slapped on Wrist by State Open Meetings Panel

By: Cecil Times

Cecil Times — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:25:04 +0000

Editor’s Note: Ed, just to clarify your comment: as the article notes, the actual cost of hiring the lobbyist was about $6,000. The additional expenses paid to a different lawyer were only incurred to respond to the legal compaint to the Open Meetings Board filed by the Kent County News reporter.

By: Alexis

Alexis — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:03:27 +0000

Didn’t Smigiel say that failure to file campaign finance reports was the eqivalent of a parking ticket?

By: Ed Burke

Ed Burke — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:33:51 +0000

So, the Commissioners failed to pick the correct exception. Probably because state representatives never stab local Commissioners in the back and ours did not have a precedent to follow. I remember the SMIPKIN temper tantrums at the time: outrage at the presence of lobbyists in Annapolis. I guess they didn’t know that lobbyists represent the special interest groups that are contributing to their campaigns.

At $11,380 it was a small price to block binding arbitrartion costs that would have been inflicted on the county. Genuine Republican legislators across the country have been fighting this while SMIPKIN spends their time having the 3 Amigos (Mullin, Dunn, and Broomell) punish their enemies.