Baltimore Sun

Search the Baltimore County community newspaper archives

>> Click here to search for stories published AFTER 2011

>> Use this search box to find stories published prior to 2011.

Note: All Words is a more strict search. Implied operator is "AND."
Ex: Charles Dickens"

news

home

Campaign for Liberty member apologizes for misleading letter

Political group indicated Craig's budget includes tax rate increase

BY BRYNA ZUMER

Posted 5/03/11

A member of the Ron Paul political group Campaign for Liberty apologized to the Harford County Council on Monday for a letter the group sent out indicating Harford County Executive David Craig was proposing a tax hike.

John Mallamo told the council Tuesday night, the day before the first public hearing on the 2012 budget, that he regretted Campaign for Liberty sent out wrong information.

He said he was not speaking on behalf of Campaign for Liberty, but called the letter “embarrassing” and said he felt compelled to apologize to the council and county executive.

Before that apology, several council members indicated they were concerned about the e-mail they had received from Campaign for Liberty.

Councilman Dick Slutzky told the audience he hoped the implication that a tax hike was imminent would be corrected.

“At this point, that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Slutzky said. “I think it may be disingenuous for certain individuals in the public and certain organizations in the public to provide misinformation.”

Also during the meeting, Slutzky clashed with Councilman Dion Guthrie over Guthrie’s criticism of Craig.

Guthrie said he had asked human resources director Scott Gibson to meet openly with the council to explain why the county was expecting a 15 percent increase in health care costs in 2012, but Craig had instead wanted Gibson to meet privately with interested council members.

“I don’t think having a meeting behind closed doors when we are talking about the budget is good for… the community,” Guthrie said. “We are talking about a lot of money here… I am only trying to find out, and I want everybody else to find out, why the county comes up with 15 percent.”

Guthrie implied he could take more serious action.

“I would prefer not to seek a subpoena to bring him before us, but that is an option,” he said.

Slutzky disagreed, saying Guthrie’s request did not reflect the opinion of all the council members.

“That was not a decision of this council as a body. That [request] would require a majority will of the council to do that,” Slutzky said. “These are serious considerations and they need to be considered by the entire council.”