Strange Bedfellows

Here’s part two of my top five list of Baltimore County political stories for 2009. (Part one can be found here).

2. Pensions and Salaries. Pocketbook issues continued to dominate the news in the county after it was reported by the Baltimore Sun that five-term Democratic Councilman Vince Gardina was eligible to retire at age 53 and earn a pension equal to 100 percent of his $54,000 annual salary. Four other councilmen have served four terms each and are eligible to collect 80 percent of their salaries immediately at the conclusion of the current term.

A month later, the county Personnel and Salary Advisory Board proposed raises of 8 percent and 2 percent respectively for the county executive and council that would take office in 2010. The reason for the difference between the two was apparently hashed out in a closed door meeting that violated the state’s Open Meetings Act, but clearly was influenced by the ongoing pension flap.

Then-council Chairman Joseph Bartenfelder said he would not introduce the salary increase bill as long as he was chairman. Later, County Executive Jim Smith announced he would not send such a bill to the council.

Next month, the council will consider two pension reform bills — one sponsored by Councilman Kevin Kamenetz and the other by Councilmen Joseph Bartenfelder.

Watchdog groups aren’t happy with either, and are expected to call for publicly-funded defined benefits pension plans to be replaced with 401K-style plans.

1. Council Kingmakers. The fact that developers and their attorneys give money to county executive and council candidates in Baltimore County is as surprising as the faux outrage of Claude Raines — as the corrupt gambling Capt. Renault –  shutting down Humphrey Bogart’s club because he is “shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” … just as a club employee hands the captain his winnings for the night.

What IS news here is the way in which Michael Paul Smith, the son of County Executive Jim Smith, and David Gildea, a former law clerk to Smith when the county exec was a Circuit Court judge, have gone about backing unknown and untested potential candidates in three open council races, and are said to be seeking a candidate for at least one more race (but possibly two). The private fund raising events in Smith and Gildea’s homes, with their suggested $1,000 per person donations, caught the attention of other candidates and the public.

The council wields a great deal of power when it comes to zoning and development decisions, and community associations and activists didn’t need 20-20 vision to make the connections between those open seats and attorneys with land use practices who might be interested in seeing friendly faces making those calls.

So there it is, my list of the top five political stories for the county for 2009.

Do you agree, disagree? Did I overlook something that should have been on the list? Feel free to leave me a comment below.

Happy new year to everyone and I’ll see you in 2010.

Maryland Morning News anchor Bill Vanko and I chat about well-connected development attorneys raising big money for County Council candidates who have never before run for office.

Long-time community activist Donna Spicer doesn’t see the withdrawal of a bill that would have changed the county’s Planned Unit Development law as a win for communities.

County Executive Jim Smith had hoped to add language to the law that would allow the county hearing officer to remand a failed PUD back to the 15-member county Planning Board. County officials said the change was needed because of two recent Board of Appeals decisions that effectively struck down two such developments in the Bowleys Quarters and Millers Island areas. (more…)

A 9.8-acre parcel of county-owned land in Dundalk isn’t going to pass into private hands until March, but that’s not stopping developer John Vontran from seeking County Council approval for a proposed Planned Unit Development plan for the property.

Councilman John Olszewski Sr. will introduce a resolution seeking preliminary approval for the plan at tonight’s council meeting. The resolution is a necessary step before such a plan could be considered by the county Planning Board. (more…)

It was reported here last week that Ronald Lipscomb, through four companies he controls, donated $11,000 to County Executive Jim Smith on Dec. 9, 2005.

The question is: Why?

Lipscomb is the Baltimore developer and former boyfriend of Mayor Sheila Dixon. A state prosecutor’s investigation of Dixon appears to be centering around the pair’s relationship and gifts that she may have received while she was City Council president and votes she may have made on city contracts that went to Lipscomb’s companies.

In Baltimore County, Lipscomb’s relationship (if one can use that term) with Smith is less clear.

Lipscomb and Doracon, his company, didn’t donate a dime before that time and haven’t donated anything to Smith since, according to state campaign finance records.

Rachel Rice, a Belair-based consultant, organizes fundraisers for both Smith and Dixon. Lipscomb donated to both, but Rice said she never shares donor lists of one client with another.

No county contracts have been awarded to Doracon or related companies, according to Don Mohler, a Smith spokesman.

There appear to be no special connections with the 2005 date of the donations either.

In 2005, Smith attended his first International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas. The convention is billed as the place to see and be seen if you’re a developer or government official looking to woo a developer.

Again, nothing. Mohler said he did not know if Lipscomb or other representatives of Doracon attended. If they did attend, no one met with Smith or other county officials.

The best Mohler could come up with was that the two had met at an event of some kind and hit it off.

“It’s probably casual meetings,” Mohler said. “(Smith) would be at an event and meet and chat.”

“Ronald Lipscomb is a well-known leader,” he said. “I think it would be hard to move in those circles and not meet him. It’s probably impossible to find someone who didn’t know Ron. That’s really about the extent of it; he’s around.”

Lipscomb was not immediately available. A message left by a reporter seeking comment was not returned.

Ronald H. Lipscomb, a Baltimore developer who is tied to an investigation of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, donated $11,000 through four companies to County Executive Jim Smith.

Smith’s campaign received a $1,000 donation from RHL Strathdale, $2,000 from Arizona Crossing, and two donations of $4,000 each from RHL Development and Doracon Development LLC on Dec. 9, 2005, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections. All four companies list an address at 3500 E. Biddle Street, the headquarters of Doracon Contracting, the company founded by Lipscomb. (more…)