Strange Bedfellows

Is the topic of pension reform so hot that it can’t be discussed in public?

Depending on who you talk to, it’s an issue that’s already been addressed — or one that should continue to be talked about as a campaign issue leading up to the elections in November.

Steve Bailey, chairman of the Baltimore County Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, is in the latter camp, but says it’s an issue at least one councilman doesn’t want people talking about. (more…)

Criticism by the Baltimore County firefighters union of an endorsement by Councilman John Olszewski Sr. has another county labor union president crying foul.

Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, said Friday in Annapolis that she was disappointed to see Olszewski  criticized as no longer being friendly to organized labor in the county. (more…)

Councilman Kevin Kamenetz’ s nascent county executive campaign picked up another eastside endorsement Thursday morning.

In a video posted on Youtube, Democratic former state Sen. Michael Collins praises Kamenetz for his management of the county budget and said the councilman who represents Owings Mills, Pikesville and Ruxton, has demonstrated a “dedication, an understanding, and concern for our natural resources, particularly our waterways.” (more…)

Last week I wrote that the Baltimore County Professional Firefighters Association wasn’t tickled about Councilman John Olszewski Sr.’s “endorsement” of Kevin Kamenetz for county executive, and that the union was officially backing fellow Democratic Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder.

It’s easy to see how one might make that leap since the union was clearly irked by Olszewski’s move and they’ve only donated money to one county executive candidate — Bartenfelder.

But Mike Day, president of the union, told me Monday that the support is somewhat less than official — at least for the moment. (more…)

The head of one county union said he and his members are not pleased with last week’s pseudo-endorsement of Kevin Kamenetz by fellow Democratic Councilman John Olszewski Sr.

Mike Day, president of the Baltimore County Professional Firefighters Association, said union leaders were so displeased with Olszewski’s plans that not only did they not attend an Olszewski fundraiser two days before the endorsement, they voted not to make a donation to his campaign.

And Day didn’t have much nice to say about Friday’s announcement, either. (more…)

Steve Bailey, co-chairman of the county chapter of Americans for Prosperity, said he thinks two Baltimore County councilmen who voted Jan. 19 on the council’s pension reform bills should have abstained — because they stood to benefit financially.

Bailey said Democratic Councilmen John Olszewski Sr. and Ken Oliver both benefited from voting to approve a bill that caps pensions at 60 percent for any freshman councilman sworn-in as of December 2010, while voting to table what has been considered a tougher bill that would have imposed limits on both their pensions almost immediately.

Both Oliver, a two-term incumbent, and Olszewski, a three-term incumbent, would have seen their pensions capped at 60 percent under a bill proposed by Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder. That bill was ultimately killed in favor of Councilman Kevin Kamenetz’s bill. (more…)

The Baltimore County Council’s Spending Affordability Committee has a new chairman —  John Olszewski Sr.

Olszewski took over last week after Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder quietly stepped down.

The committee is charged with setting limits on how much the county can increase its budget each year. It will meet later today to try and set the growth limit for County Executive Jim Smith’s last budget, which will be introduced in April.

Bartenfelder became chairman of the committee late last year — and that’s when  grumbling began. Supporters of Olszewski, the current County Council chairman, and Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, who chaired the spending affordability  committee in 2009, complained that the two were not included on this year’s panel because of politics. (more…)

A bill that some say offered a more comprehensive approach to reforming pensions for County Council members would have been legal under federal retirement law, according to a five-page memo prepared by the county Office of Law.

The issue of legality came up last week after the council passed a 60 percent pension cap for any freshman councilman who takes office this December. The council voted that same night to kill a more restrictive bill sponsored by Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder. (more…)

Sorry for the delay in posting. There were some technical issues on my end. I hope to get you all caught up with some stuff that happened Thursday. Here’s the first of them

Here’s this week’s installment of my weekly chat with Maryland Morning News anchor Bill Vanko.  We covered the county’s expectations for the 90-day General Assembly session that began on Wednesday and the politics of the competing pension reform bills before the County Council.

Today’s debate over two bills that would reform pensions for members of the County Council might be the first skirmish of the campaign season between two men thought to be the top contenders for county executive in 2010.

Councilman Kevin Kamenetz in November proposed capping pensions for councilmen  at 60 percent for freshman council members elected in 2010. The proposal sounded strangely like an idea Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder said he raised but never filed a bill on nearly a decade ago but could find no supporters.

So in December, Bartenfelder struck back and offered his own bill with language that would not only cap pensions at 60 percent but would also tighten the pension rules that allow so-called double-dipping pensions when council members run for county executive. The bill also seeks to change the age at which retiring members can collect their pensions. (more…)