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…)

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…)

Proposed raises and a salary board’s open meetings violations were the topic of conversation on WBAL 1090 AM Saturday morning.

Here’s the audio of Steve Bailey, co-chair of the Baltimore County Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, on Bruce Elliott’s show this morning. Audio courtesy of WBAL.

Yesterday Steve Bailey filed an ethics complaint against County Executive Jim Smith.

Today, Bailey may find himself on the receiving end.

Bailey and the organization he co-chairs, the Baltimore County Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, may have run afoul of the law when they issued a press release yesterday naming Smith as the target of an ethics complaint. (more…)