Strange Bedfellows

Kathy Szeliga, Republican Sen. Andy Harris’ chief of staff, said she will put her House of Delegates campaign on hiatus for about six weeks after her fundraiser Wednesday night.

Szeliga, who is running as a Republican, came under fire last week by Democrats who claimed her campaign violates personnel rules for legislative staff, which prohibit employees from running for office while employed by the General Assembly.

Szeliga has announced her intention to run for the House of Delegates in the 7th District. Since May, Sezeliga has raised more than $43,000 and has more than $34,000 cash on hand. Her Web site declares her intentions. It should be noted that Harris, who is running for Congress, is Szeliga’s campaign finance chair.

Democrats balked, saying Szeliga regularly meets with lobbyists as part of her job and could use her position to leverage campaign contributions — sometimes called pay-to-play. (more…)

County Executive Jim has been quiet about his political future since announcing in October that he was moving from his Reisterstown home of 40 years to Cockeysville in order to keep open the possibility of running for the state senate in the 7th District.

But reporter Alan Brody of the Gazette of Politics and Business reports that Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller told a ballroom of elected Democrats and party faithful that Democrats were going to take three to five senate seats from Republicans this year including the 7th District seat currently held by Sen. Andy Harris.

And Miller’s Democrat candidate is a certain outgoing county executive.

You can read Brody’s story here.

Del. John Olszewski Jr. returned four days of his $43,500 annual legislative salary late last year.

Olzsewski, a Democrat who represents the 6th District, released documents today showing he participated in a furlough program requested by House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.

The 6th District includes Dundalk and Essex.

Both Busch and Miller returned five days’ salary and asked fellow legislators to also give up between one and five days’ pay at the same time 67,000 state employees were being furloughed for up to five days based on individual salary levels. (more…)

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller’s desire to share the state’s budget pain with local jurisdictions isn’t sitting well with County Executive Jim Smith.

“Everybody is dealing with some fiscal strain,” Smith said. “To pass it along to someone else because you have the votes isn’t sound fiscal management and isn’t good government.” (more…)