Strange Bedfellows

It seems that neither the county executive nor the council is willing to repeat the past when it comes to one appointment on the Baltimore County Revenue Authority Board.

Five years ago, the council and County Executive Jim Smith squared off on the appointment of one member of the authority board - Towson attorney Leslie Pittler.

The council saw Pittler as their appointment to the board. Smith wanted Baltimore Orioles majority owner and attorney Peter Angelos.

The five-member board is, by County Charter, appointed by the county executive with the approval of the council. Each member serves a five-year term.

Nearly a dozen years ago, the council and then-County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger agreed to make one of the slots a council appointment. Smith initially refused to acknowledge that arrangement.

A brief standoff ensued in which the council kept Pittler on the board past the end of his term by refusing to confirm his replacement. Smith eventually relented and agreed to send Pittler’s name to the council.

Pittler’s term ends June 30. But the council and Smith are playing so nice on this one that each side is waiting for the other to do something. Pittler’s name, or a replacement, has not been forwarded to the council. If his name were sent up soon, the council could vote on it at its July 7 meeting.

If they don’t take it up then, Pittler, who has never missed a board meeting, will continue to serve until a replacement is confirmed.

“From our perspective, it’s a council appointment,” said Don Mohler, Smith’s spokesman. “I’m assuming (the council) wants Les so it will be Les.”

Council chairman Kevin Kamenetz offered a slightly different take.

“My understanding of the arrangement is it’s still a county executive appointment but one that would be made in consultation with the council,” Kamenetz said.

Kamenetz declined to say whether or not the council would ask for Pittler, saying that he had not had discussed the matter with anyone from Jim Smith’s office. But he hinted that Pittler would not likely face a lot of opposition on the council.

“If the executive chose to send the name of Mr. Pittler to the council, I suspect the other council members would not object,” he said.

Pittler was pretty clear about his desire to remain on the job for a third term.

“I’m interested in being reappointed,” Pittler said.

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…)