Blog: Constitutional Crisis in the County

The decision by the County Commissioners to “urge” their staff to attend a religiously oriented course on the Maryland Constitution is so wrong-headed that it’s had to decide where to begin with a critique of it.

I caught wind of this so-called “course” on the MD Constitution more than a week ago and at that time, without knowing who would be teaching the course, I was disturbed by the very thought of it because I knew it was unnecessary and an insult to many of the bright people I know who work for the County as a former County employee. Then the details of the story came to light is a story written by Christian Alexandersen in the Carroll County Times.

The Times story disclosed the $800 cost of the course which will be taught by a minister from The Institute for the Constitution, a front for another wing-nutty organization called The American Way. The American Way is the child of attorney Michael Peroutka, Constitutional Party candidate for President of the US in 2004. Commissioner Richard Rothschild is a disciple of Peroutka and The American Way.

The mission statement of The American Way is “that there is a God, the God of the Bible, our rights come from Him, and the purpose of civil government is to secure our rights. There are many views of government, from equally numerous world views. Americans are blessed that our Founders' Biblical Worldview informed their political philosophy and the framing of our founding documents.”

Peroutka,The American Way followers including Richard Rothschild, and anyone else so disposed are free to believe this biblical view of government. They can throw all the money they own at the cause but it is outrageous that they throw my tax dollars at it too and then expect to politically indoctrinate County staff at expense of the public treasury.

A course in the Maryland Constitution given by a recognized scholar in the topic, or the Attorney General of Maryland, or the Maryland Secretary of State would be appropriate, not one given by a minister of some unknown faith & church with an obvious political & religious bias on the subject.

Frankly, the course is unnecessary and an obvious attempt at political indoctrination by the Board of County Commissioners and their Chief of Staff, Steve Powell. Powell is as guilty in this misuse of public funds as anyone else because it is his directive to certain county employees which “urges” them to attend the class on Friday, February 24^th.  This is a blatant misuse of his authority as the top person on the County Staff. Everyone who has ever worked for the County knows that when the Chief of Staff “urges” you to do something you risk career suicide, if not immediate termination, if you don’t go with his flow. If, somehow, this politically-based course was not the decision of the majority of the Board of Commissioners, then he certainly had no business authorizing the expense, scheduling and suggestion" to staff and Commission members to attend it.

If the Commissioners think this course is so important then they themselves should have put it on their agenda and take the course themselves – at their expense, not mine. County employees do not need a course in the MD Constitution to perform their duties; they are quite busy doing their jobs and I find many of them quite dedicated in doing so. If any of the employees really want to know more about the MD Constitution with a biblical bent then they should take the same course that is available on Saturday in a hall on Carroll St. in Westminster – on their own time and at their own expense, not mine or any taxpayers.

Just when the Commissioners decided to mandate this class and its expense for their staff is currently unknown because it was not discussed in any of their public meetings. It is not a topic that is appropriate to discuss in a closed session because it does not involve a discussion of an employee’s performance as a “personnel” issue. A brief summary of any such discussion, even in a closed meeting, should have been made available in the next available open session of the Board of Commissioners – that’s the law.

Courses that the Commissioners and perhaps some county managers could use are classes on the Maryland Open Meetings Act and the Maryland Public Information Act. Both are available from the Maryland Attorney General’s office for free. It is obvious that these Commissioners haven’t any knowledge about their responsibilities to these laws as elected officials and public servants. Their disdain for both laws is increasingly obvious.