In 1981 the town of St. Michaels adopted an ethics ordinance. With a few minor revisions, this ordinance has served the town well for over 30 years.
Recently the state of Maryland created a new local ethics law, which all towns must adopt unless they are granted an exemption. This law, among other things, requires our elected commissioners and candidates to disclose a substantial amount of personal financial information about themselves and their relatives. It will also give control of our ethics legislation to a state commission and we will not be able make any changes to our law without applying to that commission.
Because many residents of St. Michaels feel that the financial disclosure requirement is unreasonable and unnecessarily invasive of an individual’s privacy, and that it will discourage capable people from running or serving as commissioner, a petition was circulated, demanding that the commissioners not adopt the state law. On September 11th the commissioners refused to hear this petition, and voted (3 – 2) to adopt Ordinance 429, in conformity with the new state law. With no other recourse citizens circulated a petition calling for a referendum to approve or disapprove Ordinance 429. This petition was signed by 172 (over 20%) of the voters and presented to the town.
On February 3rd, 2014, registered voters in the town will have an opportunity to vote on this referendum. A “NO” vote will stop Ordinance 429 and keep in effect the ordinance that has served the town well for over 30 years.
If the referendum is successful in stopping the Ordinance from going into effect, the town will then need to reapply for an exemption. A “NO” vote and public support for an exemption should be persuasive to the state Ethics Commission to grant this exemption to St. Michaels, as it has for 79 other towns.
The state law, which was created in response to some illegal and unethical activities in a county on the western shore, is not designed for a small community like ours. It is a clear case of “one size does NOT fit all”. This is why out of 157 eligible towns in the state, 79 have received full exemptions. This is why we need to stop Ordinance 429, press the state for an exemption, and keep local control over our ethics law.
On February 3rd, please come to the town hall and vote NO to Ordinance 429.
Virginia Albert Jim Burdick Mary Burdick
Tad DuPont Walda DuPriest Jim Fulton
Frank Hopkinson Jane Hopkinson Marie Martin
Bev Pratt Doug Rollow Cathy Stinchcomb
Barry Gillman says
The old Ethics Ordinance was a “self-reporting” ordinance. If a Commissioner thought he had violated the Ethics Ordnance he was supposed to report the violation. Perhaps that’s why it is so popular.