What?s good for the goose is not good for the gander in Carroll County.
As soon as next week, county employees cannot accept gifts of tickets or free admission to sporting, cultural or political events ? but the county commissioners can continue doing so.
The commissioners are expected to amend the county ethics code to comply with the Maryland ethics code.
“Maybe the real reason might be that on the employee level, they are making the day-to-day decisions without the board and consequently, they don?t have to make it public like the commissioners,” Commissioner Julia Gouge said Tuesday.
The gifts commissioners receive are public record.
With the proposed amendment, “there?s no temptation.”
The code, passed in 1999, made it illegal for state employees to accept tickets and free admission to these events.
In February, the state informed the county that it needed to change its code, which currently allows county employees to accept these gifts, said county attorney Kim Millender.
County employees will continue to complete gift disclosure statements for items other than tickets and free admission to events.
The only tickets given to a county employee since 2003 ? the year the county ethics commission started requiring the statements ? were ones for the Baltimore Rotary Club Bull Roast, which were given to now retired Comptroller Eugene Curfman in 2004.
Risky hotel stay?
Robert Williams, county risk manager, accepted the largest gift on record in December 2003: a week?s stay at the Chesapeake Hotel in Chesapeake, valued at $630. He won the trip as a door prize when he attended a Local Government Insurance Trust meeting in Annapolis. Williams was unavailable for comment.
Gifts accepted by county employees since 2003 included T-shirts, cookies, mugs, fruit baskets, flowers, a tote bag, a ceramic doll, candy, jewelry and three $20 gift certificates for Marshall?s department store.
