When Roger B. Hayden spluttered at the media on Election Night in a televised tirade, observers tsk-tsk'ed that he hadn't been able to gracefully accept his defeat as Baltimore County executive. When he failed to show in Towson for the inauguration of C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III a month later, people muttered that he must really be embittered.
But when it was reported that Mr. Hayden had cashed in 77 days' worth of vacation time when he left office for $23,383, the public reaction soured from pity to peeve. If Mr. Hayden wants to sully his own reputation in the public eye, that's his business, but this smash-and-grab vacation payout is just a kick in the voters' teeth.
The Baltimore County charter does not specify an amount of vacation for the elected executive. Surely, the voters didn't begrudge him time off.
In fact, neither voters nor his political opposition made an issue of the fact that Mr. Hayden needed three months off last summer for brain surgery and recuperation. But his post-election vacation claim is, if not illegal, then certainly questionable on ethical grounds.
Eight years ago, when the county's Clerk of Courts Elmer H. "Jim" Kahline, Jr. claimed he was due $7,000 for unused vacation after he left office, a deputy attorney general stated in a letter to Mr. Kahline that because elected officials have the privilege of unlimited leave during their term, they have no specific vacation benefit.
Although that "advice of counsel" was made regarding a state office, not a county post, and was not technically a ruling by the attorney general's office, the principle nevertheless would seem to apply in Mr. Hayden's case. Although it might be uncomfortable for him to do so, Mr. Ruppersberger should seek to recover Mr. Hayden's vacation payout.
Mr. Hayden campaigned and governed as a watchdog for the taxpayers and as a fiscal conservative, so this last gasp flies in the face of his own philosophy. In a much smaller sense, it is reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's accepting $2 million for a couple of speeches in Japan after he left the presidency.
It's the case of a politician cashing in. Nothing makes voters angrier.
Surely Mr. Hayden understands that. Voter anger put him in office in the first place.