It becomes increasingly apparent why Baltimore County officials let former County Executive Roger Hayden take a lump-sum payment of $23,383 for what he claimed were unused vacation days.
The reason? They felt sorry for him.
When the reportedly depressed Mr. Hayden put in for the money to help tide him over as he seeks a new job, county officials decided not to raise a fuss because it only would have made an embarrassing situation worse. The thinking went like this: Let the poor guy have his money so he'll be out of our hair and we can get on with our lives.
Such charity might fit the Christmas season, but it is a gross disservice to the county citizens whose tax dollars have been turned into quite a nice stocking-stuffer for the former executive.
As for the officials who hoped to avoid further embarrassment by allowing Mr. Hayden to cash-in unused "vacation days" (when, in fact, no elected official in Maryland is granted time off), they have caused the opposite result.
Administrative officer Merreen Kelly and county attorney Stanley Schapiro should be especially red-faced. They have explained that Mr. Hayden's payment wasn't illegal because it roughly equaled the difference between his official salary for 1994 and the lesser amount he accepted as a gesture of fiscal sacrifice -- a gesture, by the way, that has been rendered hollow. But Mr. Kelly, Mr. Schapiro and the other officials directly and indirectly involved in the payment seemed to overlook one thing: While an action might be technically legal, that does not mean it is right.
And make no mistake, this whole episode is not right. As we said before, the money belongs to the taxpayers, not to Mr. Hayden. He already refused it. It should be returned to the county coffers.
No one ought to take comfort from the behavior of Roger Hayden since his defeat in the Nov. 8 election. Even his adversaries would have to concede that he displayed admirable toughness during a term filled with political and personal turmoil. Unfortunately, though, his bitterness in the wake of his election loss, followed by the $23,000 pay-out, will destroy most of whatever good will he still enjoyed among Baltimore countians.
For that, Roger Hayden can blame no one but himself. However, he was hardly helped by his former staffers and other officials who apparently felt there would be no harm in handing Mr. Hayden an early Christmas gift. Now these officials should be held accountable for their actions.