Del.-elect James E. Malone Jr. of Arbutus has been told by the Maryland attorney general's office that he cannot be a Baltimore County firefighter and a member of the House of Delegates at the same time.
Mr. Malone, 37, a lieutenant in the fire marshal's office and an assistant state fire marshal, said yesterday that he never imagined he would have a problem holding both jobs until Dec. 5 when county lawyers informed him.
"I was blown away," he said, adding that he feels the situation has been "blown out of proportion" by the attorney general's office.
The Democrat, a 13-year Fire Department veteran, was elected in November from District 12A, which covers parts of southwestern Baltimore County and extends into Howard County.
Now Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III is on a rescue mission, struggling to find a way of preserving the new delegate's Fire Department career and pension before the General Assembly opens Jan. 11.
One element of that rescue is an attempt to preserve Mr. Malone's firefighter pension if his county job status can be administratively redefined to satisfy the state constitution. A bill to do that was discussed by a wary County Council yesterday at an informal work session. The measure is to be voted on at next Tuesday night's meeting.
Becoming a county employee instead of a firefighter would mean a loss of extra pension benefits that county police and firefighters get.
In Mr. Ruppersberger's view, that is "too high a burden" for county firefighters to bear, administration lobbyist Pat Roddy told the council.
Regular county employees may retire at age 60, or after 30 years service, and accrue pension benefits at 1.8 percent per year of service. But firefighters accrue a pension at the rate of 2 percent per year, and may retire after 25 years at age 55, or after 20 years, at age 50.
A letter to Mr. Malone from Assistant Attorney General Robert A. Zarnoch said a county firefighter holds an "office of profit," under the state constitution.
"Thus, a person may not at the same time serve as a state legislator and as either an assistant fire marshal or Baltimore County fire fighter," the letter said.
In the letter, Mr. Zarnoch left the door open for a solution by saying that "there may be positions in the fire department to which a person can be administratively transferred that are not 'fire fighter' positions." He also suggested that a legislator's firefighting post, which is defined as a public office under the state constitution, could be legally changed to make him an employee rather than the holder of a public office.
Donald Drehoff, a Republican who failed to win one of two District 12A seats after finishing fewer than 200 votes behind Mr. Malone, said he sympathized with his rival but objects to what Mr. Ruppersberger, a Democrat, is doing.
"I really feel for Jimmy," Mr. Drehoff said. "But I was willing to paint houses and cut grass" to serve in the legislature. "What Ruppersberger is trying to do is good-old-boy, back-office politics as usual," and that amounts to "changing the rules after the fact."
Mr. Drehoff, 34, a salesman for MCI in McLean, Va., said he believes that having both jobs would amount to a conflict of interest for Mr. Malone, who does fire safety inspections of county buildings and can issue citations for unsafe conditions.
Several County Council members seemed worried yesterday about the implications of preserving for Mr. Malone the special pension benefits of county firefighters.
"What type of Pandora's box are we opening up?" Councilman Kevin Kamenetz said.
"The administration favors that he have his cake and eat it too?" T. Bryan McIntire, a north county Republican, asked. "Will something be created for every firefighter or police officer who runs and wins?" Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder asked.
Mr. Roddy agreed that the bill would set a precedent.
"I don't think there's full comfort with this bill now," Council Chairman Vincent J. Gardina said.