Contrary to previous public statements, Gov. Parris N. Glendening said yesterday that he clearly recalled learning in 1992 about the creation of a controversial Prince George's County pension program.
But minutes later, in the same interview, Mr. Glendening reversed himself, saying that he could not specifically recall hearing about the program at the time it was enacted.
The issue of when the governor first knew about the pension program is central to the controversy that has engulfed him and three top aides, who stood to receive tens of thousands of dollars in extraordinary early retirement benefits from the county pension program.
In an interview with The Sun, the governor at first said aides told him about the program when it was created in 1992. "I do remember clearly them coming in and saying they put a program in place for extra pension benefits for people 15 years and over who were 'involuntarily separated,' " Mr. Glendening said.
That account contradicted previous public statements by Mr. Glendening and his aides surrounding the launch of the pension program. Mr. Glendening, the former Prince George's County executive, previously said he knew nothing until well afterward about the increased benefits for employees who were "involuntarily separated" from their jobs because of layoffs.
The 1992 program "didn't get to my desk," Mr. Glendening said in a Jan. 29 Washington Post article.
When asked about the contradiction yesterday, Mr. Glendening backtracked on the statement he made earlier in the interview. He said he couldn't specifically recall being told about the program in 1992.
Instead, he said, he thought he had been told only generally that something had been done by county pension trustees to resolve concerns about protecting senior employees at a time when the county was anticipating hundreds of layoffs.
"Beyond that, I just don't remember the details," Mr. Glendening said. "And if I misspoke in terms of saying specific details, I misspoke because this has got to be the 25th interview on exactly the same topic."
The obscure pension program created a furor in late January after it was reported that Mr. Glendening and three top aides would each receive between $15,000 and $23,000 a year for life, even though they had not reached the usual retirement age.
Mr. Glendening, 52, made the aides eligible for the benefits in early November when he asked for their resignations from the county government, along with those of at least two dozen other appointed officials.
Under the program, the aides were considered "involuntarily separated" and therefore eligible for early pension benefits with 50 percent more money than they would have received if they had left voluntarily.
Mr. Glendening said he asked for the resignations to make it easier for his successor to bring in his own staff.
The governor then rehired the aides -- chief of staff Major F. Riddick Jr., personnel secretary Michael J. Knapp and deputy chief of staff Michele T. Rozner -- to work for him in Annapolis at substantial salaries.
Mr. Glendening became eligible for the early pension payments because term limits prohibited him from running for another term as county executive.
Mr. Glendening has acknowledged, however, that he had never intended to run for another term and had set his sights on the governor's office.
Amid criticism, the governor and his aides said they would forfeit the annual payments until they reached the usual retirement age of 55 or leave state service.
When they do begin receiving the money, it will still be roughly 50 percent more than they would have been eligible for if they had left county service voluntarily.
The future of the controversial "involuntary separation" program appears dim. In the face of an impending $131 million deficit in Prince George's County, Mr. Glendening's successor, County Executive Wayne K. Curry, called the program "unacceptable" yesterday and said he plans to eliminate it.
Mr. Glendening has said that his decision to ask for the resignations of his aides was not connected to the pension program. Asked yesterday why it did not occur to him that asking for resignations would trigger the benefits, he said, "I think that's a reasonable question."
"But you've got to also understand the decision making, if you will, at the time. I had been involved in what was one of the tightest elections in the history of the country," he said, referring to his slim victory over Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey.
"During that extraordinarily hectic time, we didn't put an hour aside, two hours aside, and say, 'OK now, we want this, what are the implications of it?' "
The governor's conflicting statements about his knowledge of the program are not the only ones recently regarding the program.
In the last week, two of Mr. Glendening's aides and members of the County Council have given different accounts of who pushed the program into existence.
Mr. Riddick, who was the county's chief administrative officer, and Mr. Knapp, who headed the personnel office, said they helped create the program in response to County Council members who wanted to protect senior workers from layoffs.
"It was generated by County Council," Mr. Riddick said. "County Council had an issue, and they pushed it because we were doing the layoffs."
Council members recall events differently. Some say at least one council member raised the issue of finding a way to protect employees, but that the council's involvement and knowledge ended there.
"I don't think [the program] was 'pushed,' " said Frank P. Casula, who by all accounts was the councilman most concerned with the issue. "It was suggested during a work session." Of the program's creation, he said, "I had nothing to do with it."