Md. official denies land deal conflict

The Baltimore Sun

Maryland Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin said yesterday that before joining the O'Malley administration this year, he did consulting work for the company that is selling 270 acres of Eastern Shore farmland to the state and Queen Anne's County for more than its appraised value.

The state Board of Public Works voted June 20 to approve the purchase of the Kudner Farm property in Grasonville for $5 million, based in part on the recommendation of Griffin's agency. Appraisals put the property's value at $3.6 million or $4.6 million.

Griffin said yesterday that he did not disclose his earlier consulting work to Gov. Martin O'Malley or the other two members of the board because he was advised by the Maryland attorney general's office, before assuming his job as secretary, that it did not pose a conflict.

"I never mentioned it to them because I didn't think it was an issue," Griffin said yesterday. "This is all nonsense."

Griffin consulted as an employee of the engineering firm Buchart-Horn Inc., which was paid about $15,000 by the company that is selling the property, U.S. Land Alliance, for work done by Griffin and two other Buchart-Horn employees.

His consulting work for U.S. Land Alliance has raised questions about his relationship with the company's president, David Sutherland, a longtime figure in land conservation whom Griffin has known for years.

State Comptroller Peter Franchot, a member of the Board of Public Works, asked Griffin yesterday to "temporarily postpone" settlement of the sale, calling on him to answer questions about his connection to Sutherland and why the price exceeds both appraisals of the property.

Concerns about the deal "have called the motivations for this acquisition into open question," Franchot said in a letter to Griffin. He asked that officials "refrain from closing" on the purchase until his questions are answered.

State Sen. Andrew P. Harris, a Baltimore County Republican, said he was troubled by reports of Griffin's link to U.S. Land Alliance and that he has requested an investigation by the attorney general's office.

"It had the potential for an appearance of impropriety," Harris said.

But O'Malley and state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, the third member of the Board of Public Works, showed no sign yesterday of reversing course on the purchase.

"Am I satisfied with the job John Griffin does? Yes, I am," O'Malley said. "Do I believe anything was not done properly in this purchase of open space? No, I do not. You will find it is not uncommon in land preservation purchases for the state to pay the higher appraisal amount."

Kopp said nothing she's seen to date would change her mind about the purchase.

"It looks like a significant piece of property in an area that is severely threatened by overdevelopment," said Kopp, whom Griffin told Friday about the consulting work. "I'm sorry that he hadn't told us that beforehand, but on the other hand, I'm not sure that should affect the property. The question is whether the purchase of the property is a good thing for Maryland Program Open Space or not."

The state has agreed to use money from the Open Space program to pay $4.6 million toward the purchase, and Queen Anne's County would pay $400,000. County officials have expressed concern about the cost, but said they want the land for open space and that Sutherland was unwilling to reduce the price. The county will hold title to the land.

Sutherland, for his part, said last night that his negotiations over the property's price were with Queen Anne's County, not Griffin's agency.

"John's involvement in all of that has been, as far as I know, nothing," he said. "My deal is with the county."

Griffin, in a written response to Franchot released yesterday evening, unequivocally defended his department's recommendation to purchase the land.

"This transaction should be evaluated on its merits," Griffin wrote. He said the deal "was begun nearly two years ago under the previous administration. It is an excellent acquisition for the county and the citizens of Maryland, protecting significant wetlands and wildlife habitat."

He said the state Department of General Services, not his agency, determined the property's "fair value."

Griffin also disclosed and defended the consulting work he did while at Buchart-Horn. In January, he wrote, he asked Assistant Attorney General Joseph P. Gill, counsel to the Department of Natural Resources, whether his consulting work last year posed a potential conflict of interest in the Kudner purchase.

Griffin said Gill conferred with the State Ethics Commission's general counsel, Robert A. Hahn, and that "I was told that no conflict existed."

Hahn was out of the state yesterday and could not be reached for comment.

Franchot, in his letter to Griffin, asked 11 questions - including why the purchase price exceeds the highest appraisal of $4.6 million and exceeds the average of the two appraisals by nearly $1 million.

Griffin responded that an appraisal "is not immutable proof of the price at which a willing seller will, in fact, sell the property."

In his letter, Franchot also asked Griffin pointedly about his professional relationship with Sutherland.

Griffin said he has known Sutherland for years, going back to when Griffin was in previous state posts, including an earlier stint as natural resources secretary under Gov. Parris N. Glendening. At the time, Sutherland was a vice president at the Conservation Fund, a Virginia-based nonprofit that often worked with Griffin and other state officials on preservation.

Griffin said he invited Sutherland to join O'Malley's transition team as a member of the Work Group on Environment and Natural Resources, which Griffin chaired. Sutherland was on a 30-member coordinating committee of the work group, which had about 150 members overall.

Griffin said that in his jobs as a state official trying to preserve land, it has been important to forge partnerships with people like Sutherland.

"I know lots and lots of people here. And I think part of my job as secretary is to form good alliances," Griffin said in an interview. "I make no apology for the fact that I've known David for years and we are friendly."

He said that last year, he and other Buchart-Horn employees met occasionally with Queen Anne's County officials and community leaders to discuss plans for a sports facility or ballfields on the property. Those plans have since been shelved in favor of recreational options such as hiking, in part because the property is not hooked up to public water or sewer systems and would be expensive to develop.

The difficulty in developing the property is a major factor in the questions about its value.

Griffin's agency does not do appraisals, but it recommended going ahead with the purchase at the higher appraisal value. Officials in Queen Anne's County decided to add $400,000, saying that Sutherland would not accept less than $5 million.

The sale of the Kudner property appears to give Sutherland's company a substantial profit. In his letter, Franchot said the company bought the entire 1,483-acre property - including the 270 acres - for $11,968 per acre in October.

"In less than a year, it has sold the first 270 acre parcel for $18,518 per acre," Franchot wrote.

Griffin wrote in his reply that he relied on the Department of General Services to determine the value of the property.

"We do not take previous purchase price or profit margin into account," Griffin wrote.

In an interview, Griffin said he believes that the price the government is paying for the property is not too high. But he said he understands that the price might be questioned.

"I think that's always a fair question to ask on any proposed acquisition," he said.

gady.epstein@baltsun.com

Sun reporter Andrew A. Green contributed to this article.

Copyright © 2021, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication | Place an Ad
72°