During the state's annual legislative session in Annapolis, taxpayers pick up the tab for Del. Mary Ann Love to stay at a downtown inn 22 miles from her Glen Burnie home. The Democrat says she and many other lawmakers work 14-hour days while the General Assembly meets, and she says driving home is neither practical nor safe at 2 in the morning.
So when an aide in Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold's adminstration submitted a request to see a statement of expenses racked up by delegates and state senators who represent the county, the response was quick and strong.
Some lawmakers yesterday called for anyone involved in the request to be fired. Some complained of a political witch hunt.
Leopold, a Republican, said his administration had nothing to do with the inquiry. And the aide who submitted the request rescinded it.
State Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr. said he supports the public's right to review legislators' spending, but he questioned whether Brenda Reiber, a community-services specialist, sought the information for the county government, possibly for political purposes.
"I don't have an issue with it," said DeGrange, a Glen Burnie Democrat. "What I do have an issue with: It's a county employee doing this on company time."
Reiber, who answers to assistant chief administrative officer Erik Robey, said yesterday that she was not acting on the Leopold administration's behalf. She said she visited the Maryland Department of Legislative Services during her lunch hour on Friday to formally ask for all travel-related expenses, including lodging, meals and mileage, incurred during the 2007 annual and special sessions by the 15 delegates and five senators who represent Anne Arundel County.
She said the $1.3 billion in tax increases that lawmakers approved during the special session in November was her motivation.
"We are working extra hard for putting our kids through school and supporting ourselves," Reiber said. "We feel like we are being taxed to death. That's what led to the request."
For the current session, senators and delegates are allowed to charge 50.5 cents per mile between home and Annapolis. If they stay in the state capital, they receive a stipend of up to $123 a night for lodging. Legislators receive $41 a day for meals. Those expenses are paid by the General Assembly's budget, said James Goff, fiscal operations officer for the Department of Legislative Affairs.
It's common practice for legislators from across the state to take up lodging in Annapolis during the regular session. Goff said Anne Arundel County legislators' expense records were not immediately available yesterday.
"You can be in a committee hearing until 2 or 3 in the morning," Goff said. The feeling is that "it's better to have a place to stay."
He sent an e-mail yesterday morning to the county's 20 lawmakers and later obtained by The Sun notifying them that Reiber, "on behalf of Eric Robey," had requested the expenses from each of them.
Within 90 minutes, Alan R. Friedman, the county's governmental relations director, sent an e-mail to the lawmakers that said the request "was NOT authorized by the County Executive and may be disregarded." By noon, legislators were notfied by the Legislative Services that Reiber had rescinded the request.
"It was a misunderstanding and I feel bad that it reflects badly on the administration," said Reiber, who has worked for the county since Leopold took office in December 2006 and previously for him as a legislative aide in the House of Delegates.
Leopold, who served 20 years in the legislature, said he was "surprised and deeply concerned" about the nature of the request. He said his administration is not concerned in the least with legislators' travel records, and he hoped the situation would not jeopardize legislators' support for several pieces of legislation at the State House.
He said he had taken "appropriate action" against Reiber, sent e-mails to legislators and put in calls to delegation leaders to reiterate that neither he nor Robey was involved in her recent action.
Robey, an elected member of the county's Republican Central Committee, said he first learned of his mistaken involvement yesterday. "I am disappointed that my name was used and this administration's reputation was put on the line."
Other delegates, particularly Democrats, were unconvinced yesterday that Leopold wasn't involved.
"I don't think that John Leopold has anything better to do with his time," said Del. Barbara A. Frush, a Beltsville Democrat, whose district includes western Anne Arundel County.
Del. Pamela G. Beidle, a Linthicum Democrat, questioned whether Reiber was doing this for political purposes and said she has contacted the state attorney general's office.
Love, the county's House delegation chairwoman, called it "a very unfortunate situation. "I feel badly because there is a lot of anger right now, which we didn't need. ... I hope things heal over time."
phill.mcgowan@baltsun.com