Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — Allegany County is all in, with several other Western Maryland counties, after county commissioners voted Thursday to spend $5,000 to help hire a lobbyist to represent the region during the upcoming 2012 General Assembly session. The money will also help pay for a legislative reception at some point during the session.
The vote came during the commissioners regular public business meeting.
“Normally I don’t usually like the idea of lobbying or lobbyists. But we’re in a situation where we need all the help we can get in Annapolis,” said Commissioner Creade Brodie Jr.
Commissioners passed the motion unanimously.
The funds for the lobbyist will come from the county’s other legal and professional funding category, where the funds are already available, said Commission President Michael McKay.
“All the counties are in … Carroll, Frederick, Washington and Allegany,” McKay said in an interview Wednesday. Garrett County earlier declined to participate.
There has been some discussion of expanding the idea to a lobbyist for all of rural Maryland, but that is not on the table currently, McKay said.
“We kind of hope this is going to be a springboard. We’ve not asked any of the other rural counties to jump in on this (at this point),” McKay said.
The other counties involved have all approved at least $5,000, McKay said. “In the future, we’ll be picking that person or persons,” he said.
Representatives of the counties involved will probably discuss a hire at an upcoming Maryland Association of Counties meeting.
Patricia Sweitzer said she didn’t agree with the idea. The area already has elected representatives to represent the county, she said. In addition, she didn’t agree with the funding because lobbyists often do “underhanded” things and lobbying takes place outside the regular legislative process.
The idea of hiring a lobbyist began at this year’s Maryland Association of Counties meeting over the summer, McKay has said.
County leaders discussed significant issues, including the controversial PlanMaryland. The discussions solidified the similarity of interests between the counties, McKay said, which are dominated by rural landscapes and have strong agricultural roots. Many of the more rural counties believe PlanMaryland will usurp local planning decisions.
In the past, Allegany County has at times hired a lobbyist, the most recent being former House Speaker Casper Taylor Jr., although the contract was with the firm Taylor works for, Alexander and Cleaver.
The firm was paid $17,000 a year and expenses, according to past Times-News reports. That contract began in 2008 and has subsequently expired.
McKay has said he’d be interested in “a young gun out to make a name for himself.”
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com.
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