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 And the aide who submitted the request rescinded it.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.
