County Executive

Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker III's proposed budget for fiscal year 2014, released Thursday, will implement five-day furloughs, "minimal reduction" in the workforce and an incentivized voluntary retirement program. The budget, which follows a theme, "Thinking Anew: Building a More Effective and Efficient Government," is composed of $3.24 billion in funds, a 0.6 percent increase compared to the fiscal year 2013 budget. Baker told citizens at a Feb. 12 budget hearing at Laurel High School that the county was projected to face a $152.2 million deficit for fiscal year 2014, and that "hard decisions" would need to be made to keep expenditures down.

Anne Arundel County officials on Monday issued a statement denying what they said were "allegations" that former county executive John R. Leopold was receiving special treatment in the county jail, where he is incarcerated for misconduct in office. County Executive Laura Neuman said in a press release that Leopold, 70, who was been jailed since Thursday, was not afforded treatment and accommodations beyond what other inmates can have. "John Leopold has been treated in the same custodial manner as his fellow inmates and has not received preferential treatment," she said.

Former Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold was led out of a courtroom Thursday with his wrists handcuffed behind his back and his head lowered, bound for the county jail after being sentenced for his misconduct in office conviction and behavior a judge condemned as "outrageous. " Outside the county courthouse, a Leopold supporter said the judge should be fired, while a woman whose lawsuit alleges that she was wrongly terminated by the Leopold administration walked from the building exclaiming, "Pop the champagne!"

When she entered the race to replace John R. Leopold as county executive, Laura Neuman had a far higher profile in business than she did in politics. Many of the other 15 candidates were better known. But the County Council pulled a surprise, granting her the seat in a 4-3 vote. It wasn't the first time Neuman, a 48-year-old Annapolitan, came to the table with a seemingly weak hand and raked in all the chips. Born to a family of modest means in East Baltimore, she never finished high school or college, but during her 20s talked her way into the MBA program at Loyola University Maryland.

On her first full day on the job, the new Anne Arundel County executive shut down a surveillance operation inside the county office building that included 500 cameras recording minute-by-minute activity in and around numerous county government facilities. County Executive Laura Neuman said she became "suspicious" upon discovering the surveillance equipment, and called law enforcement officials about the operation, which was conducted from a small, unmarked room at the Arundel Center complex that few seemed to know about.

I have never been as disappointed in my political party, the Republican Party, as I am today. We are definitely the Stupid Party. Over the last 12 years, I have worked tirelessly to get Republicans elected to political office, and they continue to disappoint me. My level of frustration has peaked with the recent selection of Laura Neuman as Anne Arundel County Executive ("Neuman selected as new Arundel county executive," Feb. 22). So who is Laura Neuman? I have no clue, which is telling because I can pretty much go into any county in the state and know who the political players are. I have never met her nor heard of her. And what makes me wonder most about her is that she was the choice of the three Democrats on the Anne Arundel County Council to fill the vacancy of county executive.

Only days after she was appointed and vowed to make key personnel changes at the top, new Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman ousted three members of her predecessor's administration. Jonathan A. Hodgson, a former Annapolis city attorney who had been tapped in 2006 to be the county's top lawyer by then-County Executive John R. Leopold, no longer works for the county. Also ousted were Erik Robey, the chief of staff under Leopold and William H. Hyers, a contract employee and former member of the county Police Department.

When Laura Neuman heard that an Annapolis salad dressing maker was planning to move his business out of state, she arranged to meet with him. Neuman listened to Greg Vetter's story and made some calls. "She just said, 'Dude, you are NOT leaving Maryland,'" recounted Vetter, CEO of Tessemae's All Natural. "I don't know the nitty-gritty of how she did it, but she did it. And now we're in this insane, awesome space, and we don't have to move to Kentucky. " Keeping Vetter's company in Maryland last year became the latest success for Neuman.

The Anne Arundel County Council on Thursday night appointed as its new county executive Howard County Economic Development Authority chief Laura Neuman, whose drive and business savvy got her a master's degree in business when she hadn't completed high school or college. Neuman, of Annapolis, is to be sworn in at 10 a.m. Friday, succeeding John R. Leopold, who resigned this month after a conviction for misconduct in office. "We live in an extraordinary country where a person like me from East Baltimore can have this opportunity," said Neuman, an Annapolis resident for more than two decades.

The Anne Arundel County Ethics Commission says County Council member Derek Fink should not participate in the selection of a new county executive because of his business relationship in Greene Turtle restaurants with Del. Steve Schuh, who is seeking the position. The commission opinion, released Wednesday, said Fink has a conflict of interest, and "the law prohibits you not only from voting for the applicant, but from any participation in the selection process. " The council is scheduled to interview a field of 16 candidates and vote tonight on a replacement for John Leopold, who resigned as county executive this month.