Public Employees

The recent election of a new president of the Harford County Education Association, the local teachers' union, has the potential to be something of a turning point in the discussion of important matters of compensation for public employees. For many years, much of the public discussion of pay for public sector employees has been centered around one of two extreme and largely unfounded notions. On one extreme is the assertion that government employees are overpaid, under worked and largely unnecessary.

The state has added a new tool to help members of the public navigate the rules governing open meetings of public bodies in Maryland. Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's office on Wednesday announced the creation of a 2.5-hour(!) course on Maryland's Open Meetings Act . It's "designed for elected officials, public employees, members of the media and any Marylander interested in open government who wishes to become more familiar with the requirements of the Act," according to a news release.

Despite an expected decline in revenue from a sagging real estate market, Baltimore County can afford pay increases for its workers, according to a fact-finder who recommended 3 percent pay raises for employees of two unions in negotiations with the county. "The county's financial situation is not so dire as to require a wage freeze," the fact-finder, Robert T. Simmelkjaer, wrote in his decision, issued Thursday.

Unions representing Howard County employees have launched an offensive designed to persuade the county executive to back off from his plan to lay off at least 200 government workers and trim the budget by 16 percent.Dale L. Hill, president of the Howard County Police Officers Association Local 86, is writing residents and business leaders to solicit their help in opposing cuts to the Police Department's budget.He said union members will talk with people at shopping centers and go door-to-door with a petition that calls for an increase in the current property tax rate of $2.45 per $100 of assessed value.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening wants to end an experiment that has put Baltimore's child support enforcement in private hands for almost six years, contending that state employees have shown they can do a better job. State Human Resources Secretary Emelda Johnson announced the decision yesterday at a Senate hearing on a bill that would extend the privatization experiment for three more years. She cited a recent study showing that state workers in four counties that adopted new management practices outperformed the company that runs Baltimore's system.

DARREL DROWN, chairman of the Howard County Council, blundered mightily when he made a derisive remark about county employees and labor unions.Or did he?In accusing county workers of having a "union mentality," Mr. Drown left himself open to sharp criticism from public employees (not to mention card-carrying union members of all stripes.)The Ellicott City Republican's subsequent apology and squirming over the remark was undoubtedly delicious to Democratic Councilman C. Vernon Gray of Columbia.

IT IS EASY, and often justifiable, to dismiss training and morale-building programs similar to the one being employed by Baltimore County's Department of Public Works as a frivolous waste of money. But in this case, there seems to be valid reason for spending $100,000 over two years to teach the people who build and maintain roads and sewer mains, who plow snow and make sure the toilets flush, about how better to manage subordinates and deal with job-related stress.The public works department has endured a difficult past several years.

When Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke told a state legislator that adoption of a "doomsday" budget would mean 900 people losing their jobs in city government, the legislator responded: "Good."Those working in the public sector these days must feel like Rodney Dangerfield: they can't get any respect. Folks who used to think "you can't beat City Hall" are now beating up on it -- and especially on those in the bureaucracy.The public hasn't shown much empathy for the 400,000 Marylanders who work for government.

Maryland and Baltimore are sending nearly 30 more employees, including 25 state troopers, to New Jersey and New York to assist in recovery efforts following Storm Sandy. The latest deployments bring to more than 50 the number of emergency medical providers and other "first responders" from Maryland who are helping other states hit by the storm. According to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, 25 state troopers and four Baltimore City employees will be following 23 emergency workers from around the state who previously left for northern New Jersey.

Politics and public access make bedfellows so strange that one of them often gets booted off the mattress. On a national level, Oliver North's notes became confetti and Richard Nixon's tapes suffered 18 minutes of silence when someone expressed interest in them. The missing items in both cases had the potential of being politically embarrassing.That's at least one reason Vernon Gray's idea that he and other County Council members are the best judges of what should be publicand what should be secret is ludicrous.