Ethics Commission Dismisses Complaint Against County Executive, Council President

The county’s ethics commission has dismissed a complaint filed by a former lobbyist who alleged that the county executive and the county council chairman used their influence to have her forced out of her position with the Howard County Chamber of Commerce.

In a complaint filed Jan. 19, Diane Wilson said that within a week of her hiring as the director of government affairs for the Chamber of Commerce she was asked to resign because of actions and statements made by County Council President Calvin Ball and County Executive Ken Ulman.  She said both Democrats used their “prestige of office” to have her pushed out of the position.

Reached late Friday, Wilson said she had not been informed of the commission's decision. "I did not hear it. Not a telephone call, not a letter, not an email," she said.

 "I'm very disappointed that the ethics commission decided to dismiss this.  I also am disappointed that they did not contact me," she added. "There’s no question in my mind that this was in my view unethical. It wasn’t right. It cost me my job."

Wilson is a Republican who in 2002 unsuccessfully ran against Guy Guzzone for a seat on the county council. Guzzone, a Democrat, is now a state delegate representing Howard County.

Wilson said in her letter to the commission that both Ball and Ulman called the chamber to complain about her hiring. Wilson said Ulman told Mark Thompson, co-chair of the chamber’s legislative committee, that Guzzone would “likely not work with me due to a ‘hostile campaign' between me and then council member Guzzone in 2002.”

Kevin Enright, spokesman for the county, said Ulman did call Thompson “to pass along what he was hearing from fellow elected officials. The executive believed that the chamber was unaware of these concerns.”

Neither Ball nor Ulman, according to Enright, talked to Wilson about her position at the chamber.

“Executive Ulman never asked that Diane Wilson resign,” Enright said, “nor did he ever provide the chamber with an opinion on whether she should hold the position.”

Additionally, Wilson alleged in her complaint that Ball called Pamela Klahr, the president of the chamber, and said that Wilson was “too political, had been ‘out front’ of several Republican initiatives during the recent election, and told Ms. Klahr that the county executive would not be happy with my employment with the HCCC.”

Ball said in an email that he “didn’t recall saying those things.” He said he speaks frequently with chamber officials on different issues.

The ethics commission dismissed the case Friday. In its decision, it noted that it is charged with setting standards for “public business,” or those of the government. The Howard County Chamber of Commerce is a private business.

“ … The commission finds that the complaint does not come within the scope of the Public Ethics Law because the acts alleged were not directly related to public business,” the decision reads. 

Even if the facts were true, “the executive and the councilman expressed opinions which were not directly related to, and had no direct impact on the county, county business, or a government action,” the statement added. 

The complaint also said that Wilson didn’t allege Ball or Ulman received any gain, financial or otherwise, when she was asked to resign.

News of the complaint was first made public on Cross Purposes blog.