Hey remember Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby
Delauter? If not maybe this can jog your memory. Kirby Delauter is back in the news for very
different reasons. He is the owner of W.F. Delauter & Son, an excavation, utility,
and drilling contractor. Back when he
was a County Commissioner[2] the Ethics Commission in
Frederick County ruled that it would be a conflict for his company to bid on
County projects. Now that he is a County
Councilmember, however, the Ethics Commission no longer feels like it would be
a conflict of interest. According to this article Delauter can vote on the capital
improvement budget but should recuse himself on any project he wishes to or
already has bid on. County Executive
Jan Gardner (a Democrat) and Council President Bud Otis (a Republican) wrote this letter to
the Ethics Commission to say (and I’m paraphrasing here) “WTF? No seriously, WTF?” They end the letter with
this “We will take immediate action to remedy this
situation with legislation and executive order” and according to thisarticle they are moving forward quickly to take those actions. I will bring this to Howard County in a
second but first let’s take a moment to gawk at Kirby Delauter. Here are his highlights from that article:
"I really didn't think she would be that arrogant to do what
she is doing," [Delauter] said. It
shows that whenever Gardner doesn't agree with something, she will go around
the process, he said. He said Gardner says she wants a fair process and wants
people involved, but she really wants only certain people involved.
"She wants the process to benefit her," Delauter said.
The way that Gardner is running the county is "basically like
a dictatorship," Delauter said.
And in case you were wondering why his fellow Republican and
colleague escaped his wrath, wonder no longer:
When told that Otis' name was
also on the letter, Delauter said, "He has to look in the mirror every
day."
Okay so I bring this whole issue
up for two reasons. The first is that we
have two County elected officials who are Republican. The first is Councilman Greg Fox and the
other of course is County Executive Alan Kittleman. While my disagreements with both are
widespread both are smart, good intentioned, and decent. Greg Fox appears to have even made it his
habit to recuse himself when any energy related policy or procurement comes
before him[3]. I know that my declarations are pretty mild
but seeing Kirby Delauter in action compelled me to mention how bad we COULD
have it here in Howard County.
Secondly, conflict of interest
and undue influence are terms we throw around a lot in Howard County. Almost always around issues that are very
gray and this issue, a County Councilmember literally bidding on a County
project, helps set the end zone line.
[1] The
title is a quote from my favorite Kirby, Kirby Puckett. Although his song
"lady willpower" is mediocre at best and a lot of his stuff is
creepy. Wait that's Gary Puckett, never mind. So a quote from my
favorite Kirby for a post on my least favorite Kirby.
[2]
Without going into too much detail, a Commission serves as both the Executive
and the Legislative branch and in a charter County there is a Council
(Legislative Branch) and an Executive.
Frederick is in its first year with a Council and Executive.
[3] He
works for Constellation Energy.
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