Harford County Sheriff "Buford T." Gahler Gets it Wrong Again

We've written about this before, but since Sheriff Gahler decided to re-kindle his fiery rants about why his deputy A-A-ron Penman should be permitted to work as an employee of both the judicial and legislative branches of government at the same time, we figured a re-hash of the whole thing is in order.

Most interesting about the whole thing is the Sheriff's premise in justifying his position. Not once does the County's Chief Law Enforcement Officer cite the actual law during his misguided outburst in the Baltimore Sun article. What Gahler relies on is a page right out of the Democrat playbook- Judicial Activism. Prior to the last election, every council prior understood the Harford County Charter to mean exactly what it says in plain English:

Harford County Charter

Section 207

Qualifications of Council members.

[Amended by Bill No. 12-31]

A Council member shall have been a resident and a qualified voter of the County for at least two years immediately preceding election or appointment. At the time of election or appointment, the candidate shall be a resident of the Council district from which elected or appointed. During the term of office, the Council member shall not hold any other office of profit or employment in the government of the State of Maryland, Harford County, or any municipality within Harford County, except a position held by virtue of being a Council member. The Council member shall not, during the whole term for which elected or appointed, be eligible for appointment to any County office or position carrying compensation, except to the office of Council member or County Executive in the event of a vacancy.

I'm not going to repeat the entire article I wrote back in October about this, but if you care to read the whole thing, click HERE.

In the second paragraph of his diatribe, Buford T. goes straight for to character assassination. God forbid Cassilly expect elected officials to follow the charter that gives them their lawful authority to govern in the first place. No, Gahler attacks Cassilly's character and questions his motives- even though he is the only one who appears to be following the law in this case. Again, this is another play right out of the Democrat playbook. If the council ignores the county charter, then the council is making itself illegitimate and illegal. The council and the sheriff have no more authority to ignore the charter than you or I have the ability to ignore laws we don't like. Do you think the state would just "let it go" if we all stopped paying our taxes? Somehow I doubt it. But this is exactly what we are being expected to to as the Sheriff and Council blatantly ignore the plain language of the County Charter.

Are we in the can for Cassilly? No. Cassilly should have appointed stronger Board of Education members, not the milquetoast Poynton who appears to have a man-crush on Superintendent Bulson. He should've cut harder and deeper to the county budget to eliminate waste, stave off more damage from Blank Check Barry Glassman's reckless spending, and return hard-earned money back to the taxpayers of Harford County. As a state senator, Cassilly should've stood up against Hogan's unconstitutional power grab and illegal edicts. He had a duty to stand up for the rights of his constituents as outlined in both the US and Maryland Constitutions. However, on this issue-he is correct and should be supported. If the Chief Law Enforcement Officer doesn't read and understand the laws which he is charged with enforcing, well then Harford....we have a problem.

Forgive my skepticism, but I can't help but wonder if Gahler's rant and Penman's strange tirade on the council dais Tuesday night is a coordinated diversion to distract us all from the alleged drunk driving incident (see article below) that occurred the Friday prior to Gahler's ill-conceived fulmination against the County Executive.