Council To Introduce Ethics Law Amendments

Legislation intended to correct flawed passed last year will be introduced tonight in the Baltimore County Council.

Included in the 11-page bill are provisions that bar elected officials from accepting tickets to sporting events.

The issue came to a head last month when it was reported that six of the seven council members and County Executive Kevin Kamenetz reported accepting tickets to Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles games in 2011.

Most notable on that list was a by Councilman Todd Huff. The Timonium Republican attended the game in Dallas as a guest of J.M. Schapiro, a developer who owns and manages apartment complexes and shopping centers in Baltimore County. Schapiro's company, Continental Realty, is also a campaign donor to Huff as well as the landlord for one of Huff's tire businesses.

Originally, the council was excluded from accepting tickets in the bill drafted by  Kamenetz. The county executive also barred general government employees from accepting sporting tickets but placed no such prohibitions on his own office.

A state Ethics Commission review of the law passed in December noted that the accepting of sporting event tickets is barred by state law and asked the county to bring the law into compliance.

The bill also requires the executive director and five-member board of the Baltimore County Revenue Authority to abide by the same ethics laws beginning October 1, 2012.