Fundraising Season Open Again for County Council

Let there be rubber chicken dinners and bull roasts and house parties once again.

Baltimore County Councilmembers have abstained from raising money for their campaigns for the last year. But with the end of the quadrennial rezoning process two weeks ago, the seven county legislators are now free to raise money and the first event is now on the calendar.

Councilman David Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, will have an event at in Parkville in November. Guests will pay between $250 and $4,000 to attend.

The event is sponsored by Steven Sibel and Arthur Adler, two partners with Caves Valley Partners which redeveloped the Towson City Center project; David Altfeld and Ron Schaftel of Southern Land; Wayne Gioioso Jr. of Mid-Atlantic Properties;  David Gildea and Scott Barhight, development lawyers with and respectively; Tim Bonner and Pat McElroy of and Russell Berk of .

The remaining six councilmembers are expected to quickly follow suit with their own events, if they haven't done so already.

For the last year, the council has . County law does not require fundraising forbearance. The voluntary practice dates back to 1994 at the request of then Councilman Kevin Kamenetz who was concerned about the appearance of impropriety that could come from raising money while making zoning decisions.