The Big Kahuna

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and the seven members of the Baltimore County Council will be center stage later this afternoon when they host a reception in Ocean City as part of the Maryland Association of Counties conference.

Invitations for the event, featuring surfboards with the names of Kamenetz and the councilmembers, went out to political movers and shakers including state and other local government officials. (One can't help but notice Kamenetz's was the largest of the boards.)

Don Mohler, a spokesman and chief of staff for Kamenetz, said the event is not an official function of county government.

"It's private," he said in an email.

The event, scheduled for the Clairion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel at 4:30 p.m., won't cost taxpayers a dime.

Much, if not all, of the costs will be paid for by Kamenetz and the seven councilmembers.

Kamenetz's exact contribution is not immediately known. (Perhaps he contributes more because he has the bigger board?) Each of the seven councilmembers were asked to kick in about $1,000 from their respective campaign accounts for the event.

The Big Kahuna's invite carries the campaign authority lines for all eight campaigns.

It also raises a question: How does this comply with state campaign finance law which requires expenditures to somehow promote the candidacy of an individual(s)?

Jared DeMarinis, director of candidacy and campaign finance for the Maryand State Board of Elections, said "it depends on the context of the event."

"It gets down to: is this strictly a government function," DeMarinis said.

"There has to be some nexus between the expenditure and the candidacy, a 'I would not have done this but for the fact that I'm a candidate,'" he said.