Voluntary Submission

The General Assembly could take up the issue of ethics laws for the Baltimore County Revenue Authority in January but one board member doesn't want to wait.

Les Pittler said he plans Tuesday to propose that the five-member board agree to have the newly-passed county ethics laws apply to authority employees until state legislators can decide the matter.

The authority meets for the last time this year on Tuesday morning.

Pittler said stories written by Patch including one in which William "Lynnie" Cook for himself and a friend on the exclusive Pine Valley Golf Course from a contractor with the agency.

Such solicitations would be forbidden by current state law and the ethics laws passed Monday night by the Baltimore County Council.

The authority, created in the 1950s by the General Assembly, manages public parking and golf courses in the county. State legislators failed to say which set of ethics laws should apply to the agency and so currently neither apply.

Del. John Cluster, a Parkville Republican, has said he plans to file a bill that would authorize the county to enforce its ethics laws on the Revenue Authority when the state legislature reconvenes next month.

Pittler said he believes the authority shouldn't wait for state lawmakers.

He added that he does not believe his proposal will be approved.