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Panel grills Schisler over firings

March 14 meeting with PSC commissioners and Ehrlich aides violated Open Meetings Act, compliance board rules

Friday, May 12, 2006

ANNAPOLIS — Public Service Commissioner Kenneth D. Schisler spent three hours Thursday defending his firing of five top PSC employees to the legislative committee investigating the Ehrlich administration’s personnel practices.

In sometimes bitter and combative testimony, Schisler said the employees were not performing up to his standards and were fired two years ago without any intervention from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s office or for political reasons.

‘‘I didn’t get orders from [Ehrlich Appointments Secretary Larry Hogan] or anybody in the governor’s office to hire or fire any employees,” he said.

Earlier in the day, a separate panel ruled that Schisler and other commissioners appointed by Ehrlich (R) violated the state’s Open Meetings law on March 14. They offered detailed information about an electricity rate mitigation plan to Ehrlich’s aides meeting.

‘‘The commissioners’ description of their prior decision and its impact on consumers was intended to shape the outcome of the legislative process,” according to a decision by the Open Meetings Law Compliance Board. ‘‘The past really is prologue, and how one describes the past is itself a policy argument.”

The meeting was controversial from the get-go. The PSC’s only Democrat and only African American, Harold Williams, was excluded, prompting an angry response from the General Assembly’s black caucus.

In fact, one of the individuals who filed a complaint with the compliance board was Sen. Nathaniel F. McFadden (D-Dist. 45) of Baltimore, one of the Senate’s highest-ranking black lawmakers.

The compliance board’s decisions are advisory and carry no penalty.

The complaint is one more bump in the road to increased electricity rates for 1.2 million Baltimore Gas and Electric customers.

Rates have been frozen since 1999, when the General Assembly approved a deregulation plan. BGE’s caps expire July 1 when the company was set to increase its rates 72 percent.

After lawmakers failed to pass their own plan during this year’s legislative session, Ehrlich brokered his own deal that phased in the increase over four steps.

On Wednesday, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (D) won the first step in having a court review the increase and whether the state could have negotiated a better deal.

That ruling means BGE must stop informing customers about the Ehrlich plan.

Baltimore city Circuit Judge Albert J. Matricciani Jr. ordered a May 30 hearing on the city’s lawsuit. Published reports say city officials believe that leaves enough time for the PSC to reconsider the deferral plan before July 1.

Republicans, however, blasted O’Malley’s lawsuit, saying it endangers 6,500 employees at BGE’s parent Constellation Energy Group and $600 million in ratepayer assistance the company has promised.

‘‘Martin O’Malley’s ... lawsuit is nothing more than political grandstanding by a politician who puts himself before Maryland’s ratepayers, economy and working families,” state Republican Party Chairman John M. Kane said. O’Malley is running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Schisler said the lawsuit was about ‘‘petty partisan politics.”

‘‘If Baltimore City wins its case, customers’ only option will be to pay the full 72 percent increase,” he said in a statement.

Back in Annapolis, Schisler and Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda had a series of rough-and-tumble exchanges.

Frosh, who has called for Schisler to resign from the PSC, demanded to know why the fired PSC employees were escorted from the building by armed guards.

After accusing Frosh of disparaging ‘‘members of law enforcement,” Schisler began to raise his voice and characterized Frosh as part of the ‘‘Elvis-is-alive crowd” — or a conspiracy theorist.

The legislative committee, which has been meeting for months, is preparing to wrap up its work.

But a key witness, Joseph F. Steffen Jr., has yet to be located by the committee.

Ward Coe, the panel’s special counsel, said he has spoken to Steffen a number of times and still wants him to testify.

‘‘You can’t subpoena someone who you can’t find,” Coe said.

Ehrlich fired Steffen 15 months ago after he acknowledged spreading rumors about O’Malley’s personal life in an Internet chat room.

Steffen has said he wants to testify about his job with the Ehrlich administration.

In April, Steffen attended a Sine Die party in the Senate office building where he talked with reporters and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach.

Greg Maddalone, an emergency response manager in the Maryland Department of Transportation, also testified Thursday. Maddalone, a close friend of Steffen, said that he talked to Steffen on Monday and that he is working in Virginia.

Maddalone assured the committee that Steffen would testify.

Maddalone, a former ice dancer who has been criticized by Democrats for lacking qualifications for the jobs he has held at the Department of Transportation, defended his sport. He accused his critics of using ‘‘innuendo” in pointing out repeatedly that he used to compete in the sport.

‘‘Just because I’m a figure skater, is that some sort of innuendo?” he asked. ‘‘I’m proud of my accomplishments as an athlete.”

The committee meets again May 22.