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Harsh testimony in hiring-firing probe

Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005

ANNAPOLIS — A former personnel director in the state Department of Human Resources testified Tuesday that state employees were fired within the department for political reasons and under the direction of top aides to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Tom Burgess, who was the director of the Office of Human Resource Development and Training at DHR, told the General Assembly’s 12-member Special Committee on Employee Rights and Protections that DHR officials maintained a ‘‘death list” and ‘‘hit list” of employees to be fired. He accused top-ranking members of the Ehrlich administration of firing mid-level state employees for political reasons so they could be to be replaced by employees loyal to Ehrlich (R) and the Republican Party.

‘‘It’s the right thing to do,” Burgess said when asked by the committee’s counsel, Ward B. Coe III, why he decided to testify voluntarily. The committee has subpoenaed three people, but they are not likely to appear until next week’s meeting or later.

Republican committee members and Ehrlich aides continued to dismiss the investigation as partisan-fueled and without merit. They say Ehrlich’s election ended more than 30 years of Democratic administrations and there was nothing illegal about the firings because the employees served at the pleasure of the governor.

‘‘The legislative follies started early this year,” said Shareese N. DeLeaver, an Ehrlich spokeswoman.

At Tuesday’s meeting, however, Burgess detailed for more than two hours how DHR Secretary Christopher J. McCabe was told by senior Ehrlich aides that certain employees should be fired to make room for loyalists. Burgess named more than 10 employees and gave the details of their firings.

Burgess said McCabe often was not in favor of the firings, but was forced to terminate people under direct orders from Steven L. Kreseski, Ehrlich’s former chief of staff, and other officials.

A DHR spokesman did not return a call for comment on Tuesday.

Burgess, a 14-year veteran of DHR, described the role played by Joseph F. Steffen Jr. and Michelle Lane at DHR: Steffen and Lane both occupied offices down the hall from McCabe’s. Steffen had a ‘‘hit list” of five people to be fired while Lane, who was working as a liaison between governor’s staff and the department, compiled a ‘‘death list” of at-will employees to be fired.

Steffen has said publicly that he was dispatched to agencies to root out employees and recommend who to fire and who to retain. He was fired from the Maryland Insurance Administration after he was nabbed spreading rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (D) on a conservative Web site.

Lane, meanwhile, had a falling out with the administration and was fired. She is suing the administration.

Burgess, who said he was on Steffen’s ‘‘hit list,” was notified on Dec. 2, 2003 (his 24th wedding anniversary) that he would lose his job. He said McCabe said the reason for his firing was that Burgess recommended the promotion of a Democrat to a senior-level position at DHR and that angered the administration.

Burgess said he felt ‘‘used and abused” by McCabe and the Ehrlich administration because he assisted in personnel management decisions that were based on politics and not merit. Burgess did say that he was asked to make personnel moves that he disagreed when Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) was in office.

Del. Jean B. Cryor (R-Dist. 15) of Potomac said she has sympathy for Burgess’ situation and called his story ‘‘heartfelt.” She quickly added that Burgess was an ‘‘at will” employee who could be let go with the change of administrations.

‘‘When a new governor comes in, the windows are open and a new breeze comes through,” Cryor said.

Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda said that Burgess’s testimony fortified why the hearings are taking place. Frosh said he had talked to Burgess several months ago about the conditions at DHR.

‘‘He gave a very revealing window into the workings of the Ehrlich administration,” Frosh said. ‘‘It showed they were firing career employees to make room for their cronies.”

Burgess, a registered Republican from Catonsville, is now personnel chief for Baltimore city’s Department of Public Works, a job he received after answering a newspaper ad. He said he had attended a fund-raiser for O’Malley, a gubernatorial candidate, and contributed to his campaign, but his check was returned.

Burgess also said he attended a $75-a-head fund-raiser in 2002 for Ehrlich’s Democratic opponent, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and had contributed to the National Republican Party. Neither contribution, he told the committee, affected his testimony.