After months of debate, the Charles County Commissioners made the decision to remove a key amendment to an ethics ordinance before passage Tuesday afternoon.  The ordinance is required under state law; however, commissioners had wanted to include campaign finance reform to the ordinance.

The proposal by the commissioners would have included stricter campaign finance laws and reporting laws.  After debate, the commissioners elected to remove that amendment from the ordinance and take it up as a separate piece of legislation in the future.  

Commissioner Vice President Reuben Collins (D) said the legislation goes down a road nobody else has gone down, and said the board of elections has raised concerns about the language of the amendment.  Commissioner Ken Robinson (D: 1st) and Commissioner Debra Davis (D: 2nd) agreed with Collins.  Davis said Charles County sets itself up for something nobody else in the state has to deal with.

“Perhaps this is more applicable for an election document instead of an ethics document,” Robinson said.  “We’re all on the same page, perhaps the page should be on a separate document.”

The ordinance, as passed, establishes: Qualified relatives, businesses, lobbying, ethics commission, educational programs, provision states that commissioners can only represent the county, use of prestige of office prohibited, gifts over $20 prohibited, a new employee must file forms upon 30 days of hiring, lobbying registration must be filed by Jan. 15th, disclosure of campaign contributors.  A law passed by the Maryland General Assembly earlier this year required passage of the ordinance by all counties, municipalities and school districts, among others.