The process that resulted in the appointment by the Baltimore County Council of state Senator Kathy Klausmeier to serve the remaining two years of the term of former County Executive Johnny Olszewski ended as it began:

With the council embarrassing itself and demonstrating that the more things change in Baltimore County, the more they remain the same.

Things actually got worse as the process moved along, culminating in a secret meeting and vote that violated state and county law.

It began with the council adding a “qualification” for appointment not set forth in the county charter. Applicants were asked to pledge not to run for election to county executive in 2026.

The reason for the (unenforceable) requirement was that three Democrats on the council, Julian Jones, Izzy Patoka and Pat Young, are considering running themselves and didn’t want the appointee to have the advantage of incumbency in the race.

The result, as alluded to in an op-ed by former councilman Tom Quirk, was to rule out highly qualified candidates.

Quirk’s advice to his former colleagues not to select a “placeholder” in light of the challenges facing the county fell on deaf ears. They were more interested in getting someone who wouldn’t rock the boat and impede their own political ambitions than in encouraging highly qualified candidates to apply.

• Kathy Klausmeier set to replace Johnny Olszewski as Baltimore County executive (1/7/25)

Next came confusion over whether the names of applicants would be released to the public.

The names were eventually released and the council invited public testimony on the desired qualifications of Olszewski’s successor, but, for some unknown reason, prohibited testimony on the qualifications of individual candidates.

The process included public “interviews” of the five finalists for the position during which most of the finalists read from prepared speeches, and none were asked questions by members of the council.

The process concluded with an apparent violation of both the Maryland Open Meetings Act and a county law that required the council to vote on the person to replace Olszewski at a meeting open to the public.

The vote taken at the public meeting on Tuesday that named Klausmeier to be county executive was a legal formality and a charade.

After the meeting, we learned that the actual vote took place at an unannounced “closed session” of the council last Friday that appears to have violated the law, as first reported by WYPR.

Secret Meeting

The existence of Friday’s meeting was confirmed by the council only after it was leaked to the media that finalists (including Klausmeier) had been notified of the decision reached at the meeting, a decision they were asked to hold in confidence.

The requirements of the Open Meetings Act are crystal clear. A public body may, on the motion of a member, go into closed session only at an open meeting for which the public has been given notice.

Before the motion is passed, the presiding officer must present a written statement citing the legal justification for the closed session, and the public must be given the opportunity to testify on the motion.

None of the prerequisites were met.

The council complied with the “spirit” of the Open Meetings Act, says counsel secretary Thomas Bostwick.

Nevertheless, Thomas H. Bostwick, the council’s secretary and legislative counsel, claimed in a statement that the council complied with the “spirit” of the act.

I’d suggest to Bostwick that county residents pay him $236,000 a year to help the council avoid such egregious errors, not make flimsy excuses for them.

Secret Vote

Council chairman Izzy Patoka, who was replaced on Tuesday by a new chair, Mike Ertel, denied that Friday’s action was a vote.

He told the Baltimore Sun that it was “a discussion” among members and described it to the Baltimore Banner as “a confirmation that Klausmeier was the candidate who would have unanimous support.”

He explained to WYPR that “we deliberated and we were looking for a candidate that could secure all seven council members and we landed on Senator Klausmeier.”

So, according to Patoka it was “a discussion” resulting in “a confirmation,” not a vote. Clever. On the contrary, it was for all practical purposes a vote that decided the outcome of the process, no matter what Patoka calls it.

The council undertook a discussion, not a vote, said outgoing chair Izzy Patoka.

The tally of the official vote on Tuesday was 7-0. That is where the council members ended up; we’ll never know for sure where they started.

The county charter required that the vote by the council appointing a new county executive be on the record at a public meeting.

Even if the council had properly moved to a closed session for deliberations, it would have been required to move back into open session to vote – that means the actual vote, not the sham “official” vote. The secret vote allowed members to get their ducks in a row before going on record with their votes in violation of the intent of the charter.

Foregone Conclusion

Klausmeier was the favorite to succeed Olszewski as soon as he announced his intention to run for Congress and had his support, as he made clear in a statement that “applauded” her selection. The nature of the process that resulted in her appointment did nothing to debunk speculation that the outcome of the process was preordained.

Klausmeier’s conservative politics are inconsistent with the professed beliefs of the three Democrats from the other side of the county who have indicated that they may run for county executive in 2026.

(Her voting record gives her the highest lifetime rating of any Democratic senator in Maryland in the Conservative Political Action Committee’s CPAC Ratings system.)

Perhaps more importantly to them, she is unlikely to place them in politically uncomfortable positions by pursuing changes to zoning and other land use practices intended to increase residential density and the supply of affordable housing. Those changes have provoked intense resistance and could cost them votes in many areas of the county.

“I thank the council for its thoughtful and transparent deliberations,” Congressman Olszewski said in a statement from Washington.

I suppose that, Baltimore County being Baltimore County, it was inevitable that, in making sure that the appropriate placeholder was selected with a minimum of public debate, the council would resort to a secret vote at a backroom meeting. Old habits die hard.

Incredibly, Olszewski praised the council for its “thoughtful and transparent deliberations.” Transparent to whom?

Olszewski repeatedly brags that he ran the most open, transparent and accountable administration in county history. Maybe that’s because he doesn’t understand what openness, transparency and accountability are.

• David A. Plymyer retired as Anne Arundel County Attorney after 31 years in the county law office. He can be reached at dplymyer@comcast.net and Twitter @dplymyer.