Jones stays home, but state attorney follows case to Pennsylvania
Former Ehrlich appointee ordered to testify for legislative committee
By Bryan P. Sears
bsears@patuxent.com
Posted 10/15/09
But Dan Friedman, an assistant attorney general and counsel to the Maryland state legislature, said he advised Jones not to attend the hearing.
Instead, Friedman went to the York County courtroom and was present when a Pennsylvania judge ordered Craig Chesek, a former state appointee under Ehrlich, to submit to be interviewed under oath by representatives of a Maryland Legislative Committee.
Meanwhile, Jones was at Chesapeake High School Thursday morning for a presentation of citations to county education leaders.
Friedman said Thursday afternoon “to say Del. Jones thumbed her nose at a subpoena is not fair to Del. Jones.”
Jones, a Democrat and co-chairwoman of the Special Committee on Employee Rights and Protections, was subpoenaed by a lawyer representing Chesek, a former state Public Service Commission employee. The committee formed in 2005 to look into alleged political firings after Ehrlich took office.
The subpoena came after Jones’ committee filed suit earlier this year in Pennsylvania in an attempt to force Chesek to return to Maryland to answer questions about alleged political firings of state employees after Ehrlich took office.
The committee subpoenaed Chesek to provide additional testimony in 2006. That subpoena has been repeatedly upheld by a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge and the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.
Jones said Thursday at the school in Essex that she was unaware of any subpoena — known in Pennsylvania as a “notice to appear and produce” — and had not been served with any papers.
Perry Hilbert, Chesek’s attorney, said he provided a copy of the notice to Lawrence Himes, who is representing Jones’ committee. Hilbert also faxed a copy of the Notice to Appear, dated Oct. 8, to a reporter. Himes referred all questions to Friedman.
Friedman said he told Jones to ignore the notice to appear because, “they gave her three days notice, it was not a properly filed subpoena and it was filed in the wrong court.”
“I advised her not to respond because it had no power to compel her to be anywhere,” Friedman said, adding that the hearing today would not have allowed Jones to testify even if she had appeared.
At issue is whether a Maryland subpoena that orders Chesek to testify before Jones’ committee can be enforced in Pennsylvania, where Chesek lives.
Jones said Chesek, the lone holdout of Ehrlich employees called to testify, still needs to testify even though the committee she co-chaired provided a final report and made recommendations on changes to state employee law nearly three years ago.
“It’s a matter of closure,” Jones said.
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Linebaugh refused to vacate the Maryland subpoena, which means Chesek could be forced to testify before the committee if its members travel to Pennsylvania, Hilbert said.
He said he plans to appeal the case.
But a hearing on that appeal might not happen before year’s end and while the General Assembly is in session.
Jones would not likely be subpoenaed to appear in the appeal hearing. She could be subpoenaed again if the appeals court finds fault in today’s decision and remands the case to the Court of Common Pleas, Hilbert said.
Chesek said in a phone interview Wednesday night that he is a Pennsylvania resident and out of the jurisdiction of the committee — and the Maryland General Assembly.
“I have no intention of ever going back to Maryland,” said Chesek, who lives in York County and said he has lived outside the state since 1988.
Chesek said he and his lawyer believe the committee has no jurisdiction over him because he is not a Maryland employee nor a Maryland resident.
“I testified in 2006 because I was a state (Maryland) employee,” Chesek said.
Chesek said he believes he is protected by a Pennsylvania law that allows for state residents to be turned over only to tribunals in other jurisdictions. Chesek said the committee is not a court and not a “finder of fact” as defined in the law.
The subpoena powers of the state committee co-chaired by Jones have been the subject of repeated court battles over the last three years.
Chesek is one of a handful of Ehrlich appointees who were called to testify before the committee, which was formed in 2005 to investigate alleged political firings.
Jones and the committee called the testimony of Chesek and Gregory Maddalone, an Ehrlich appointee to the state Department of Transportation, incomplete. The committee filed suit against both men in Baltimore County Circuit Court in 2007 after their appearance before the committee in an attempt to force them to testify again.
Circuit Court Judge Thomas Bollinger has ordered Chesek and Maddalone to answer questions they declined to answer in 2006. Bollinger did allow the pair to keep confidential information the committee sought on who paid the legal bills for the pair.
The committee, which spent $1.1 million investigating firings under Ehrlich, issued its report in 2006, calling the termination of some long-time state employees arbitrary and unfair. The committee technically ceased operations soon after, but voted to go into hiatus until it could take additional testimony from Maddalone and Chesek.
A state Court of Appeals ruling in 2008 affirmed Bollinger’s order for Chesek and Maddalone to testify again.
Chesek and Maddalone challenged the subpoenas, saying that the committee’s power was unclear in 2006 and that the legislature changed the law clarifying its subpoena powers in 2007. A lawyer for the pair, Donald Braden, unsuccessfully argued that the state should make a ruling based on the law as it was when they were called to testify.
Chesek said Wednesday that he knows the questions the committee wants to ask him and has offered to answer them in a affidavit taken under oath. That offer has been repeatedly rejected, he said.
“I have no problem answering the questions,” Chesek said. “But why would I submit myself to something that has a high likelihood of being a media circus with the press being tipped-off by (Jones)?”
Jones declined to comment on what questions she would like Chesek to answer.
“He knows what the questions are,” she said, adding that she wants Chesek to testify in person.
“Anybody can write anything down,” Jones said. “We want him to testify in person like everyone else.”
This story has been updated.
user comments (8)
user screamnholler says...
What authority does Jones have to keep beating this horse? Does the Committee still exist? It isn't listed on the General Assembly's web site. How much tax money is she wasting on this? When was the last time anybody was even assigned to the committee? If she wants him to testify in person, is the committee going to waste more money and have another committee hearing with all the members present, transcriptionists, etc? How much will that cost us? No matter what this Chesk guy says, will it really amount to anything beneficial for the tax payers? We don't have enough money for computers in the city schools for our next generation to be able to compete with the world, and Jones wants to spend more on this McCarthy-esque witch hunt. She ought to be ashamed. If this is just some kind of grudge match between Jones and Chesk, why doesn't someone in Annapolis have the cajones to put an end to it?
Posted 3:26 PM, 10.15.09
user stevetowson says...
Agreed... on all points. some Dems are still upset that Ehrlich did what Dems do when they get into office. They get rid of people they can't trust, and hire those they can trust. Pretty simple, and a well tolerated standard operating procedure... unless you happen to be a Republican in Maryland. Sorry, but turnabout has always been fair play.
Posted 4:05 PM, 10.15.09
user screamnholler says...
Since this afternoon, I did some checking. Her Holiness, Del Jones, has not been assigned to the Special Committee in the past three years. No one has. Since there has been new legislative sessions, and she has not be assigned to the committee, she is excersising authority she doesn't even have. For her to describe herself as the current co-chair is an intentional out and out LIE and misrepresentation. No delegates were assigned to the committee at the beginning of this legislative session and therefore she isn't even on the darn Committee. Even representing that she is currently on the committee to any court is perjurous. That she would even make statements to the press about currently being on the committee is a fraud. If she caught any republican in a lesser mistruth, she would be cranking out dozens of press releases. Why hasn't the press called her on the carpet? She is a fool. Why is it that a reporter doesn't request her to produce the proof that she is even currently on the committee? Or in our unfair state is self appointment a given for such self righteous liars.
Posted 9:46 PM, 10.15.09
user josemontoya says...
Adrienne Jones is a hyperpartisan Democrat lieutenant who reeks of hypocrisy, in three ways. First, she complains about Ehrlich patronage jobs, but holds one for Democrat Jim Smith (and I'd love to see the accounting books on how much time she spends there). Second, her "Special Committee" spent $1 million investigating Bob Ehrlich, and not a dime when Democrat Martin O'Malley fired scores of workers since 2007. Third, she wants Craig Chesak to testify, but didn't have the guts to answer a subpoena of her own! What a pathetic excuse for an elected official...a perfect symbol of the excesses of Democrat rule in Maryland (and Baltimore County).
Posted 5:36 AM, 10.16.09
user annmiller says...
Will Martin O'Malley be disclosing the $1.1 million spent so far on this Ehrlich witch hunt in his campaign finance report? Sort of an in-kind donation...
Posted 9:31 AM, 10.16.09
user min7b5 says...
I sure hope the 2010 election will bring about real change in Maryland! It would be nice to replace those with nothing better to do than to beat up on Republicans that have worked hard for the growth and prosperity of our great State. Ms. Jones should be ashamed of herself.
Posted 10:25 AM, 10.16.09
user augieboy says...
You crack me up Ann..."Disclosure?", Would love for him to disclose, especially his recent expenses to NY, South FL & LA...Our Rockstar wannabe Gov is laughable...But I digress, certainly Del Jones as with many others, have truly exposed themselves, wielding fictitious powers. Without balance this 'circus' will continue for the foreseeable future.
Posted 10:39 AM, 10.16.09
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