Maryland Supreme Court ousts Harford County councilman: 'It's a disgrace'

BEL AIR, Md. —  Voters didn’t have the option of casting ballots for Aaron Penman on Election Day.

Afterall, he didn’t seek re-election, but that didn’t keep Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly from trying to get him thrown out of office and now the Maryland Supreme Court has ruled as a sheriff’s deputy, the county charter should have disqualified him from becoming a council member in the first place.

“What they essentially said is that the members of the sheriff’s office are state employees and that we can’t serve on the Harford County Council, which is ironic because a state delegate or a state senator can be law enforcement and serve in the General Assembly,” said Penman.

Penman had retired from the sheriff’s office before seeking a position on the council, but returned to work there after a separate court ruling allowed Jacob Bennett to hold on to his seat despite also working as a school teacher.

In a statement, the Cassilly administration says the ruling from the state’s highest court also invalidates bills sponsored by Penman, including one, which would have allowed voters to change the charter stripped the county executive of his sole power over the budget.

“Politicize it, because then your county executive is no longer singularly responsible to taxpayers to say, ‘Hey, the buck stops here’” Cassilly told us last week after his veto of the charter amendment bill on Election Day.

Penman claims Cassilly has sought political payback virtually since he first took office when he questioned the county executive shifting millions of dollars around to launch a countywide ambulance service without council approval.

“I would 100% label this as lawfare,” Penman told us, “The county law department is the largest law department in the whole county, and now, he uses that whenever he sees fit to come after sitting elected officials and citizens. It’s a disgrace to Harford County.”