Politics & Government

Judge Sides with Mayor, Says Ethics Commission Defied 'Common Sense'

A new Aberdeen Ethics Commission will reportedly be appointed this month.

The mayor was right and the Ethics Commission was wrong, a Harford County Circuit Court judge has ruled.

Members of the Aberdeen Ethics Commission have been asked to step down after a Harford County Circuit Court judge overturned their ruling that a trip Aberdeen Mayor Michael Bennett took to Georgia in 2011 was unethical, The Aegis reported.

The trip to Augusta, Ga., was intended to dispel rumors that building Ripken Stadium in 2002—a project funded by Maryland, Aberdeen and Ripken Baseball—left Aberdeen in debt, according to The Augusta Chronicle.

At the time of Bennett's trip on Oct. 3, 2011, Augusta was considering building a stadium for the Augusta GreenJackets, also owned by Ripken Baseball (the minor league team has since changed hands). However, The Augusta Chronicle reported, local leaders were hesitant about the project and stalled after a Baltimore Sun article revealed Aberdeen was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year as a result of the stadium.

Bennett's trip to Georgia was paid for by Ripken Baseball, which the Aberdeen Ethics Commission said was "imprudent" and reflected a "failure to think through the implications and consequences of these actions."

Two years later, Harford County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Waldron said that the Aberdeen Ethics Commission was the party whose decisions were "inconsistent with common sense," according to The Aegis.

Bennett said that he was doing his job as the mayor.

"Mayors all over the United States are cheerleaders for their local businesses. They go everywhere. That’s part of the job," Bennett told Aberdeen Patch in 2011.

Bennett reportedly said a new ethics commission, made up of five members, will be appointed on Nov. 25.

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