Ethics violation accusations traded
Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly and County Council member Aaron Penman are sparring again, with the latest tussle revolving around an alleged ethical violation on a land use review.
Previous public exchanges between the two Republicans include wiretapping claims, accusations against the county executive about alleged misappropriation of funds, and attempts to disqualify Penman from the council.
On Feb. 14, District B member Penman filed an ethics complaint to the state prosecutor’s office, in which he alleged Cassilly signed a real estate plat, which is a plan for land use, submitted on behalf of the county executive’s brother Joseph Cassilly. Harford County’s ethics code bars an elected official from engaging in a matter in which the elected official or their relative has an interest.
“He’s circumventing the system to streamline development for his personal gain,” Penman said in an interview.
On Sept. 23, a revised final plat for Belcamp Heights, located at 2811 Belcamp Road, was submitted by Wilson, Deegan and Associates, a surveying company in Jarrettsville, on behalf of Joseph Cassilly, former Harford County state’s attorney who was disbarred for his handling of a 1981 murder trial.
According to a survey document, the plat is owned by the Cassilly Company, which is registered to 112 East Broadway, the county executive’s home address in Bel Air. The purpose of the plat review was to reduce eight recorded lots to three
because septic systems could not be included in all eight lots, Joseph Cassilly said.
Penman accused Bob Cassilly of expediting the approval of the plat review, as it was signed by the county executive Nov. 20. The council member’s ethics complaint then alleges the plat was listed for sale by real estate agent Aimee C. O’Neill, whom Cassilly appointed to the county’s planning advisory board in 2022.
In response to Penman’s ethics complaint, the office of the county executive denied the accusation, calling it “a false attack.”
“For him to come out and make serious allegations that somehow no one that shares my last name in Harford County can do a land transaction while I’m the county executive is an absurd result,” Cassilly said in an interview.
A Wednesday news release by the county executive’s office says Cassilly did not review and did not sign the Belcamp Heights plat. Rather, since the submitted plan involved a family member, it was reviewed and signed on his behalf by the director of administration, Robert McCord.
The news release states: “The plat document clearly shows the director’s same handwriting on two signature lines — once on the line for himself as director and again on the line below for the county executive, properly followed by the director’s initials.”
The county executive’s office also renewed a concern about Penman, citing his dual role as council member and a sergeant with the Harford County Sheriff ’s Office.
On Monday, Harford County Attorney Jefferson Blomquist wrote a letter to the county’s ethics board questioning whether Penman can be on the council while employed by the sheriff ’s office.
Penman initially stepped down from his role within the sheriff ’s office after being elected to the County Council in 2022. However, he was rehired after a Maryland Supreme Court ruled in favor of council member Jacob Bennett, a Democrat, who faced a similar conflict for his role as a county teacher.
The state Supreme Court ultimately decided Bennett could serve as a District
F council member while working as a teacher because Harford County’s school system is a non-county agency. In the same court ruling, the court referenced the sheriff ’s office in a footnote as an example of “non-county agencies that receive funding from the County.”
Using the Maryland Supreme Court ruling as a defense, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler rehired Penman to the Southern District.
Blomquist tried to ask the Maryland Attorney General’s Office for a legal opinion on Penman’s ethical status given his dual role. However, the state’s attorney general’s office did not offer an opinion and said it was a matter of county law.
“Penman’s a state office holder and he should be standing up and recusing himself on anything to do with the sheriff’s office,” Cassilly said. “But he’s sitting there as a vocal advocate.”
“This is just another attempt to remove law enforcement representation from the council,” Penman said.