Legal Block Proposed to
Prevent Future Land Deals
Dyson says  disposal of state property shouldn't be kept secret

By SARAH LESHER
Capital News Service

ANNAPOLIS -- At least five bills in this year's General Assembly
would limit the state's ability to sell land without legislative
oversight, but the most thorny would amend Maryland's
Constitution.
That move -- executed in the wake of a dubious and failed land
deal in St. Mary's County -- has strong Democratic support, but
Republicans are calling it unnecessary.
After the media uncovered the proposed sale of conservation land
to developer Willard Hackerman, hearings were held, and Democrats
began this session proposing ways to prevent the administration
from selling off real estate "crown jewels" without specific
approval from the General Assembly.
The benefit of a constitutional amendment is that if passed it
would go directly to voters -- Ehrlich would not have veto power
over it.
A constitutional amendment would require support of three-fifths
of each chamber -- 29 votes in the Senate, 85 in the House.
According to a Senate legislative aide, at least one Senate bill
already has 30 sponsors and co-sponsors.
Another bonus for Democrats is that the bill would appear on the
same ballot in 2006 as Ehrlich's reelection bid, serving to
remind voters of the publicity the St. Mary's deal garnered.
Legislative Republicans see the amendment effort as mere
politics.
"I think it's completely unnecessary," said Delegate Anthony
O'Donnell, R-Calvert. "It's a solution in search of a problem.
It's an incursion by the Legislature into the executive branch, a
manifestation that folks are still sore about losing the election
two years ago," he said.
It's not politics, said Sen. Roy Dyson, D-St. Mary's.
"We consider the land and the process (of disposing of it) as
sacred as some of our fundamental rights, so I think it should be
in the Constitution of Maryland."
Dyson said Tuesday he has received letters and e-mail from
constituents who said they were Republicans, but didn't like the
land sale.
"I told them people could like Governor Ehrlich but not this
policy," Dyson said. He noted it was their land, purchased with
taxpayer dollars.
Ehrlich batted down the talk of the deal.
"It's an old story that was no story in the first place," he
said, caught Tuesday after an unrelated news conference.
In early 2003, the Department of Natural Resources -- along with
other state agencies -- inventoried its assets and said it found
2,900 acres with little natural resource value that should be
disposed of to maximize state assets.
In October, media uncovered the proposed sale of land at the
state's cost of $2.5 million to Hackerman, a developer with long
and deep political connections to both parties. Hackerman said he
intended to donate part of the land for schools and seek a tax
break of $7 million by donating development rights on the land,
but state records released in November show that Hackerman also
wanted to rezone part of the property to develop waterfront
homes.
Hackerman has said the deal has been misunderstood and he has
been mistreated by the media.
The deal fell through, and since then other proposed disposals
of state land have been questioned by the media, conservation
groups, and Democrats.
Dyson said the failed deal was a tremendous departure from what
had been done in the past to preserve open space.
"I wish it had never come up. People are (already) very cynical
about the political system, and then the governor tries to do
something in secret."
Delegate Peter Franchot, D-Montgomery, called the proposed
excess land disposal "the mother of all fire sales. If it's not
nailed down, this governor will sell it. They're basically
stripping the state down to its axles."
Franchot said the Department of General Services had hired The
Staubach Co., formed by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger
Staubach, to "help sell off assets."
"The governor then had a fund-raiser with Roger Staubach as the
draw, filled with developers eager to whisper in Staubach's ear
about projects they thought the state should do."
Dave Humphrey, spokesman for the Department of General Services,
confirmed that Staubach's company had won a competitive bid to
develop a database and software modeling tools to help the state
determine how best to use its real estate assets.
Delegate Mary-Dulany James, D-Harford, favors legislation over a
constitutional amendment. She said her father served on the Board
of Public Works, was president of the Senate, created the Open
Space program, and left her "with a real sense of the importance
of preserving the balance of power."