By Adam Pagnucco.
Part One reviewed how I obtained documents on the efforts of Elrich’s taxpayer-paid staff to save him from term limits and listed the cast of characters. Part Two related discussions of the work of the charter review commission on term limits between its chair, Jim Michaels, and two of Elrich’s taxpayer-paid special assistants, Dale Tibbitts and Debbie Spielberg. Now let’s continue reviewing the records.
In May, Michaels began discussing his plans for the charter review commission’s work with Tibbitts and Spielberg. This time, Tibbitts looped in Rich Madaleno, the county’s chief administrative officer and highest ranking manager. Michaels’s thoughts about term limits included:
There could be two ways we could surface this topic publicly.
I could use the discussion from our June 12 meeting to inform the Council during my June 18 testimony that we are considering this topic.
Second, I could also introduce two resolutions at our July 10 meeting: (1) asking Commissioners to oppose the GOP petition and send a letter to the Council members to inform them, (2) asking Commissioners to propose a ballot question changing 3 consecutive terms to three lifetime terms and sending that recommendation to the Council immediately on July 10 so they have time to act before recessing.
Tibbitts informed Michaels and Spielberg about a possible move to abolish the office of county executive in Wicomico County.
Tibbitts attended the charter review commission’s meeting on the morning of June 12. He took notes about the meeting and emailed them to himself. Tibbitts indicated the existence of a teams chat but the participants were not listed. No other records pertinent to the teams chat were included in the documents released to me.
What happened next? You will find out in Part Four.