Announced on February 2nd by Councilmember Christiana Rigby:

I recently requested guidance from the Howard County Ethics Commission on whether I may participate in the vote on CB6-2022 and CB11-2022, legislation which would fix an error in the Citizens’ Election Fund (CEF) law. I requested this opinion because I am currently participating in the Citizens Election Fund Program as a candidate, and I wanted to ensure that voting on this legislation does not conflict with our local public ethics laws.

I’m delighted to share that I received an Advisory Opinion from the Ethics Commission this afternoon. In a 4-1 decision, the Ethics Commission concluded that Council Members participating in the Citizens’ Election Fund Program are not prohibited from voting on CB6-2022 and CB11-2022. I am grateful to the Ethics Commission for their thoughtful consideration and deliberation on this issue.

I look forward to voting in favor of CB11-2022 and fixing the Citizens’ Election Fund law at the County Council’s Emergency Legislative Session on February 7th.

You can read the Advisory Opinion from the Ethics Commission here: https://bit.ly/3seLBDc

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See the post here:

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This is great news and CB 11-2022 will have the necessary votes to pass on Monday the 7th. Thank goodness all of the issues with the Citizens’ Election Fund are nearly in the rearview mirror.

Just as some background…here is a listing of members on the Ethics Commission:

• Joanne Drielak, Chair
• Jonathan Kromm, Vice Chair
• Charles Fuller
• Joseph Markwordt
• Jean Xu

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