ANNAPOLIS – The State Board of Elections met behind closed doors for nearly eight hours Thursday to discuss “multiple personnel matters,” amid speculation that board members were looking to fire elections chief Linda H. Lamone.
Board members refused to say what decision was made in the meeting, which broke up shortly before 9 p.m., saying only that there would be an announcement at noon today.
“There are a number of reasons why I can’t tell you anything, and I’ll give them tomorrow,” board Chairman Gilles W. Burger said in a terse session with reporters after the closed-door meeting.
Burger did acknowledge that the board had reached a conclusion on the subject of the meeting, which began about 1:15 p.m.
Before going into the session, Burger read a short prepared statement that said the meeting had to be closed “to discuss multiple personnel matters that affect one or more specific individuals, to consult with counsel to obtain legal advice, and to consult about pending or potential litigation.”
The meeting comes amid recent speculation that Lamone, a Democratic holdover from the administration of former Gov. Parris Glendening, could be ousted by the GOP-majority board that has taken over since the election of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican.
Burger said that while the board met with counsel during Thursday’s session, there was absolutely no involvement from anyone in Ehrlich’s office.
Ironically, the personnel meeting came one day after an Anne Arundel County circuit judge rejected a lawsuit challenging the state’s new touch-screen voting machines. Lamone has steadfastly defended the machines, which critics say are not reliable and too vulnerable to tampering, and the judge’s ruling was seen as a victory for elections officials.
The Board of Elections normally has five members but Richard E. Menikheim, a Democrat, resigned recently, citing health reasons. That leaves the board with Democrat Gene Raynor and three Republican members: Burger, Joan Beck and A. Susan Widerman.
Those four met yesterday. Lamone was not at the marathon meeting.
Raynor, a former elections chief himself, who has previously spoken out against Lamone, would not comment on whether she was the topic of discussion.
“It’s a personnel matter and the chairman of the board will speak,” Raynor said. “I can’t comment.”
Burger would only say Thursday that he would release a statement some time Friday. After he was pressed, he said the announcement would be at noon.
A frustrated Burger added to the half-dozen reporters outside the meeting that he was sorry to have made them wait for the nearly eight hours, but “I did not ask you to come here.”
-30- CNS 09-02-04