Eric Hartley: Leopold had his chance to answer claims

The discrimination lawsuit filed against County Executive John R. Leopold this week by a former employee will still be pending on Election Day, which is barely two months away.

"It's politically motivated, period," the county Republican Party committee chairman said.

The county attorney (a political appointee) said it seemed "calculated for maximum political effect by being filed after such a long period of time and just before an election."

But Leopold has only himself to blame for the cloud of questions surrounding his personal behavior and treatment of female employees. He had opportunities to explain things in a less politically sensitive time, but instead relied on legalistic nonanswers and hoped it would all just go away.

Guess what? It hasn't.

More than a year and a half ago, a caller to 911 reported "naked people" in Leopold's official county car at a mall. Questions then arose about his relationship with a female county employee. At the time, records obtained by The Capital showed dozens of calls between her and Leopold's county cell phone, including on Jan. 30, 2009, the day of the 911 call.

Another woman, a state employee, accused him of not taking no for an answer, then making a suggestive comment after she declined to give him her number in a cafeteria line.

Karla Hamner, the former county public information officer who filed the lawsuit this week, came forward publicly, as did other women who worked for him and said they witnessed inappropriate behavior.

Leopold said the 911 call was deemed "unfounded" by police, noted that a complaint about the cafeteria incident was dismissed and refused to address other questions, dismissing them as political mudslinging.

His non-denials regarding Hamner were particularly incredible. Last year, Leopold told me he did not know why Hamner was transferred to the county Police Department shortly before losing her job altogether. He said he left such decisions up to the Office of Personnel.

"I don't know the circumstances of this individual's case. I really don't," he said.

The county executive doesn't know why his chief spokeswoman left his office? That's either a lie or an example of willful ignorance.

"I'm not going to respond to something when I haven't even seen it" in writing, he said at the time.

Now he's seen it in writing, and he's still not talking. A request to talk to Leopold yesterday was returned instead by County Attorney Jonathan Hodgson, who said he believed Hamner and her attorney hoped to push the county into settling by delaying until the election approached.

Hamner's lawyer, John M. Singleton, said the case was handled like a normal employment discrimination case. He said Hamner is a Republican and had no desire to help Leopold's opponents politically.

Hamner was unemployed for more than a year (she now works at a Best Buy store in Kentucky), so in informal talks with the county this spring, Singleton asked for damages of just under $70,000, her former annual salary, plus attorney's fees.

"We all really wanted to try to settle it," Singleton said. "Karla told me, 'Hey, listen, we've got to do this now. We don't want to look like we're doing this for political reasons.' "

Asked whether he had considered postponing the filing until after the election, Singleton said: "My client needs the money now. I can't just keep waiting and waiting."

If Hamner really wanted to politicize things, she could have filed the lawsuit just before the July 6 candidate filing deadline, leaving time for more opponents to jump in the race.

Singleton said he showed the county a draft complaint far more inflammatory than the one he planned to file, including information about the January 2009 parking lot incident. That was "a wake-up call" because county attorneys were blowing him off, he said.

So should any of this matter when you go to the polls in 68 days?

Leopold, 67, is not married, and Singleton said the lawsuit is about on-the-job discrimination and retaliation, not Leopold's personal life.

"If (Leopold) hit on people, that's not illegal," Singleton said.

It's when his dating pool seems limited to the county payroll that there's a concern.

Have the flames of these accusations been fanned by political rivals? Sure. That doesn't mean they're not true. Flames can only be fanned if there's a spark.

John Leopold is kind of an unusual guy. That's not a judgment, simply a fact. He is highly intelligent, borderline narcissistic, a political loner who is obsessed with his portrayal in the media and evidently lives for public service.

Sounds a bit like Bill Clinton, who, despite all the scandals, was a pretty good president. And Leopold's a pretty good county executive.

Sheer numbers suggest Leopold is difficult to work for. As Hamner's lawsuit notes, he has gone through five to seven public information officers (depending on how you count) in less than four years in office. All but one were women.

But a lot of voters may care about nothing other than the fact he's kept taxes low and handled constituent complaints.

In interviews last year with The Capital, two women who worked as Leopold's legislative aides when he was a state delegate described behavior toward women that made their skin crawl at times.

Yet, both said they voted for him and think he's good at his job.

Read Eric Hartley's "Arundel Outtakes" blog at www.hometownannapolis. com/blogs.

ehartley@capitalgazette.com