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Prince George's Taxpayers Pick Up Officials' Personal Tabs
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And in one case, to prove a council member had repaid a charge to renew his driver's license, the council administrator's office produced a photocopy of a $20 bill and a $1 bill.
Johnson said he has no jurisdiction over council members but has reminded his staff in writing not to use the cards for personal items. "We are very firm that they do not use credit cards in that way," he said.
Council member Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Bowie), the only council member who declined to have a county-issued credit card, said oversight should be shifted to the county auditor.
"It's hard for the [council] administrator to police them, because he works for them," said Peters, who recently won election to the Maryland Senate.
Business, Broadly Defined
In many cases, officials argued that their charges met the definition of county business.
Exum, for example, billed the county $150 for a framed poster she bought at a silent auction in New York in April 2003. She said she did not reimburse the county because the poster is hanging in her office. She also charged the county $520 in June 2004 for a golf outing at the Links at Lighthouse Sound in Ocean City during a conference. She said she golfed with other council members, including Hendershot.
Hendershot disagreed.
"I've never played there with Camille," he said.
Hendershot charged the county several hundred dollars for airport parking while he was on trips that were not county-related, records show.
"Even if I was away on something other than county business, I'm parking the county vehicle," he said. "It's not inappropriate for the county to cover that charge."
On a business trip to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 2003, Johnson spent $29 for a dinner at Hooters. "Hooters is a legitimate restaurant," he said. "That was my first and only time there."
When Iris Boswell, Johnson's deputy chief administrative officer for finance, went to a Mitchellville dermatologist last year, she put the $25 co-pay on her county-issued credit card. Boswell said she reimbursed the county but declined to provide proof.
