O'Malley's Office Accused Of Pressuring State Police

Hilltop's owners have said they did nothing of the magnitude alleged and were treated unfairly. They contended that they were able to conduct inspections far more rapidly than police assumed, a position an administrative law judge found not credible. In a March interview, James L. Wilson, a Hilltop owner, said a new license was the station's "just due."

Bambary, in a memo to file the day the new license was delivered, said he considered the decision "wrong on all accounts, whether for political reasons or not." He wrote that issuing the license "was in direct conflict with all standardized practices within the division."

Bambary, who was quoted in a Post story in March about Hilltop's new license, was reassigned two weeks later. A police spokesman confirmed the lateral move but declined to say what prompted it. Bambary declined to be interviewed for this story.

As a result of the episode, state police revised their policy on suspensions and revocations to make the process more transparent and to state explicitly that revocations will last at least five years and that the final decision rests with the division commander, the position Bambary held.

The intervention of O'Malley's office is apparent in documents that were obtained in recent weeks under Maryland's Public Information Act.

Malone, a deputy legislative officer, said that it is common practice for the governor's legislative office to forward lawmakers' concerns to state agencies and that the Hilltop matter was not unusual in that regard.

"Our role is to address the concerns of legislators, as well as move the agenda of the governor," Malone said.

Malone said he started talking to Exum about Hilltop in November, when lawmakers were meeting in a special session. "There never was any concern that we needed a certain result to get Senator Exum's vote on any issue," Malone said.

Malone and Sheridan said Hilltop's situation was complicated by an apparent commitment made in April 2007 by Sheridan's predecessor, Col. Thomas E. Hutchins, to allow Hilltop to resume inspections on a six-month trial basis. That is not an option available under police regulations.

Hutchins, who was appointed by O'Malley's predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), has said he did not recall offering a trial license but did not dispute the possibility. None had been issued by the time Hutchins departed in June 2007, five months after O'Malley took office.

In October, Sheridan wrote a memo to Michael Enright, O'Malley's chief of staff, saying that "the Maryland State Police has and will continue to oppose" Hilltop's re-licensure. Sheridan detailed a lengthy and contentious history dating to 1998. "Hilltop Fleet Services and those representing Hilltop Fleet Services have greatly and unnecessarily burdened the Department's resources over the last nine years," Sheridan wrote.

The revocation of Hilltop's license grew out of suspicions in 2002 that it was issuing certificates for far more vehicles than were being inspected. That led to stepped-up monitoring of the station, including video surveillance.