By Carl Hamilton
cahamilton@cecilwhig.com Jul 29, 2021
Court
ELKTON â A former Cecil County Elections Board deputy director accused of backdating a mandatory campaign financial disclosure form submitted by then-candidate Danielle Hornberger, who was running for county executive, received probation before judgment Thursday after accepting a plea deal.
The intentional tampering by the defendant â Lora Walters, 57, of North East â called into question the validity of Hornbergerâs candidacy and, moreover, her victory over incumbent Alan J. McCarthy in the June 2020 Republican primary, which led to her winning the county executive post in the November 2020 election.
During the courtroom hearing on Thursday, the defense maintained that Walters had acted covertly and unilaterally to conceal a mistake she had made while handling the original form that had been submitted by Hornberger.
ELKTON â A former Cecil County Elections Board deputy director accused of backdating a mandatory campaign financial disclosure form submitted by then-candidate Danielle Hornberger, who was running for county executive, received probation before judgment Thursday after accepting a plea deal.
The intentional tampering by the defendant â Lora Walters, 57, of North East â called into question the validity of Hornbergerâs candidacy and, moreover, her victory over incumbent Alan J. McCarthy in the June 2020 Republican primary, which led to her winning the county executive post in the November 2020 election.
During the courtroom hearing on Thursday, the defense maintained that Walters had acted covertly and unilaterally to conceal a mistake she had made while handling the original form that had been submitted by Hornberger.
ELKTON â The Cecil County Ethics Commission appointees were once again a hot topic of discussion Tuesday night as the Cecil County Council voted to approve the appointment of four of the appointees, while a motion to approve the fifth member failed for lack of a second.
After hearing from over two dozen county residents during their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night, the council took up the matter of approving ethics commission appointees offered by County Executive Danielle Hornberger.
As during previous meetings, several speakers voiced approval of Hornbergerâs appointees, while others voiced displeasure in the process of the removing the prior commission to replace it with five new members.
ELKTON â After over an hour of public comment and additional discussion on the matter, the Cecil County Council voted to disregard the introduction of newly numbered resolutions regarding five appointees to the Cecil County Ethics Commission and to rescind its previous rejection of five similar resolutions that came before the council during its Jan. 19 meeting, and to have those appointments be considered during the councilâs Feb. 16 legislative meeting.
The procedural maneuvering came about due to perceived issues in the councilâs new resolutions, numbered 14 through 18, which sought to reintroduce five members previously appointed by County Executive Danielle Hornberger to the ethics commission. The matter was approved by a vote of 4-0 with Council Vice President Jackie Gregory (R-District 5) abstaining due to her desire to seek legal counsel before moving forward in the matter.