Broken Record

If this were Governor Ehrlich, I'm sure that Nelson Reichert would be hailed by Democrats as a hero. Let's see what happens since this is what happened:

A longtime state employee was fired the day after he was quoted in The Sun suggesting that the state did not follow normal procedures when it agreed to pay more than the highest appraised price for a piece of Eastern Shore preservation land.

Nelson Reichart, who had worked for the state for nearly 29 years and served for the last four as the Department of General Services assistant secretary for real estate, confirmed today that he was fired on Friday, June 29.

A day before, he was quoted in The Sun as saying that he had approved two appraisals for a 270-acre tract that the state was considering purchasing through Program Open Space in Queen Anne's County. One appraisal valued the land at $3.6 million and the other at $4.6 million. The state and Queen Anne's County together paid $5 million for it.

In the June 28 Sun, Reichart said that in such a situation, the state would typically pay the average of the two appraisals, which in this case would have been $4.1 million.

Reichart said today that his attorney had advised him not to comment on the circumstances of his firing. He said he is considering his legal options.

"You can put two and two (together)," he said.

A spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley referred questions about Reichart to the Department of General Services, but officials in that agency could not be reached today.

Just wondering what the Democrats who defend O'Malley's partisan firings will have to say about this, too....