Pelura reaffirms belief that Currie should ‘step down’ as Budget and Taxation Committee Chair

Speaking with PolitickerMD.com this morning, Maryland Republican Party Chairman Jim Pelura reaffirmed his belief that Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-District Heights) should step down as chairman of the powerful Budget and Taxation Committee at least until the investigation into the FBI raid of his home on Friday is complete.

The party chair said he was "not calling on (Currie) to resign from the Senate," and said, "He is innocent until proven guilty."

"This investigation has now expanded," Pelura said. "It is my understanding that (authorities) are now looking at his legislative records along with his personal records."

Pelura said he believed that Currie has "at least violated some ethics laws" by not disclosing to the State Ethics Commission that he had done consulting work for the Lanham-based company Shoppers Food and Pharmacy.

"He owes it to the citizens of Maryland," Pelura responded when asked why Currie should step down from the committee. "He's being investigated for financial impropriety and he chair's a committee that deals with budget expenditures."

Pelura said Budget and Taxation Committee Vice-Chair Edward Kasemeyer (D-Arbutus) should chair the committee during the Currie investigation.

"When the process is complete, if it turns out he's done nothing wrong-great," Pelura said.

He also responded to a statement made yesterday by Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor, who said, "This is not a time for the Republican Party or anyone else to use vague and uncertain events as a smear tactic to score political points."

"There's no smear tactics in what I've said," Pelura responded. "Again, I'm not saying he's guilty or asking him to resign from the Senate."

In his statement, Cryor also mentioned the "multiple scandals" involving GOP officials, adding, "One would think that such a group would exercise a little restraint before making broad assumptions and issuing accusations for the sake of political gain."

When asked, Pelura said he did not think it was appropriate for Cryor to cite scandalous events involving Republicans in the contest of this matter.

"You have Democratic scandals to," Pelura said. "You take them in a case by case basis."

Cryor was not available for immediate comment, but we are expecting to hear from the Democratic chair later this afternoon.