Maryland Department of Agriculture

Attorney General Doug Gansler (D)W. Michael Phipps, president of the Maryland Farm Bureau, told WTOP he believes state Attorney General Doug Gansler (D) should “be impeached or recalled, whichever is swifter,” for allowing the state Department of Agriculture to release documents on how chicken farms are managing manure and its effect on surrounding waters.

The farm bureau is pursuing a lawsuit against the agriculture department and Waterkeeper Alliance, a clean water advocacy group that prompted the department to make the farm’s ‘Nutrient Management Plans’ public. But Phipps places the blame squarely on Gansler’s shoulders.

"It's pressure, I think, from the attorney general, who actually is supposed to be defending the law that the General Assembly passed and the governor signed back in '98 which states that the plans are to be confidential,” Phipps said. “And… instead of defending the law, he's usurping it.”

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) issued a statement today in remembrance of former state Agriculture Secretary Wayne A. Cawley, Jr., who passed away Monday at the age of 84.

"The death of Wayne Cawley, Jr., represents a great loss to the agriculture community of our state," O'Malley said. "Dedicating more than ten years of loyal service to the people of Maryland, former Secretary Cawley demonstrated his love of farming not only through his career, but also with his craft as a grain farmer."