Possible Conflict of Interest for Commissioner Lockhart?

Most of us had seen the headline in Friday's edition of the Cecil Whig about concerns that Commissioner Lockhart had a conflict of interest with his vote on the Artestian Water & Wastewater of Maryland deal. I do not know what the policies are for Cecil Federal employees and board of directors members are. The company that I work for is owned by PNC Bank. When I decided to run for Register of Wills a couple of years ago, I had to get permission from the ethics committee at the bank to run. I was told that if I had won, I would have to leave the company because of potential conflict of interests. I had a lengthy conversation with my point of contact at PNC and was told that employees could not be an elected official for most public offices because of potential conflicts of interest. This list included Register of Wills, Treasurer, County Commissioner and etc. I wasn't told if this was a federal banking regulation or just PNC's position on the issue.

I would have to agree that in this case, as a member of the board of directors of Federal Cecil, he should have abstained from voting on this matter. At the end of the day, its the public's perception that is most important.