Dwyer undeterred still on Gansler impeachment effort

Daily Record Staff//March 9, 2010//

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House Speaker Mike Busch won’t allow it and the attorney general’s office calls it unconstitutional, but Del. Don Dwyer still hopes to impeach Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.

In a statement Tuesday, Dwyer set the date: March 31. “The House Speaker has publically [sic] stated that he will rule me out of order when I attempt to bring the charge,” Dwyer wrote. “My hope is that the Speaker will recognize my authority under Article 3 Section 26 of the State Constitution” (giving the House “sole power of impeachment in all cases”).

Dan Friedman, counsel to the General Assembly in Gansler’s office, has advised Busch that Article V, §1 requires a court proceeding to impeach an attorney general. Dwyer wants to impeach Gansler for opining that Maryland would recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.