Maloney: No conflict in representing Peters, Schrader

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Timothy Maloney, a former legislator representing two of Gov. Larry Hogan’s Cabinet secretaries in a lawsuit, said concerns that he has a conflict of interest because of his relationship with the president of the Maryland Senate are overblown.

Maloney, a partner at Greenbelt-based Joseph Greenwald & Laake, is a longtime friend of Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and does legal work for Miller’s family and his law firm. On Thursday, Maloney filed a lawsuit on behalf of acting Planning Secretary Wendi Peters and acting Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader seeking to have the court order that they both be paid their salaries.

Miller, in a statement Thursday, raised concerns that Maloney had a conflict of interest that could prevent him from continuing in the case.

Miller, in his statement, said he could not “comment further as the attorney for the plaintiffs has represented both my family and myself, and continues to be on retainer with my law firm, a conflict that needs to be resolved before this case moves forward.”

Peters and Schrader filed suit Thursday asking an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge to declare their appointments legal while also declaring the the legislature violated the separation of powers in the Maryland Constitution when it added language to the budget barring the pair from being paid because their nominations were not voted on by the full Senate.

State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp has refused to pay the pair since July 1. The two secretaries are also seeking to have the court order Kopp to pay them and declare that she has no authority to withhold their salaries.

Neither Miller nor his family are named in the lawsuit.

Maloney, speaking on Friday, said there is no conflict of interest that would prevent him representing Peters and Schrader.

“I love Mike Miller dearly,” Maloney said. “That doesn’t mean there is a conflict of interest when conflicts over constitutional separation of powers arise. This lawsuit does not involve either Mike Miller or his family.”