Salisbury Independent Mission Stories February 2023

 

Salisbury Independent shines light on county executive action

 In February, Salisbury Independent provided leading coverage on the new Wicomico County Executive’s effort to hire a political ally for public office – and how her effort exploded under the light of news coverage.

Julie Giordano sought to hire former gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox as Wicomico’s special legal counsel, placing the controversial Republican on retainer to handle cases outside the expertise of the county government’s normal legal team roster. Giordano terminated the contract of the county’s longtime outside counsel, Kevin Karpinski, shortly after she assumed office.

The County Executive’s effort was handled in a most low-profile way – at least until Salisbury Independent began writing about it. We relied on internal documents and a review of the Karpinski saga to inform readers. When the executive assailed Karpinski in another media platform, Salisbury Independent reported those inflamed comments in detail – Giordano’s comments are likely to result in a legal action.

Thanks to Salisbury Independent’s reporting, the community spoke out on the issue.

The hiring went down to a lopsided defeat at the hands of the County Council.