WBAL TV

As Maryland prepares to furlough about 67,000 state employees, workers said they want to know why they have to take unpaid leave when private contractors who work along side them don’t.

The controversy started after images turned up of state workers with the State Highway Administration spending the day playing poker. The poker dealer, Mike Ulrich, is a private consultant who billed the state for his time at the poker table,” WBAL TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said.

Some consultants charge as much as $85 an hour for their expertise, but on Sept. 25, the state paid Ulrich to be a card dealer. The event was an SHA employee appreciation and training day.

“The activity shown in these pictures is totally unacceptable,” said SHA administrator Neil Pederson.

Pederson said the activity directly violates a policy he put in place in 2003, clarifying the type of training and spelling out that consultants must charge their company — not the state — for their time at that kind of event.

“It’s unacceptable to me as an administrator. I’m disturbed by it and I think taxpayers should be disturbed by it,” Pederson said.

Ulrich wasn’t the only consultant at the event, Collins reported. There were as many as 15 others who helped organized games of bocce ball, balloon tosses and line dances. The events are not team-building exercises sanctioned by the SHA.

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Patrick Moran, the director of AFSCME Maryland, suggested the government look at consulting contracts before ordering furloughs for about 67,000 state workers. According to the comptroller’s office, the Maryland Department of Transportation spends $315 million a year on consulting services.

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According to an internal memo dated Nov. 12, Pederson created a team to look into the use of consultants. He instructed his senior management to keep track of consultant use and review their expenses.

The SHA recently let go of 85 consultants.