Councilman Back On The Job After Prison Term, Ready To Serve
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) -- Anne Arundel County Councilman Daryl Jones served five months for failure to file an income tax return. Now he's back on the job.
He told political reporter Pat Warren how he intends to serve his constituents.
Anne Arundel County voters in Severn and Glen Burnie are seeing more of their councilman Daryl Jones these days.
"Had it not been for the support of my family, my friends and constituents and certainly my church family, I don't know that I would have weathered the storm," Jones said.
Jones served five months in prison last year for income tax evasion. The County Council removed him from office but the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in Jones' favor and he is trying to pick up where he left off.
"In 2006 when I was first elected to office, one of the major issues was the concept of the rain tax--stormwater management fee--and now that it has passed and now has become a reality, I am continuing with that fight," he said.
Jones says reaction to his return from voters has been positive but recognizes the negative consequences of his conviction.
"I'm sure there has been negative reaction, but I would receive negative reaction for anything. I would receive negative reaction well before any of the incidents occurred. Some people thought I was too tall, too short, too light, too dark, spoke too quickly, spoke too slowly. I mean, there's going to be negative reaction," Jones said.
Term limits prevent him from returning to the council in 2014, but not from running for other offices.
"I think that when the voters in the first district elected me, they knew then I was a person who was going to stand up and fight for them. If I don't stand up and fight for myself, how can they believe I would stand up and fight for them?" he said.
He has no immediate plans beyond the rest of this term.
A public hearing on that rain tax takes place Monday night.
In another case that rocked the county, Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold resigned from office and served 30 days in jail for misconduct in office.
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