The La Plata Town Council voted 4-1 Aug. 18 to censure Mayor Jeannine James over her handling of a state highway-safety coalition appointment — a dispute that, according to James, centers on a genuine factual disagreement about who MDOT’s invitation was actually meant for.
The resolution, introduced by Councilman Paul Guttenberg and seconded by Councilman Patrick McCormick, cites violations of the town Charter, the council’s rules of procedure and its code of civility. Council members Guttenberg, McCormick, Tyjon Johnson and Gregory Sampson voted for censure; Mayor James cast the lone vote against it.
The council’s account, laid out in the resolution and in McCormick’s own public statement, holds that Town Manager Chuck Stevens told the Maryland Department of Transportation in mid-July that any town representative to its “Serious About Safety” coalition would need council approval first. The council voted 4-1 on July 28 to designate Guttenberg as that representative, with James dissenting. The next morning, James emailed MDOT and the lieutenant governor’s office saying the council’s designation “does not align with the intent or basis of your invitation.” Roughly three days later, the resolution states, MDOT reversed course and extended the invitation to James instead of Guttenberg — which council members say amounted to James’s email undoing a lawful council vote.
James disputes that framing entirely. In response to written questions, she said the invitation was never the council’s to redirect in the first place: MDOT’s Secretary of Transportation had invited her personally, by name, and MDOT later confirmed to her that the invitation was “nontransferable.” Because MDOT never acknowledged Guttenberg as a substitute nominee, she said, there was no council-approved acceptance for MDOT to have “rescinded” — her email, she said, simply relayed facts about an invitation addressed directly to her. She also argued the town Charter and code don’t expressly give the council authority to discipline an elected official at all, and said the council’s own public rationale — that she was censured over the “context” of a lawful email — raises First Amendment concerns. “Censuring an elected official for the context of lawful communication raises First Amendment concerns,” James said.
The two accounts can’t both be fully correct, and this newsroom has not independently reviewed the underlying MDOT correspondence or the council’s exhibits to resolve which characterization the documents actually support — the council says MDOT’s invitation was open to any council-approved representative until James’s email prompted a reversal; James says the invitation was hers alone from the start and was never validly redirected. Getting a copy of the full email chain from the town or from MDOT directly would settle the factual question.
James also cast the censure as part of a broader pattern. She said there have been repeated efforts by some council members to discredit her personally, and said that, at times, her leadership has drawn resistance in ways she attributes to being a woman in the role — a claim she raised without citing specific supporting incidents in her response. She said her focus remains on governing “by facts, by the Charter, by Town Code, and by law.”
The censure carries no formal penalty and does not remove James from office, McCormick has noted. The council is separately scheduled to hold a Sept. 8 public hearing on a proposed charter amendment addressing the “Powers and Duties of the Mayor.”
