When Bob Cassilly left the Maryland Senate to run for Harford County executive in 2022, he came armed with a plan to correct the county’s trajectory, promising to pay closer attention to the needs of residents rather than the desires of developers.
More than two years into his term as county executive, and with a plan to run for re-election in 2026, Cassilly is proud of the progress he has made, but others say he has gone too far and is actually doing more harm than good in Harford.
Cassilly, 66, was born in Havre de Grace, graduated from Bel Air High School and raised his five children in the county. He launched his 2022 campaign for county executive with one mission — do the right thing by his home county.
“We were in a downward spiral,” said Cassilly, a Republican who was a Harford County Council member from 2002 to 2006 and a state senator from 2014 to 2022 before being elected to the county’s top post. “There were struggles all over the community and it seemed like we were taking care of the development community more than the people of this county.”
Cassilly points to his collaboration with the Southern County Task Force, which regularly hosts clean-up events in lower-income areas, and support for the county’s agricultural preservation program that has protected more than 64,000 acres of farmland from development — 1,110 acres of which Cassilly marked for preservation last year — as measures that put residents first.
But along with the positives have come a share of controversies. Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler has been a consistent critic of Cassilly’s moves, in particular, the cancellation of a new police precinct and the decision to pay a $1 million settlement to the family of a suicidal man shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies in 2022.
Cassilly also ignited controversy by challenging the eligibility of two elected County Council members to serve, citing conflicts with the county charter.
In spring 2023 council member Jacob Bennett survived a challenge to the legitimacy of his seat. A state Supreme Court decision allowed Bennett to maintain his position as a teacher employed by the county’s public school system while serving on the council.
Cassilly also challenged Aaron Penman’s dual roles as a council member and a sergeant with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. Late last month the state’s highest court declined to hear Penman’s case — ultimately enforcing a Harford County Circuit Court ruling that ordered Penman to choose either the council or his position with the sheriff’s office. The Harford County Republican Central Committee has since begun working to fill Penman’s District B seat.
Cassilly said he focused on the two council members to ensure the county was following its own laws and that everyone was “playing by the same rules.” But elected officials, county leaders and constituents criticized him for challenging the legitimacy of duly elected officials.
“Doing the right thing is painful in the short term for some people because they get upset when you do the right thing, but that doesn’t mean the right thing is necessarily bad,” Cassilly said.
‘Doing the right thing’ or squashing business?
Less than a week after taking office, Cassilly took aim at a massive development project — Abingdon Business Park.
The 2 million-square-foot warehouse project was proposed in 2019 and approved a year later by former County Executive Barry Glassman’s administration. In January 2023, just days after taking office, Cassilly ordered a construction halt due to a “lack of a valid forest conservation plan.” In July 2024, Cassilly and the developer reached a settlement, essentially killing the project.
During the process, a circuit court judge ruled it was illegal for Cassilly to revoke permits approved under the former county executive. And some, including influential land use attorney Joe Snee, say going after previously approved building permits and issuing stop work orders to challenge the developers of the business park only hurts the future of Harford County.
“It shows the business community that the politicians in Harford County do not care if business and developers have checked all of the boxes, they will fight to end what you’re looking to accomplish if they don’t like it,” Snee said. “You cannot have a good business environment with a terrible political environment.”
At the time, Cassilly said he welcomed any “appropriate development that brings well-paying jobs, boosts economic activity, protects the environment and enhances our quality of life, that means proposals must fully comply with development requirements before they can move forward – there are no shortcuts.”
The fight against Abingdon Business Park, Cassilly said, was to ensure that development in Harford County is done in a responsible manner that serves both the county and its residents. Cassilly said he did not want to cut corners like former county leaders had done because he believes everyone needs to “play by the same rules.”
“If that particular developer doesn’t build, someone will and they will do it the right way,” Cassilly said. “We are ensuring we have a good quality of life and ignoring residents’ needs, sure, it might make you quick money now, but in the long run it is detrimental.”
Immune to outside influence
When running for county executive, Cassilly said he was aware of developers’ influence in Harford County, since, for decades, the county thrived by trading green space for building permits as a sole means for economic growth.
Cassilly said the influence of political money has set the precedent in Harford County that it is easier to “go along to get along” by giving back to political donors, but he doesn’t believe in that.
“It has always been that way and I say no to that,” Cassilly said. “My personal view is that when you give me a political contribution, you’re supporting my belief in good governance and people come in and think they can spread your money and the county give them what they want and we are not doing that. The game is over.”
Part of the “game,” Cassilly said, involves developers who come to the county and pay “chump change” for farmland because farmers don’t think they can build on the land. Then, developers use their “political influence” to build “and make a fortune.” This practice is in direct contradiction to Cassilly’s mission.
“Not me. If you’re giving a political contribution because you want a special favor, you’re not going to get what you just paid for because I truly believe in doing the right thing,” Cassilly said.
Looking to the county’s future, Cassilly does not see any negative impact from his actions as he is “more focused on building strong communities rather than houses.”
Former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said Cassilly’s approach of “holding the line” on developers despite mounting pressure becomes more difficult as the stakes get higher. Ehrlich, a fellow Republican who led the state from 2003 to 2007, said economic development in Harford County is in a “transitional” period.
“He is not ‘no growth,’ he is ‘more appropriate’ growth,” Ehrlich said of Cassilly. “Developing in a county like Harford with strong schools and beautiful communities is tough and has become very high stakes because there is less green space than there was 25 years ago, and everyone wants to build on it.
“You have this beautiful county with strong public schools and a great economic base — especially with Aberdeen Proving Ground — so a lot of people want to live there which creates this constant tension between the development community and every county executive,” Ehrlich said. “Bob is holding the line on appropriate growth.
Visit Harford defunding
Cassilly’s decision to eliminate funding to the nonprofit Visit Harford and instead create a tourism department within the county government had lead to ongoing consternation and a court battle.
Under a contract between the county government and Visit Harford created by Glassman, the organization was to be paid on a quarterly basis. Cassilly withheld the funding, urging the group to sign over its website to the county, or forfeit funding. The dispute has resulted in an ongoing lawsuit.
“His behavior with the Visit Harford situation is instructive and encapsulates everything that is wrong with his brand of leadership,” said Visit Harford’s consultant, Len Foxwell. “Businesses need a predictable and stable climate in which to develop long-term plans, and it is simply impossible for them to do so in a place that is led by someone who is so erratic in his approach to governing.”
Budget backlash
When Cassilly took office as county executive, Harford was facing a $90 million structural deficit. Some said the way to close the deficit was to raise taxes on residents. Others said that economic growth spurred by new development would solve the debt problem.
Cassilly said “the easy way out” would have been to increase taxes, but “that sends the wrong signal because taxpayers are struggling and higher taxes would only drive businesses away.
Instead, he has leaned on spending efficiency by reducing the number of leases the county pays, bringing government personnel under the same roof at the Harford County Administration Building in Bel Air and by flat funding many departments in the county’s fiscal 2025 budget.
Each year, Cassilly said he aims for 5% overall economic growth in the county. When funding departments in the budget, increases should be on par with the growth of the county. For example, if the county achieved growth of 5%, departments could have their budget increased by 5% or less.
Approaching the fiscal 2026 budget, the county faced a slowdown in revenue growth that some say is a result of Cassilly’s approach to development. To make ends meet, Cassilly has urged the sheriff, the school system and all county departments to reduce their budgets.
School superintendent Sean Bulson, who declined to comment for this article, said Cassilly was playing politics with the system’s budget. And Gahler took to social media to express his opposition, feeding an ongoing feud between two Republican leaders.
Gahler took issue with the county executive’s decision to halt plans for a new police precinct. Cassilly said the county couldn’t afford the building or the staffing it would require. Cassilly cited two studies on the project — one by Gahler and one funded by Cassilly — that said an additional precinct is not needed.
Gahler claims Cassilly went back on his word: “When he says things like he will build the central precinct and goes back on it, it’s because he isn’t honest,” Gahler said.
But Cassilly claims he never made “any promises” to anyone other than the voters and he cannot be intimidated into doing favors.
Harford County Public Schools, facing a $60 million budget deficit next fiscal year, proposed the elimination of 150 positions and lower raises for employees. In late 2024, Bulson criticized Cassilly for “creating a crisis” for public schools because of his unwillingness to use county funds to close the school system deficit.
“The county executive has threatened that the school system is asking for an unreasonable amount of money and if he were to fund the request, the county government would have to raise taxes dramatically. I firmly believe that this is purely a scare tactic,” Bulson said in November. “This isn’t about taxes. This is about decisions made at the county level on what to support. I want people very clear on this — this is a decision. This is not a crisis, but it is creating a crisis.”
In recent weeks, the school system reduced its request to the county by $33.76 million and now is asking for a $26.24 million funding increase from the county for fiscal 2026.
Cassilly has said he will not fund “exorbitant” budget requests and that the school system and sheriff’s office both need to evaluate their budgets to identify cost savings to align with the county’s financial reality.
Gahler says those decisions are a disservice to the county since without a healthy school system and law enforcement, the county will no longer be desirable, and residents will leave.
Harford’s divisive politics
Before he departed from the council in February, Penman called Cassilly the most “corrupt and divisive county executive in Harford County history” due to what Penman said was Cassilly’s “weaponization of government” against businesses, developers and political opponents.
Penman’s criticisms of Cassilly are similar to those of his 2022 campaign manager, Snee, and his employer, Gahler, who have all had public arguments with the county executive.
After more than two years of the county executive’s term marked by two council vacancies coupled with controversies about capital projects, funding and the future of the county in general, leaders like Cassilly, Gahler, Penman, Snee and Ehrlich can agree on one thing — the political environment is the most divisive politics the county has ever seen.
But Cassilly believes, despite the controversies, that Harford County is headed in the right direction because he will not “go along to get along” or “buy the peace.”
“There has been an undercurrent of doing what you’re supposed to do here and get along and if you don’t, it will be difficult for you,” Cassilly said. “I think the difference is that I said I don’t care because my job isn’t to avoid the pain of politics or personal destruction, my job is to do the right thing.”
Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.
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