Legislator's Conflict about Workers' Comp Causes Stir

By Peter Mantius, Northern Bureau ChiefA newspaper report on a state legislator who has sponsored workers’ compensation legislation that benefits the law firm he works for spotlights the fundamental weakness of the state’s system of part-time legislators and the conflict-of-interest laws that govern them, a watchdog group says.The legislator, Del. Benjamin S. Barnes, D-College Park, worked on 12 workers’ compensation bills during an 18-month period in which his firm’s partner brought in $5 million in fees on workers’ compensation claims, according to a report in t...