Annapolis-area Del. Shaneka Henson did not disclose her financial relationship with an Odenton child care center while also approving state bond funding for the nonprofit, displaying “an appearance of a conflict of interest,” according to the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics.
After a year-long investigation, the committee found that Henson, a Democrat, was listed as the legal representative for Kingdom Kare, Inc., a church-affiliated organization providing educational, health and other services, in a grant application for state funding through Maryland State Legislative Bond Initiatives in 2022 and 2023. At the same time, the nonprofit was paying Henson for her legal services, according to a letter sent to House Speaker Adrienne Jones, a Democrat, on Wednesday.
The letter signed by Sen. Charles Sydnor III, a Baltimore County Democrat and the ethics committee’s Senate co-chair, described “an ongoing practice” by Henson “to hide her relationship with Kingdom Kare” through “false responses to direct questions” during a meeting with Jones, comments to a fellow delegate and “her lack of transparency with other colleagues.”
“The Ethics Committee determined that there is, at a minimum, an appearance of a conflict of interest with respect to Delegate Henson’s actions involving Kingdom Kare and the Veterans Resource Center,” Sydnor wrote in the letter to Jones.
The committee has recommended to Jones that Henson not be placed on the Appropriations Committee again, according to the letter. Henson had served on the Appropriations Committee from 2019 to 2023 when Jones moved her to Ways and Means.
In a statement released Wednesday evening, Henson apologized for any appearance of a conflict related to the matter.
“I want to emphasize that I did not file the legislative bond bills at issue,” she wrote. “They were filed by another delegate in a different district, and I had no participation in the process nor knowledge that I was listed as legal counsel for Kingdom Kare.”
During the 2022 legislative session, Kingdom Kare was allocated $850,000 through the Legislative Bond Initiative, or LBI, process. In documents submitted to the state, the nonprofit listed “Shaneka Henson” as its legal representative.
Appropriations Committee members are heavily involved in the process of approving LBIs.
In May 2022, the organization applied for an Anne Arundel County grant to pay for a feasibility study for its Veterans Resource Support Center. The proposed center would offer wraparound services for veterans. Kingdom Kare asked for $10,000 for a legal review consultation.
Two months later, the organization hired Henson’s law firm, Johnson Legal Group, owned solely by Henson, to serve as general counsel and litigation counsel for the Veterans Resource Center, according to the ethics letter. Kingdom Kare paid her $5,150 in September 2022 and $5,000 in July 2023.
In 2023, Kingdom Kare, submitted a second state grant funding request for the Veterans Resource Center totaling $650,000. On Feb. 3, 2023, Henson attended an Anne Arundel County House Delegation meeting at which Kingdom Kare advocated for itself to receive the funds. According to the letter, Henson did not recuse herself or disclose to the delegation that she had already been paid by the nonprofit and expected to be paid again for her work related to the veterans center.
In the 2023 LBI request, Henson was listed as the grantee’s legal representative but this time under the name “Shaneka Johnson.”
“When committee staff asked the President and CEO of Kingdom Kare about the change in the name listed, she indicated that she knows Delegate Henson as ‘Shaneka Johnson’ and listing her under the name ‘Henson’ in 2022 was a mistake,” the letter states.
For the past nearly 13 years the organization’s president and CEO has been Barbara Palmer, according to her LinkedIn. She is the wife of the organization’s co-founder Pastor Antonio Palmer, who also leads Kingdom Celebration Center, a Gambrills church, with his wife.
In a meeting with Jones on Feb. 16, 2023, Henson told the House speaker she had not been paid by Kingdom Kare even though she had, according to the letter. She added that she didn’t know why she was listed as their legal representative despite Kingdom Kare naming her as such.
Jones changed Henson’s committee assignment after that meeting.
Three weeks after the meeting with Jones, on March 8, 2023, Henson filed a presumed conflict of interest form and a form recusing herself from voting and other legislative actions related to Kingdom Kare’s legislative bond initiatives. She failed to disclose that she had a contract with Kingdom Kare to provide legal services, had received compensation for that work and that the grant that funded her legal services was included as a source of funding on the bond initiative fact sheet, according to the letter.
“The Ethics Committee believes it is more likely than not that Delegate Henson would have taken action related to the LBI that would have provided funding to her employer, Kingdom Kare, if you had not met with her and changed her committee assignment,” Sydnor wrote to Jones.
Henson may not participate in future legislative bond initiatives related to Kingdom Kare, according to the letter.
The letter also details an advertisement placed in the promotional booklet for the 2021 Annapolis Juneteenth celebration. The ad shows a photo of Henson, the words “Delegate Shaneka Henson,” the authority line for her campaign committee and a solicitation for her law firm.
“My position as delegate was not used to promote my legal practice at this event,” Henson wrote in her statement Wednesday. “The organizers are close family friends who I have known since childhood.”
Henson told the ethics committee “that the page was comprised of two separate advertisements – one for her campaign and one for her law firm,” according to the letter.
The committee “did not find this assertion credible,” according to the letter, and informed Henson that the use of her title to advertise her business “was an improper use of the prestige of her state position.”
The matter of the advertisement has been referred to the State Board of Elections, the letter states.