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ANNAPOLIS — A flap among Harford County lawmakers has fractured political alliances, elicited allegations of a leadership coup and led to a pair of ethics complaints filed against two delegates.

At least two versions of the dust-up are circulating around the State House. For months, local blogs have aired personality conflicts and disagreements over staff.

But things exploded Jan. 30 in the House lounge between Del. Donna Stifler (R-Dist. 35A) of Forest Hill and Del. Richard K. Impallaria (R-Dist. 7) of Middle River.

Stifler alleged that Impallaria, without provocation, uttered several gender-sensitive profanities at her. Impallaria maintained he did not use profane language — he said he called her a "kook" — and that Stifler publicly accused him of "abusing" her legislative aide.

Impallaria then requested that the office of House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis and the Maryland State Police investigate the exchange. He said he was cleared of any wrongdoing and it was deemed a simple dispute between two members.

Stifler declined to speak in great detail about the confrontation and the finger-pointing that has followed. She said multiple witnesses saw what took place during the initial exchange and could verify that Impallaria used obscene language.

The back-and-forth squabbling escalated into a political power struggle Monday, when Del. J.B. Jennings (R-Dist. 7) of Phoenix requested a delegation meeting after the session concluded. Only five of the eight members attended. Del. Susan K. McComas and Impallaria, the delegation's chairwoman and vice chairman, respectively, and Del. Patrick L. McDonough (R-Dist. 7) of Middlesex did not attend. District 7 includes portions of Baltimore and Harford counties.

The altercation between Impallaria and Stifler, who was present, was discussed at the meeting, and a motion was made to remove the delegation leadership. That passed unanimously. Jennings and Del. H. Wayne Norman Jr. (R-Dist. 35A) of Bel Air were then unanimously elected chairman and vice chairman, respectively.

"The delegation lost confidence in its leadership and had a vote to replace it," Jennings said.

But McComas (R-Dist. 35B) of Bel Air argued that only the chairman can call official meetings, so any business that took place was not valid. The three who hadn't attended characterized it as an unjust power grab by ambitious lawmakers and refused to acknowledge the leadership change.

"This is like we won the Super Bowl and as we walked into the locker room, they were waiting for us with baseball bats and stole the trophy," Impallaria said.

McComas and Impallaria wrote in a letter to the Harford delegation that the meeting violated both the Open Meetings Act and Robert's Rules of Order. An assistant attorney general's opinion said the meeting was permissible.

The disagreement still hadn't been resolved Thursday, when McComas rose on the House floor to announce a delegation meeting scheduled for this morning. Jennings immediately responded with his own meeting announcement.

"We're battling this all the way," Impallaria said. "This is no longer about Susan McComas or Rick Impallaria. This is about does this body have rules and do these rules apply to everybody?"

Meanwhile, Impallaria filed ethics complaints Thursday against both Stifler and Jennings with the General Assembly's ethics counsel William G. Somerville.

Impallaria alleges Stifler falsely accused him of "abusing" her aide and spreading false rumors to local media. He alleges that Jennings slandered Impallaria by telling constituents he assaulted Stifler.

The three District 7 delegates were once political allies. When Sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Dist. 7) of Cockeysville appeared to be the favorite in the 1st Congressional District race last year, McDonough and Impallaria threw their support behind Jennings to move up to the Senate. Now, the pair said they won't even run together in 2010.

"As more information gets out about this, it's going to be clear who the victims are and who the perpetrators are," McDonough said.

The Harford County infighting may spread to other caucuses. One rumor circulating around State Circle on Wednesday was the Women Legislators of Maryland would seek to censure Impallaria.

But Del. Karen S. Montgomery (D-Dist. 14) of Brookeville, who chairs the women's caucus, said the group does not call for censures of any lawmaker.

"If there's an individual who stepped over the line, they know who they are," she said.

Staff Writer Sean R. Sedam contributed to this report.