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The chiefs of the two major political parties in Prince George's County are dueling over which elections-related meeting constitutes a greater violation of the public trust.

On the one hand is a closed-door meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, between the county's elections administrator and the eight Democrats who represent the county in the Maryland Senate.

On the other hand is an emergency meeting of the elections board, held Monday, at which the members established a policy where the administrator wouldn't attend such meetings. Republicans attended the meeting, but Democrats did not.

Terry Speigner, chairman of the county's Democratic Central Committee, said the elections board meeting violated the state's Open Meetings Act, and therefore the new policy was invalid.

"The purpose of their meeting [Monday] was not to be part of a quote-unquote closed meeting. However, their lack of public notification of their meeting today constitutes a closed meeting," Speigner said.

His Republican counterpart, Mykel Harris, applauded the new policy and the board's decision to appear to be impartial.

"They must follow not just the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law," Harris said.

Harris offered a statement at the board's meeting. Speigner said he questioned why the Republicans received notification to testify and the Democrats did not.

Alisha Alexander, elections administrator, said the meeting was posted on the front door of the election board office and posted on its Web site. She called that notification adequate and what the board does normally.

The issue started when the Prince George's County delegation to the Maryland Senate — all Democrats — invited Alexander to attend today's meeting. The senators wanted information about how school board districts were going to be drawn, Alexander said.

Word of the meeting got to Harris, who released a statement calling the meeting a violation of the Open Meetings Act.

"The practice of public bodies, like our Senate delegation, creating policy behind closed-doors is clearly illegal and must end," his statement read.

Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters, who chairs the county's Senate delegation, had heard Harris was objecting to the meeting and asked the Attorney General's Office for an opinion.

Assistant Attorney General William R. Varga said the meeting with the senators did not violate the act because the senators don't constitute a public body covered by the act, at least when the General Assembly is not in session.

"Thus, meetings can be held, either open or closed to the public, without regard to provisions of the Open Meetings Act. The fact that individual officials are invited to brief the delegation on matters of interest does not alter the status of the meeting for purposes of the Act," Varga wrote Peters in an e-mail.

Speigner accused Harris of partisanship in objecting to Alexander's meeting with the senators.

"Partisanship has no place in the decision of the administrator to meet with the senators who represent Prince George's," he said. The meeting was to take place at Speigner's office in Largo.

Peters (D-Dist. 23) of Bowie said he received most of the information he was seeking from Alexander via an e-mail.