BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A request that Gov. Martin O’Malley block a referendum that would decide Carroll’s top police agency has drawn heavy opposition among residents and state lawmakers.

“I think it’s an attempt by the commissioners to manipulate the governor to get their way, and that’s all I see it as,” said Sen. Larry Haines, R-District 5.

Haines was one of four state lawmakers from Carroll who backed the referendum after outraged voters complained that commissioners voted in October to create a new countywide police department without holding a public hearing.

The commissioners also decided to reduce the role of the sheriff’s office and disband the Resident Trooper Program, in which state troopers patrol Carroll under a contract with the county.

Commissioners Dean Minnich and Julia Gouge sent O’Malley a letter last week asking him to block the referendum to help preserve the “basic authority for which we were elected to exercise.”

O’Malley’s office is reviewing the letter, said Christine Hanson, a spokeswoman for the governor.

“I know Governor O’Malley pretty well,” Haines said. “I don’t see Governor O’Malley vetoing an emergency bill.”He said Gouge and Minnich overreacted.

“This is not blocking the commissioners from anything,” Haines said.

“All this is doing is giving the voters of Carroll County, the qualified voters, a chance to vote on the issues. And again, this is one of the biggest public policy changes in this county in many, many years.”

The letter to O’Malley also has prompted residents to organize in the hopes that droves will travel to Annapolis to testify in favor of the referendum.

“This isn’t anything personal; this has everything to do with what [commissioners] did not include — public opinion,” said Michelle Jefferson, a Westminster resident who supports the referendum.

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com