In 15 days, Maryland will record three firsts: first Black governor, first woman comptroller and first Black attorney general (AG). While performance supersedes skin color and gender, citizens should take a moment to acknowledge a phenomenon in our Old Line State.
Governor-elect Wes Moore, elected with a 30-point margin of victory, will arrive on the second floor of the State House with a mandate and long list of goals. He assumes office with no political experience, but a resume that includes leadership of a huge non-profit, successful book author, Rhodes scholar—and personal charisma that captured the attention and support of Democrats, mainstream Republicans and Independents.
He assumes the governorship blessed with a large surplus thanks to federal pandemic funds. Both the House of Delegates and the State Senate are heavily Democratic. His success would seem assured if he could quickly learn how to navigate the arcane legislative process and management of a $42 billion enterprise. He will deal with strong-willed legislators intent on passage and funding of their pet rocks. He will confront entrenched state agencies with their own cultures. He will find challenging facing off against the fourth and fifth branches of government: the media and lobbying firms.
Based upon his campaign, Moore will focus on pre-school education, economic development and the environment, to name just a few of his priorities. Environmental matters suffered during the Hogan Administration; Maryland’s departments of Environment and Energy Administration craved more robust staffing and State House attention.
By the way, Governor Hogan deserves praise for offering friendship and advice to his successor. Hogan has been intent on a smooth, productive transition. He understood that the dysfunctional transition between the Trump and Biden presidencies, due to the former president’s unwillingness to accept the people’s choice, was detrimental to our nation.
Comptroller-elect Brooke Lierman is a dynamic, industrious politician raised in Montgomery County who practiced civil rights and disability law and raised a family in Fell’s Point in Baltimore. She likely will seek higher office in the not-too-distant future. Meanwhile, she will lead an agency that collects taxes, serves as an economic forecaster and supports small business. She will serve, along with the governor and treasurer, on the powerful Board of Public Works (BPW), as well as the board of trustees of the State Retirement and Pension System.
Lierman served six years in the House of Delegates. She acquired a reputation for her ability to gain passage of bills she sponsored, an achievement that eludes numerous members of the General Assembly.
She will be an activist as comptroller. As a BPW principal, she will help oversee state procurement valued at $3 billion annually. She will discover that procurement, while not glamorous, presents legal and ethical conundrums. The bi-weekly meetings also offer a platform to address issues not necessarily tied to the agenda. I hope she avoids taking advantage of media coverage to voice opinions easily considered grandstanding.
Anthony Brown, a former lieutenant governor whom Gov. Hogan defeated in 2014, and who eventually became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, will become the first African American attorney general in Maryland. Relations between the AG’s and the governor’s office should improve. Like the comptroller, the attorney general answers only to voters. The AG is not the governor’s attorney. Tension is inevitable despite belonging to the same political party.
Brown is a well-experienced public servant. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he has little experience in a courtroom. He will lead and manage a large law firm comprising attorneys who primarily represent state agencies. Brown will be forceful while cautious and deliberate, focusing, he said, on crimes beyond the jurisdictions of counties, alleged police misconduct and supposed discrimination in housing.
The youth movement in the highest state offices (44, 43 and 61, respectively), along with the three “firsts,” marks a new era in Maryland politics. Optimism is the current theme. Performance will define reality. And for political devotees like this writer, the changes in style and substance will be well worth watching.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. After 44 years in Easton, Howard and his wife, Liz, moved in November 2020 to Annapolis, where they live with Toby, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who has no regal bearing, just a mellow, enticing disposition.
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