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January 16, 2021

The Chestertown Spy

An Educational News Source for Chestertown Maryland

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More Eligible for COVID-19 Vaccines by Monday, Hogan Says

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Teachers, child-care workers, people 75 and older, and members of various high-risk groups will become eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) announced.

In expanding from Phase 1A into Phase 1B of the state’s vaccination campaign, an additional 860,000 people will be allowed access to the vaccine, according to the Maryland Department of Health’s website.

But Hogan, speaking at a news conference Thursday evening, cautioned that Maryland is currently using more doses each day than it is receiving from the federal government — and unless the flow increases soon, the state will run out.

“On Monday, Jan. 18, eligible groups will be expanded statewide to include all Marylanders 75 and over, as well as anyone of any age, living in assisted living or independent living facilities, and developmental disabilities and behavioral health group homes,” he said.

In addition to K-12 teachers, support staff and child-care providers, Phase 1B includes high-risk incarcerated individuals and elected officials.

Under state activation of Part B of the federal government’s contract with CVS and Walgreens, residents of assisted living and all other long-term care facilities will be able to get vaccinated by those pharmacies, Hogan said.

The state is setting up a new website, covidvax.maryland.gov, where people can get information about vaccination opportunities in their communities and sign up. Vaccinations will be by appointment only.

As of Thursday, Maryland had vaccinated 2.95 of every 100 residents, a rate below neighboring Delaware (3.18%), Pennsylvania (3.01%), D.C. (4.68%) and West Virginia (6.54%), according to a Bloomberg tracking site.

Maryland has used approximately a third of the 547,000 doses it has received. Only ten states and Puerto Rico have made use of a smaller percentage of its on-hand supply.

To help boost the state’s efforts, Hogan announced a pilot program at 10 Wal-Marts and 22 Giant supermarkets to administer vaccines beginning on Jan. 25.

Hogan said the state’s rollout has been hampered by logistical hurdles and a refusal by some nursing home residents and others to get vaccinated. He said that no doses will go to waste.

He and Rona Kramer, Maryland’s Secretary of Aging, stressed that the vaccines have been thoroughly vetted and are safe and effective. People with older relatives or friends were urged to help them locate a vaccination clinic in their area.

“There is no need for anyone in a long-term care facility to leave the facility in order to obtain the vaccine,” she said. “The vaccines will come to you through the CVS or Walgreens’ vaccination teams.”

Although Maryland is preparing to expand into Phase 1B of its vaccination campaign, efforts to reach people in Phase 1A — health-care workers, first responders, nursing home residents and staff, and others deemed at risk — will continue, Hogan said.

The state will continue to assist in any way possible, he added, and he again urged residents to be patient.

“The number of people just in Phase 1 of our plan is 1.5 million people, and they need two doses, so that’s three million doses,” he said. “This is going to take a long time, a great deal of patience and a lot more vaccines.”

By Bruce DePuyt

Promises to Work Together — But Also Glaring Differences — as Unprecedented Session Begins

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On the first day of the Maryland General Assembly’s 442th session, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) and Democratic leaders of the legislature pledged to work collaboratively on shared priorities — economic relief for needy residents, boosting distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, and aid for struggling businesses chief among them. 

But the outlines of differing policy preferences and timetables for action emerged even before lawmakers formally convened at midday Wednesday in Annapolis. 

In a live-streamed Wednesday interview with The Daily Record, Hogan (R) urged the Assembly to take up his recently-unveiled $1 billion relief plan immediately. Moments later, the leaders of the state Senate and House of Delegates signaled they would spend at least the first couple weeks of the session crafting their own multi-pronged package. 

Similarly, lawmakers said they intended to make good on a long-held pledge to override Hogan’s veto of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a bill to dramatically boost education spending, despite the governor’s assertion that doing so would be “one of the biggest mistakes” the legislature has ever made. 

The promises to work together — and the early outlines of disagreement — occurred on an opening day like none in state history. 

The Senate floor as seen from one of the galleries above. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines, Maryland Matters

The joviality that accompanies opening day sessions was gone. There were no squirming babies in the House or Senate chamber, fidgeting children hoping to escape fancy clothes, or spouses. There was no back-slapping and there were no receptions. 

Forearm-grabbing lobbyists were almost nowhere to be seen, and the galleries were empty, except for a small number of socially-distanced journalists. 

The hearty laugh and larger-than-life presence of Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., whose history-shaping 50-year run as a legislator ended in December, was also absent. 

In the Senate, lawmakers sat at desks that had plexiglass partitions with swinging half-doors. Staff also sat in isolation booths that had been constructed over the interim. The proceedings were live-streamed to a public that was otherwise shut out of the State House. 

Around State Circle, security was tighter than normal, a response to online threats of violence against state capitols in the wake of last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 

Newly re-elected Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), fighting back emotion, called this session “something very, very different.” But he said lawmakers have the potential to “change destiny.” 

“Over the next 90 days, we have an unbelievable opportunity to truly change destiny,” he said. “It’s going to take very, very tough conversations. It’s going to take creative problem-solving, long hours, and working across the aisle in ways and spaces and formats that you have never used before.” 

House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), like Ferguson, was reelected unanimously.

Before Jones spoke, House Majority Leader Eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery) read the invocation on behalf of Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City), who traditionally delivers the prayer on the opening day of the legislative session, but was one of more than 40 House members who did not attend the opening ceremony.

“Since we last met, some words have new meanings: ‘Zoom,’ ‘House annex,’ ‘virtual hearing,’” Luedtke read. “Some phrases have not changed: ’propose,’ ‘persuade,’ ‘count to 71,’ ‘the rule of law.’”

“Some issues have come to the forefront, like our commitment to racial and economic justice” Luedtke continued. “As we work together to address these and other challenges in the days ahead, may we remain committed to the people who sent us here to make policy on their behalf.”

Following her swearing-in, Jones thanked the chamber.

“I’m going to spare you of a speech, I just want to thank each and every one of you and we’ve got the people’s business to do, so let’s get started,” Jones said to applause.

The pandemic yielded some unusual seating arrangements in the House chamber: Del. Tony Bridges (D-Baltimore City) sat in a tall chair — no desk — in a back corner, while 14 of his colleagues were spaced out in the public gallery above.

A limited number of House lawmakers — enough for a quorum to start the session and make necessary rule changes — were on hand for opening day.

At one point during the short House floor session, a small group of Republican delegates assembled outside, wanting to take part in the proceedings. House aides arranged for them to come through the chamber in a single-file line and raise a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the rule changes.

“We were told not to show up, but we were upset about that, so we wanted to be recognized that we were here to do our job,” Del. April Rose (R-Carroll) said.

The changes to the rules will allow roughly half of the House chamber to sit in an annex created in the House office building. The make-up of the seating arrangement was drawn by lottery and Republicans are present in both chambers at the same ratio.

While members in the annex will be able to vote on and debate measures on the floor in real time, via video, there will be something of a hierarchy in that auxiliary room, with Speaker Pro Tem Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-Lower Shore) presiding and committee vice chairs sitting in the front row. Lawmakers who want to speak will not be able to do so from their desks, but will go to a protected area that looks a little like an old phone booth.

House Speaker Pro Tem Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-Lower Shore) will preside over the “chamber annex” in the weeks ahead. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines, Maryland Matters

Even as dramatic measures are being taken to keep members safe and socially distanced as the coronavirus continues to rage, state officials are also mindful of the heightened security threat in Annapolis.

“The confluence of events in which we are operating – the pandemic, the threats on democracy, the health precautions that we have to take – it doesn’t feel like anything I ever imagined,” Ferguson told reporters virtually after the first floor session had ended. 

Hogan, who faulted federal security officials for a “terrible lack of preparation” in the lead-up to last week’s riot in Washington, D.C., said “we’re taking every precaution we can to make sure that that does not happen here in our State House.” 

“While we’re not expecting that kind of a situation, we’re prepared for whatever eventuality might come up, and we’re going to try to keep people safe,” Hogan said during The Daily Record’s “Eye on Annapolis” Summit, which is held annually on the first day of session. “We’re going to keep everybody from causing any trouble.” 

Dueling relief plans 

Hogan’s $1 billion relief plan would use a mix of targeted tax cuts and taps a portion of the state’s rainy day fund to aid struggling families and small businesses. It would offer stimulus checks to Marylanders who qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2019 or 2020. The payouts would amount to $450 for individuals and $750 for families, with no application needed.

Hogan’s stimulus package would provide $180 million in tax relief for unemployed residents by repealing all state and local income taxes on unemployment benefits. It would also allow small businesses to keep up to $12,000 in sales tax over the next four months, amounting to $300 million statewide.

Legislative leaders have yet to release their full relief plans, but they have signaled that they are looking for more robust spending, and also want to help renters on the verge of eviction, homeowners on the verge of foreclosure, and Marylanders struggling to pay their utility bills.

They have also committed to enact police reform, ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants and repeal the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights. 

In the wake of the ongoing public health, governmental, social justice and economic crises the state and nation are facing, the governor said “our normal big legislative package has been slimmed down to a very focused agenda.” 

“Our most important piece of legislation is the relief act,” he added. “That’s really the only thing I care about, frankly. … If the legislature passed the budget, passed some relief, I’d call it a huge success and call it a day.” 

Jones and Ferguson said they had not seen Hogan’s proposal, and they shrugged off his request to pass it on opening day. “We have a relief package and we’re going to prioritize that,” the speaker said. 

“Marylanders are hurting in ways that are unimaginable,” Ferguson added. “We all share the urgency to make sure that we help the most vulnerable Marylanders to be able to get through this crisis.” 

The Senate leader said proposals to improve the state’s beleaguered unemployment insurance system would be part of the legislature’s recovery package. 

Lawmakers prepare to override Hogan veto

Legislative leaders are determined to override Hogan’s veto of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a measure to pump an additional $4 billion into the state’s public schools system, partially funded by a new tax on digital downloads. 

In his morning interview, Hogan acknowledged that the Democratic-led Assembly has the numbers to overturn him — but he warned that doing so would fly in the face of public opinion. 

“The legislature does have the power to override those vetoes, [but] I think it would be one of the biggest mistakes they ever made,” Hogan said. 

“We have provided record funding into education six years in a row,” Hogan said, “and our budget [for next year] is going to put more money than the legislative formulas call for.” 

Supporters of the education legislation made their presence felt in Annapolis Wednesday with a small rally featuring 20 cardboard cutouts of Maryland public school students.

The groups Progressive Maryland and Working Families sent a billboard truck to downtown Annapolis to rally for more funding for COVID-19 relief efforts. The truck carried videotaped messages of Marylanders who have seen their livelihoods jeopardized by the pandemic.

With restaurants, hotels and stores largely quiet, the truck playing the video messages was one of the few overt signs that the General Assembly is back in session for the first time since lawmakers cut short the 2020 session last March. 

“It looks like a ghost town here in Annapolis,” Hogan said. 

By Bruce DePuyt, Danielle E. Gaines, Josh Kurtz, Hannah Gaskill, and Bennett Leckrone

A Legislative Session Like No Other: Md. General Assembly Session Opens Today

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The 442nd session of the Maryland General Assembly opens today under conditions that were completely unimaginable a year ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a broad and deep public health crisis and has devastated the state economy. In many ways, that’s the essence of what the 2021 legislative session will be about.

Beyond the policy challenges, the pandemic has completely changed how lawmakers will do their jobs over the next 90 days. They’ll hold virtual hearings, meet in floor sessions surrounded by plastic shields, and, in the case of the House of Delegates, convene in two separate places simultaneously. The State House will be sealed shut. Lobbyists and advocates barely will be visible. The nightly party scene will be nil.

On top of that, the session begins with American democracy under attack — amid fears that the Maryland State House and 49 other state capitals could be targeted by the same extremists who stormed the U.S. Capitol a week ago.

State officials have promised to beef up security in and around the State House, and Governor Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) offered assurances that the people’s business can be conducted safely.

Gov. Larry Hogan

“Trust me, we’re not going to leave ourselves unprotected,” he said Tuesday.

The COVID-19 virus and its economic aftermath pose the biggest challenges to lawmakers as they go about  business and set policy agendas for the next three months. Hogan and Democratic legislative leaders say they will devote their time to helping the neediest — those who have lost jobs, face evictions, and have, in myriad ways, been ravaged by the pandemic. But small businesses need help as well, and local governments are also struggling to meet the demands of their constituents.

Maryland policymakers also have unfinished business from last year, when the legislative session was cut short three weeks by the pandemic. It was the first time the legislature went home early since the Civil War.

Even as they agree on overarching priorities for the session, Hogan and the Democrats do not see eye-to-eye on solutions. Hogan and legislative Republicans will be reluctant to raise taxes or spend liberally. Democrats, buoyed by knowledge that President-elect Joe Biden and an all-Democratic Congress are about to take over in Washington, D.C., seem more anxious to be generous with the state exchequer at a time of great need in so many communities.

Even so, Democrats will be under intense pressure from their left flank to spend even more — and to enact more progressive policies in a variety of areas.

The day before the legislative session is often a time for partisan politicking, and even under the unique circumstances, Tuesday was no exception.

Maryland Democrats held their annual pre-session luncheon virtually, and Hogan gave a pre-session news conference to announce his latest effort to bring nonpartisan redistricting to the state — leavened with a fresh dose of criticism for State House Democrats.

“Sadly, but not surprisingly, legislators have refused to act,” he said.

The Democratic agenda 

At the Maryland Democratic Party’s annual virtual luncheon, legislative leaders laid out some of their ambitious plans for the unusual 2021 session, including cracking down on slow unemployment payments and reforming law enforcement policy.

Senate Pres. Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) offer support for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform bill during a hearing in February. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines, Maryland Matters

House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) said robust state COVID-19 relief, coupled with a slew of long-term reforms, will be among the legislature’s top efforts during the upcoming session.

Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) highlighted the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color.

“The gaps that we all knew existed have simply been exacerbated,” Ferguson said. “They have gone from gaps to canyons.”

Their remarks came a day after Hogan outlined his plans for a state stimulus package through a mix of targeted tax cuts and tapping a portion of the state’s rainy day fund. Jones didn’t address Hogan’s proposed stimulus, but pledged to look at “targeted relief” during the upcoming session.

“We will look at targeted state relief to families and small businesses with utility payments,” Jones said. “And we’ll look to help some of our hardest hit industries,” such as restaurants.

She called the state’s BEACON unemployment benefits system, which was rolled out during the pandemic, “outrageously broken” due to the long wait times some Marylanders have experienced — and pledged to add statutory requirements to the system.

“While this has been an unprecedented strain on the system, we can do better,” Jones said. “Every Marylander who is eligible and needs help, should get help — and quickly.”

Many of Jones’ top agenda items for the upcoming session could impact the state long after the pandemic is over. She predicted the House will override Hogan’s veto on the sweeping Kirwan education reforms.

That veto could come later in the session, lawmakers told Maryland Matters. While Republican lawmakers have pushed back on passage of those multibillion-dollar reforms amid the pandemic, the Department of Legislative Services said the state has enough money to fund the Kirwan efforts through 2026.

Jones also intends to enact the House Workgroup to Address Police Reform and Accountability’s recommendations during the session, including banning no-knock warrants and police chokeholds.

Jones said the House will repeal Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights. And Jones plans to outline her agenda for racial and economic justice in the coming days.

“Corporate boards should look like their customers,” Jones said. “Black homes should be appraised for the same amount as their white neighbors. Great ideas and businesses should get credit because they’re great ideas, not because they’re the ideas of the connected class.”

Some of the House’s earliest planned legislation is aimed at preventing another six-figure payout by the Maryland Environmental Service, like the one former director Roy McGrath received when he left the agency last year to become Hogan’s chief of staff.

Jones said the bill will address what she called the “outrageous abuse of power and misuse of state money at that agency.”

“No one is above the law,” she added.

Jones also said the House will make mail-in voting a permanent option for Marylanders. How that will be done is not immediately clear, since absentee ballots were available under certain circumstances before the pandemic. Voting by mail skyrocketed during Maryland’s statewide elections in 2020, with an unprecedented number of voters opting to cast ballots by mail instead of at a traditional polling place.

Other election reform efforts are also expected during the legislative session: Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery) told members of the State Board of Elections during a Tuesday afternoon meeting that she intends to introduce what she calls a “kitchen sink” bill to look at several election-related reforms.

Beyond his $1 billion COVID relief package, Hogan has yet to lay out any priorities for the General Assembly session.

Day-to-day security 

Lawmakers will face a series of new security procedures around the capitol complex ― related to the pandemic, as well as heightened political tension and possible violence.

To gain entry to the State House campus each day, lawmakers and staff will answer a health questionnaire through an app on their cell phones.

Security changes include increased police officers and security, increased identification procedures to get inside buildings and limiting proximity to all buildings, said Nick Cavey, spokesman for the Department of General Services.

“These actions are being taken as a precaution for the safety of all persons doing business on state property and will ensure the protection of state employees, our buildings and grounds, and visitors to our Annapolis complex buildings,” Cavey said.

In the event of an attack, local police agencies, the Maryland State Police and the National Guard are available for reinforcement.

Hogan announced Tuesday that the Maryland National Guard deployment in D.C. would be doubled, but  said there’s still adequate personnel to reinforce the State House, if necessary.

“I’m comfortable, though we’re not sure what we may see, that we’ll be better prepared than they were on Capitol Hill last Wednesday,” he said.

Asked about an FBI bulletin warning of widespread armed protests at state capitols, Hogan said officials have received hundreds of death threats, but no specific plans to attack the State House have been uncovered. “We do not have any credible, detailed threats here. Look, a lot of this is real. And a lot of it is fake. There’s disinformation all over the internet,” Hogan said.

By Josh Kurtz, Bennett Leckrone, and Danielle E. Gaines

Hogan Denounces Delegate’s ‘Traitor’ Tweet, Says He Wants to Help ‘Fix’ GOP

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Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) condemned comments from a “conspiracy theorist” in the House of Delegates and said comments from U.S. Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R-Md.) contesting the 2020 election results, even after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, were “in really bad taste,” but said he doesn’t want to leave the Republican party.

“I don’t want to leave the party and let these people who did a hostile takeover four years ago take over. I want to stay involved,” Hogan said Tuesday.

Hogan has been talking about the issue with like-minded Republicans and plans to attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden (D) next week.

Asked about tweets by Del. Daniel L. Cox (R-Frederick County), including one in which he called Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor” while the U.S. Capitol remained under siege, Hogan pulled no punches.

“I don’t even know who Dan Cox is. I know he’s filed suit against us multiple times,” Hogan said. “He’s a QAnon conspiracy theorist who says crazy things every day. He called me a Communist Chinese spy for China. He called the vice president a traitor. He was down there gathering people at the capitol. I don’t even know what makes him think this way. But he’s certainly not the kind of person I would vote to put in the legislature or support in any way for anything.”

Later on Tuesday evening, people began sharing screenshots of photos of Hogan and Cox together, which Cox shared on social media in 2016 and 2018. On one of the posts, Cox wrote: “Very honored to be endorsed by America’s most popular Governor!”

Cox organized a caravan of three buses for his constituents to attend the Million MAGA March protest held in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. A lawyer, he spearheaded lawsuits challenging Hogan’s executive orders curtailing business operations because of the COVID-19 virus.

A day after reporting about his involvement in the D.C. rally, Cox issued a statement denouncing “all mob violence including those who broke into the U.S. Capitol.”

In his statement, Cox also said he was at the event where President Donald Trump addressed rally attendees but that the group did not approach the U.S. Capitol or participate in any violence and left early from D.C.

However, that was disputed Tuesday by a first-person account of the trip by Fred Propheter, a co-organizer of the excursion from the Frederick County Conservative Club. Writing for a conservative online publication in Frederick called The Tentacle, Propheter detailed the group’s “15+ block walk to the Capitol” and said some members of the group from Frederick were close enough to the frontlines of the encounter to be hit by tear gas and stray rubber bullets; he also wrote that the group “carried no terrorists or miscreants to the rally of over 1.5 Million Patriots and all 150+ made it home.”

Cox could not be immediately reached on Tuesday; a voicemail box associated with his law firm was full and not accepting new messages.

Hogan said there may be a move in the Legislature to censure Cox or take some sort of action, but the governor said he was not involved in those efforts.

Top House officials did not comment Tuesday. Complaints about lawmakers’ behavior are investigated by the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics.

Del. Kathleen Dumais (D-Montgomery), who is the House co-chair of the committee, said the committee has received inquiries about Cox’s tweets.

“I’ve certainly gotten some inquiries,” Dumais said. “If it’s brought to the committee we’ll have to talk about how to best handle it. But no decision has been made.”

Dumais said she found some of the language “personally reprehensible,” but it was unclear yet whether there was any violation of the legislature’s ethics rules. The committee would be limited to examining whether any of Cox’s actions rose to a level beyond protected free speech, she said.

Hogan was also asked Tuesday whether he agreed with calls for Harris to resign. Harris was among a group of Republicans who continued to contest Pennsylvania’s election results, even after the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“It’s not up to me to tell Andy Harris what he should do. I obviously don’t agree with the comments he made, particularly after the insurrection, the attack on the Capitol, the threats to assassinate and murder the vice president, and after law enforcement officers and others died … the first time since 1812 that the Capitol’s been ransacked,” Hogan said. “I think it was in really bad taste. I don’t know what prompted him to say and do the things he did. But it’s not up to me to decide what he does with his political future.”

Harris issued a statement last week rejecting violence, defending his colleagues’ right to debate and denying that he would resign from office.

Despite the sharp words for some fellow party members, Hogan said he’s not likely to leave the Republican party as other high-profile figures like former Secretary of State Colin Powell have.

“There’s other leaders I’m talking with a lot in Washington and other state capitals who also agree. And I think it’s important for us to try to fix the party and make sure we go in a direction where we can actually have a healthy and competitive two-party system in America and that we can actually have a more positive hopeful message that’s going to attract more people,” Hogan said. “And that we can actually win an elections again. Rather than just giving up and walking out.”

By Danielle E. Gaines

Gilchrest Backs Trump Impeachment; Md. Lawmakers Call on Harris to Resign

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Two dozen former Republican members of Congress ― including Wayne Gilchrest ― are encouraging their successors to “protect American democracy by impeaching President Donald J. Trump.”

The letter was sent Monday and circulated by the nonpartisan watchdog group Project on Government Oversight.

“For more than 200 years, the peaceful transfer of power has been one of the pillars of American government. Sadly, this tradition has been severely tarnished,” the former members wrote. “There is no excuse for nor defense of a President of the United States to actively orchestrate an insurrection on a separate but coequal branch of government. Surely, the Founders would be sickened by the thought of such actions. As members of the branch that was under attack—not just politically but physically—you must remove the president from office.”

“Congress must send a strong and clear message not just to this president but future presidents that this type of behavior will not be tolerated or accepted,” the letter continued. “Frankly, the message also needs to be made clear to the American people that there is no place in politics for political violence.”

Other signers of the letter include former Virginia representatives Denver Riggleman and Barbara Comstock and former Pennsylvania representatives Charlie Dent and James C. Greenwood.

Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R-Md.). Harris Facebook photo.

Gilchrest represented Maryland’s 1st District as a moderate Republican. He lost the Republican primary to now-Rep. Andrew P. Harris in 2008 and went on to endorse Harris’ Democratic opponent Frank Kratovil Jr., who won the election and served one term before losing to Harris in 2010.

Harris has held the seat since.

Gilchrest changed his party affiliation to Democrat in 2019.

The letter was sent on the same day that 71 Democratic members of the Maryland House of Delegates and 13 state senators signed a letter condemning Harris’ comments about unfounded election fraud and calling for him to resign.

In the early morning after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Harris joined other colleagues in continuing to object to the certification of election results from Pennsylvania.

“Rather than recognizing that your words and behavior in office have damaged our democracy, have threatened our Constitution, and have undermined the nation you are sworn to, your response to the attack on our Capitol was to continue to use the same words and behavior,” the lawmakers wrote. “To vote with too many of your colleagues to undermine a free and fair election. To give comfort to the enemies of democracy within our borders and around the world.”

The morning after the vote, Harris defended his response in a public statement.

“I have routinely and consistently rejected violent protests, whether in the case of yesterday, or last summer. Democrats are calling for unity, yet also calling for the expulsion of Members who objected in yesterday’s Electoral College count. Today, some Marylanders are even calling for my resignation, which I will not do,” Harris said. “My colleagues and I held legitimate Constitutional concerns about how the November election was conducted in certain states and felt compelled to highlight those concerns during the formal vote count.”

By Danielle E. Gaines

Hogan Proposes $1 Billion Relief Package, Pressures Legislature for Swift Passage

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Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) unveiled a proposed billion-dollar stimulus package at a Monday morning press conference, which would give low-income families $750 checks if passed by the legislature.

If enacted, Hogan’s Recovery for the Economy, Livelihoods, Industries, Entrepreneurs and Families (RELIEF) Act would offer stimulus checks to Marylanders who qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2019 or 2020. The payouts would amount to $450 for individuals and $750 for families, with no application needed.

Hogan estimated that the $267 million in direct payments would help roughly 400,000 Marylanders. The stimulus checks would be in addition to anticipated payouts from the federal government.

Hogan said he needs the legislature’s help in passing some of the RELIEF Act’s measures, which extend beyond his emergency powers – and demanded that lawmakers quickly pass the emergency legislation.

“We took every action that we could take alone,” Hogan said.

The stimulus package provides $180 million in tax relief for unemployed residents by repealing all state and local income taxes on unemployment benefits. It would also allow small businesses to keep up to $12,000 in sales tax over the next four months, amounting to $300 million statewide.

Hogan also wants the legislature to extend and codify his executive order protecting businesses from sudden increases in unemployment taxes due to layoffs, amounting to $218 million in savings. The act would also eliminate taxes on the state’s emergency relief grants and loans for businesses.

Only about $100 million of Maryland’s rainy day funds would be be used as part of the relief package – a far cry from what other state officials and local leaders have demanded of Hogan.

Members of the Maryland United for COVID Relief NOW Coalition, headed by Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) and Montgomery County Councilmember Tom Hucker (D), held a virtual rally on Sunday to demand Hogan use more of the rainy day fund for COVID-19 relief.

Franchot has floated using a much larger portion of state reserve money for $2,000 stimulus checks to qualifying Marylanders at a cost of $925 million. He also wants to use state money for more local business aid, and in total proposed using more than a billion in state reserves for residents and businesses.

In a Monday statement on social media, Franchot said Hogan’s proposed stimulus doesn’t go far enough to help working residents. He also said the proposed checks won’t get to families fast enough.

“Maryland families need help now, but instead the Governor is passing the buck to the legislature,” Franchot wrote. “The Governor knows that he has the power to authorize direct cash payments to those in crisis right now. He can help struggling families right NOW.”

Hogan’s plans for a new state stimulus bill predate the coalition’s formation. He said using the state’s entire rainy-day fund would be an “irresponsible action,” and said he was following along with the legislature’s recommendations in using only portions of the state’s reserve money.

In December, a bipartisan legislative budget panel recommended using some of the state’s rainy day fund to combat anticipated shortfalls in the state’s budget.

Hogan noted that more federal relief funding is on its way to the state, including $400 million for much-needed rental assistance. The state has already spent more than $700 million in relief for residents and businesses, and doled out billions in unemployment benefits to Marylanders, Hogan said.

Whether the legislature moves quickly to act on Hogan’s proposal — or sees it as an opening gambit — is an open question. Legislative leaders have echoed Hogan’s assertion that providing help to the neediest Marylanders should be the top priority of the session, which begins on Wednesday, but they have yet to release details of their own economic relief package.

In a statement released after Hogan’s news conference, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) said Democrats in the legislature are “focused on getting families and small businesses back on their feet” in addition to getting students back in schools and ensuring the safety of seniors. The presiding officers said General Assembly members are planning legislation to address “a broken Unemployment Insurance system” and aid small businesses.

“We look forward to the Governor working with us to accomplish these goals and demonstrating for the country what the true value of bipartisanship can be,” Jones and Ferguson said.

Sen. Guy J. Guzzone (D-Howard County), the chair of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, called Hogan’s proposed stimulus a “good place for us to start” when it comes to getting relief to Marylanders.

Guzzone said he doesn’t think draining the state’s rainy day fund is in the best interest of the state, and added that Marylanders could still get meaningful relief without using all of the reserves.

“I actually don’t think it’s necessary, to provide substantial relief, to drain it all the way down in that regard,” Guzzone said.

He noted that many of the legislature’s relief efforts will depend on Hogan’s budget proposal, which is due later this month.

By Bennett Leckrone

Attack on Capitol Highlights Differences Between Maryland’s Top Republicans

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Maryland’s most high-profile Republican leaders — Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. and Rep. Andrew P. Harris — have never had much in common.

Hogan’s opposition to Donald J. Trump, for example, dates back to the president’s first campaign, while Harris has been a staunch Trump loyalist.

The two also ended up in different camps on COVID-19.

When the governor was taking aggressive steps to combat the spread of COVID-19 last year, the congressman, a physician, was speaking publicly against mask orders and the state’s limits on commercial activity and group gatherings.

But never have the differences between the pair been on bolder display than Thursday, in the aftermath of the storming of the U.S. Capitol. In many ways, it highlighted the broader ideological and tactical divides in the national Republican Party.

Hogan called the event “a heinous and violent assault” — and he said Trump bore blame for undermining the nation’s traditional transfer of power.

“Over the last two months, this sacred tradition has come under attack from our own president, who has chosen to fan the flames of hate and mislead millions of voters through lies and conspiracy theories rather than face the reality of his own defeat,” the governor said.

“There’s no question that America would be better off if the president would resign or be removed from office,” he added.

Hogan also pledged that the Maryland National Guard personnel he sent to Washington, D.C., to protect the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday would remain there through the inauguration, set for Jan. 20.

Harris, by contrast, made national headlines for almost getting into a fistfight with a Democratic colleague on the House floor early Thursday morning, as Congress was meeting to certify the presidential election results. According to a media pool report, the lawmaker taunted Democrats during debate, gesturing in a way that suggested a willingness to engage in fisticuffs.

Harris released a statement on Thursday that defended his opposition to the presidential vote count in several swing states. He did not condemn the rioters who terrorized the Capitol, nor did he fault Trump for his role in inciting the violence, as Hogan did.

“Democrats are calling for unity, yet also calling for the expulsion of Members who objected in yesterday’s Electoral College count,” Harris wrote. “Today, some Marylanders are even calling for my resignation, which I will not do.”

“My colleagues and I held legitimate Constitutional concerns about how the November election was conducted in certain states and felt compelled to highlight those concerns during the formal vote count. We did not call for the overthrowing of an election.”

As the nation reeled from the attack on the Capitol on Thursday, analysts noted the remarkable — and still growing — divide between Hogan, Maryland’s popular governor, and Harris, the 1st District’s doctor-turned-congressman.

“Hogan represents this decent, right-of-center pro-business kind of Republican that the party used to have a lot more of,” said Melissa Deckman, a political science professor at Washington College. “He’s not an ideologue. He’s very pragmatic. But he’s also very principled.”

Deckman said she found it “very disturbing” that even after the Capitol was overrun, the majority of House Republicans — including Harris — maintained “this charade of objecting to a vote count that everyone knew was not fraudulent.”

“It just goes to show you how extreme he is,” she said.

Republican strategist and CNN commentator Doug Heye described Harris as “one of those guys who talks about ‘we need to fight,’ but doesn’t have a plan.”

“Andy Harris was on the fringe on everything,” said Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. “This predates Trump. He was always ‘out there,’ and never productive.”

Hogan, Heye said, “is clearly a results-driven guy.”

Yet since winning his seat in 2010, Harris has never had to sweat reelection. Under Maryland’s gerrymandered congressional map, Harris’ 1st District, which takes in all of the Eastern Shore plus portions of Harford, Baltimore and Carroll counties, is a Republican stronghold.

Nevertheless, the Maryland Democratic Party on Thursday called on Harris to resign, and a former state legislator from Montgomery County who now lives in Harris’ district, Democrat Heather Mizeur, said on Twitter that she might take him on in 2022.

“@RepAndyHarrisMD we have found ways in the past to see common ground through our differences,” wrote Mizeur, who has largely stayed on the political sidelines in Maryland since running unsuccessfully for governor in 2014. “However, there is only one way to view your complicity w/ treasonous insurrection against our govt: you must resign immediately — or I will consider retiring you myself in 2022.”

With Republican lawmakers starting to turn on the president, and aides resigning in the wake of the attack on the Capitol, a full-scale GOP civil war is on.

Observers said it is too soon to say whether national Republicans who allied themselves with Trump will find their future political prospects diminished.

For the past several months, Hogan has worked to elevate his national profile and is widely seen as taking steps toward a possible White House run in 2024. But University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato told The Baltimore Sun last year that “the GOP would have to change drastically by 2024 for Hogan to have a real shot” at the party’s presidential nomination.

An overnight poll found that nearly half of all Republicans supported the storming of the Capitol.

Still, Deckman expects Hogan to get a fresh look in the wake of the week’s events.

“In many ways he’s very well-situated to become a leader in the Republican Party… depending on how this shakes out, because he has been a very consistent voice,” the professor said. “I think he represents what the GOP used to stand for a lot of ways.”

By Bruce DePuyt

Hogan: Trump Should Be Removed From Office

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Maryland’s Republican governor said Thursday there was “no question that America would be better off if the president would resign or be removed from office.”

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. made the remarks at a State House press conference in which he decried the mob siege of the U.S. Capitol building a day earlier as a “heinous and violent assault.”

Hogan said he was not sure what should happen logistically but that Donald Trump had proven himself unfit to remain in office and that Vice President Mike Pence should oversee an orderly transition of power.

“Over the last two months, the sacred tradition [of a peaceful transition of power] has come under attack from our own president,” Hogan said. “…Who has chosen to fan the flames of hate and mislead millions of voters through lies, and conspiracy theories, rather than face the reality of his own defeat.”

Hogan said that Trump had also abandoned his oath of office and fomented chaos.

“What we saw in the nation’s capital was not just an attack on the people’s representatives, our historic buildings, and our law enforcement. It was an attack on the rule of law,” Hogan said. “The foundations of self government and who we are as Americans. The mob may have shattered glass. But they did not, and they will not, shatter our democracy.”

Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford (R) tweeted earlier in the day that Trump should resign from office.

Hogan also detailed on Thursday the state’s attempts to deploy National Guard members in Washington, D.C., which was delayed by a lack of authorization from federal authorities.

Hogan said he was in a video conference with the Japanese ambassador to the United States when his chief of staff came in to inform him that the U.S. Capitol was under attack. Hogan said he immediately called a meeting of his Unified Command Team, which includes Maryland’s top law enforcement, military and emergency response officials.

During that meeting, Hogan said he got a call from a panicked U.S. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who said the U.S. Capitol Police was overwhelmed, that there was no federal law enforcement presence, and that the leaders of Congress were pleading with him for assistance.

“However, we were repeatedly denied approval to do so,” Hogan said at the State House press conference, flanked by Rutherford, Adjutant General of the Maryland National Guard Major General Timothy Gowen, and Colonel Jerry Jones, superintendent of the Maryland State Police.

Under federal law, Maryland must receive approval from the U.S. Secretary of Defense before guard members can be sent over the border to respond to incidents in the District of Columbia.

“General Gowen was repeatedly being told by the National Guard at the national level that we did not have authorization,” Hogan said, detailing calls coming and going from his administration to D.C.

In the end, “none of us really spoke to the Secretary of Defense,” Hogan said, and it was the Secretary of the Army who called his cell phone and requested immediate assistance.

It took about 90 minutes before the state got that authority to move into the city, Hogan said.

“The initial contingent of Maryland National Guard members were the first to arrive in Washington from out of state,” Hogan said.

The governor announced Thursday that the Maryland National Guard’s mission in D.C. ― to protect and secure federal buildings ― will continue through Inauguration Day, which is Jan. 20, and the end of the month. About 500 state guard members remain in the city.

“I just want to assure all Americans that the state of Maryland will do anything and everything we possibly can to continue to secure the core of our nation’s capital,” Hogan said.

In light of political extremism, Hogan said security was also being increased around the Maryland State House complex as a precaution.

Hogan did not vote for Trump in either of the last two elections, and faced criticism in 2020 after casting a write-in vote for the deceased former President Ronald Reagan.

By Danielle E. Gaines

Chesapeake Bay Receives D+ for Second Year in a Row

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The health of the Chesapeake Bay remains poor, due in part to insufficient management of the Bay’s rockfish population, according to a recent report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Out of the 13 health indicators, the rockfish score alone declined by 17 points, which is “the largest decline in any indicator in more than a decade,” the foundation said in its report, which was released Tuesday.

The Bay’s rockfish population began declining in the 1970s and 1980s from overfishing, but returned to healthy levels by the early 2000s, thanks to conservation efforts. However, the rockfish population has been under threat again within the last few years. The presence of adult female striped bass dropped by 40% from 2013 to 2017.

In response, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission required Maryland and Virginia to reduce their striped bass, or rockfish, harvest by 18%, and restricted the catching of menhaden, which is a primary food source for striped bass, in 2019.

Still, there need to be stronger actions that help stimulate stiped bass’s population growth, according to the report — especially in Maryland.

“The state needs to take more effective measures to stem the decline in striped bass. While other states chose to close the striped bass fishery during key times when the species is most threatened, Maryland took a piecemeal approach that we believe had limited effectiveness,” Alison Prost, the vice president for environmental protection and restoration of CBF, said in a statement.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has been releasing biennial reports since 1998, relying on 13 health indicators, including water clarity, forest buffers, blue crabs and oyster populations.

The bay’s health remained at a D+ since its last report in 2018. It scored 32 on a 100-point scale, one point lower than in 2018. If the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, which calls for six Bay states and the District of Columbia to meet pollution-reduction targets by 2025, is successful, then the Bay’s health should reach a score of 40 by 2025, according to the report.

A score of 70 would represent a “saved” Bay, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said, and a “saved” Bay would provide $130 billion a year in natural resource benefits to the region.

Not all health indicators were negative this year. For instance, the Bay witnessed lower nitrogen and phosphorus pollution over the last two years, which decreased the size of dead zones, or areas of water that have little to no oxygen. This year, the Bay had the seventh smallest dead zone in the last 35 years.

However, forest buffers, which help slow down nutrient runoff into waterways, are still low, partly due to changes in federal law that used to help fund many of the buffers in the Bay region. The health of underwater grasses, which provide food and habitat for fish, also declined because of heavy rainfall from the last two years, which affects water clarity.

The Bay can be restored by enforcing the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, CBF representatives said, but this heavily relies on Pennsylvania, which has lagged behind other Bay states, to meet its share of pollution reduction goals.

“If Pennsylvania does not meet the obligations it’s promised to meet by 2025, there is no doubt that the Chesapeake Bay will never be saved. It’s that basic,” William Baker, the president of CBF, said during a news conference Tuesday.

Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and several organizations sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September, accusing the federal government of failing to hold Pennsylvania accountable for its portion of the Bay cleanup.

“The stagnating score shows that we are witnessing apathy take hold and political will wane,” Baker said in a statement. “We can still save the Bay and deliver the promise of clean water to the next generation, but only if our elected officials redouble their clean water commitments and invest in finishing the job.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) lambasted the Trump administration for failing to hold Pennsylvania accountable.

“While Congress, on a bipartisan basis, has increased the federal resources available to protect the Bay, the Trump Administration has refused to hold Pennsylvania more accountable for failing to meet their pollution reduction targets under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “Everyone needs to work together and I look forward to working with the incoming Biden Administration EPA to meet our mutual goals of Clean Water in the Chesapeake Bay by 2025 by holding all partner states accountable.”

What will be most important for Maryland, however, is to make sure that lawmakers continue to allocate enough money in the budget for the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, Prost said. Investment in pollution controls for agriculture will also be important, since it is one of the areas that Maryland is relying on the most to reach its pollution reduction goals by 2025, CBF officials said.

Another priority for the upcoming General Assembly legislative session will be the Climate Solutions Act, which is a multifaceted bill that addresses the intersection between climate and water quality, Prost said.

By Elizabeth Shwe

Md. Police Head to D.C. as Armed Mob Storms U.S. Capitol

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Maryland police have been deployed to Washington, D.C., in an effort to restore order after an armed mob stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday as Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) tweeted around 3:45 p.m. that the Maryland State Police would deploy troopers to the capital and that the Maryland National Guard’s adjutant general is calling up a rapid response force to assist.

“All Americans should be outraged by this attack on our nation’s Capitol,” Hogan said in a statement. “This is a heinous and violent assault on the heart of our democracy. I will not stand for this, and neither should any American.”

Montgomery County Police teams were also on the Capitol grounds Wednesday afternoon.

 

Shortly after the Congress began the process to certify the results of the November 2020 election, the Capitol building was breached and lawmakers were evacuated to safer locations.

 

Hours earlier, President Trump addressed supporters at an outdoor rally and encouraged them to march to the U.S. Capitol.

His actions and rhetoric were condemned by Maryland lawmakers.

 

 

 

“This is a very sad day for our country,” Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D) tweeted. “Mr. President, tell your supporters to stand down before someone gets seriously hurt.”

Earlier in the day, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D) had spoken on the House floor against objections to certify the election results from Arizona.

“There were repeated efforts to barrel into the Capitol chamber,” Raskin said on CSPAN.

After the death of his son on New Year’s Eve, Raskin, a Constitutional law scholar, said he’d brought his daughter and son-in-law to D.C. with him on Wednesday to be together and witness “the peaceful transfer of power in the United States of America.”

“So what was really going through my mind was their safety because they were not with me in the chamber. And I just wanted to make sure that we could get back together,” Raskin said.

In the hours after the attack on the Capitol, Raskin said lawmakers were devoted to concluding the Electoral College vote count.

“Every single member I’ve spoken to is absolutely determined to have us complete the counting of the Electoral College votes as is demanded of us by the 12th Amendment of the Constitution. And everyone is absolutely determined that we will continue with the normal proceedings of the U.S. Congress and that any violent insurrection against the government of the United States will be put down and our Constitutional democracy will prevail,” he said.

“…We are going to go forward. If we’ve got to stay here all night, we’re going to go forward. If we’ve got to stay here all day tomorrow we’re going to go forward. And the next day,” Raskin said. “We are going to complete the counting of the Electoral College votes. We are going to swear in the new president of the United States.”

PBS News’ Lisa Desjardins reported late Wednesday afternoon that House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D) was in a safe location, as well as many other members of Congress.

The Capital Gazette reported that a spokesman confirmed Rep. John Sarbanes was safe.

The Maryland congressional delegation’s lone Republican, Rep. Andrew P. Harris, had joined efforts to object to the Electoral College certification. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the only way he’d publicly addressed the attack on social media was by retweeting Trump’s statements.

Hours after the storming of the Capitol commenced, Trump issued a video telling the protesters, “We love you.” But — after reiterating his baseless claims that the election was stolen from him — Trump urged calm.

“Go home, we love you, you’re very special,” he said.

At 4 p.m., Biden said the demonstrators’ actions bordered on sedition.

By Danielle E. Gaines