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January 19, 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

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

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

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

Hogan Enlists Guard Units, Retired Health Professionals to Help Vaccinate Marylanders

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Fighting off complaints that Maryland has been slow to act, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) pledged on Tuesday that the state will use “every single resource” it has to get as many people vaccinated against COVID-19 as quickly as possible.

But he urged residents to be patient as the state, local health departments, hospitals and chain pharmacies undertake a massive vaccine distribution effort that he called “the greatest peacetime undertaking in American history.”

According to a Bloomberg tracker, Maryland has used 26.5% of the doses it has received, putting it firmly in the middle of the pack. (South Dakota has used 64.5% of its supply; Kansas just 15.3%.)

Speaking to reporters, Hogan said under-reporting by hospitals and national drug store chains CVS and Walgreens make the numbers appear worse than they are. The companies have federal contracts to vaccinate nursing home residents and staff.

Hogan said he spoke with the CEOs of both firms on Tuesday and urged them to work more quickly — and he issued an executive order requiring the companies to report vaccinations within 24 hours. Under their contract with the federal Department of Health and Human Services, they have 72 hours.

In the first three weeks of the state’s vaccination campaign, 270,150 doses have been distributed to hospitals, local health departments and pharmacies, Hogan said, representing 98.7% of Maryland’s allocation from the federal government.

Like other states, Maryland is in Phase 1A of its rollout, targeting local first-responders, health care workers, corrections personnel, judiciary staff and vulnerable populations.

The governor said “some hospitals are doing extremely well” while others are “still just ramping up.” One facility has used just 16% of its vaccines, while another has already used two-thirds.

“While none of us are thrilled with the pace of this rollout over the first couple of weeks, I can assure you that it is improving every day,” Hogan said. On Monday, 11,553 people were vaccinated, the most for a single day, bringing the total to 76,916.

Under a new order from the state Department of Health, any provider that hasn’t administered at least 75% of their first-dose allocation may have future shipments reduced and sent elsewhere — “until they can prove their ability to meet capacity requirements,” the governor said.

“I want to assure the people of Maryland that we are going to leverage every single resource at our disposal to get more shots into more arms as quickly as we possibly can, in a safe and orderly way.”

Beginning on Wednesday, the Maryland National Guard will dispatch emergency support teams to assist local health departments with their vaccination clinics. The Guard will assist with administering vaccines and provide logistical support.

Hogan also announced that 700 volunteers — many of them recently retired medical professionals — will begin helping local health departments.

The governor said the state expects to move from Phase 1A to 1B at the end of January— and he announced that 1B has been expanded to include all Marylanders over the age of 75, teachers, child care and education staff, special needs group homes, high-risk inmates, people with developmental disabilities and “continuity of government.”

Phases 1A and 1B constitute an estimated 1.36 million Marylanders.

The new Phase 1C now includes all Marylanders age 65 to 74 as well as people who work in grocery stores, public transit operations, agriculture production and manufacturing. Based on the current pace of allocation, the state expects to enter Phase 1C, a group estimated at 772,000 residents, by early March.

Although the Maryland Democratic Party criticized the state’s vaccine rollout in a press release this week, Hogan struck a largely positive tone throughout his remarks, saying the state is looking to help speed the vaccination campaign, not place blame.

He dismissed suggestions that local health departments have received conflicting guidance from the state. “That’s completely not true,” he said.

Local officials “can whine about it or they can get to work and do their job.”

Hogan said five counties — Howard, Montgomery, St. Mary’s, Calvert and Caroline — had done an exemplary job standing up vaccination programs.

Baltimore City and Prince George’s County are “very far behind” in their vaccination efforts, “but we’re going to try to provide ‘em every bit of help we can. If we have to send in the National Guard to help them, we’re going to be there.”

By Bruce DePuyt

Hogan, in Pre-Holiday Safety Message, Sees ‘Rays of Hope’ in Battle Against Virus

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In a pre-holiday message designed to prevent a spike in post-holiday coronavirus cases, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) Thursday said the nationwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and the progress on Capitol Hill toward passing a COVID-19 relief package are reasons for optimism this holiday season.

“There are rays of hope,” Hogan said during a State House news conference Thursday evening.

But Hogan conceded he was not sure what to make of national media reports Thursday suggesting that some states won’t be receiving all the doses of the COVID-19 vaccines that they were anticipating.

Some of Hogan’s fellow governors told media outlets late Wednesday and Thursday they had been told that their states’ second allotments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine next week had been reduced, without explanation. The confusion prompted Pfizer, which developed the first COVID-19 vaccine now ticketed for health care workers, first responders, nursing home residents and other frontline workers, to release a statement Thursday afternoon seeking to avoid a panic.

“Pfizer is not having any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed,” the company’s statement said. “This week, we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them. We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.”

Hogan at his news conference said the state was trying to get some clarification from the federal government and the company about allotments for Maryland, but pointed out that federal officials planned to provide states with weekly vaccine delivery “projections” every Friday.

“It’s not going to impact our first batches, for the first week or two, which were the only ones that were essentially cast in stone,” he said of the reports of possibly reduced shipments. “…Hopefully, it will not have a big impact on the second round.”

Hogan asserted that every hospital and nursing care facility in the state would have vaccines in hand by next week, if they haven’t received them already.

Hogan used the news conference to announce that he had issued an emergency order to curtail travel in and out of Maryland. Under the order, Marylanders who travel out of state must either receive a negative COVID-19 test result or quarantine for 10 days before returning. The same would be true of out-of-state residents visiting Maryland.

Washington, D.C., Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania are exempt from the order — and Hogan said the state won’t aggressively enforce it.

“Our strongest defense against this virus continues to be the vigilance and cooperation of the people of Maryland,” Hogan said, repeating statements from previous news conferences that family gatherings continue to be the worst spreaders of the coronavirus.

“Our theme is home for the holidays,” he said.

Hogan said he has also issued a public health advisory, lowering the limit on group gatherings in the state from 25 to 10.

While Congress continues to debate a COVID-19 aid package — which at the present does not include the $160 billion in direct aid to state, local and tribal governments sought by congressional Democrats — Hogan announced an additional $180 million in emergency state relief for families and small businesses.

The governor also signed an emergency order extending the state’s moratorium on foreclosures to Jan. 31.

The new aid package includes:

  • $50 million for hotels and hospitality businesses, which would be paid from the state’s dedicated emergency rapid response fund. It will be distributed by local jurisdictions and can be used for payroll expenses, rent, and utilities.
  • $30 million in additional relief for bars and restaurants, bringing to $80 million the total of state aid earmarked for the restaurant industry. Local jurisdictions will also distribute this money and Hogan encouraged local governments to match this investment where possible.
  • $15 million in additional relief for entertainment venues, which will be distributed through the state’s Main Street program at the Maryland Department of Housing, which brings that total to $35 million.
  • $5 million for rural businesses, especially tech businesses in the state’s rural counties.
  • $40 million to boost the state’s Temporary Cash Assistance benefit. This will boost a recipient’s monthly benefit by $100 for each of the next six months — and should reach more than 66,000 needy Maryland families, Hogan said.
  • $40 million extra for disability care providers. This will be achieved by beginning a scheduled 4% increase in state reimbursements on Jan. 1, six months ahead of schedule.

Hogan said he also would push for more COVID-19 relief during the upcoming General Assembly session, which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 13. The legislature’s presiding officers, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), also have said that providing help for struggling families and businesses is their top priority for the 90-day session.

By Josh Kurtz

As State Prepares Wider Vaccination Distribution, National Guard Will Provide Logistical Support

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The Maryland National Guard will provide logistical support for the state’s COVID-19 vaccination program, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) announced on Tuesday.

Guard personnel will assist state health officials with vaccination planning, operations and distribution support, he told reporters at a State House news conference. 

“We’re going to be utilizing them as we launch what will be the largest and most important vaccination campaign in the history of our state and our nation,” Hogan said. 

The state’s initial allotment of the Pfizer vaccine, 155,000 doses, will go to people in group “1A” of the rollout – front-line health-care workers, nursing home residents and staff, and first responders. 

Amid reports that two counties in the hard-hit western panhandle of the state would not be getting doses of the long-awaited vaccine, Hogan stressed that “over the course of the next week… every single hospital and every region of our state will begin to receive their first COVID-19 vaccines.”

As the state receives more vaccines, the National Guard will set up mobile vaccination clinics to assist with efforts to reach the general population, Hogan said. 

“While we still have several months of difficult struggles ahead of us, this is a turning point and a light at the end of a very long tunnel, and the beginning of the end of this deadly pandemic,” he added. 

The arrival of vaccines comes as the state’s hospitalization rate set another record on Tuesday, with 1,799 COVID patients receiving care. The rolling seven-day infection rate stands at 46.3 for every 100,000 people, just shy of the record that was set last week. 

The 61 deaths recorded on Tuesday pushed the state’s death toll past 5,000 — to 5,039.

On Wednesday, Maryland will likely surpass 241,900 cases, meaning that 4% of the state’s population — one of every 25 residents — will have been infected with the virus since the pandemic began.

Hospital workers began receiving Maryland’s first doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week. Dr. Jinlene Chan, the acting deputy Health secretary for public health said the state expects to receive 300,000 doses by the end of the month. 

She said it will take “close to a million doses” for the state to vaccinate everyone in “Phase 1” of the priority protocol — frontline health care workers, nursing home and assisted living residents and staff, and first responders. 

The governor announced that the state is making some doses available to health care personnel who work outside Maryland. He will be holding a virtual meeting with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and Virginia Gov. Ralph S. Northam (D) on Wednesday to discuss that issue and others, he said. 

Hogan said he would get the shot as soon as it becomes available to him, and he will do so publicly, to help build public confidence in the vaccine’s safety. “But I’m not going to jump the line in front of the people who are above me,” he said. 

Walgreens and CVS will handle distribution of the vaccine to nursing homes, while local health departments will vaccinate their police officers and firefighters, Chan said. 

“Our goal and our focus is really to push it out as quickly as we get it, so we can expand as quickly as we can,” she said. She cautioned that the expectation of having 300,000 doses by month’s end was subject to change. 

Hogan said the state will soon launch a “multi-lingual” public service campaign to encourage the public to get vaccinated. 

On Monday, he held a virtual roundtable with a small, diverse group of University of Maryland Medical System workers who were among the first to get vaccinated.

Among them was Shawn Hendricks, a nursing director at the University of Maryland Medical Center. A Baltimore native, she oversees multiple units that care for COVID-19 patients, and several members of her family — including her mother — have been infected. 

“One of the reasons that I wanted to definitely step up to the plate [was] because I know there’s been some hesitance,” she said. “Being African-American, we are three times more likely to be affected by COVID than any other ethnic group. So there has been death and dying — however, I’m hopeful.”  

Daisy Solares, a respiratory therapist at the UMMC Downtown Campus who has treated numerous COVID patients, said taking the vaccine brought a wave of emotion. 

“Unfortunately, my father passed away from the virus, so I’m basically doing it in honor of him,” she told the governor. 

Hogan thanked the health care workers for their service during the pandemic and for being willing to state publicly that they were willing to take the vaccine.  

“Helping us message — this is going to save lives, so we don’t lose more Dads,” he said, his voice cracking.

Dr. Michael Winters, an emergency department physician, praised all the medical professionals “who have, day in and day out, shown up courageously.”

“We’ve had those anxieties about do we get infected, what’s the risk of bringing it home to our families,” he said. 

At Tuesday’s press conference, Dr. David Marcozzi, the COVID-19 Incident Commander for the University of Maryland Medical System and a top Hogan adviser, offered assurances that people cannot get the virus from the vaccine. 

“It will protect you from getting COVID-19,” he said. “There is no way to get COVID-19 from this vaccine.” 

Chan and Marcozzi stressed that people will need to get both doses of the vaccine to get the 95% effectiveness offered by Pfizer’s product and the 94% offered by Moderna’s. The Moderna vaccine should be available next week, Chan said. 

She also cautioned against believing “rumors and misinformation” on social media.

On legislative session, ‘we’ll see how it goes’ 

Leaders of the General Assembly have crafted a plan for this year’s General Assembly session that they hope will minimize the risks to lawmakers and staff. But given the uncertainty around the spread of the virus, which has pushed hospitalizations to 85% of the state’s staffed-bed capabilities, Hogan asserted it is “very likely” lawmakers will have to amend their plans. 

“We’ll have to see how it goes,” he said. “It’s very likely that they may not be able to continue it the way they’re planning currently, just like the last session when they had to shut down altogether.”

He announced that Cian Diagnostics, a Frederick firm, has contracted with LabGenomics, the South Korean firm that sold COVID-19 test kits to the state in the early weeks of the pandemic. The state quietly returned the initial batch, which were received with great fanfare, then paid $2.5 million for replacements. 

Under the new deal, Cian will purchase kits capable of conducting 1 million COVID-19 tests, the governor said. 

As of Tuesday, Maryland has used “every one” of the 500,000 tests it purchased from Korea last spring, despite what Hogan called “numerous, false, partisan attacks and a coordinated disinformation campaign.” 

By Bruce DePuyt

Citing COVID Surge, Hogan Announces ‘Wide-Scale’ Police Enforcement Efforts Over Holiday

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Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) is cracking down on individuals and businesses who don’t follow public health orders as COVID-19 surges in Maryland, and announced Monday that state police will launch a “wide-scale” enforcement operation as Thanksgiving approaches.

At a Monday afternoon press conference, Hogan said he’s deploying additional state troopers in all of Maryland’s counties and the city of Baltimore to enforce public health mandates. He said the state troopers will deploy “high visibility compliance units” in popular downtown areas across the state ― including Baltimore, Bel Air, Towson, Salisbury and Silver Spring― to keep an eye on crowds and social distancing.

He noted that Thanksgiving is a time when many travel home and traditionally head to bars with friends and families, but described pub-crawling during the pandemic as “reckless.”

State troopers will step up enforcement efforts on Wednesday and Thursday in addition to their normal push to combat drunk driving during the holiday, although they will also help local governments with pandemic-related enforcement going forward.

Hogan’s announcement came less than a week after he issued a slew of restrictions in response to the massive surge of coronavirus cases. Those restrictions include limiting the hours for indoor dining and reducing capacity for many indoor businesses to 50%.

He believes the vast majority of Marylanders are following public health guidelines, masking up in public and avoiding large gatherings, but warned that a few lax businesses or individuals could worsen the pandemic for everyone.

Hogan slammed businesses and residents who don’t comply with public health orders, charging that they are putting their entire communities at risk by flouting masks and having large gatherings.

“We can’t let a few bad actors spoil it for the others who’ve been doing such a great job,” Hogan said. “We cannot afford all the progress that we’ve made together against this virus.”

While the state has an additional 6,000 hospital beds as part of its surge plan, Hogan warned that some hospitals in Western Maryland are already at capacity.

An additional 29 hospitals are nearing their capacity, Hogan said, although the Department of Health has issued an order allowing hospitals nearing their full capacity to transfer patients to hospitals with vacancies.

The state has seen 19 straight days with more than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19, with another 1,658 new cases in a 24-hour period as of Monday afternoon. The state’s 7-day positivity rate was 6.88% as of Monday, Hogan said.

Maryland reported an additional 14 confirmed COVID-19 deaths Monday morning, bringing the total since March to 4,293.

Hogan was joined by Baltimore County Executive John “Johnny O” Olszewski, Jr (D), who said he plans on using his full authority to crack down on compliance around Thanksgiving. He warned that anyone found in violation of state or local health orders will face consequences.

“These rules are in place to save lives,” Olszewski said. “If you are found violating them, you will be held accountable.”

Baltimore County’s social distancing task force has conducted thousands of inspections during the pandemic, Olszewski said, and has found more than 300 violations. He said county officials have cited and even shut down businesses that don’t comply with health orders.

Maryland State Police are operating a 24-hour hotline for residents to report health order violations, Hogan said. Marylanders can report potential violations to (833) 979-2266 or send an email to Prevent.Covid@maryland.gov.

By Bennett Leckrone