State Roundup, November 7, 2014

HOGAN’S NEXT MOVES: Now comes the hard part, writes John Wagner in the Post. Gov.-elect Larry Hogan campaigned on a promise to cut taxes and make the state more business-friendly. But he has offered few specifics on how he would do those things and now must find a way to work with a heavily Democratic legislature.

• Len Lazarick of MarylandReporter.com reports that Comcast lobbyist Sean Looney told a Baltimore-Washington Chamber of Commerce luncheon that while the new governor-elect is a pro-business Republican, the newly elected “Democrats coming in are more progressive and more anti-business” than those they are replacing. That will present a challenge to Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch on “how to control their own constituency,” Looney said. “It’s frankly Mike Busch’s and Mike Miller’s headache.”
• The shock of election night in Maryland is beginning to dissipate, replaced by this question: What will Larry Hogan do as governor? The Republican who pulled off what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called “the biggest upset in the entire country” has about 11 weeks to weigh in on the state budget, hire a staff, pick Cabinet members and other agency leaders, and prepare to take over the executive suite occupied by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) since 2007, reports Jenna Johnson and John Wagner in the Post.
• When Gov. Larry Hogan is sworn in on Jan. 21, it will mark only the second time in the last 47 years that Marylanders have elected a Republican governor and a Democrat-led state legislature. The GBC’s Donald Fry for Center Maryland asks what can Maryland voters expect this time around from a GOP governor and a Democratic-dominated state legislature? Will it be political gridlock or constructive policy making?
• Governor-elect Larry Hogan doesn’t take office until January, but you can peek at what the future holds by looking at his stance on several crucial issues facing Maryland. Hogan submitted these answers in response to a Baltimore Sun questionnaire during the primary election season.
• It’s all about taxes and regulations. Business leaders are hopeful Gov.-elect Larry Hogan will address those issues, which they say contribute to Maryland’s reputation as one of the least business-friendly states in the nation. They believe that by electing Hogan, voters sent a strong message to leaders that anti-business policies are holding back Maryland’s economy, reports Adam Bednar in the Daily Record.

HOW BROWN LOST, HOW HOGAN WON: Jenna Johnson of the Post outlines the various issues that made it possible for blue Maryland to take a decided turn into the red lane and give Larry Hogan a decisive victory. The economy and taxes are certainly important factors.

• Before Tuesday, an Anne Arundel County resident hadn’t been elected governor since before the Civil War. Prior to becoming governor-elect this week, Hogan was just “Larry” to his Edgewater neighbors, who also called him “excellent,” “honest” and “down to earth,” writes Chase Cook in the Annapolis Capital.
• Opinionator Barry Rascovar, writing in MarylandReporter.com, says Anthony Brown’s actions during his eight years in office may have given him an easy primary win, but it didn’t set him up to win the general. He never spent the time connecting with voters and instead spent his time with politicians.
• Columnist Robert McCartney of the Post writes that the surprise over Brown’s loss was the most dramatic example in the Washington area of the Democratic establishment’s complacency. But other races also underlined the degree to which the D.C. region’s dominant party was out of touch with the electorate. In case after case, the Democrats smugly presumed they could cruise to victory without bothering to seriously address voters’ current anxieties, especially over the economy and taxes.
• Christopher Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, in an op-ed for the Sun, writes that thanks to early and robust staff support, Larry Hogan is credited with packaging economic statistics culled from official government sources that were largely accurate, timely and relevant. Though there were issues with Hogan’s statistics, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown could not directly refute much of his opponent’s economic analysis in televised debates.
• Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Baltimore voters are not to blame for the unexpected defeat of Anthony Brown, whose electoral total, including early voting in the city, did not break the 100,000 mark, writes Mark Reutter for Baltimore Brew.

LAZARICK ON NEWSTALK (Above): MarylandReporter.com’s Len Lazarick was on NewsTalk on News Channel 8 with host Bruce DePuyt discussing the election results, how Hogan won and his potential relations with a Democratic legislature in a 10-minute segment. (Click “Continue reading” on the page; Lazarick is on segment 4)

NATE SILVER’S CALL: Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s data analysis firm, explains how they got their forecast of Maryland’s governor race so wrong. They relied on the Sun and Post early October polls and not any partisan or internal polls, which is their general policy. (Enten fails to mention the Gonzales poll at all.) They had no late polling data, and yet they called the race for Anthony Brown by 9.7% with a 94% probability. Didn’t happen.

NATIONAL WAVE? At the national level, pundits and triumphant Republicans are pointing to Republican Larry Hogan’s win over Brown in Maryland as the ultimate evidence of the 2014 anti-Democratic wave. Not only did Republicans win Senate seats in red and purple states, the claim goes, but they won governorships in true-blue Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois as well, writes Alec MacGillis for the New Republic, adding, “I’m skeptical of that claim.”

CHRISTIE ALMOST CAME BY: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came to Maryland four times to campaign with Larry Hogan, the state’s Republican governor-elect. On Election Night, he nearly made a fifth trip. Hogan told a packed room of reporters Wednesday that he had received a call late the night before from Christie while he was waiting for Lt. Gov. Anthony  Brown to concede the race, write John Wagner for the Post.

DEMS LEAD ARUNDEL DELEGATION: The wave of Republican wins that cost Democrats control of the governor’s mansion and the U.S. Senate didn’t so much as dampen the Anne Arundel County House delegation. Democrats emerged from Tuesday’s voting with an 8-7 majority there. They picked up a single seat in the delegation, where Republicans have held a majority for four years, reports Tim Prudente for the Annapolis Capital.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR O’MALLEY: The Sun put together a roundup of what media outlets across the country are saying about Gov. Martin O’Malley, his presidential aspirations and how the 2016 presidential landscape is shaping up. On top of the story, Andrew Green of the Sun analyzes how Hogan won and Brown lost.

DELANEY STILL LEADS BONGINO: Democratic Rep. John Delaney’s lead in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District grew slightly on Thursday after the first day of absentee ballot counting — an outcome that prompted the Associated Press to declare him the winner of the unexpectedly close contest, reports John Fritze in the Sun.

CECIL IN GOP HANDS: If the results of Tuesday’s election told county political pundits anything, it was that Cecil County is now a firmly Republican jurisdiction. No Democrat won his or her contested race in the general election, with most Republican candidates winning their races by wide margins. In fact, every elected position in Cecil County, whether it was a local, state or federal representative, was won by the Grand Old Party, reports Jacob Owens for the Cecil Whig.

SCHUH’S NEXT STEPS: Steve Schuh has begun plugging away at creating a new Anne Arundel County administration. On Thursday, he announced the chairmen of his transition committees, who would recommend appointments and advise on policy and government reform. Schuh also plans to assemble hundreds of Anne Arundel County citizens to help make decisions on his new administration. The county executive-elect said he would establish teams of 10 to 20 people to assess each of the county’s 27 departments and offices, reports Rema Rahman in the Annapolis Capital.

• Columnist Rick Hutzell of the Annapolis Capital lists five dangers facing the new administration as it begins remaking Anne Arundel County into the Republican prototype Schuh says is good for us and maybe for Maryland.

ROBOCALLS PROBED: The weekend before Election Day, Patrick Armstrong’s mother began receiving unusual phone calls. Armstrong, who is openly gay, was running for County Council in District 5. The Democrat lost to GOP nominee Michael Peroutka on Tuesday.  The calls were from strangers who had received a message listing her phone number as the one they should call to reach her son and “thank him for his bravery in coming out of the closet.” The phone calls prompted complaints by residents, and Armstrong’s campaign called the tactic foul. The matter is in the hands of the state prosecutor’s office, election officials said, Rema Rahman is reporting in the Annapolis Capital.

GARDNER ASKS DECISION DELAY: Frederick County Executive-elect Jan Gardner has asked sitting commissioners to hand off several major development decisions to the next group of elected county leaders, reports Bethany Rodgers for the Frederick News-Post. Gardner made the request to her defeated rival, Commissioners President Blaine Young, during a post-election radio interview Wednesday morning. Gardner said she doesn’t think it’s appropriate for commissioners to make long-term growth decisions in the waning hours of their term.

DEATH ROW EXECUTIONS: Attorney General Doug Gansler said Thursday that the state does not have the legal authority to execute the four men who remain on death row following the legislature’s decision last year to abolish capital punishment.

• The case began on April 2, 1997, when Dottie Atkinson lost her son, Edward Atkinson. Since March 19, 1998, Jody Lee Miles has been sitting on death row for the murder. Things could soon change for Miles, however. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler has filed a legal brief with the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland asking that court to issue a sentence or direct a Circuit Court to sentence Miles to life without parole, reports Vanessa Junkin for the Salisbury Daily Times.