State Roundup, November 13, 2014

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FARM LEASE TO BE BID: The O’Malley administration backed down Wednesday from its proposal to lease a Kent County farm to a politically connected nonprofit for $1 a year, promising to rebid the contract competitively, reports the Sun’s Michael Dresser. The move likely pushes the decision about whether to pursue the deal into the administration of Gov.-elect Larry Hogan, who might not view it as favorably as his predecessor. A spokesman for Hogan had no comment Wednesday night.

STATE DEFENDS TAX ON OUT-OF-STATE INCOME: Bill Turque reports for the Post that Maryland’s acting solicitor general told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the state has the right to tax all income that residents earn in other states in order to help pay for local government services they enjoy, such as schools and police and fire protection.

REFORM REDISTRICTING: The editorial board for the Annapolis Capital writes that, in the gubernatorial election, both candidates were on record for redistricting reform; victorious Republican Larry Hogan told the Capital Gazette editorial board he favors having the lines drawn by an independent, nonpartisan commission. Now that he has the chance, we urge him to do all he can to move the state toward that goal.

$600 MILLION BUDGET GAP: The uphill climb Gov.-elect Larry Hogan faces to fulfill his campaign promises and reduce state spending and taxes was starkly illustrated in a legislative hearing on spending Wednesday, reports Len Lazarick of MarylandReporter.com.

Spending affordability joint hearing room

Legislative analysts, right, testify on spending issues to several committees gathered in the Joint Hearing Room.

HARE V. TORTOISE: Goucher College’s Mileah Kromer in an op-ed for the Sun writes that, in the race for governor, pollsters, pundits and the media were busy talking about how unlikely it would be to beat the hare, instead of focusing on the progression of the tortoise. … in regard to polls in the echo chamber, the issue is not that the polls were talking to the media and pundits. The real issue is that not enough polls were conducted following the debates and leading up to Election Day.

WHY BROWN? Laslo Boyd of Center Maryland ponders whether Democrats in Maryland should be worried following the election of Larry Hogan for governor, among other Republicans elected in the state. He offers an analysis of why Anthony Brown lost so badly. But says that it’s important to dig deeper than saying that he was a particularly ineffective candidate who ran a dreadful campaign. Why was he chosen in the first place without closer scrutiny?

HOGAN TAPS NEALL: Gov.-elect Larry Hogan named a widely respected former state senator to his transition team Wednesday, the same day experts warned that Maryland’s budget will require about $900 million in belt-tightening, Erin Cox and Michael Dresser report in the Sun.

DELAY IS DEATH FOR RED LINE: Is the Red Line rail project dead? It’s a $2.9 billion effort. Advocates say it will re-energize the Baltimore region. But word on the street says it’s dead, opines Fraser Smith in a commentary for WYPR-FM. The man who may know, governor-elect Larry Hogan won’t say. Maybe even he doesn’t know. He’s suddenly got a lot on his plate.

CONOWINGO REPORT: Dredging millions of tons of sediment from the Susquehanna River upriver of the Conowingo Dam would potentially cost billions of dollars and do little to help the Chesapeake Bay compared with cleanup efforts already underway, a new federal-state study found, according to Tim Wheeler in the Sun.

NEW GOP LEADER, WHIP: Maryland Senate Republicans Wednesday elected Sen. J.B. Jennings of Baltimore County as their new minority leader and Sen. Chris Shank of Washington County as the new minority whip. Jennings and Shank both promised to strongly support Gov.-elect Larry Hogan Jr. in his goal of reducing spending and taxes, according to MarylandReporter.com’s Len Lazarick.

KITTLEMAN’S TRANSITION TEAM: Howard County Executive-elect Allan Kittleman on Wednesday announced the remaining 12 members of his transition team and discussed their task as he prepares to take office Dec. 1, report Amanda Yeager and Luke Lavoie of the Howard County Times.

GOP OUTVOTES DEMS IN WA CO: Unofficial figures released this week by the Washington County Board of Elections show that 21,153 Republicans and 12,818 Democrats voted in last week’s general election, reports Kaustuv Basu for the Hagerstown Herald Mail.

UM HAS BIGGEST STATE PAYCHECKS: If you’re looking for the biggest state paychecks in the Old Line State, you’ll find them at the University of Maryland-College Park, writes Drew Hansen. That’s according to data provided by Maryland’s Central Payroll Bureau and compiled by the Washington Business Journal.

About The Author

Cynthia Prairie

cynthiaprairie@gmail.com
https://www.chestertelegraph.org/

Contributing Editor Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor since 1979, when she began working at The Raleigh Times. Since then, she has worked for The Baltimore News American, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Prince George’s Journal and Baltimore County newspapers in the Patuxent Publishing chain, including overseeing The Jeffersonian when it was a two-day a week business publication. Cynthia has won numerous state awards, including the Maryland State Bar Association’s Gavel Award. Besides compiling and editing the daily State Roundup, she runs her own online newspaper, The Chester Telegraph. If you have additional questions or comments contact Cynthia at: cynthiaprairie@gmail.com

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