HOGAN CONSIDERS 2024 PREZ RUN: Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday that he’s open to considering a presidential campaign in 2024, after his term ends — but ruled out running for the U.S. Senate, Luke Broadwater reports in the Sun. Hogan, a popular Republican governor in his second term governing a blue state, announced Saturday that he would not challenge President Donald Trump in next year’s GOP primary.
HOGAN’s WONDERFUL TALK OF RUNNING: In a column for MarylandReporter, Len Lazarick writes, “I never believed Gov. Larry Hogan would challenge President Trump for president. I also had a hard time understanding why so many media types – local and national – were taking the prospect seriously. And then I realized that Hogan himself seemed to be taking the venture seriously.”
59 LAWMAKERS ASK BPW TO REJECT HOGAN ROAD PLAN: Dozens of Maryland lawmakers are speaking out against a proposal to contract with a private company to add miles of toll lanes to two busy highways in the Washington suburbs. Fifty-nine lawmakers wrote to members of the state Board of Public Works on Monday, urging them to reject Gov. Larry Hogan’s toll lane proposal for the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, Pamela Wood reports in the Sun.
- Lawmakers who signed the letter are asking that the project be split into smaller chunks before being designated a public-private partnership and that any approvals be delayed until an environmental impact statement is completed, Bryan Sears of the Daily Record reports. The letter also asks the board to “enforce promises that the governor made not to seize any homes or businesses along the path of the project.”
- Absent from those who signed the letter was Sen. Nancy King, a Democrat whose district includes Montgomery Village, and much of the upcounty stretch of I-270. King has previously said she wants to move forward on the I-270 widening. Del. Jared Solomon, a Chevy Chase Democrat, said King has been “a great ally” but that Hogan’s plan would not bring relief to her district for 10 years, Dan Schere of Bethesda Beat reports.
- Opponents of the governor’s plan were ratcheting up their pressure Monday on Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), considered a swing vote on the influential Board of Public Works. While Franchot of Montgomery County was being briefed on the plan by staff, local leaders publicly urged the state to adopt a vastly different approach to the capital region’s traffic woes, and a large coalition portrayed Hogan’s proposal as poorly conceived, overly expensive, and harmful to parks and air quality, Bruce DePuyt reports in Maryland Matters.
OPINION: MO CO LACKS ACTION ON TRAFFIC: Emmet Tydings of the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance, in an op-ed for Maryland Matters, opines that, “in a county known for responsive government, Montgomery County’s current leaders are failing badly when it comes to responding to the majority of us who want action on our No. 1 concern — traffic relief.” Tydings derides officials for just “fomenting opposition” to the governor’s plan.
OPINION: GOOD REASONS TO OPPOSE HOGAN PLAN: Aram Sinnreich, a professor at American University who lives in Silver Spring opines in an op-ed for Maryland Matters that, “There are many excellent reasons to oppose Gov. Larry Hogan’s plan … It will be noisy and polluting; it will destroy homes and parkland; it will lower home values; it will benefit wealthy commuters at the expense of the poor; it will siphon money away from socially beneficial projects including public transportation; and according to independent research, it probably won’t alleviate traffic congestion.”
DOCTORS DISMISSED FROM OPIOID SUIT: Local doctors accused of contributing to the opioid crisis were dismissed from Anne Arundel County’s lawsuit last week after a judge determined the county failed to comply with state law for malpractice claims, reports Heather Cobun in the Daily Record. The doctors and their practices were named as part of a massive lawsuit accusing pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors of engaging in a scheme to deceptively market drugs such as OxyContin and flood the market, contributing to an addiction crisis.
NEWSEUM HONORS SLAIN CAPITAL GAZETTE JOURNALISTS: Dozens of white roses were placed Monday in front of the Newseum’s Journalists Memorial with recently added names of journalists killed in 2018. Among the 21 new names were four journalists killed in The Capital Gazette newsroom in June 2018 — Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, Wendi Winters and John McNamara. Rebecca Smith, who worked in the advertising department at The Capital, was also killed in the newsroom June 28, reports Naomi Harris for the Annapolis Capital.
FUTURE OF FORMER PAPER MILL WORKERS: Jeffrey Alderton of the Cumberland Times-News writes about the laid off workers at the Luke paper mill and what they can expect in the near term from the plant’s closing in the way of severance and continued benefits.
DELANEY CHALLENGES AOC TO DEBATE AFTER GETTING BOOED: The only presidential candidate for 2020 from Maryland, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D), has been getting attention on the campaign trail in recent days – but perhaps not the kind he had hoped for, Danielle Gaines writes in Maryland Matters. CNN aired a segment on Monday featuring Delaney getting booed during the California Democratic Convention this weekend after he criticized other campaigns for promising “Medicare for All.” Then he was dismissed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Twitter. So he challenged her to a debate.
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