LIERMAN TO BECOME COMPTROLLER TODAY: After Brooke Lierman raises her right hand and recites the oath of office as comptroller Monday, she doesn’t know what she’ll do immediately afterward. “I have to imagine it will feel overwhelming, joyous and slightly terrifying all at the same time. It’s an awesome responsibility that Marylanders are giving to me and I don’t take that lightly,” she says. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
- Last Wednesday was Lierman’s ninth opening day at the General Assembly. But when it came time for delegates-elect in the crowded House of Delegates chamber to swear the oath of office, her right hand stayed at her side while her former colleagues’ shot up in the air. “Driving down 97 and Route 50 to Annapolis on opening day, I was certainly feeling wistful,” she said. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
MOORE TO TAKE OATH ON FREDERICK DOUGLASS’s BIBLE: Wes Moore’s left hand will rest on history Wednesday when he takes the oath of office and becomes Maryland’s first Black governor and only the third Black governor elected in the history of the United States. Underneath his palm as he swears to “bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland, and support the Constitution and Laws thereof” will be a Bible that once belonged to Frederick Douglass, a Marylander born into slavery who later escaped to freedom and became a leading voice of abolition Joe Heim/The Washington Post.
MOORE BRINGS FAITH LIFE INTO VIEW: Wes Moore has rarely cited the ways in which his faith life affects his views on public policy. He didn’t do so at church on Sunday, either, but for anyone paying attention, the clues were difficult to miss. Jonathan Pitts/The Baltimore Sun.
OPINION: THE MADNESS OF GOV. MOORE: For years, Democrats have told Marylanders that they don’t want to upset the apple cart. They don’t want to take away our guns, they don’t want to make it hard to stop crime, and they don’t want to take away our cars. They have said for years that Democrats don’t want to radically transform your life. And here, in one interview, likely barely seen by average Marylanders, Wes Moore drops the façade and says “I want to change everything about your life.” Brian Griffiths/The Duckpin.
You can watch the CBS interview here:
MOORE MAKES MORE APPOINTMENTS AHEAD OF TAKING OATH: Gov.-elect Wes Moore announced three nominations Friday, including the reappointment of two officials from the administration of outgoing Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, making him nearly halfway done filling out his cabinet ahead of his inauguration Wednesday. Secretary of Emergency Management Russell Strickland and acting Secretary of Public Safety & Correctional Services Carolyn Scruggs will continue serving in their roles under the new administration. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
- Moore also said he would nominate Katie Savage as secretary of Information Technology and would hire Harold “Bud” Frank as the deputy chief of staff for Public Safety and Homeland Security. Josh Kurtz and William Ford/Maryland Matters.
NAVIGATING THE ‘INCLUSIVE’ INAUGURATION: Ahead of the historic inauguration on Wednesday of Maryland Gov.-elect Wes Moore and Lt. Gov-elect Aruna Miller, here is guide to all the details of parking, events and more. Staff/The Baltimore Banner.
- Gov.-elect Wes Moore built his campaign around a central motto — leave no one behind — and the details of the events leading up to Moore’s inauguration this week show how the administration is planning for inclusivity. Callan Tansill-Suddath/The Baltimore Banner.
PROFILE: ARUNA MILLER, MARYLAND’s NEXT LT. GOV: Aruna Miller at first resisted elective office when a resignation opened a seat in the Maryland state legislature. She worried. “Nobody looks like me that’s elected,” Miller, now 58, recalled in an interview. “No one’s going to vote for me.” Then she thought of what good she could do, she said. Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post.
POLITICAL NOTES: FUND-RAISING; McINTOSH’s NEW GIG; GOP LEADERSHIP: Although the newly sworn in members of the General Assembly are now barred from fund-raising while the session is in, other elected officials have not been sworn in yet and, yes, they have been fund-raising. And former House Appropriations Chair Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City), whose 30-year legislative career came to an end this week, has landed a gig with Cornerstone Government Affairs, where she will be a senior consultant. And who is on the House GOP leadership team? Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters.
POLITICAL NOTES: BLACK CAUCUS NAMES EXEC COMMITTEE: The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland formally announced its newly elected executive committee Friday, which includes Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery) as caucus chair. The caucus’ executive committee members are Del. Melissa Wells (D-Baltimore City), who will serve as first vice chair; Del. Karen Toles (D-Prince George’s) as second vice chair; Del. Marlon Amprey (D-Baltimore City), who will serve as treasurer; Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City) as financial secretary; and Del. Jamila Woods (D-Prince George’s) as secretary. Josh Kurtz and William Ford/Maryland Matters.
COX SEEKS SUPREME COURT REVIEW OF EARLY VOTE COUNT: Republican Dan Cox, who lost a bid to become Maryland’s governor, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a judge’s decision that allowed the state to count mail-in ballots before Election Day in November. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
- The state’s ballot-counting schedule, as laid out in state law, did not include the early tabulation. But officials with the State Board of Elections used a provision of the law to receive permission from the courts to do so on the grounds that emergency circumstances existed, including an influx of mailed ballots. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
FORMER DEL.IMPALLARIA PLEADS GUILTY TO MISUSING STATE FUNDS: Former state Del. Rick Impallaria pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court on Friday to misconduct in office for misusing state funds, according to a news release from the office of Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III. Jason Fontelieu/The Aegis.
- Impallaria had been charged in summer 2022 with multiple criminal counts of theft, misappropriation of funds and misconduct in office related to inappropriate use of state funds for a district office and office furniture. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
- Under the terms of the plea, Impallaria agreed to repay the legislature $44,100, complete 100 hours of community service and plead guilty to gun charges pending in Baltimore County. If Impallaria does all of this by June 21 and has no additional legal entanglements, the judge in Anne Arundel County said she will impose a six-month probation before judgment sentence. Bryan Sears/The Daily Record.
MOBILE SPORTS BETTING NOT EASY AS IT SEEMS: Analysts say that mobile sports betting and winning at it isn’t easy and they offered tips on avoiding common beginner mistakes. Predicting players’ and teams’ performances and overcoming sportsbooks’ institutional advantages is hard, they said, sometimes deceptively so. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
HOGAN PARDONS MAN WRONGFULLY CONVICTED OF INFAMOUS MURDERS: Gov. Larry Hogan on Friday declared John Norman Huffington, a Harford County man who was wrongfully convicted in an infamous 1981 double murder, innocent. Hogan, a Republican with days left in his second term, cited prosecutorial misconduct on the part of disgraced former Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly in finding that Huffington’s convictions were in error and granting a full innocence pardon — an order that amounts to exoneration. Alex Mann and Lilly Price/The Baltimore Sun.
- Among his final official actions before his term ends Wednesday, the Republican governor pardoned Huffington, who was wrongfully convicted of the 1981 double murder of Diana Becker and Joe Hudson in Harford County, stating that “the interests of the state of Maryland and the grantee [Huffington] will best be served by” granting the pardon. Ben Conarck and Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
GUN GROUP ACCUSES MO CO OF COLLUDING ON GUN CONTROL: A gun rights group has accused a gun control organization of having colluded with Montgomery County to unfairly weaken the group’s ability to make legal arguments challenging the constitutionality of a county law prohibiting gun possession within 100 yards of a “place of public assembly.” Steve Lash/The Daily Record.
OTIS WARREN JR., NOTED AFRICAN AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN, 80, DIES: Otis Warren Jr., a self made businessman who became the first African American to construct an office building in downtown Baltimore died Jan. 10 at Sinai Hospital. He was 80. Jacques Kelly/The Baltimore Sun.
