By JACK BOWMAN
BALTIMORE– Democrat Angela Alsobrooks gave the most detail to date about her recent tax credit controversy on Tuesday, while also taking aim at her Republican opponent’s claim of being independent in their race for the U.S. Senate.
At a live event hosted by the Baltimore Banner, Alsobrooks addressed a tax credit she claimed on her Washington, D.C. property. She said it was a mistake made after she assumed her grandmother’s mortgage.
“I paid all of her mortgages until I sold the house about six years ago,” Alsobrooks said. “I did not realize, even after I sold the house, that she had a tax credit on her home.” Alsobrooks also said that she is “working now to pay whatever” she owes.
Alsobrooks did not specify which tax credit she was referring to; CNN reported that she improperly claimed two, one of which is intended for low-income senior citizens. The improper credits were claimed on the D.C. home as well as one in Maryland, according to CNN.
Speaking with moderator and Banner reporter Pamela Wood, Alsobrooks turned the focus to Republican opponent Larry Hogan, specifically mentioning the $18.2 million dollars in ad buys from Maryland’s Future, a Super-PAC that supports the former governor. According to Politico, the investment brings Republican spending in Maryland to more than double that of Democrats.
Alsobrooks questioned Hogan’s repeated claims that he would not be a party-line Republican voter.
“Nobody contributes $18 million to your campaign when they expect you to be independent,” Alsobrooks said.
Hogan’s press secretary, Blake Kernen, told Capital News Service that Hogan was unable to attend due to schedule conflicts, including a visit with dockworkers on the picket line at the port of Baltimore about the ongoing strike.
Alsobrooks’ attacks on Hogan’s policy standing continued after the moderator asked about the Republican’s standing on abortion.
Alsobrooks took aim at the Hogan campaign’s support of abortion access, saying that his past actions run contrary to his current stance.
“Well, let’s not talk about what he said, let’s talk about what he did,” Alsobrooks said. “Two years ago … this is a person who vetoed abortion care legislation in the state of Maryland.”
Alsobrooks went on to say that when Hogan’s veto was overridden, he “doubled down and refused to fund training for abortion care providers in our state.”
According to Maryland Matters, the bill Hogan vetoed was one that would expand the types of medical professionals allowed to perform abortions in Maryland; when the veto was overridden, he withheld state funding meant to train nonphysicians to perform abortions.
In his veto, Hogan wrote that the bill would risk “the health and lives of women,” and that it risked “lowering the high standard of reproductive health care services” in Maryland.
Throughout his campaign, Hogan has supported abortion access, saying that he will “support legislation that makes Roe (v. Wade) the law of the land, in every state.”
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