U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Larry Hogan is facing renewed questions about his real estate company, following a report Thursday that he voted to approve subsidies for affordable housing developers that his firm may have worked with in the past.
While he was governor, Hogan voted five times in favor of state aid for affordable housing projects undertaken by developers that were listed, at one point, on a website for the Hogan Cos. as partners the firm had worked with, Time magazine reported on Thursday.
The report came just hours before Hogan, a Republican, was set to face off in a televised debate against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks.
Hogan dismissed the report as an election-season campaign tactic that was without merit, when he spoke to reporters following the debate.
“This is what they call an October surprise, where they dredge up some old false conspiracy theory and throw it out there and then try to make it into a campaign issue,” Hogan said. “There’s no truth to it at all.”
Hogan said he had “hardly” read the article but blasted it as “typical politics as usual”
Hogan’s campaign team told Time that Hogan was not involved in the projects and followed all ethics laws. The magazine report did not include any evidence that Hogan had direct involvement in selecting which companies would be awarded the affordable housing subsidies.
Two of the housing developers told Time they did not do business with the Hogan Cos. An unidentified executive at one of the developers said they retained Hogan Cos. but never paid them because they never completed a land transaction.
The votes came at the Board of Public Works, a powerful three-member panel that has the final say on state contracts and major spending. The governor chairs the three-member board, which also includes the state treasurer and state comptroller. Two votes are necessary for an item to be approved.
The developers cited in the Time report are all established companies that have worked in the affordable housing industry in Maryland for years. The Time report noted that the awards they received were just a fraction of all the affordable housing subsidies issued by the state during Hogan’s two terms as governor.
Democrats immediately pounced on the report, circulating it on social media, alleging it was an example of the governor “self dealing” or putting his interests ahead of Marylanders. The Alsobrooks campaign did not immediately offer any comment.
“The law requires him to recuse himself from conflicts of interest and he clearly had conflicts of interest,” former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who has criticized Hogan this campaign season, told reporters on a call Thursday.
“Maybe there’s some excuse, but on the surface of it, it seems very clear he violated the ethics law,” Frosh added.
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat who served in the state senate while Hogan was in office, said the former governor has some explaining to do.
“Perhaps he thought the Hogan business was no longer representing these clients. ... I don’t know. I don’t want to prejudge it without hearing his side of the story, but it does not look good now,” Raskin told reporters.
It’s not the first time Hogan has faced questions about the intersection of his political career and business career.
Hogan has repeatedly faced criticism and questions about his real estate business, including whether he steered road improvement money to areas where his company owned property, though some of the road projects were conceived before Hogan was elected. At least two ethics complaints were filed against the governor in the matter, but there have been no findings by state officials that Hogan violated ethics rules.
After Hogan won his first election in 2014, the Maryland State Ethics Commission approved the then-governor moving his business and investment holdings into a trust. Hogan’s brother ran the real estate company and the then-governor received periodic updates from the trustees who managed his investments — an arrangement that came under criticism from some who thought a fully blind trust would have been better.
It’s unclear how much Hogan knew about his business dealings or how much money he earned while in office. While running for reelection in 2018, Hogan shared copies of three years’ worth of tax returns showing a total of $2.4 million in earned income.
He has not released any tax returns since, but his Senate candidate disclosure form shows an extensive list of ownership in real estate companies and plots of land, along with paid speaking engagements, mutual funds and certificates of deposit.
Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify that the article did not present evidence that Hogan had direct involvement in selecting which companies would be awarded affordable housing subsidies.
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