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More names for the Moore team
Gov.-elect Wes Moore continues to gradually fill out his roster of employees who will help him lead state government.
This week, Moore announced two more additions to his team in low-profile but important roles:
- Mollie Byron will be the director of intergovernmental affairs, a job that involves coordinating with local government leaders throughout the state. Byron has been director of government accountability for Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. Her resume also includes serving as deputy director of intergovernmental affairs when Martin O’Malley was governor.
- State Sen. Paul. Pinsky will be director of the Maryland Energy Administration, which oversees energy-efficiency programs for consumers, businesses and state agencies. Pinsky, a Democrat from Prince George’s County, has been chair of the Senate’s Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, shepherding key environmental and climate change bills to passage.
Moore, a Democrat, has yet to nominate most of the cabinet secretaries who will lead state agencies, ranging from transportation to health to natural resources. Moore has only named a budget secretary (Helene Grady) and an appointments secretary (Tisha Edwards).
Moore’s pace in building his staff is slower than outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan’s pace when he was first elected eight years ago. By Dec. 23, 2014, Hogan was “nearly halfway toward filling his cabinet,” according to a report in The Washington Post at the time.
Hogan, a Republican, had named secretaries for appointments, labor, general services, juvenile services, health, natural resources, environment and agriculture by that point, according to news reports at the time. Another flurry of announcements of cabinet secretaries, deputies and advisors came in the weeks before his inauguration.
Former Gov. Martin O’Malley, meanwhile, had a slower pace with appointments after his 2006 election. By January of 2007, lawmakers in Annapolis were grumbling about O’Malley’s lack of key appointments. About a week before he was sworn into office, O’Malley had named just five cabinet secretaries, and his staff announcements continued into February of 2007.
Mark your calendars
Maryland’s new comptroller and attorney general have set the dates for when they’ll raise their right hands and be sworn into office.
Anthony Brown, a Democrat who was elected attorney general, will be sworn in during a live-streamed ceremony at noon on Jan. 3 in the Maryland House of Delegates chamber in the State House in Annapolis. The House chamber is a familiar place for Brown, who served as a state delegate from 1999 through 2007.
A gala will follow from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. More information will be posted at agtransition23.com.
Brooke Lierman, a Democrat who won the race for comptroller, plans a swearing-in ceremony for Jan. 16 at 3 p.m. outside of the Goldstein Treasury Building in Annapolis. An online invitation cautions guests “to dress appropriately for winter weather.”
The event is free and open to the public, but those who wish to attend should fill out an online RSVP to reserve a spot.
Jan. 16 is also Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the Lierman team plans to do community service work throughout the state. Those interested in joining can request more information online.
Maryland Democrats stick with success
The Maryland Republican Party had a divisive leadership election following a subpar performance in the November election, but the Maryland Democratic Party had no such drama.
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Party Chairwoman Yvette Lewis was unopposed in her reelection to the party’s top post during a meeting last weekend. She’s been the party chair since 2019 and oversaw the Democratic sweep of all statewide offices as well as gains in the state legislature this year.
Lewis headed a slate of party officers put forward by Gov.-elect Wes Moore that also includes: Everett Browning, first vice chair; Judy Wixted, second vice chair; Ruben Amaya, third vice chair; Devang Shah, treasurer; Diana Emerson, deputy treasurer; Corynne Courpas, secretary; and Gabe Gough, deputy secretary.
Lewis noted that the party officers represent racial, geographic and generational diversity. “This group will bring fresh perspective to the party, and help guide us forward,” Lewis said in a statement. “I have no doubt they will make their home counties and the entire party proud.”
Shuffle in the Senate
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson announced a revised roster of leadership posts and committee assignments this week.
The Senate has four main committees that review bills:
- The Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee is being renamed the Education, Energy and Environment Committee. The committee will take on energy and utility regulation but lose its oversight of alcohol laws and health occupations. Sen. Bryan Feldman of Montgomery County will be the new chair (replacing Pinsky, who is joining the Moore Administration). Sen. Cheryl Kagan, also of Montgomery, continues as the vice-chair.
- The Finance Committee picks up alcohol regulation and health professions, but loses utilities and energy policy. The new chair is Sen. Melony Griffith from Prince George’s County, along with Sen. Kathy Klausmeier of Baltimore County as vice chair.
- The Budget and Taxation Committee will keep the same leadership team of Sen. Guy Guzzone of Howard County as chair and Sen. Jim Rosapepe, representing Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties, as vice chair.
- The Judicial Proceedings Committee will continue under the leadership of Sen. William C. Smith Jr. as chair and Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher as vice chair, both from Montgomery County.
The Executive Nominations Committee, which will be tasked with reviewing scores of appointees put forth by the incoming Moore Administration, has a new chair, Sen. Pamela Beidle of Anne Arundel County. The Rules Committee, which mostly recommends whether late-filed bills should be considered, will continue to be led by Sen. Joanne Benson of Prince George’s.
Ferguson is recommending that Sen. Malcolm Augustine of Prince George’s County serve as Senate president pro-tem, a leadership role that involves stepping in to lead the body when the president is absent. He would replace Griffith in that role.
“This is a Senate that will reflect the diversity of Maryland and the issues that really matter to Marylanders,” Ferguson told The Baltimore Banner.
Santa visits the State House
We leave you with a bit of bipartisan holiday spirit.
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan cheerily shared a photo this week posing and smiling at the State House with the jolly old elf himself, Santa Claus — also known as Democratic state Del. Luke Clippinger.
Clippinger is an experienced Santa, often playing the role of the man in the red suit in Baltimore’s Highlandtown neighborhood, and sometimes at the State House, too.
No word whether Hogan gave his holiday wish list to Santa Clippinger.
pamela.wood@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Pamela Wood covers Maryland politics and government. She previously reported for The Baltimore Sun, The Capital and other Maryland newspapers. A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, she lives in northern Anne Arundel County.
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