Although I have been a big supporter of Governor Larry Hogan in the past, his recent actions in several matters have disappointed me greatly. Lately he seems to be too preoccupied with establishing a “national identity” as a moderate who can work on both sides of the political fence and not concerned enough about the affairs of Maryland. He still has two years left in office as governor, and I hope he devotes most of his time to the affairs in Maryland.
I am also disappointed in Hogan’s failure to fully address the questions surrounding the 500,000 coronavirus test kits that he bought from South Korea. Back in April when the test kits arrived, Governor Hogan made a big production out of their arrival and heralded the kits as a “game changing step forward”. Both the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun have recently questioned whether the test kits have even been used, and there exists the possibility that these test kits did not work properly, giving false positive results in many instances.
Hogan spent $9.46 million for the initial 500,000 test kits, and it has been reported that he paid the same South Korean supplier another $2.5 million for another 500,000 replacement kits. Lawmakers have pressed administration officials about how many of the original test kits have been used, but they have not gotten straight answers. Governor Hogan has compared the second purchase to that of a consumer swapping out a cell phone for a faster, better product, but he has not answered whether the original kits were so flawed that they were unusable.
Given the uncertainty surrounding all things related to the coronavirus last April, I could excuse Larry Hogan if he made a mistake in buying the first batch of test kits. If you remember at the time Dr. Fauci and others were telling us that wearing face masks had no measurable effect to our safety, among other things that the experts got wrong at that time. But for Hogan and members of his administration to continue to obfuscate information about the test kits is unacceptable.
Similarly, I do not like the optics of Governor Hogan giving 8,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to the District of Columbia. Had he discussed this with other state leaders, say members of the Board of Public Works, and concluded that it was the charitable thing to do to give vaccine doses to D.C., I could accept that decision. But the governor did not have the unilateral power to make that decision. Those doses were allocated by the federal government to Marylanders.
The recent cyberattack on the Baltimore County Public Schools has also exposed a growing riff between the County Executive and the school system. In a letter sent to School Superintendent Dr, Darryl L. Williams, County Executive John Olszewski, Jr. wrote that it is troubling that the school system has not cooperated with county police, the county attorney and state information technology experts.
Much of the school system’s actions after the attack shut down their computer network have been cloaked in secrecy. The public does not know if the school system had insurance to cover the cost of any attack or if a ransom was paid to the attackers, and the school system has used the ongoing criminal investigation as its’ reason to avoid answering these questions to date. We do know, however, that a State Legislative Audit conducted more than a year ago criticized the school system’s lax security of its’ computer network. Dr. Williams points out that his personnel have an ongoing dialogue with the FBI during this event.
What strikes me is that Olszewski’s letter is out of character on a couple of levels. First, the county executive has normally been one of the school system’s biggest supporters, advocating for more funding for schools and generally backing their policy initiatives. Secondly, past county executives have made a practice out of treading lightly in criticism of the school system. They point out that the system is intended to be separate and distinct from local government per the Maryland constitution, and the system is supposed to be self-managed.
So Olszewski’s caustic letter is a bit surprising, especially that he chose to make it public. Is the situation so fouled up regarding the cyberattack that the county executive wanted to create some distance from the situation? Or is he just very frustrated that the lines of communication have failed. We may never know the motivation for this letter.
As we approach the start of the General Assembly session of 2021, there will be a lot of talk about overriding the governor’s veto on the Kirwan education bill that the legislators passed in 2020. If you are aware of my past comments, you know that I have been highly critical of the Kirwan legislation. It is not that I am against targeted increases in educational funding, but I fear that the Kirwan legislation, which is projected to cost $4 billion per year when fully implemented. will have the same impact as the Thornton legislation did for the state’s education program. That impact was next to nothing from Thornton.
Regardless of how you feel about the Kirwan legislation, it is important to contact your delegates and senator and voice your feelings. Please also ask your legislators to identify how they intend to fully fund the Kirwan legislation, not just partially fund it as the current legislation proposes.
Finally. I want to thank the leadership of the Maryland State Fair for the many actions that have been taken during the past year to help the greater community as we deal with this pandemic and more generally with how they have engaged with their neighbors in the Timonium area. Drive by the fairgrounds on most days and you will see that the State Fair has opened its grounds to hundreds of people who are getting tested for the coronavirus at the site. Similarly, the fairgrounds is being used as a staging area for local food distribution efforts in this time of need.
In addition, under the leadership of Gerry Brewster, Donna Myers, and Andy Cashman, we have a fairgrounds leadership that is willing to solve problems when they arise and help us make the Timonium area a better place to live.
Eric Rockel
Vice President, GTCC