What did Hogan accomplish as governor? | READER COMMENTARY
Letter writer James Lutz wrote that given Larry Hogan’s “accomplishments” as our governor, he is what Marylanders need in the U.S. Senate (“Hogan in the Senate is the right call for Md.” Feb. 16). My own opinion is that Hogan was the ultimate politician while Maryland’s governor. He was most accomplished at not making waves; riding the coattails of his predecessor, who left him a sound fiscal foundation on which to run the state; and benefitting from the federal funding largesse doled out to address the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor Hogan did little to nothing to make meaningful tax deductions for Marylanders. When the Republican federal tax cuts had the effect of raising the taxes on hundreds of thousands of Marylanders, he didn’t say “boo” about it. Not propose changes to the Maryland tax code to reverse the negative effects of those federal tax changes. In contrast to his predecessor, he was openly hostile to Baltimore, a troubled, but still great Maryland city. His gift to Baltimore was to cancel the Red Line transit project that would have given the city and its surrounding jurisdictions great economic benefit. He did, however, support a large transit project in Republican voter-rich Western Maryland touting its economic benefits to that region.
If you want a consummate politician as your senator, then Larry Hogan is your man. But if you want someone who is going to do well for the state, and not his own political image, I suggest you look to the other candidates for the job. If someone can identify Hogan’s “meaningful accomplishments” as our governor, I’m willing to be persuaded.
— Joseph Costa, Baltimore
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