Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan arrived on time, and on message, at the Scossa Lounge in Easton on Monday evening. In a short interview with the Spy, Hogan talks about the impact of the Conowingo Dam on the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland’s business-unfriendly reputation, state taxes, and his motivation for running for office.
Hogan and his running mate, Boyd Rutherford, will face off against Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown and Howard County Executive Ken Ulman in the November election.
This video is approximately eight minutes in length
Carol Voyles says
It’s no wonder Mr. Hogan is feeling “fed up and frustrated.” It must be very difficult to continually repeat this misleading refrain to every news outlet he encounters. He’d likely feel better if after admitting he’s “not a scientist,” he didn’t feel compelled to go ahead and say he “knows” that the Conowingo Dam is the #1 cause of pollution in the Bay. Scientists disagree.
He can’t seem to help himself, though. He goes on to say Maryland has “raised taxes 40 times” and “doubled unemployment.” That must be stressful when he knows that our level of unemployment is below our nation’s average, and our total tax burden remains at the level it was 3 decades ago. Let’s face it. Keeping up with inflation has been accepted in every other sector. Too bad he had nothing to say about incomes. Most of them haven’t kept up.
Then there’s our largest “mass exodus” of taxpayers (originally attributed to the millionaires’ tax). It’s truly amazing, in light of that exodus, that Maryland somehow still has the highest incomes and highest concentration of millionaires in the nation (according to the Census Bureau and Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute – who might be considered “scientists”).
But Mr. Hogan’s “gotta fight back.” After all, he just recently spoke with a gentleman who is moving from Maryland to Kentucky. Sounds great. According to the Senate Joint Economic Committee, for an 0.8 percent lower total tax burden he will find a 1.3 percent higher unemployment rate, a median household income that’s $30,000 smaller, a poverty rate that’s 9 percent higher, and more people without health insurance – in spite of the fact that their ACA sign-up evidently worked quite well.
Leaving social issues out of his agenda should attract some independent voters, but Mr, Hogan might do even better if he were able to have a fact-based conversation acknowledging that we have problems to solve, but that Maryland is doing better than most states, all things considered. At least we’re not costing taxpayers as much as the red states with fewer educated citizens, lower incomes, and higher levels of poverty. Some of them, like Mississippi, are receiving $3 back for every dollar sent to Uncle Sam.
We can’t all be takers, though.