Every Wednesday, Maryland political analysts Len Foxwell and Clayton Mitchell discuss the politics and personalities of the state and region.

This week, Len and Clay discuss Governor Wes Moore’s use of his veto power last week and trade thoughts on Congressman Andy Harris’s unique “present” vote on the Trump-supported House spending bill. And once again, they picked the winners and losers in the state over the last week.

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This series brings together two of the most experienced and respected voices in Maryland public life: Len Foxwell and Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. Their mission is to explore Maryland’s evolving political terrain, from the State House in Annapolis to the communities of the Eastern Shore.

Foxwell and Mitchell may come from different corners of the public square—one a strategist and public communicator, the other a jurist and administrative law expert—but they share a lifelong commitment to the mechanics and meaning of public service. Together, they offer something increasingly rare in American discourse: thoughtful, informed, and good-humored conversation grounded in facts, history, and lived experience.

Len Foxwell, founder of Tred Avon Strategies, is widely regarded as one of Maryland’s most influential political strategists. A veteran of nearly three decades in public life, he served as chief of staff to the Comptroller of Maryland from 2008 to 2020, where he was credited with helping build one of the nation’s most effective and forward-looking tax enforcement offices.

During that time, the Comptroller’s office recaptured more than $6 billion in unpaid taxes and won national praise for combating tax fraud and unethical financial practices. But Foxwell’s public impact wasn’t limited to budgetary stewardship. He also played a pivotal role in modernizing Maryland’s craft alcohol industry, working to ease outdated regulations and encourage growth for breweries, wineries, and distilleries across the state.

A writer and educator at heart, Foxwell also teaches professional writing and crisis communication at Johns Hopkins University. As one veteran journalist once wrote, “There are plenty of operatives who are talented and indispensable to their bosses. But only Foxwell has actually changed the trajectory of Maryland politics.”

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr., brings an equally deep and distinguished record of public service. A native of the Eastern Shore, Mitchell served on the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals for nearly 30 years, including four years as its Chairman. Appointed in 1994 by Governor William Donald Schaefer and reappointed by four successive governors from both parties, Mitchell presided over the state’s highest appellate authority for unemployment insurance disputes, helping shape how fairness and due process are applied to tens of thousands of Maryland workers.

A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law, Mitchell has also worked to expand legal access through education. He founded the Student Attorney Advocacy Program at his law school alma mater to ensure indigent claimants could receive representation in appeals proceedings. In addition to his public duties, he has maintained a part-time legal practice focused on administrative, land use, and environmental law.

Mitchell is equally respected for his civic leadership. He has served on the Selective Service Board and the Maryland Attorney General’s Environmental Advisory Council, authored legal reference works, and endowed a scholarship to help Maryland students pursue legal careers. As he said in a recent reflection, “Public service isn’t just about policy. It’s about people—about making sure the system works for everyone, especially those who don’t have a lobbyist or a lawyer.”

Together, Foxwell and Mitchell represent two sides of the same democratic coin—strategy and structure, politics and process, insight and institution. With the Maryland Caucus, they’ll shine a spotlight on the issues shaping Maryland today: education funding, judicial reform, land use, regional economics, environmental priorities, campaign strategy, and more.

Expect each episode to be as frank as it is thoughtful. Or as Foxwell recently quipped, “It may be called The Maryland Caucus, but we’re not handing out talking points.”

This video is approximately 16 minutes in length.

Every Wednesday, Maryland political analysts Len Foxwell and Clayton Mitchell discuss the politics and personalities of the state and region.

This week, Len and Clay discuss the impact of Maryland’s first credit rating downgrade by Moody’s since 1973 and the political calculus used by Governor Wes Moore to block a state-approved bill to create a commission to study and recommend reparations for slavery and racial discrimination.  The duo also notes the State’s winners and losers over the last week.

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This series brings together two of the most experienced and respected voices in Maryland public life: Len Foxwell and Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. Their mission is to explore Maryland’s evolving political terrain, from the State House in Annapolis to the communities of the Eastern Shore.

Foxwell and Mitchell may come from different corners of the public square—one a strategist and public communicator, the other a jurist and administrative law expert—but they share a lifelong commitment to the mechanics and meaning of public service. Together, they offer something increasingly rare in American discourse: thoughtful, informed, and good-humored conversation grounded in facts, history, and lived experience.

Len Foxwell, founder of Tred Avon Strategies, is widely regarded as one of Maryland’s most influential political strategists. A veteran of nearly three decades in public life, he served as chief of staff to the Comptroller of Maryland from 2008 to 2020, where he was credited with helping build one of the nation’s most effective and forward-looking tax enforcement offices.

During that time, the Comptroller’s office recaptured more than $6 billion in unpaid taxes and won national praise for combating tax fraud and unethical financial practices. But Foxwell’s public impact wasn’t limited to budgetary stewardship. He also played a pivotal role in modernizing Maryland’s craft alcohol industry, working to ease outdated regulations and encourage growth for breweries, wineries, and distilleries across the state.

A writer and educator at heart, Foxwell also teaches professional writing and crisis communication at Johns Hopkins University. As one veteran journalist once wrote, “There are plenty of operatives who are talented and indispensable to their bosses. But only Foxwell has actually changed the trajectory of Maryland politics.”

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr., brings an equally deep and distinguished record of public service. A native of the Eastern Shore, Mitchell served on the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals for nearly 30 years, including four years as its Chairman. Appointed in 1994 by Governor William Donald Schaefer and reappointed by four successive governors from both parties, Mitchell presided over the state’s highest appellate authority for unemployment insurance disputes, helping shape how fairness and due process are applied to tens of thousands of Maryland workers.

A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law, Mitchell has also worked to expand legal access through education. He founded the Student Attorney Advocacy Program at his law school alma mater to ensure indigent claimants could receive representation in appeals proceedings. In addition to his public duties, he has maintained a part-time legal practice focused on administrative, land use, and environmental law.

Mitchell is equally respected for his civic leadership. He has served on the Selective Service Board and the Maryland Attorney General’s Environmental Advisory Council, authored legal reference works, and endowed a scholarship to help Maryland students pursue legal careers. As he said in a recent reflection, “Public service isn’t just about policy. It’s about people—about making sure the system works for everyone, especially those who don’t have a lobbyist or a lawyer.”

Together, Foxwell and Mitchell represent two sides of the same democratic coin—strategy and structure, politics and process, insight and institution. With the Maryland Caucus, they’ll shine a spotlight on the issues shaping Maryland today: education funding, judicial reform, land use, regional economics, environmental priorities, campaign strategy, and more.

Expect each episode to be as frank as it is thoughtful. Or as Foxwell recently quipped, “It may be called The Maryland Caucus, but we’re not handing out talking points.”

This video is approximately 20 minutes in length.

Every Wednesday, Maryland political analysts Len Foxwell and Clayton Mitchell discuss the politics and personalities of the state and region.

This week, Len and Clayton discuss the number one major issue in Maryland in 2025: its growing energy crisis. What began as a well-intentioned push toward renewable energy has left the state heavily reliant on out-of-state fossil fuels, driving up costs and sparking widespread voter frustration. This episode explores how we got here, what can be done in the short term, and why Eastern Shore residents are feeling particularly sidelined by Annapolis. Len and Clay also weigh in on land use battles, Senate Bill 1, and the political consequences for Governor Moore and others.

Len and Clay also note the winners and losers of the week.

This video is approximately 20 minutes in length.

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This series brings together two of the most experienced and respected voices in Maryland public life: Len Foxwell and Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. Their mission is to explore Maryland’s evolving political terrain, from the State House in Annapolis to the communities of the Eastern Shore.

Foxwell and Mitchell may come from different corners of the public square—one a strategist and public communicator, the other a jurist and administrative law expert—but they share a lifelong commitment to the mechanics and meaning of public service. Together, they offer something increasingly rare in American discourse: thoughtful, informed, and good-humored conversation grounded in facts, history, and lived experience.

Len Foxwell, founder of Tred Avon Strategies, is widely regarded as one of Maryland’s most influential political strategists. A veteran of nearly three decades in public life, he served as chief of staff to the Comptroller of Maryland from 2008 to 2020, where he was credited with helping build one of the nation’s most effective and forward-looking tax enforcement offices.

During that time, the Comptroller’s office recaptured more than $6 billion in unpaid taxes and won national praise for combating tax fraud and unethical financial practices. But Foxwell’s public impact wasn’t limited to budgetary stewardship. He also played a pivotal role in modernizing Maryland’s craft alcohol industry, working to ease outdated regulations and encourage growth for breweries, wineries, and distilleries across the state.

A writer and educator at heart, Foxwell also teaches professional writing and crisis communication at Johns Hopkins University. As one veteran journalist once wrote, “There are plenty of operatives who are talented and indispensable to their bosses. But only Foxwell has actually changed the trajectory of Maryland politics.”

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr., brings an equally deep and distinguished record of public service. A native of the Eastern Shore, Mitchell served on the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals for nearly 30 years, including four years as its Chairman. Appointed in 1994 by Governor William Donald Schaefer and reappointed by four successive governors from both parties, Mitchell presided over the state’s highest appellate authority for unemployment insurance disputes, helping shape how fairness and due process are applied to tens of thousands of Maryland workers.

A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law, Mitchell has also worked to expand legal access through education. He founded the Student Attorney Advocacy Program at his law school alma mater to ensure indigent claimants could receive representation in appeals proceedings. In addition to his public duties, he has maintained a part-time legal practice focused on administrative, land use, and environmental law.

Mitchell is equally respected for his civic leadership. He has served on the Selective Service Board and the Maryland Attorney General’s Environmental Advisory Council, authored legal reference works, and endowed a scholarship to help Maryland students pursue legal careers. As he said in a recent reflection, “Public service isn’t just about policy. It’s about people—about making sure the system works for everyone, especially those who don’t have a lobbyist or a lawyer.”

Together, Foxwell and Mitchell represent two sides of the same democratic coin—strategy and structure, politics and process, insight and institution. With the Maryland Caucus, they’ll shine a spotlight on the issues shaping Maryland today: education funding, judicial reform, land use, regional economics, environmental priorities, campaign strategy, and more.

Expect each episode to be as frank as it is thoughtful. Or as Foxwell recently quipped, “It may be called The Maryland Caucus, but we’re not handing out talking points.”

Building on the success of our From & Fuller series with national political commentators Al From and Craig Fuller, the Spy is proud to launch an equally compelling new podcast: The Maryland Caucus.

This series brings together two of the most experienced and respected voices in Maryland public life—Len Foxwell and Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. Their mission: to explore the evolving political terrain of Maryland, from the State House in Annapolis to the communities of the Eastern Shore.

Foxwell and Mitchell may come from different corners of the public square—one a strategist and public communicator, the other a jurist and administrative law expert—but they share a lifelong commitment to the mechanics and meaning of public service. Together, they offer something increasingly rare in American discourse: thoughtful, informed, and good-humored conversation grounded in facts, history, and lived experience.

Len Foxwell, founder of Tred Avon Strategies, is widely regarded as one of Maryland’s most influential political strategists. A veteran of nearly three decades in public life, he served as chief of staff to the Comptroller of Maryland from 2008 to 2020, where he was credited with helping build one of the nation’s most effective and forward-looking tax enforcement offices.

During that time, the Comptroller’s office recaptured more than $6 billion in unpaid taxes and won national praise for combating tax fraud and unethical financial practices. But Foxwell’s public impact wasn’t limited to budgetary stewardship. He also played a pivotal role in modernizing Maryland’s craft alcohol industry, working to ease outdated regulations and encourage growth for breweries, wineries, and distilleries across the state.

A writer and educator at heart, Foxwell also teaches professional writing and crisis communication at Johns Hopkins University. As one veteran journalist once wrote, “There are plenty of operatives who are talented and indispensable to their bosses. But only Foxwell has actually changed the trajectory of Maryland politics.”

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr., brings an equally deep and distinguished record of public service. A native of the Eastern Shore, Mitchell served on the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals for nearly 30 years, including four years as its Chairman. Appointed in 1994 by Governor William Donald Schaefer and reappointed by four successive governors from both parties, Mitchell presided over the state’s highest appellate authority for unemployment insurance disputes, helping shape how fairness and due process are applied to tens of thousands of Maryland workers.

A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law, Mitchell has also worked to expand legal access through education. He founded the Student Attorney Advocacy Program at his law school alma mater to ensure indigent claimants could receive representation in appeals proceedings. In addition to his public duties, he has maintained a part-time legal practice focused on administrative, land use, and environmental law.

Mitchell is equally respected for his civic leadership. He has served on the Selective Service Board and the Maryland Attorney General’s Environmental Advisory Council, authored legal reference works, and endowed a scholarship to help Maryland students pursue legal careers. As he said in a recent reflection, “Public service isn’t just about policy. It’s about people—about making sure the system works for everyone, especially those who don’t have a lobbyist or a lawyer.”

Together, Foxwell and Mitchell represent two sides of the same democratic coin—strategy and structure, politics and process, insight and institution. With the Maryland Caucus, they’ll shine a spotlight on the issues shaping Maryland today: education funding, judicial reform, land use, regional economics, environmental priorities, campaign strategy, and more.

Expect each episode to be as frank as it is thoughtful. Or as Foxwell recently quipped, “It may be called The Maryland Caucus, but we’re not handing out talking points.”

We hope you’ll tune in.

Stay tuned for the first weekly episode of The Maryland Caucus this Wednesday at 3 pm on all of our Spy platforms.

Since its inception, The Spy has proudly found room for poetry. With a publisher well-versed in the form as an undergraduate at Washington College, and a grandfather who published the Poetry Magazine back in the day, poetry and its singular gifts have been central to our mission and content since 2009.

Over those years, we’ve been privileged to share a unique partnership with the Delmarva Review, one of the Mid-Atlantic’s premier literary journals, and its esteemed editor and publisher, Wilson Wyatt. Each week, we’ve had the honor of republishing some of the Review’s finest poetry, thoughtfully selected by Wilson. Through this collaboration, our readers have been consistently enriched by gifted writers whose work explores profound, accessible, and enduring themes of human experience.

It is with deep gratitude and sadness that we mark Wilson’s recent retirement. After 16 remarkable years, the Delmarva Review concluded its award-winning run with the release of The Best of the Delmarva Review last fall. This transition has made it essential for the Spy to continue our commitment to poetry, even without the guiding hand of the journal and its superb editorial team.

We are proud to announce that Deidra Greenleaf Allan will become the Spy‘s first poetry editor.

Deidra is an accomplished poet whose work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry Miscellany, Puerto del Sol, West Branch, and Quartet Journal. In 2001, Robert Hass named her Montgomery County (PA) Poet Laureate. Since relocating to the Mid-Shore in 2022, she has become a dedicated advocate for the region’s poetry community.

Each week, Deidra will share poems that honor the Delmarva Review’s tradition of presenting accessible and resonant literary art, from voices here on the Eastern Shore to nationally recognized poets.

I am grateful to Deidra for taking on this role and thrilled that our readers will benefit from her discerning eye and finely tuned ear.

Dave Wheelan
Publisher