By Len Lazarick, Len@MarylandReporter.com
Gov.-elect Larry Hogan Jr. said he will make some appointments to his administration before Christmas, perhaps as early as next week.
“We’re not in a hurry,” Hogan told reporters Tuesday.
Hogan named 31 more members of his transition team, bringing the grand total to 60. The full list of appointments is at the bottom of this story. In past administrations, members of transition committees have sometimes wound up in cabinet and staff jobs.
Hogan described it as “a strong, diverse and bipartisan team,” but it is not exactly clear what all the members of the teams will be doing.
Fourteen of the 20 last week were part of “a transition advisory board.”
There is a sprinkling of Democrats, including some contributors to both Gov. Martin O’Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.
Most of the members have worked in the private sector, including quite a few who own their own companies, small and large.
There are only a few who have worked in fields connected to the largest areas of state spending — health care and education. It is not apparent if any have background in parts of state government that have had the most negative audit reports, such as the departments of Human Resources and Juvenile Services. Only a couple have experience in law enforcement or public safety.
Only 13 are women; 14 are members or former members of the Maryland General Assembly; 18 have served in appointed positions in state government before, most of them in the administration of the last Republican governor, Bob Ehrlich, whom Hogan served as appointments secretary. Three had run for governor, including Harford County Executive David Craig, one of Hogan’s primary opponents.
The transition is co-chaired by Lt. Gov.-elect Boyd Rutherford and James Brady, who chaired Hogan’s campaign and also headed the transitions for Gov. Ehrlich and Democratic Gov. Parris Glendening.
Appointed Tuesday
The following member of the Hogan transition team were announced Tuesday.
-- Garland Williamson, president and CEO of Information Control Systems Corporation, an IT company in Baltimore
-- Rose Li, president and CEO of Rose Li & Associates, a project management firm in Bethesda. She ran unsuccessfully for the House of Delegates this year.
-- John Wobensmith was treasurer of Hogan’s campaign. He served three different tours at the White House and four years as the senior Defense Department representative in Turkey. He also a former president of the Anne Arundel County School Board
-- Eric Barksdale, pastor of St. Charles Baptist Church and President of the National Capital Baptist Convention
-- Al Redmer, president of Redmer Insurance Group, former Maryland Insurance Commissioner, and former House minority leader of the Maryland General Assembly
-- Chong Nak Son, of Son’s Quality Food Company, businessman and leader in the Korean community who sits on the board of advisors of the Korean Community Service Center of Greater Washington
-- Gail Bassette, president of TCE Incorporated, a management consulting firm in Laurel
-- Ken Holt, former member of the House of Delegates, representing Baltimore and Harford Counties
-- Bryant Foulger, managing principal of Foulger-Pratt Companies, a commercial real estate firm
-- Ben Wu, former Assistant Secretary of Business and Economic Development and Senior Advisor for Technology Policy for the State of Maryland
-- Tim Braue, who formerly served as a deputy in Ehrlich’s Appointments Office and then at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. He is special counsel at the Baltimore law firm Duane Morris LLP.
-- Charlie Evans, former Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the “grandfather” of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund
-- Elise Butler, an attorney specializing in land use and planning and the former Assistant Secretary for Neighborhood Revitalization at the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
-- Justin Ready, original member of Change Maryland and member of the House of Delegates from Carroll County
-- Craig Williams, former deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Ehrlich and now Director of Policy and U.S. Government Affairs at the biotechnology company Amgen
-- Bishop C. Anthony Muse of the Ark of Safety Christian Church in Upper Marlboro and a state senator representing Prince George’s County
-- Roy McGrath, Vice President of Business Development for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores
-- Jim Fielder, former secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and currently the Town Administrator of Bel Air
-- Gary Mangum, CEO of Bell Nursery and member of inaugural committee
-- Hugo DeCesaris, Regional President at K. Hovnanian Homes, a Maryland homebuilding company
-- Retired Rear Admiral Mark Belton, County Administrator for Charles County and former Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources
-- David Brinkley, who served on the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee
-- Russell Neverdon, defense attorney at the Law Office of Russell A. Neverdon, Sr., LLC, and Baltimore City candidate for State’s Attorney
-- Steve Pattison, principal at EcoLogix Group, an environmental strategy group, and former Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment
-- Kevin Igoe, Campaign, Legislative, and Political Strategies Consultant at Igoe Associates
-- Matthew Lee, CEO of FASTech, a contractor in Laurel, and President of the Korean Business Enterprise
-- Steve McAdams, founder of Residential Appraisal Service and former Commissioner of the State Commission of Real Estate Appraisers and Home Inspectors
-- Lee Gaines, active member of the business community and President of Gaines and Company, a utility contracting company, and member of the inaugural committee
-- Sharon Pinder, President and CEO of the Pinder Group, and the architect of Maryland’s minority and small business reform movement
-- Christopher Summers, founder and president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute
-- Roger Campos, former executive at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and now the first President and CEO of the Minority Business RoundTable
Appointed last week
The following 20 people were appointed to the transition last week.
These three women will serve on his personnel review team:
-- Katja Bullock, former Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush
-- Ande Fulton Rhodes, personnel director for Anne Arundel County and former personnel director for the state of Maryland
-- Diane Baker, former Deputy Appointments Secretary for the State of Maryland
These three men were named to head up his business regulation review team:
-- Jim Soltesz, president and CEO of Soltesz, Inc., a Maryland-based engineering and design firm
-- Ed Dunn, CEO of American Mechanical Services
-- Abba Poliakoff, attorney at the firm Gordon Feinblatt, LLC
Members of a transition advisory board:
-- Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey, diplomat, former House minority leader and former candidate for governor of Maryland
-- Doug Duncan, former county executive of Montgomery County
-- Jimmy Rhee, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Trade in the Commonwealth of Virginia
-- Helen Bentley, former U.S. Congresswoman
-- Joe Bartenfelder, former Delegate and member of the Baltimore County Council
-- Doug DeLeaver, Director of Community Relations for the Maryland State Police
-- David Craig, Harford County Executive
-- Kelly Schulz, Delegate
-- Sam Malhotra, Founder and CEO of Subsystems, an IT services company based in Rosslyn, Va.
-- Steve Hershey, State Senator
-- Jeannie Haddaway, Delegate
-- Chris Shank, State Senator
-- Juliette Bell, president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore
-- Luis Borunda, chairman of the Board of Directors for the Maryland Hispanic Business Conference & president and CEO of U.S. Hispanic Youth Entrepreneur Education
From the previous story: Budget problems even bigger than expected, Hogan says; more of transition team announced
-- Blair Lee IV: One of the most unusual appointments to the transition team was Blair Lee IV, a longtime columnist for the Gazette newspapers in Montgomery County and regular commentator on WBAL radio. “Blair is the only one of this group that has actually lived in the governor’s mansion,” Hogan noted.
-- Marty Madden is a former state senator from Howard County who was Senate Republican leader. He then served as part of Gov. Bob Ehrlich’s transition team and then as chair of the Critical Area Commission for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays. He is a Nationwide Insurance broker.
-- Joe Getty, an attorney, was just reelected to a second term from Carroll County. A lawyer, Getty served two terms in the House of Delegates before becoming legislative and policy director for Gov. Bob Ehrlich. He’s “very well respected by people on both sides of the aisle,” said Hogan, and a good friend he got to know in the Ehrlich years when Hogan served as appointments secretary.
-- Anirban Basu is one of the best known economists in Maryland and a regular speaker to business groups. His Sage Policy Group has been a paid consultant to the state. Hogan said, “He’s the smartest guy in the state when it comes to economic policy and ideas about how we can get our economy moving and turned around.”
From the previous story: Budget realities challenge Hogan promises on spending, taxes
-- Former Sen. Bobby Neall of Anne Arundel County has been working steadily on budget issues since his appointment to the transition team
-- Lobbyist Carville Collins of DLA Piper is serving as general counsel to the transition team.