1996 - The Baltimore Ravens played the very first game in franchise history at Memorial Stadium, securing a victory against the Oakland Raiders.

2006 - Governor Ehrlich attended an event at the Annapolis Community Legacy Stanton Center to support local revitalization.

September 2, 1966 – Governor Tawes chaired the state’s Board of Public Works meeting to review bond issues and capital improvements for state colleges and the University of Maryland.

1997 - Congressman Ben Cardin announces he will not challenge Democratic Governor Glendening, in a primary.

2015 – Former Governor Mandel’s body lay in repose at the Maryland State House in Annapolis.

September 3, 1838 - Frederick Douglas made his escape from slavery, traveling, from Baltimore, through Delaware to Philadelphia then on to New York.

1967 - Elections in South Vietnam. Former Maryland Governor Theodore R. McKeldin was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve as a special American observer to monitor the presidential elections in South Vietnam.

2023 - Out of office, former Governor Hogan gave a prominent national interview discussing third-party presidential bids on Face the Nation.

September 4, 1963 - Baltimore Mayor Theodore R. McKeldin sent a letter to Governor Tawes urging the state to establish the newly proposed University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) campus just west of Baltimore.

1968 - Maryland’s Legislative Council, voted not to ask Governor Agnew for a special session of the General Assembly on constitutional reform.

2020 – Governor Hogan’s “Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery” officially advanced the state to Stage Three. This authorized the safe and gradual reopening of indoor theaters and outdoor venues at 50% capacity, and increased capacity limits for retail establishments and religious facilities to 75%.

September 5, 1979 - Hurricane David (downgraded to a tropical storm) made a direct hit on the Baltimore region, dumping up to 8 inches of rain in a very short period. The storm spawned tornadoes, caused severe flooding—particularly in the Jones Falls and Gwynns Falls valleys—and caused roughly $40 million in damages in Baltimore alone. Gov. Hughes’ administration coordinated disaster relief efforts.

2006 - Comptroller Schaefer offered these comments to the media about primary challenger Anne Arundel Executive Janet Ownes: Owens is a “prissy little miss” who wears “long dresses, looks like Mother Hubbard – it’s sort of like she was a man.” He said Owens was “getting fat.” “She’s (Owens) got these long clothes on and an old fashioned hairdo. You know it sort of makes you real mad.”

2012 - Governor O’Malley took the prime-time podium at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. He delivered a speech centered around the slogan “Forward. Not Back,” defending President Barack Obama’s economic record and criticizing the Republican ticket.

September 6, 1985 - Amid an ongoing state banking crisis, the State of Maryland took emergency control of Bethesda’s Community Savings & Loan Association and its faltering real estate investment arm, EPIC. A Montgomery County judge named the Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund as conservator and state officials later forced the resignation of the unit’s top executives to protect depositors.

1995 - During the night of the celebration of Cal Ripken Jr’s 2131 record at Camden Yards, John Moag and Browns part owner Al Lerner met to discuss the Browns move to Baltimore.

1998 - Governor Glendening along with several other Democrats skip a Presidential visit to a Silver Spring Elementary School., Glendening took the spotlight after canceling a major campaign fundraiser with President Bill Clinton amid changing political tides. Glendenning did this while engaging in his own extramarital affair.

September 7, 1987 - The Maryland Court of Appeals rules the State Constitution states an appropriation by the legislature cannot be taken to referendum, clearing the way for construction of Orioles Park at Camden Yards.

2001 - The Washington Post reported on a personal relationship between Glendening and his deputy chief of staff, which sparked public debate about transparency and potential conflicts of interest as he delegated responsibilities to her.

2023 - Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon launched her latest bid to return to City Hall, with a small group of supporters at Gold Street Community Park — and an apology.

September 8, 1993 - After seven years as governor, William Donald Schaefer put aside personal rancor and major policy differences to visit his successor as mayor, Kurt L. Schmoke.

2006 - Comptroller Schaefer and AA County Executive trades barbs during the Democratic Primary for Comptroller. Owens commented that perhaps Schaefer had become too old to run, saying that running against him was like a granddaughter “taking the keys away from grandpa.” In response, Schaefer and his campaign hinted that Owens was lashing out at him in an act of age discrimination.

2024 – Former Governor Hogan attacked the 338 new Maryland taxes and fees enacted since he passed the torch to Democratic Gov. Wes Moore.

September 9, 1986 - Mayor Schaefer defeats Attorney General Stephen Sachs 62-35% to win the Democratic Party primary for Governor. Governor Hughes sought the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Charles Mathias. He placed third in a crowded race, losing the nomination to Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski.

1994 - Governor Schaefer granted pardoned former Maryland State Senator and Baltimore mayoral candidate Walter S. Orlinsky in connection to the Savings and Loan scandal.

2019 - Sheree L. Sample-Hughes was sworn in as Speaker pro tempore of the Maryland House of Delegates.

September 10, 1974 - Democratic Governor Marvin Mandel won a landslide renomination. Backed by a massive campaign fund, he easily defeated his primary challenger, former Maryland Court of Appeals Judge Wilson K. Barnes, advancing to the general election to secure his second full elective term. He will face Louise Gore in the fall who defeated Maryland congressman Larry Hogan in the republican primary.

1993 - Governor Schaefer signs the Chesapeake Bay Partnership Agreement, to reduce pollution in Bay’s tributaries by the year 2000.

2018 - Governor Larry Hogan Declares State of Emergency for Hurricane Florence.

September 11, 1962 - In the 1962 Maryland Democratic gubernatorial primary, incumbent Governor J. Millard Tawes successfully defended his seat against two formidable challengers: Baltimore contractor George P. Mahoney and Charles County conservation critic David Hume.

1967 - Governor Agnew said a possible Rockefeller-Reagan slate as the strongest ticket Republicans could draft for 1968’s presidential election.

2007 - Shiela Dixon wins the Democratic primary for Mayor of Baltimore defeating City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell. Stephanie Rawlings Blake defeated City Councilman Ken Harris and Michael Sarbanes for City Council President.

2015 – Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Announces She Won’t Seek Re-Election.

September 12, 1978 - In a major upset Harry Hughes wins the Maryland Democrat primary race for Governor defeating Acting Governor Blair Lee III. Lee poured nearly $250,000 of his own money into the race.

2006 - Congressman Ben Cardin won the Democratic nomination for the open seat, securing 44% of the vote. He defeated former Congressman Kweisi Mfume, who finished closely behind at 40%. In an upset delegate Peter Franchot defeated Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens in the democratic primary for a comptroller.

2024 - During his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Larry Hogan was heavily highlighted by news outlets and the Maryland Democratic Party, for accepting over $1.6 million in joint-funding and advertising support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee while campaigning as an “independent”.

September 13, 1966 - A referendum passed for Maryland to hold a constitutional convention (Chapter 500, Acts of 1966). The electorate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a convention. George P. Mahoney wins the Democratic primary for Governor of Maryland with the slogan “Your home is your castle, protect it.” Baltimore County executive Spiro Agnew won the republican primary when did Heyman pressman decide to run for governor in 1966.

1983 - Governor Hughes was awarded the Dr. Herman Seidel Humanitarian Award by the Israel Histadrut Council of Greater Baltimore in recognition of his civic and state leadership.

1994 - Democrat Parris Glendening wins the democratic primary for Governor and In an upset delegate Ellen Sauerbrey defeated congresswoman Helen Bentley to win the republican primary for governor.

September 14, 1982 - Maryland Democratic Governor Harry Hughes wins the democratic primary and immediately launched into a heated general election campaign against Republican challenger Robert A. Pascal.

1988 – Governor Schaefer issued a proclamation officially declaring the date “Darnall’s Chance Day” to celebrate the colonial-era restoration of the historic Darnall’s Chance House Museum in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

1999 - City Councilman Martin O’Malley wins in an upset the Democratic primary for Mayor of Baltimore. O’Malley won over 50% of the vote.

September 15, 1965 - At the Southern Governors’ Conference in Sea Island, Georgia, Governor Tawes took over the gavel from Texas Governor John B. Connally, becoming chairman of the group.

1970 – Governor Mandel wins the democratic primary and will face C. Stanley Blair.

1998 - Parris Glendening wins the Democratic primary and Ellen Sauerbrey wins the Republican primary for Governor.

September 16, 1987 - Governor Schaefer announced his intention to close the century-old Montrose School for delinquent youths in Baltimore County, declaring the facility “falling apart” and advocating for a transition to community-based and foster programs.

1991 - Governor Schaefer details a $450 million deficit-reduction package cut services on education, health care and the poor.

2002 - Two early polls were released showing Congressman Bob Ehrlich’s 2002 gubernatorial race against Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was “about even,” a massive milestone for a Republican in the heavily Democratic state.

September 17, 1982 - Former Congressman Robert E. Bauman said he would not challenge the results of the Republican primary in Maryland’s First Congressional District despite voting machine problems in one county. Mr. Bauman lost his House seat in 1980 after disclosing that he suffered from alcoholism and “homosexual tendencies’‘.

1984 - A federal district court ruled in the case of Maryland State Teachers Association v. Hughes, granting summary judgment to the defendants and upholding the constitutionality of the state’s 1984 Pension Reform Law.

1992 - Governor Schaefer announced curbs on state spending to avert a projected deficit. This included nearly $400 million in cuts for the upcoming month, which reduced funding for public schools, local governments, and medical care for the state’s poorest residents.

1996 - Spiro T. Agnew, the 55th Governor of Maryland and 39th Vice President of the United States, died in Berlin, Maryland.

September 18, 1973 - major newspapers published reports detailing the lengths to which Spiro Agnew had secretly discussed resigning from the vice presidency with friends amidst mounting federal investigations into bribery, extortion, and tax evasion in Maryland.

1996 - Glendening held a Board of Public Works meeting and joined AFL-CIO leadership to announce statewide community college technology programs for laborers. On the same day, his administration launched an aggressive push for early federal welfare reform block grants.

2002 - In Washington Maryland’s top elected Democrats met for a critical discussion of Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend‘s struggling gubernatorial campaign. Congressman Hoyer and others started planning strategies to save KKT who they felt could lose to Congressman Ehrlich.

September 19, 1966 - Governor Tawes delivered remarks at the 32nd Annual Southern Governors’ Conference at Kentucky Dam State Park, where he discussed his upcoming retirement and regional issues like tourism and urban slums.

1985 - A $10,000 salary increase was proposed for Maryland’s next governor and lieutenant governor.

1995 - The Maryland Court of Appeals, voting 5-2, agreed with a 1978 state retirement agency ruling that Harry Hughes could not collect a state pension while he served as Maryland’s governor.

September 20, 1976 - After numerous delays and judge reassignments, the trial of Governor Mandel officially began in the federal courthouse, before Judge John Pratt.

1993 - Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke announced he would forgo running for governor to seek re-election for a third term, which heavily shifted the Democratic gubernatorial primary race.

2002 - Democratic campaign strategist Julius Henson calls Republican candidate for Governor Robert Ehrlich a Nazi.

2008 - Former Baltimore City Councilman Ken Harris is murdered by thugs.

September 21, 1965 - Governor Tawes joined President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, and other congressional leaders at the White House for the signing of the act that established Assateague Island as a National Seashore

1982 - Baltimore City Council President, Walter Orlinsky, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court to one count of extortion, admitting that he had accepted $2,532 from a citizen seeking city sludge-hauling contracts.

September 22, 1995 – Governor Glendening instituted a strict “life means life” parole policy, declaring he would refuse parole for inmates serving life sentences for murder or rape, with very rare exceptions for the terminally ill or elderly.

1999 - Governor Glendening kills the proposal to build the intercounty connector (ICC) road.

2025 - Governor Wes Moore and state legislative leaders announced a $200 million program to provide utility and energy bill rebates to Marylanders.

September 23, 1991 - A revised redistricting plan by Maryland Government leaders would place 2^nd District Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley in the mostly Anne Arundel County district now represented by 4th District Democrat Tom McMillen. Due to opposition by Governor Schaefer the plan died.

1998 - Glendening escalated his reelection campaign against Republican Ellen Sauerbrey, airing television ads sharpening attacks and focusing on his personal biography.

2014 – Governor O’Malley signed a proclamation highlighting National Voter Registration Day, urging Marylanders to check their registration status.

September 24, 1973 - The New York Times reported on Governor Mandel’s involvement in political disputes and favoritism claims regarding the state office building complex in Baltimore.

2005 - Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele attacked Democratic Party operatives who resigned after improperly obtaining copies of Steele’s credit reports. Katie Barge, a Democratic Party former research director, and Lauren Weiner, an employee who had been researching Steele before he formed an exploratory committee for the Senate in June were later fired.

2010 - Governor O’Malley announced that Maryland became the first state in the region to submit an adequate Watershed Implementation Plan to the EPA, aiming to reduce pollution and “move the Bay off of life support”.

September 25, 1970 - Maryland Republican gubernatorial candidate C. Stanley Blair attacked Governor Marvin Mandel as a “slumlord.”

1975 - Mandel says he is a target of the federal probe.

1984 - The U.S. District Court in Maryland issued a ruling in the landmark case Md. State Teachers Ass’n v. Hughes. Governor Hughes and other state officials were defendants in a major legal dispute challenging changes made to the state teachers’ retirement and pension systems.

September 26, 1997 - Governor Glendening testified before a House Government Reform subcommittee to warn about the environmental dangers of toxic microbes (like Pfiesteria) and the need to protect America’s waterways. The Washington Post also scrutinized his education funding distributions, questioning if the process was being politicized.

2002 - In their only debate of the campaign at Morgan State University Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Congressman Robert Ehrlich trade barbs. Townsend made dozens of critical references to Ehrlich’s stance on affirmative action, guns and education and calling him too conservative for Maryland. The loud partisan crowd booed Ehrlich into silence as he sought to make his opening statement.

2005 - Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos took out an advertisement in the Baltimore Sun that featured a full-page color photograph of Governor Ehrlich in an Orioles team jacket, under the headline, “Thank You Governor Ehrlich.”

September 27, 1963 – Governor Tawes gave an address at a Metropolitan Washington Problems conference, endorsing the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. He emphasized that the problems of the D.C. suburbs were the problems of Maryland as a whole.

1973 - A federal grand jury investigating political corruption began hearing evidence against U.S. Vice President and former Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew. He was facing a Justice Department investigation into allegations of bribery, extortion, and tax evasion committed during his time holding office in Maryland

2001 - Republican J. Lowell Stoltzfus elected Senate Minority leader.

September 28, 1978 - Harry Hughes, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, has asked Baltimore Congresswoman Barbara A. Mikulski to serve as the next Maryland party chairman.

1985 - Republican Senator Charles McC. Mathias Jr. announced he would not seek re-election in 1986. This was predicted by former Baltimore Sun columnist Jack Germond.

2010 - President Barack Obama was featured in a new radio ad endorsing O’Malley’s 2010 gubernatorial reelection campaign against Republican Bob Ehrlich.

September 29, 1976 – It is revealed that Governor Mandel received $6,065.47 in 1972 from a co‐defendant in his political corruption trial as the Governor’s share of proceeds from an alleged secret corporate interest, an accountant testified.

1991 - Governor Schaefer initiated 1,700 state employee layoffs to help close a $450 million state budget deficit caused by a severe economic recession. The spending cuts led to the closure of multiple police barracks and juvenile centers, while reducing assistance and medical programs.

1994 - Governor Schaefer urges the building of a Disney Park in Maryland.

September 30, 1966 - Baltimore City Comptroller Hyman Pressman announces an independent run for governor.

1978 - Harry R. Hughes, the Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland, and his running mate, Samuel W. Bogley III, spent more than five hours resolving to hold together their ticket after Bogley had raised the possibility of withdrawing over the abortion issue. Hughes was pro-choice, Bogley, pro-life.

1992 – Governor Schaefer presided over a Board of Public Works meeting, where he publicly lamented the difficulty of making mandatory state budget reductions.

When I first moved to Maryland in 1991 and would read articles in the Baltimore Sun every time there was a reference towards Marvin Mandel it seemed like a small effort was made to throw an elbow to his ribs in referencing mistakes in the past. But over the years I have talked to a lot of political leaders including lobbyists Bruce Bereano and Congressman Steny Hoyer, who have had nothing but nice things to say about Marvin Mandel and what he did for the state of Maryland.

He received a law degree from the University of Maryland in 1942 and in 1952 was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. He became Speaker of the House in 1963. It was probably a job he would have kept for many decades if fate had not moved its huge hand.

In 1968 Richard Nixon selected Spiro Agnew to be his running mate as vice president. The story has it that Agnew talked to Mandel about going for the vice presidency and Mandel suggested to do it in part because the chance of him getting reelected in Maryland in 1970 would be slim.

Mandel became Governor of Maryland after Spiro Agnew resigned the office of governor to become Richard Nixon’s vice president. Under the law there was no Lieutenant Governor, so the next governor had to be selected by state House and Senate members.

In 1969 the Maryland General Assembly had a democratic majority, so it was clear Agnew’s successor would be a Democrat. The election was held on January 7, 1969. The candidates included, Mandel, State senator William James, delegate Francis Gallagher and US congressman, republican Rogers Morton. Mandel was Speaker of the House and had a huge advantage and was easily elected governor by his fellow legislators. The final vote tally was Mandel – 126, Morton – 26, Gallagher – 15 and James – 13. (FYI- One of my favorite political shows on WBAL Radio was Ron Smith and former Mandel Press Secretary Frank DeFilippo discussing political on Monday’s at 5 PM.)

In his inaugural address, Mandel stated that he would be an active leader rather than a caretaker. “Let there be no mistake in anyone’s mind, I shall govern. The State of Maryland cannot mark time; and I do not accept this office in that spirit.” Mandel immediately started implementing modernization policies.

Mandel’s 1969 legislative program included the passage of eight Constitutional Amendments, including the reform of the State’s court system along with the reorganization of the executive department. Four new departments were created, each headed, by a cabinet level officer. Other significant achievements included increasing the State’s contribution to community colleges, the creation of the Drug Abuse Authority, and the establishment of a State Housing Authority to encourage the development of low-rent housing. To prepare the way for a mass transit system in the Baltimore and the DC metropolitan area he led the reorganization of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Mandel’s efforts brought Maryland into the 20th century helping develop the subway systems for DC and Baltimore. One of his first acts was the creation of the Council of Economic Advisors. He financed his $1,300,000 budget by a one-cent boost in the sales tax.

Mandel, a supporter of capital punishment, commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence of a convicted wife killer awaiting execution in Maryland’s gas chamber.

To add experience to his executive team Mandel named J. Millard Tawes, a former Governor who tutored him in the ways of Maryland Democratic politics, to the new $35,000 cabinet-level post of Secretary of Natural Resources.

He also came out against a public lottery calling it a rather shaky and untenable device for financing government. In 1970 Governor Mandel vetoed legislation that would have removed all state restrictions on abortions. The Governor said he had based his decision on legal rather than ethical grounds. His efforts at reorganization of state government continued as the Legislature enacted seven more executive reorganization bills. He also signed legislation on a variety of conservation measures including those to protect the State’s wetlands and environmental protection measures. The Baltimore News American called Mandel ‘the quiet politician,’ who ‘never indulges in the type of emotional oratory that sets one group against another.’

During his first two legislative sessions as governor, the Maryland General Assembly adopted 93 out of 95 measures sponsored by his administration, including eight constitutional amendments, reform of the state’s court system and legislation reorganizing the executive departments 248 agencies and departments into 12 departments headed by cabinet level secretaries. This reorganization of state government helped streamline government making Maryland state government run more efficiently and less bureaucratically. Maryland adopted a cabinet level system of government like what the United States government uses.

On June 9, 1970, he announced himself as a candidate for election to a full four-year term. In the ensuing general election, he easily defeated his Republican challenger, C. Stanley Blair, the Secretary of State in the Agnew administration, receiving over sixty percent of the vote with his running mate from Montgomery County Blair Lee. The position of Lieutenant Governor was created by the legislature after Agnew left office. Both were reelected in 1974, defeating former delegate Louise Gore, winning overwhelmingly.

Mandel did have personal life issues like governors in Maryland have in the past have also had. Mandel’s divorce from his first wife, Barbara “Bootsie” Mandel, was a Peyton Place drama. The highly publicized separation began in 1973 when Mandel abruptly left his wife of 32 years to marry Jeanne Blackistone Dorsey, a southern Maryland socialite. Barbara Mandel initially refused to vacate the Maryland Governor’s Mansion, famously holding onto the title of First Lady and forcing the governor to live in the Annapolis Hilton. Mandel ran up a $2,457 hotel bill. Under the Maryland constitution the governor is required to live in the governor’s mansion. She agreed to leave in late 1973 after securing a financial settlement worth over $400,000 to $500,000, which was heavily subsidized by one of Mandel’s close political associates. During her time as first lady, she took an interest in the history and art of Government House. She had the portraits of her predecessors hung along the staircase in the entrance hall, and started a fund used for the conservation of art in the home. He married Jeanne Dorsey on the exact same day his divorce became final in 1974.

He was seen as a leader by other governors. In 1973 construction of the new span across the Chesapeake Bay was completed. During his time as governor, he served as chairman the Mid-Atlantic states governors’ conference and was elected unanimously in 1972 as Chair of the National Governors’ Conference. He was also selected by the U.S. State Department for an official goodwill mission to the Soviet Union and Romania. In 1976 he backed California Governor Jerry Brown for President and Brown won the Maryland primary.

Mandel vetoed a 1971 bill that would have boosted the Marlboro racetrack’s racing-day allotment, which lowered its stock value. This later led federal prosecutors to allege he covertly manipulated legislative actions to benefit his close friends, the track’s secret new owners, in return for financial favors. In 1972, Mandel altered his stance to aid the owners of the Marlboro Racetrack, successfully lobbying the Maryland General Assembly to drastically increase the track’s allotted racing days. Federal prosecutors at trial determined that this intervention was the start of a massive mail fraud and racketeering scheme, in which Mandel accepted illicit financial compensation and business favors from racetrack owners.

In November 1975, a grand jury indicted Mandel and five others of mail fraud and racketeering. The government claimed Mandel used his official powers to boost the value of the Marlboro Racetrack by authorizing extra racing days. Mandel was accused of accepting about $350,000 in cash, jewelry, and favors. Mandel may have been motivated to pay for his divorce that cost him about $400,000.

In September 1976, Mandel’s federal trial began. Prosecutors alleged Mandel accepted over $350,000 in cash, jewelry, and real estate from his associates. In exchange, prosecutors claimed he used his political influence to enhance the profits of the Marlboro Racetrack. On December 7, 1976, the judge declared a mistrial after evidence surfaced of attempted jury tampering, involving multiple jurors.

Despite his legal troubles, Mandel continued to serve as governor. During the 1976 Maryland General Assembly session, he led a major push for a downtown Baltimore subway and a convention center.

In June 1977, while preparing for trial, Governor Mandel stepped aside and made Lieutenant Governor Blair Lee III acting governor. Lee continued in this capacity until January 15, 1979, when Mandel returned to complete the final days of his term.

Mandel was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland of mail fraud and racketeering on August 21, 1977, and sentenced to four years in prison. The charges stemmed from a scheme in which Mandel was given money and favors for vetoing one bill and signing another to help his friends make money on a horse racing track deal. Mandel was accused of accepting cash and expensive gifts from friends and using his influence as governor to increase the value of their business holdings. On December 3, 1981, his sentence was commuted by President Ronald Reagan. On June 19, 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision overturning Mr. Mandel’s conviction.

After all this Mandel was still a very popular figure. Later in life he served as an informal advisor to other governors.

In 2002, Mandel crossed party lines apparently to support republican Bob Ehrlich for governor against democratic Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Ehrlich, at Chick & Ruth’s Delly in Annapolis with Mandel, said he would ask Mandel to do a “top-to-bottom” review of state government with the goal of finding ways to shrink the government’s size and make it more efficient. Mandel did not officially endorse Ehrlich, but when a reporter asked, “Governor, who are you going to vote for?” Mandel replied, “Which governor are you talking to?” Ehrlich said, “There is your answer.” Townsend felt that the photo session at Chick & Ruth’s would look like an endorsement. It was.

When Mandel died on August 30, 2015, Governor Hogan said of him, “The state of Maryland not only lost a former governor but also truly great leader and someone countless people thought of as a friend including myself no other governor has had the lasting impact on all three branches of Maryland government.” Former Governor Glendenning said of Mandel the state will be better because of his work long after we’ve forgotten his personal failures.

Here’s a look at what others are saying about the passing of former Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel.

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin:

“Governor Mandel was the Speaker of the House of Delegates when I was first elected to that body. I was witness to and learned from his unique ability to bridge political and geographic divides to get things done for the state of Maryland. Governor Mandel understood that government existed to serve the people, he instilled that ultimate truth into every member of the House of Delegates and that tenet served as the cornerstone of his governorship. During his time as governor, we saw unprecedented investments in education and transportation infrastructure, as well as an overall streamlining of government to make it more effective.

“Maryland is the strong state it is today thanks in part to decisions Governor Mandel made years ago. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer:

“I was deeply saddened to learn about the death of my friend and former Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel. I had the privilege of working with Governor Mandel during my time in the Maryland Senate and in the Congress. As governor and a state legislator, he had a vision which led to substantial accomplishments on behalf of the people of Maryland related to education, health care, and transportation. He was a true leader who made Maryland a better place to live and I join tonight in celebrating his many accomplishments to our state. I extend my deepest sympathies to his family during this difficult time.”

Christopher B. Summers, Maryland Public Policy Institute:

“Marvin Mandel’s positive impact on Maryland can still be felt today – nearly forty years after he left the Governor’s Office. He modernized Maryland’s executive branch by creating the cabinet structure, enacted a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and transformed Maryland’s transportation infrastructure, from airports to the transit system. We at the Institute are honored that he agreed to serve on our board. On a personal level, I will remember Governor Mandel for being generous with his time and counsel, his fondness for telling great stories, and for his deep affection for the state he called home his entire life.”

Senate President Mike Miller

“I was saddened to hear about the passing of my friend, colleague, and Maryland’s former Governor Marvin Mandel. He was a true statesman who worked tirelessly to make Maryland a better place to live, work, and raise a family. It was my pleasure to serve with him during his tenure as Governor and grow a close and abiding friendship with him throughout the years. May he always be remembered for his dedication to the people of Maryland and his unwavering commitment to helping those in need. My thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time.”

The massive layoffs at WBAL radio last week were sad. I’ve done some stuff at WBAL Radio from time to time and just love the experience and love the people there. The day before the layoffs, I was interviewed by Angelette Aviles and she was kind enough to send me the clip of the bit I did with her. The day I found out about this I texted and messaged a few of the people there I knew and posted some things on social media about this.

Why did these layoffs happen? Hearst which owns WBAL Radio, is in the business of making money. Their plan is to go to syndicated programming and some of those hosts include people like Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Clay and Buck et cetera. (Frankly I didn’t know Gleen Beck was still relevant.) These are people that still have no issue with the January 6th insurrection and that anything Trump says or does is wonderful no matter what. I don’t know how this type of programming will play in Maryland, especially a state of middle temperament and in a state that generally votes democratic.

The thing that is lost behind this move at WBAL is the loss of being able to hear local people discuss local issues. These out-of-town syndicated programs are not going to discuss the redistricting issue in Maryland, they’re not going to discuss the structural deficit, they are not going to discuss the situation regarding the Baltimore City Inspector General and how local officials like Brandon Scott and Bill Ferguson are trying to neuter the office. Also, they will not be interviewing local leaders. In many ways we are now down to two newspapers, three television stations and the morning show of C4 and Bryan Nehman to fill that void.

Holding local leaders accountable for good and bad things that they do is up to local media and now part of the voice has been removed. No one has ever really taken WMAR serious when it comes to covering local and state politics but since I moved to Maryland in 1991, everyone always took WBAL radio serious when it came to local politics. Ron Smith was the voice of God, not just the voice of reason.

I went to College in a small town, Fredonia, NY and one of the biggest issues in Fredonia in the early 1980s was the issue of water fluoridation. The water in Fredonia was not fluoridated and there were a lot of people that saw fluoridation as poisoning the water. A local 2-hour radio program would be clogged with people waiting to discuss why they feel fluoridation was good or bad. That’s why local news matters.

WBAL, where Ron Smith used to refer to it as the mighty 1090, will still be covering local issues with their remaining local programming, but I feel that a lot of what’s being done is trying to compete with WCBM. WCBM is much more conservative in their programming. WCBM have local hosts like Kim Klacik covering a variety of things. I’ve interviewed Kim, know her just a little bit and she does a really good job.

The other reality that we must face regarding what has happened is media is changing. A little over 10 years ago podcasting started to become the in thing. When podcasting first started it was strictly a radio style of programming. Now it has become visual where you see the host and you see the people being interviewed. I’ve done some podcasts and interviewed a variety of local political leaders etcetera and really enjoy getting to talk to people for about half an hour discussing local and state issues. A lot of people now are getting their information on podcasts. It’s quick, convenient and often focuses on one or two topics. You can pick when and where you want to listen to it.

Maybe what WBAL should have considered where podcast segments for about an hour a day. Then again, I’m not in management. Podcasting in short segments is the future because of our attention spans being so short. Last month in The Atlantic magazine there was an article about the death of reading. It discussed how people just don’t want to read stuff anymore. There’s also the death of attention spans.

Recently I’ve noticed some media people are using social media more to promote and plug various things they’re doing in reporting stories which I think is great.

Media is changing but for the owners of media it is about the bottom line only. It is about profit and loss along with ratings. But some people don’t care above local news, they want Trump news and what’s going on in DC even though events locally affect our lives more. Sometimes you must cater to the audience. A year ago, I started this Substack page because I didn’t want to talk about anything going on inside the Beltway or Trump, I wanted to focus on Maryland politics strictly and it has really helped my sanity.

About a year ago I was talking to someone on Governor Moore’s reelection campaign, and he told me that they actually get more reaction when the governor does a podcast than when he appears on WBAL radio. It’s a changing media landscape, unfortunately there’s going to be a lot of casualties in a variety of media outlets because of it. Even the Sunday morning television talk shows have become unwatchable over the years. Frankly they have become unwatchable since the day Tim Russert died.

Recently I had a one-month sabbatical from Twitter and finally got my account back. When I got it back and started going through things I noticed the politics was the same sewer that I had seen a month ago with the same algorithms promoting various conservative things that Elon Musk likes.

There are a lot of good people still at WBAL radio that do real good work. Sometimes getting people interested in state and local issues is very difficult because they don’t see the relevance of it. Making it relevant again is now up to the people now left standing.

The latest in this never ending battle involves the city of Baltimore looking to appeal Judge White’s rulings. The city wants a higher court to step into this fight against Inspector General Cumming. They also want a stop sign thrown up during the appeal process. The city says there’s about 2,000,000 pages of emails that would have to be turned over. But frankly it’s documents the city was supposed to turn over.

Out of 67 recent requests for data by Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming, the Baltimore Law Dept has fulfilled only four. Now the Scott administration wants to appeal against a Circuit Court order that requires full production of those records. The city really wants the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) enforced because that way they can control the information that is given to an Inspector General.

The one thing the Pro Bono legal team of Anthony May and Mark Stichel representing the Baltimore City Inspector General’s office has going in their favor is city solicitor Ebony Thompson. But James St Clair during Watergate had problems because he had a bad client.

Maybe what Mayor Scott should do considering all these documents he doesn’t want the IG to see, instead of relying on Ebony Thompson call Billy Murphy because he may need his legal advice more in the future. Clearly Thompson and Scott have pissed off Judge White. Appealing this case in many ways is a stalling tactic, because at some point everything’s going to come out it. That only leads to more questions of how bad everything is at this point and it sounds real bad.

Judge White has city officials scared. Notice that lack of comments from City Council President Zeke Cohen and most of City Council members. On Tuesday, the city law department asked Judge White to halt her August 14 records production order so that Scott and Thompson can appeal and find another court to step in and save them. Judge White on Wednesday denied the city’s motion to halt proceedings and has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday September 16. Judge White is not being bullied. Scott and Thompson want out of White’s courtroom. In a nutshell they want White to stop her work while they go shopping for a better venue to win their case. If this case was to be appealed the next stop is the Maryland Court of Appeals. There are 15 judges on that court, and they hear cases in panels of three.

Seven of the judges were appointed by Martin O’Malley, six by Larry Hogan and two by Wes Moore. In the end Scott and Thompson might get this case appealed to the Maryland Supreme Court but one thing about that is five of the seven judges on the Maryland Supreme Court were appointed by republican governor Larry Hogan.

Trust me, if the city does not win this case in court, they will seek a legislative solution in Annapolis to this problem in 2027. Members of the state legislature like Senator Antonio Hayes who kind of started this fight, will do whatever the mayor tells him. Bill Ferguson will try to kill inspector general’s offices across the state. Ferguson’s problem though is the legislature doesn’t meet until January and if the courts render their decision first or if there’s some sort of indictments, Ferguson will definitely have to back off because he doesn’t want to be seen as Trump like, getting in the way of an investigation to rig it for somebody.

During the 2026 Maryland General Assembly session, legislation was proposed to protect inspector generals like Isabel Cumming across the state of Maryland. Bill Ferguson killed the legislation. Bill Ferguson has no interest in protecting inspector generals in the state of Maryland. Bobby Lapin supported Isabel Cumming.

Mayor Scott and Solicitor Thompson are fighting hard to avoid turning over documentation to Inspector General Cumming. This leads to a simple conclusion there’s some really bad stuff they don’t want the public to find out about, especially about MONSE. In Watergate the expression was the cover up is worse than the crime, but will Bill Ferguson participate in a further cover up?

The judge in the case Robert Thompson is an associate judge of the 5th circuit court in Anne Arundel County and was appointed in 2018 by Governor Larry Hogan.

Thompson ruled in favor of a Republican challenge to keep the redistricting constitutional amendment, Question 3 off the ballot in November. The measure, approved by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly in a special session, would have clarified that the state constitution’s compactness and boundary requirements apply to state legislative districts but not to congressional districts. Part of Thompson’s ten-page opinion said the following:

Because the legislature did not follow the very laws it enacted the court finds the enactment of HB 2100 to be legally deficient.

Even if the legislature’s reading of the constitution is correct and they are exempted from following the laws they impose on other Marylanders, the court finds the ballot question itself to be deficient.

Another way of saying this is the legislature did not follow its own laws and wrote the ballot question in such a way that it was designed to fool the voters.

Thompson also added this: Additionally, the question itself is defective because not only does it ostensibly intend to “clarify” the application of compactness requirements, but it also seeks to confer original jurisdiction over congressional redistricting cases to the Supreme Court of Maryland. The Maryland constitution requires that a preferred question be on a single issue only where this court concludes it would be ideal for the Supreme Court of Maryland to have aboriginal jurisdiction in those cases that is a separate issue from whether the constitution’s compactness requirements apply to state or federal or state in federal legislative districts.

The court found the terminology used in the amendment was deceptive, specifically noting that describing the change as a clarification was intentionally misleading regarding its impact on constitutional requirements. Judge Thompson noted that the rush special session led to some of these problems.

On Tuesday even the attorney for the Attorney General’s office Daniel Kobrin didn’t seem that optimistic. At the end of the hearing, he asked the judge to issue an injunctive relief if the ruling went against the state which would prevent the ruling from taking effect while the state appeals the decision. Thompson did stay that order, allowing the state to appeal to Maryland’s Supreme Court. But five of the seven judges on the Maryland Supreme Court were appointed but Larry Hogan.

Time is of the essence because state officials have made it clear that the deadline for the Maryland State Board of Elections to finalize roughly 1200 different ballot versions will be Monday August 31^st, that is about 5 days from now.

The attorneys for the republican plaintiffs in the case made the argument based on Senate Bill 29 which was passed during the 2026 MGA session. The law sets out specific deadlines for ballot measures, and the current ballot measure on redistricting would be past the deadline of July 1st for finalizing any ballot questions. That deadline was established through passage of SB 29 during the 2026 legislative session and signed by Governor Moore into law. Arguments were also made along the lines of due process and the fact that citizens did not have enough time to really comment on this proposed constitutional amendment.

Fight Back MD has launched a statewide campaign to help voters understand why Maryland needs to pass Question 3 and give the state the ability to respond to Trump’s attempt to manufacture more power than voters are willing to give him at the ballot box.

They responded to the Thompson ruling this way: A Hogan-appointed Anne Arundel County judge today sided with opponents seeking to block Question 3 from the November ballot, temporarily stalling the measure as the fight now moves to the Maryland Supreme Court.

Governor Moore’s office said the following about today’s ruling: We respectfully disagree with the circuit court’s decision and have already filed our appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court.

Let me offer a free piece of advice to the governor’s office. This is not the charge up San Juan Hill, this is the Charge of the Light Brigade. I understand the optics of having to appeal but I don’t see a victory in this case, the time frame is too short.

If this case goes against Wes Moore, I wonder if he’s going to be so mad at Bill Ferguson, he will start to quietly seek out a new democratic Senate President. Ferguson opposed the original redistricting plan Governor Moore supported earlier this year and refused to even bring it to the Senate floor for a vote. Demographically in 2027 the Maryland Senate democratic caucus will be a majority minority caucus and if Moore wants to send a message locally and nationally, getting rid of Bill Ferguson would be the mother of all power moves.

It’s a big maybe but Dan Schwartz has a few things going for him. On the Eastern Shore they love Trump. It is the most conservative of all districts and the most pro Trump district in Maryland. If you want to find Dan Cox signs this district is the place to go. But it is also a district right now that has economic issues, and they may like Trump, but they’re not thrilled with an endless war with Iran and inflation. The people on the Eastern Shore are not thrilled with high gas prices and the affordability crisis that President Trump has mocked that is really hitting the Eastern Shore hard. You know things are going bad for Republicans when they keep bringing out the playbook of look how bad things were under Biden and Obama when things weren’t that bad under Biden and Obama.

Schwartz released a poll last week showing a one-point lead against Harris. These polls can be a good sugar high for a campaign and maybe encourage people to donate money to his campaign. FYI - I have interviewed Dan Schwartz on two occasions, and he knows issues and policy, and has one thing Andy Harris does not have, empathy.

Harris will run his traditional campaign, spending enough money to win the race and telling everyone how much he likes Trump but right now Trump’s approval rating is below 30 nationally. But the other problem is that a lot of people are sick and tired of Trump they’re just looking forward to January 20, 2029.

I was watching one of Schwartz’s commercials last week where he was at the gas pump, pumping gas talking about rising gas prices. I thought it was a very effective ad and drill the point home.

If I was a Schwartz campaign, affordability is the thing I would focus on, but I wouldn’t talk about Trump much if at all. During the primaries this year in Maryland turn out wasn’t very good and a lot of people tried to light a fire under primary voters by saying vote for me I’ll stand up against Trump.

I think Dan Schwartz can win this race with very low voter turnout. It may sound crazy you got to get people to the polls to win but a lot of people who voted for Trump three times are now living through more of this Trump drama from ballrooms, naming things after himself to gas prices and are tired. Force Harris to fire up Trump voters to vote for him which I think would backfire on Harris. Some of these voters may be uncomfortable being asked, and should be asked, are you better off now than two years ago?

If you’re going to beat Andy Harris, I think you must focus this race on Andy Harris and blamed him for Iran and this endless war, blame him for affordability. Everything Trump has done wrong don’t say Trump has done these things, you’ll turn off those Trump voters, say Andy Harris has done all these things, because Harris has supported them. Harris has tied himself so much to Trump over the last few years I’d keep him tied to Trump like an anchor until Election Day. On election day you might see Cox/Schwartz voters.

Trump voters will never admit a mistake and the idea of voting for any democrat is a bad one for them. The strategy should be to keep them home. Make them apathic. Have them see how bad things are, but have them blame Andy Harris.

Andy Harris is not likable he’s not Donald Trump. I know a lot of Republicans, and I have yet to meet one republican in my life who has gone out of his way to say, “John let me tell you some good stuff about Andy Harris and why he’s wonderful”. If you tell someone who likes Donald Trump that this affordability crisis is terrible and it is Trump’s fault, they may be dismissive of you. But if you talk about the high prices of everything, gasoline, food, trips to Ocean City et cetera, voters will probably say overall yeah prices are too high. Mentioned the Iran war and how the US got dragged into it, voters may nod their heads more at you. Ask voters why Andy Harris is supporting another endless war. They will wonder why too. No one’s taking to the street right now cheering on this war. I remember in 2003 not showing support for the Iraq war was considered political suicide. One of Trump’s appeals to a lot of the three-time voters was ending the endless wars, a direct shot at George W. Bush’s presidency.

In my opinion the way to beat Andy Harris is to bring up the affordability crisis and pin the blame for it on him. Say he voted for tax cuts for the rich and forgot about the people of the Eastern Shore. Bring up the Iran War and how he supports it. Economic messages win the day but something else wins the day, midterm elections. People are arguing that Trump is doing the Iran war to stop Iran from getting nukes. Every year I have surveyed students for the last 20 years about their thoughts about Iran getting a nuke and every year, half of them don’t care if Iran gets one. They do not understand why Iran shouldn’t have one.

Historically the party that is out of power does much better during the midterms which favors Democrats. This is part of that inside straight. In 2018 there was a lot of anti-Trump feelings that drove voters to the polls but today I feel that it’s not anti-Trump this time. It is apathy towards him they just want this over with. You can bring up the ballroom, his financial enrichment and Natalie and get away with it without saying Trump’s name. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia said the word Natalie two weeks ago and it did wonders for his fundraising and media attention especially when the White House and Republicans started defending Trump having his own Monica Lewinsky.

One other thing about midterm elections I have observed over the last 40 years, usually in April you have an idea which way they’re going to go. Only pure partisans with blinders think republican will be OK in November. In April of 1994, 2010 in 2022 everyone knew Democrats would lose the House and many felt the Senate would go with it. In 2006 and in 2018 everyone knew Republicans would lose the House.

Schwartz is the underdog in this race, make no mistake about it, but right now economically it feels more like 2006. Over the next 10 weeks there’s not going to be any major dramatic event that alters what will happen in November regarding democratic success or republican failure. We will still be dealing with Iran in 10 weeks and the affordability crisis we’ll still be there too. The cake is baking, it’s in the oven and the timer has gone off.

Last week the station announced that they were no longer going to be having anchors on their newscast along with their morning show. I watched the Tuesday 11:00 newscast and I just kept thinking shitshow. I felt like I was watching the old version of CNN headline news without Lynne Russell. This is the type of thing you do in a market that is over 100, not a top 30 television market. The reporters in these pieces are doing the lead in for their story instead of the anchor introducing the piece.

Watching this it seems that if there is any major breaking story after 7:00 you’re not going to find out about it on WMAR until the next day. This type of stuff will make reporters at WMAR generalist covering a variety of things instead of being a specialist in specific areas like consumer issues, government etcetera. I wonder how ABC feels about this because bad ratings from an affiliate doesn’t make the network happy. It is one of the reasons in the 1990’s NBC sought out WBAL to replace WMAR.

EW Scripps is the company that owns WMAR and has always run the place on the cheap side, but the question is are you going so cheap now that advertisers won’t run ads on your station because it’s such a laughing stock. Television is a copycat league. If ratings suddenly go up, other stations will look at it, but this isn’t about ratings, this is about being cheap, trying to make as much money as possible. On air talent can be very expensive and this may increase the bottom line short term but will viewers choose to watch this type of cheap looking product.

I’ve done a lot of television over the last 25 years in Baltimore I’ve gotten to know a lot of anchors and that anchor relationship with viewers is very important. The term Anchorman originated with Walter Cronkite. He got America through the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War and Watergate. At one time Cronkite the Anchorman was considered the most trusted man in America. His word was God. There is no more God at WMAR. When a major story breaks the Anchor is in the center of the storm, they are Sully Sullenberger landing the plane. Anchors were critical on 9/11. The Anchor is the vote of confidence in the stories you will see that night on the news. But the role is critical when it is breaking news because people want that Anchor whether it is an authoritarian older person or friendly face offering that steady presence to deliver that breaking news that stations love to talk about.

I had a former Baltimore anchor tell me a story years ago that on 9/11 she was really upset about everything and the news director came to her and said very sympathetically, “I understand what you’re going through but you need to focus on what is happening now and deal with the events you are on reporting later.” And she did that.

A lot of good people have lost jobs at WMAR, but management is looking at the bottom line as far as what does this mean for profits for Scripps. It’s not about quality; it’s about will the stockholders be happy with all the additional money we’re making. Will we make more money if we do this in other markets and Scripps wants to do that. Trust me, there are a lot of other people that are going to look at this in other markets and other companies will say, can we pull this off?

How will WMAR deal with the situation of breaking major news that they need the report on some of these newscasts.

Under the Kevin Bacon 6° of separation AI is part of all this. I am not an AI fan because I see more evil than good. Years ago, we used to joke that by the time us Boomers were 60 we would have two major careers our lifetime. Things would then happen and we would transition to another career later in life. (I did.) Sadly, with AI I could see someone who’s about 25 now working to 70 and have at least three or four types of careers.

One other thing to keep in mind regarding this is I was talking to someone recently in the governor’s office and they told me that Podcast actually work for them more than radio interviews when it comes to communicating with people. I’ve noticed more local reporters using social media to discuss stories they’re working on and things they’re doing. I think that’s a good idea. Years ago, podcasting was radio, no video. Today podcasting is video. I’ve been doing podcasting on and off with various things on Substack for about a year and I enjoy it.

We are video learners. I was reading an article in Atlantic magazine recently about The Death of Reading. Fewer people receiving information by reading it, they’re absorbing it through their eyes and in their ears with video. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/

People don’t want to read long articles, they want summaries, Even something shorter than Cliffnotes. That is why even with these articles I write on Substack I mentally try to keep it no longer than three pages for fear that I will bore someone to death and they won’t read it. I follow a lot of different people on Substack just to get an idea of what is going on in politics. Podcasting and video hits on social media are the future now.

Media is changing and evolving for the battle for viewers, but what will the long-term implications be. I remember a few years ago when COVID first started and stations had to rely on zoom interviews with people. A news director told me if the viewer accepts it, zoom interviews will work and viewers will get used to zoom interviews. If viewers get used to anchorless newscast, then we are in big trouble.

WMAR used to be a well-respected television station. Beginning in the 1950s former congresswoman Helen Bentley, who was working for the Baltimore Sun, hosted a local Baltimore TV program on WMAR, The Port That Built a City, presenting maritime and transportation-related news.

The ultimate decision maker on this WMAR experiment is going to be its viewers and advertisers. Viewers are smart and they can see if something is quality or not. Advertisers run ads on television to make money. If the product isn’t very good they’re not going to want their ads associated with WMAR. If the product’s going to be trash, it’s going to be one less reason for viewers to watch and advertisers to place their ads on WMAR.

D’Alesandro was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1926 to 1933. In the Maryland General Assembly, he led a successful campaign to rescind a law forbidding movies on Sunday. He was a general deputy collector of internal revenue in 1933 and 1934 and a member of the Baltimore City Council from 1935 to 1938. From 1944 to 1968 he was a delegate to each Democratic National Convention. He served in the U.S. House of Representative from 1939 until his resignation on May 16, 1947, to become Mayor of Baltimore. He was a Roosevelt New Deal democrat and one of his children was named Franklin Delano Roosevelt D'Alesandro. He served as chairman of the House District Committee, where he became known in those pre-home rule days as the “mayor of Washington.” He favored full suffrage and called for District representation in both House and Senate.

He was a three-term mayor of Baltimore and served from May 1947 to May 1959 when he was defeated for renomination in the primary election by J. Harold Grady, the Baltimore City SAO. Some of the highlights of his mayoral term were the opening of Friendship Airport (now Thurgood Marshall-Baltimore-Washington International Airport). He played a key role in the return of the Baltimore Orioles to major league baseball in 1954 when the St. Louis Browns came to Baltimore. He lost to J Glenn Beall in 1958 in the US Senate race.

President Kennedy appointed him to the Federal Renegotiation Board, where he served from 1961 to 1969. Before getting the job, Kennedy ordered a background investigation by the FBI. A routine FBI name check revealed “allegations” against D’Alessandro, according to a February 6, 1961, teletype from “FBI Director.” The director at the time was J. Edgar Hoover. FBI — Federal Bureau of Investigation

“The White House has requested that we proceed with a special inquiry investigation but that if substantial derogatory information were developed, we should report this and discontinue any further inquiries because substantiation of any of the allegations would eliminate Mr. D’Alesandro,” the FBI director wrote in the teletype that is located on page 19 of the trove.

“Assign immediately,” Hoover wrote, instructing the Baltimore and Washington field offices to “afford continuous attention” to the investigation.

In sometimes illegible and heavily redacted reproductions, the 248-page collection shows that FBI agents were tasked with running down rumors and facts surrounding their man.

“In 1945 it was alleged that one Charles F. Cammarata had been able to get away with all sorts of criminal activities in Baltimore, Maryland, and had operated almost unmolested due to his friendship with and the protection of Congressman D’Alesandro,” one unnamed agent wrote in a January 30, 1961, memo to the White House.

In the same memo, which begins on page 38 of the collection, the agent summarizes allegations that a powerful D’Alesandro took payoffs from applicants to the police force, and that he helped to hinder the investigation and prosecution of crimes.

Elsewhere, the memo cites a “confidential source, who has furnished reliable information in the past,” reporting that D’Alesandro appeared onstage at a 1943 rally for the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, which was Formed in 1943 by the Communist Party in the United States as a Soviet front group according to the FBI.

The following year, the memo notes, D’Alesandro was reported as the main speaker at an event for the International Workers Order, an insurance organization placed on a list of subversive organizations by the U.S. attorney general in 1947 and later disbanded by order of the New York State Insurance Department for being too closely aligned with the Communist Party, in violation of regulations prohibiting political activity in the industry.

In a series of endorsements commencing on page 129 of the trove, a phalanx of associates — judges, politicians, friends, and acquaintances — described D’Alesandro in glowing terms. He was “upright,” they said, or “loyal,” “honest,” and a devoted family man.

Two acquaintances hedged their praise. In an undated memo, one agent wrote: “Another individual stated he would be hesitant in recommending D’Alesandro for any office where he would be in a position to award contracts without first having the approval of another supervisor.”

After working in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations he stepped away from the public spotlight and died on August 23, 1987.

UB has his papers.

White’s ruling started by denying Baltimore City’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the IG to regain access to Baltimore City government records. White ordered Baltimore City to respond to the 49 subpoenas the IG’s office requested in an amended complaint. White has asked the city law department to turn over records identified and subpoenaed by Inspector General Cumming. But now the city is trying to create chaos with a ridiculous argument on appeal. (More on that later.)

In her seventeen-page ruling, White made it clear that the arguments the city was making primarily that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) may not operate outside of the confines of the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) and that the city properly provides documents to the OIG with redactions mandated by state law including the MPIA is wrong.

The defendant’s decisions and actions now challenging challenged by the plaintiffs and defendants current legal arguments appear misconceived appeared too misconceived the constitutional premise and statutory mandates underlying the responsibilities of an independent Inspector General as set out in the City Charter.

White used her ruling to remind city officials that the electorate in Baltimore City has been supportive of the office of Inspector General going back to 2018, “rather the office of Inspector General reports directly to Baltimore citizens”.

Notwithstanding the scope of responsibilities and breadth of investigatory powers clearly established for an Inspector General operating independently of an elected mayor and City Council, Defendant is intent on forcing OIG investigatory functions into requests procedures of the MPIA defendants dismissal motion counters the legal premise of the amended complaint…

OIG investigatory functions and subpoenas are not mirror requests for public information from other government units or employees. OIG subpoenas are legal orders compelling attendance and production of evidence serving as investigatory fact finding tools authorized by the charter and seeking relevant information. There is nothing about an OIG investigation or subpoena authority that could be fairly characterized OIG as an applicant... that asked to in inspect a public record.

Defendants insistence and cutting or revoking access to servers, refusing to make city data resources available to OIG is really described by plaintiffs as having interfered with plaintiff’s performance of charter responsibilities challenging such policy pronouncements an obstruction of OIG efforts to enforce its subpoenas is met by the city’s solicitors refusal to permit OIG to retain private counsel despite the obvious conflicts as the city solicitor interferes with the independent operations of OIG by withholding investigatory information the solicitor also refuses to secure independent counsel for OIG in the face of those adverse interests.

1. Because the pending Motion is supported by certain documents and Affidavits accompanying the Verified Amended Complaint and Motion, Defendant s further response to the written Motion, pursuant to Rule2-501(b), shall (1) identify with particularity each material fact as to which it is contended that there is a genuine dispute and (2) as to each such fact, identify and attach the relevant portion of the specific document...or other statement under oath that demonstrates the dispute.

2. Also pursuant to Rule2-501(b), within 15 days of the filing date of this Order, Defendant s response asserting the existence of a material fact or controverting any fact contained in the record shall be supported by an affidavit or other written statement under oath.

3. Because Defendant s counsel represented at hearing that responses to outstanding OIG subpoenas have been and are being prepared on a rolling basis, Defendant shall promptly identify and produce to Plaintiffs the entirety of each response to (a) each subpoena identified in Paragraphs 49, 61-62, 82, 84-85, 86 in the Amended Complaint, and (b) each subpoena issued by OIG to each and any City agency or governmental unit since April 10, 2026.

In a nutshell Judge White is telling the city to turn over the documents to Baltimore City IG Isabel Cumming. The MPIA plays no role in any of this, and city officials are using it as a stalling tactic.

A few things are obvious about the events of the last few months. First political leaders like members of City Council (minus Mark Conway) and the City Council President Zeke Cohen don’t want to get to the truth behind what’s going on with MONSE. Notice they’re not commenting publicly about this or any of the previous events on this legal drama. You can’t stand up against waste, fraud and abuse silently, but city council members are doing their best and doing it rather well.

One thing to keep in mind is there are other Inspector Generals offices in the state of Maryland and this one ruling impacts several of those offices as other governments in Baltimore County, Howard County and Montgomery County could also deny access to public records.

If I was giving the mayor any advice in this case, I would suggest getting better legal counsel because the legal counsel he has right now in Ebony Thompson is God awful. She couldn’t argue her way out of a paper bag. About a month ago, as a distraction, attorney Karl Racine was brought in to do his own investigation. Racine, Thompson and the former city solicitor Jim Shea all at one time worked at the Venable Law Office together. In a previous post, I outlined Racine’s bad experience when he was in Cleveland. (Post #376).

BUT NOW SCOTT, EBONY THOMPSON AND FAITH LEACH ARE TRYING TO SUBVERT THE PROCESS.

On Monday City Solicitor Ebony Thompson, doing the bidding of Mayor Scott and City Administrator Faith Leach, filed a motion asking Judge White for some clarification on her very clear ruling last Friday. Thompson started her argument by basically asking the judge to change her mind on her legal ruling.

Thompson wants Judge White to explain what the judge means by the word “promptly” in her order. Thompson doesn’t seem very bright so I will use this opportunity to explain promptly to her in this sense. If my mother told me to do something “promptly” it meant that I was already late in doing it and if I didn’t do it promptly, I’d get a smack upside the head, and I would richly deserve it. Just as White should consider legally smacking Thompson upside the head.

Why are the citizens who overwhelmingly support the OIG getting the subpoenaed records being treated so badly? Cumming legal team are working Pro Bono (free) but Ebony Thompson is making the taxpayers pay for this silly legal battle and it appears has an inability to “promptly” comprehend a legal order from a judge. This does not speak well for University of Baltimore law school graduates.

Thompson’s motion is clearly a stalling tactic. Remember Thompson is Brandon Scott’s client, and an attorney generally known the information the client knows. Thompson knows what’s in these various subpoenas that the Inspector General is requesting. Thompson is still going back to the arguments related to the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) that White was already dismissive of. Thompson is relying again on the attorney-client privilege argument which does not apply in this case.

Inspector General Cummings legal team is filing paperwork on Friday in response to all this. The drama continues at City Hall, which means clearly there is something that is being hidden from the public and from the Inspector General’s office. Most likely related to MONSE. Remember state Senator Antonio Hayes, Attorney General Anthony Brown and Bill Ferguson have been taking actions to protect Scott. Right now, 49 subpoenas could be 49 ticking time bombs. In Watergate the cover up was worse than the crime, which means the crimes here must be really spectacular.

In 1949 he graduated law school at George Washington University.

He started his political career in 1950, getting himself elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. He served for eight years until he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1958 from the second Congressional District. After serving in the House for four years, he was elected to the United States Senate in 1962. He was a strong supporter of Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. In 1964 he was the stand in candidate for President Johnson when Alabama Governor George Wallace ran in Maryland’s democratic primary. He was a strong supporter of civil rights legislation and the Vietnam War. He was defeated for re-election in 1968 by republican Mac Mathias, who was his law school classmate. Brewster was an usher at Mr. Mathias’ wedding, and Mr. Mathias is the godfather of Mr. Brewster’s son Daniel Jr. Another son, Gerry worked in Mathias’s office. Gerry later served as a delegate in the Maryland General Assembly and in 1994 loss the race for Congress against Bob Ehrlich, a fellow delegate. Brewster said he had voted for Senator Mathias over Barbara Mikulski in 1974. In today’s politics you would never see political relationships like this. Maryland at that time would be referred to in today’s political language as a swing state.

After Brewster left the Senate, his life started to crumble around him. First in 1969 he was indicted on federal bribery charges over payments made to him by Spiegel Inc. The federal government was attempting to tie his votes and decision making, supporting lower postal rates, while he served on the Senate Post Office and Civil Service Commission. After a six-year court battle he pleaded nolo contendere to the charges of accepting an unlawful gratuity without corrupt intent and was fined $10,000.

At the same time, he was engaged in this legal battle he was also going through a battle of alcoholism. In this era people had problems like this, but it was not mentioned openly. It wasn’t really discussed until Wilbur Mills. Politicians’ alcohol problems would be never publicly exposed. At this time people knew Brewster had a problem with alcohol, but it wasn’t something that was ever considered to be used in a political way. Many felt his alcoholism led him to make some very bad decisions in the 1960s such as divorcing his first wife for an old flame, who he later divorced.

His alcoholism got to the point where he had to go to rehab at Hidden Brook, a Bel Air treatment facility. At that point he started to turn his life around. He met his third wife while there and had three children with her.

Generally, after this he stayed out of the political limelight. He spent most of the rest of his life working at his 130-acre Windy Meadows Farm in Glyndon, where he farmed for over 30 years.

He died of liver cancer on August 19, 2007.

When he died Maryland Senator Ben Cardin said the following about him on the Senate floor: Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, the State of Maryland and the United States lost a brave and committed public servant last month. Former Senator Daniel Brewster, who served in this esteemed Chamber during the 1960s, died of cancer on August 19. Few Americans have the political ancestry of Senator Brewster, who was a direct descendant of Ben Franklin and the former Attorney General for President Chester Arthur. Public service came naturally to this man, whose life and work showed his commitment to our country. He first gave to this country through his military service as a decorated war hero, wounded seven times during his service in Guam and Okinawa. Then he served as an elected official for 18 years. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates starting in 1950, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1958 and then to the Senate in 1962.

Senator Brewster first came to politics as an advocate for civil rights. In his own Baltimore neighborhood, neighbors complained when he invited African-American servicemen from World War II to his home. This was an outrage to him. He would never slight a person, particularly soldiers who had courageously served to defend the American flag. Senator Brewster went on to cosponsor the Civil Rights Act of 1964, forever changing the course of history in this country.

Senate Brewster represented much of what is great about public service: a desire and commitment to make this country better and stronger for every American, black and white, rich and poor, farmer and businessman.

Senator Brewster had some very trying times in his life: First, at the age of 10 when his father died; then when he was beset with personal struggles in the very public forum of public life. The lesson he left for all of us is one can rise above adversity, even in the face of trying times, and continue to serve the people of this great Nation. He did that and left this country and this Congress with a lasting legacy of accomplishments.

He left another legacy quite apparent today, introducing some of our country’s strongest leaders to the world of politics. House Speaker NANCY PELOSI and House Majority Leader STENY HOYER both started their political careers working for Senator Brewster.

I am personally indebted to Senator Brewster for the wisdom and advice he shared with me as a newly elected Senator. This past spring, he, along with former Senators Joe Tydings and Charles Mathias, Jr., met with me to share their insights. For this, I am forever grateful.

His life was chronicled in the book “Self-Destruction: The rise, fall, and redemption of U.S. Senator Daniel B. Brewster.” by John Frece.

Cox has been extremely dismissive of this poll since it came out but ironically when the first part of the poll came out last Monday, that slightly more than half of voters describe themselves as really struggling financially or just getting by Dan Cox praised the poll conducted by Zenith Research for the Blended Public Affairs Partnership with Perry Jacobson.

But on Tuesday, the same company that did this poll says Cox will get an ass whipping in November and he attacks that part of the poll. When the people were polled about who they wanted for governor they were not on the Dan Cox train and suddenly he decided he had to dismiss the poll.

Two different things can be 100% right. People can have BG&E/economic anxiety and think Cox is a nut. Maryland is a state of middle temperament, and Cox’s temperament is on the far right.

The problem with the Cox campaign and the Maryland Republican Party is they can’t put out their own poll because they just don’t have the money to do it, or as my parents used to say they don’t have a pot to pee in.

In September UMBC Institute of Politics will be doing a poll organized by Professor Miliah Kromer. She’s been polling in Maryland politics for a long time and is the gold standard of polling in Maryland. What’s Cox going to say when her poll shows that he’s losing by more than 20 points.

There are legitimate economic issues for people to say why they won’t vote for Governor Moore, unfortunately for Republicans, Dan Cox is the standard bearer for the party, beating Ed Hale and a variety of others in the republican primary. This is on those voters and on Nicole Harris the chair of the state Republican Party. Cox got beat badly the last time and in many ways, he is just coming back for more. While his supporters at the same time know he lost badly the last time, somehow they believe there will be a different outcome this time when there won’t be. Dan Cox is going to be Kevin Bacon in the movie Animal House. He’s going to get spanked really hard and in the end get run over. If Republicans in Maryland want a Ross Z. Pierpont running in election after election, at some point they need to enter a 12-step program and avoid Dan Cox at all costs. Think of the anchor George Mahoney was around the Democratic Party during the 1950s and 60s. That’s the republican future with Dan Cox running in election after election.

Cox’s keyboard warriors post multiple times a day on a variety of Dan Cox Facebook pages and on Inside Maryland Politics (and trust me it seems like they do post 10 times a day) that Cox should win and Wes Moore a terrible person. But every time I offer to bet any of these Cox people that Cox will lose, no one wants to take my bet.

Ed Hale is more committed to rebuilding the Maryland GOP than either of the Harris’s or the keyboard warriors.

Dan Cox has had almost two months since the republican primary to start to move the needle, but the only people he is engaging with are his own supporters on social media. He’s not running ads on television, he’s going to a lot of events in safe red areas, but he has not increased support in any way. It reminds me of Ben Jealous’s campaign in 2018 for governor. In September of that year a poll came out showing Jealous was going to lose big time and I told someone at the Washington Post this race is over and it was.

You’re not going to see a lot of polling really in this race at all because it is so uncompetitive. I remember in 2014 when Larry Hogan was running against Anthony Brown there was not a lot of polling done because the early polling had Brown winning big. In mid-October of 2014 there was a poll showing Brown up by 7 points. Hogan was closing the gap but no one else polled this race publicly. Many media outlets were asleep and failed to poll towards the end of the race. Hogan’s private polling showed him in the last week surging, leading to his upset victory.

If I were Republicans over the next 90 days if I wanted to drive turn out to help some of my candidates for other offices, knowing they had Dan Cox’s candidacy hanging over them like an albatross, I would focus on the constitutional amendment issue and make that the driving issue that will engage voters and independents. This is going to be a low turnout general election because voters are very dissatisfied. They have a Trump hangover, Cox is the GOP candidate, the economy isn’t very good, the Iran cluster disaster, and when affordability is big issue that says that people are unhappy. The party at the national level always gets the credit/blame for the economy.

Nicole Harris doesn’t have the ability to do fix things. State Republicans are not better off than they were four years ago, before she took over as party chair. Dragging out Bob and Kendall Ehrlich to boost republican turn out won’t get you very far. During the primary Cox antagonized Larry Hogan, Ed Hale and his running mate Tyrone Keys. Cox got very personal with attacks on Hale and Keyes and called Governor Hogan, “Lockdown Larry” and Cox’s supporters and Cox cannot understand or comprehend why their supports have no interest in helping him. How is that behavior supposed to encourage Republicans to vote for Dan Cox with his insurrectionist background.

Far right republican voters created this mess and delusion that Cox can win. They failed to learn from the beating Cox took in 2022. The people who will suffer the most are quality republican candidates trying to get elected. To them I say practice this phrase over and over again: “I am running my own race and do not have the time to focus on anything else.” Johnny O did this in 2018 when running for Baltimore County Executive with Ben Jealous at the top of the ticket. He won.

There are two types of people in the workplace when the economy is bad. The unhappy people will talk all the time about wanting to leave but don’t leave. The other group are people that don’t talk about leaving and one day all of a sudden, they’re gone. They moved, quit a job or were laid off and left quietly.

A poll conducted by Zenith Research for the Blended Public Affairs Partnership with Perry Jacobson found that slightly more than half of voters describe themselves as really struggling financially or just getting by. Voters in the majority expressed concern about being able to pay future bills over the next year. Voters in this survey want two things expressed in this survey, that Governor Moore to do something about the rising electric and utility bills along with creating jobs. (Ironically the first part of this survey Dan Cox loved and praised, but when the second part of the survey was done about how he was polling compared to Governor Moore, he criticized the methodology of the same survey he had only praised the day before.)

Voters are concerned about affordability. Those surveyed want increased taxes on the wealthy and on anything they feel that does not touch their lives. But political leaders should be scared by the primary turnout. That should be a batsignal. The voters are unhappy because they chose to stay home and not participate in the process. Dan Cox won the republican primary for governor and got about 75,000 fewer votes than he did four years ago. These uncompetitive elections and sense of apathy may keep a lot of people home in November. The redistricting constitutional amendment referendum that’s on the ballot may put turnout even more up in the air.

If you go down to Ocean City over the summer, one thing you’ll see is a lot less people. Many Marylanders can no longer afford that traditional family vacation down at the ocean. Frankly it’s cheaper for that family to take a similar vacation and go to the Carolinas where it’s much more affordable. Years ago, I was deciding between a vacation in Myrtle Beach or Ocean City and discovered that despite the extra 5-hour drive each way, it was cheaper for me to go to South Carolina than drive less than 3 hours to Ocean City and spend the week there.

Leaving a state is easier said than done and people can say I want to go to another state but there’s always a tradeoff. People talk about how cheap it is to live in West Virginia, but if you want to live in a state that’s always ranked between 45 and 50 in a variety of economic and quality life issues well that’s on you.

Marylanders don’t talk about moving to Virginia because they even know that has become more expensive. While people may say I’m moving to Pennsylvania, it depends where you end up in Pennsylvania. What is the economic trade off swap and commute if you are still working in Maryland.

Then there’s the people who talk about moving to Delaware. Yes, there’s no sales tax but if you have any type of snow, you are stranded for days until the sun melts it. Also, there’s an expression people use on the Delmarva Peninsula, “you cross the bridge for healthcare”.

People may talk about moving out of Maryland, but when they have a health care situation they get back to the I95 corridor real fast. Years ago, I saw my rheumatologist at Johns Hopkins, and he was running about 15 minutes late. When he came in, he apologized but explained that the patient he had just left had a few more detailed questions. He was coming in from Texas for his medical care. I was more than understanding because I felt privileged that I’m getting my medical care out of Johns Hopkins.

I’ve had more people tell me more horror stories about medical care on Delmarva than any other place. It’s not incompetency, it’s just that it’s a smaller population and over the last 10 years they have started to build up a lot of medical care on the peninsula. A few years ago, my wife was having dental pain so she started contacting dentist in the area to see if someone could do something about this. She called a few dentists, and everyone said either we’re not taking new patients or it’s a three month wait. She bought some stuff to deal with her cap, and when she returned from vacation saw her dentist. I had a doctor once tell me don’t get stuck on Delmarva if you have a major healthcare problem. (About a little over a year ago I had a medical incident in the middle of nowhere Nevada and got great medical care at a rural hospital.)

Affordability is a major campaign issue for Democrats. It started last year with the mayor of New York City race when Mamdani preached it and the message struck home. Right now, people feel Maryland has become unaffordable. People enjoyed that eight-year tax break under Governor Larry Hogan and not getting nickeled and dimed to death. In the last four years a lot more taxes and fees have been raised, frustrating a lot of people including myself. People want to pay their fair share of taxes, but with the rising BG&E rates people don’t feel they are paying their fair share of anything. People see BG& E as part of the affordability problem, a faceless corporation the politicians love getting campaign contributions from. No one ever brags about getting campaign contributions from the nuclear power industry. In January my BG&E bill increase from the previous January, and I was out of town for two weeks.

The governor can blame President Trump for some of these cuts to the federal workforce that have been devastating to the state of Maryland. But citizens don’t want to see you pointing the finger at Trump, they want to see you solve the problem. They may rationally know it’s Trump’s fault, but they know Trump won’t fix it so they’re depending on Governor Moore to go fix it. That’s reality. Bill Clinton was a master politician and when he said I feel your pain you felt like he really did.

Economics is a driving force in any political campaign but it’s also a driving force in people’s personal lives. I had a friend of mine about 20 years ago who was thinking of moving to the state of Maryland. He came down here one weekend and looked at the housing market and discovered that he could not buy as good of a house in Western New York that he currently had as one that he was looking at in Maryland. He turned down the job offer in Maryland and stayed in Western New York. Do the economics.

Maryland is a high-cost state. Things like The Blueprint are causing a lot of financial anxiety in Annapolis. How is the state of Maryland going to pay for it long term, and no one has come up with a real good answer. In my conversation with the Maryland Speaker of the House Joseline Pena-Melnik on Wednesday, she discussed that everything is on the table regarding taxes and cuts.

That’s all well and good, the election in many ways doesn’t matter because Cox is going to lose big time, but people still want to hear Governor Moore and Dan Cox say in specific language what they are going to do regarding the state economy.

DSA type of ideas did not help Ben Jealous in 2018. A lot of people in the DSA world support the idea of Medicare for All, but these young people do not realize that there is a cost for Medicare for All that they would have to pay for. It is not free. Medicare for All among socialist is popular because medical costs and services are out of control. Call the doctor’s office today and you get AI first. People on Medicare pay the government monthly for this insurance. Some of the policies the DSA supports include things like the Green New Deal. Where they run into their problems are they must tax their way in the paying for it with corporations, boomers along with the wealthy being asked to pick up the tab.

Some of the other DSA policies have frightened a lot of voters include their attitudes towards Israel. There’s a lot of “From the river to the sea” people among the DSA. (But I think that’s more people who hate Bibi more than hate Israel.) Also, when it comes to criminal justice, many of their members have called for defunding the police, and abolishing cash bail.

In 2020 when many people in the far left were on the Bernie or bust campaign and were bragging about being Bernie Bros, their attitude was we’ll get it right this time. Well, when it looked like Bernie might win the Democratic Party presidential nomination, immediately moderates ran into the arms of Joe Biden after he won the South Carolina primary and within two weeks the Sanders campaign was DOA.

There are a lot of members of the Maryland House of Delegates who are very progressive, bordering on socialists. They see government as a bottomless pit of money that taxes will cover their dreams. They see as the wealthy and corporation profits as a way to solve all the problems. Many of these DSA policies may fall in line with many members of the Maryland General Assembly, it doesn’t fall in line with the general public. This year the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation that would make it more difficult to charge juveniles who commit serious crimes as adults. The bill eliminated automatic charging of youth aged 14 and 15 and also reduced the list of charges for youth 16 and 17 years of age. Twenty years ago, the Maryland General Assembly was much more conservative than it is today.

But one of the problems I see is that no one has taken the time to understand is why socialism is so appealing for these younger people. I think I have the answer. They love socialism because capitalism is failing them. I love capitalism, I think it’s a great thing. Work hard, become successful and make a lot of money. The problem is the wealth gap between rich and poor is getting wider and more people believe that no matter how hard they work they will never even become millionaires or at the very least as successful as their parents. Years ago, everyone said get a college degree because that’s the ticket to success. Now it’s a ticket that includes student loan debt.

The cost of a college education today is much higher than it was when I got my degree in the 1980s. I had a total student loan debt of $5000. Adjusted for inflation today that comes to about $17,000. The average cost of a year at Towson is $20,000. College costs in the 1980’s compared to today are out of control, which has increased student loan debt. That debt is part of the economic divide. But people also need to stop majoring in Art History and go to a community college first.

In 1966 my parents bought a house in the burbs for $30,000 that same house in the burbs today is worth about $200,000. Want to guess how much $30,000 is in 2026 terms? $310,000. The problem is for a lot of young people, $200,000 is all the money in the world. With student loan debt, they see themselves as permanent renters because, how are they going to pay off $100,000 in student loans to be able to afford a $200,000 home in Maryland?

There are a few DSA type candidates running for office in Maryland in 2026 and you may see more in the near future if the economy doesn’t get better. Socialism was very popular in the 1930s because of the economic chaos the Great Depression caused. When people are not equal in society, they want to be equal. Part of equality is being able to make enough money. The era of socialism’s greatest popularity was during the Great Depression. That led to government creating Social Security etc. FDR said if he didn’t fix things he would be the LAST President of the United States.

Society favors the wealthy. The tax code is written for the wealthy. The campaign contributors are the wealthy, so government leaders try to avoid taxing the wealthy. FYI - when I talk about wealthy I’m talking about people making over $1,000,000 a year.

I see where socialists come from with these ideas. Whereas Democrats call it socialism, Republicans are dragging out the word communism. The problem is communism is the wrong word in this sentence. When people think about communism they think about the Cold War with the Soviet Union. They don’t think about communism in terms of economics. When people start to explain socialistic policies and I say, “do you really want to get rid of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid”, most people say hell no. One of the biggest socialistic programs over the last 20 years has been Obamacare, that is very popular despite the actions of President Trump.

When older people react negatively towards younger people who are supporting a lot of these socialistic ideas, they often respond with, well you just need to work hard to become successful. Sometimes that’s the case, sometimes it’s not. Often at times is a response from that younger generation is, “OK boomer”.

Some DSA ideas are crazy, but these people are politically active and don’t feel that they will achieve the same financial success their parents or grandparents achieved. This is where Democrats need to be very careful. The DSA types want change immediately and they’re going after Democrats in primaries. They would also rather lose with a DSA candidate than win with a regular democrat.

I believe in capitalism. I believe in hard work. For many years I worked 2 jobs to achieve an opportunity to teach at the Community College level. I think there are some people today who do want to work hard to achieve success. There are a lot of people also that are bitter because life isn’t easier for them.

In some respects, life isn’t easier but as I like to say, figure it out. Medical science is a hell of a lot better today than it was in 1966. The problem is inflation and the cost of living has skyrocketed so much for a variety of things that has made it difficult for people in their 20s and 30s to get ahead and that is why the ideas of the DSA and ideas of socialism are appealing. When you’re not equal in salary, you want equality. When you’re making more money, you believe in equality a lot less and capitalism a lot more.

Capitalism and President Obama’s biggest failure was not dealing with the people who perpetuated the financial collapse of the economy 2008. I assumed that some of the barons of Wall Street would end up going to jail for some of the financial shenanigans that went on. Instead, no one even got their hand slapped, we just bailed out companies and moved on. In some ways that led to the Tea Party movement. The 2008 bailout saved Wall Street but people who lost money in their 401K didn’t get a bailout.

Maryland is still a state of middle temperament. Socialism ideas become more popular as the economic divide increases. Fix the economic divide and solve the DSA problem.

I have also discovered there are several other fake Maya Musk accounts. God knows why someone would want to set up an account under a woman who grew up in apartheid South Africa and is the son of a trillionaire but so be it.

Almost all the posts on this account are all my postings on Twitter for the last 10 years. At the moment there is no such account on Twitter under my former account @JohnDediePolSci.

Hmm...this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.

In follow up emails to access-support@x.com it has been impossible to get a human response or any response. One AI email last Tuesday told me to wait a week.

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out. We’re sorry to hear you’re having difficulty accessing your account.

We’ve reviewed your case and it looks like there have been recent changes to the email associated with your account.

To better protect you and ensure your account’s security, we’re unable to assist you at this time. We kindly request that you wait at least 7 days before you file another request for assistance with regaining access to your account.

We appreciate your understanding.

Thanks,

X Support

There is no phone customer service to solve this. All communication is by email and AI.

On Thursday I received this message from Twitter: The email address on your account @JohnDediePolSci has been changed to bigsammy60041@gmail.com. I reported the account to google for fraud.

After filing another complaint with X, I received this response: We’ve received your request. We typically respond within a few days, but some cases can take a little longer.

Here is something funny about all this. About 15 years ago I asked my financial planner to get me into stocks related to marijuana because I saw that it’s the future. I made some money and got out before everyone was doing it. About five years ago I contacted him again and said get me into any stocks related to AI. I’m making money but boy I would take a little less money instead of having all this aggravation from Elon Musk and company!

Last week when I talked to my financial planner, I discussed this and asked him if there are companies out there to invest in related to cybersecurity but also related to the possibility of dealing with AI and cybersecurity. While I have investments in cybersecurity companies there is no company out there, yet who is doing AI cybersecurity to make sure that AI doesn’t hack into a bank or financial institution and drain it dry. I just keep thinking about the movie War Games where a computer almost starts a global nuclear war. The movie spooked President Reagan, and he asked defense officials if this was possible. A week later the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told him the problem is much worse than you think.

People think AI is cool because they can speak on their phone and ask any question and get an answer. My concern about AI is that rogue computers or nations drain your bank account or financial investment one day and there’s nothing you can do about it. Not draining it by hacking you but draining your bank or financial institution. Think about that.

The reason a lot of people really oppose data centers is because of the jobs that AI may take that they currently have along with the harm AI can do. As a college professor I must deal with AI in the classroom and over the last two to three years I’ve changed a lot of assignments to do what I can in my battle with AI. I require students to watch videos and respond to things in the video. When AI can start to do some of this stuff for students, I’m retired and on the beach!

A lot of people talk about the academic community of embracing AI, having students do assignments related to AI in their research. At this moment, to me giving students assignments where they are encouraged to use AI it’s like giving a loaded gun to a 5-year-old. Making libraries obsolete is not a good idea.

But here’s one other thing that has happened because of all this. I’ve been off Twitter for 10 days and I’ve survived. I miss posting on things, but my world hasn’t ended. I survived before I got on Twitter and right now, I’m surviving just fine without it. Would I would I like to get back on Twitter? I’d like my account back, but I don’t know if I want to set up a new account yet. Right now, I’ve enjoyed my time away and at the same time focus more on my work on Substack and growing that.

I did file an identity theft report with the Maryland AG office.

I don’t know how this is going to end, but I’m very pessimistic. But if Thomas Jefferson can write the Declaration of Independence without AI, I can handle no Twitter quite well.

Maryland has a rich history of politicians getting their hands caught in the cookie jar. Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, Governors Agnew and Mandel, former state senator Nathaniel Oaks, former state senator Thomas Bromwell, former state delegate Towanda Gaines. Politicians were grifting then just as much as some of them are grifting now. The difference today is no one’s looking to lock up politicians who are trying to get 10% off the top trying to benefit family and friends. The Trump Justice Department isn’t running around looking for public corruption, they’re trying not to look for it, especially from members of the Trump administration.

I’m not in favor of political grifting, but I think now a lot of people are shrugging their shoulders when they hear about a politician perhaps doing something that financially benefits a family member or even themselves.

Former Mayor Sheila Dixon’s grift offended a lot of people because of the gift cards. I remember at one point referring to her on television as being ethically challenged. About a month later the Fox 45 studios she made eye contact with me it gave me the death stare. I think what upset people most about Dixon’s grift was the lack of a public apology while seeking redemption at the same time.

Recently a story came out about Mayor Scott in relation to a public grift to help his wife. Last week it was reported that the mayor’s wife received $51,000 of taxpayer money through a nonprofit that collapsed over the last couple years. The problem is when we see so much grifting out of Washington, the accusations against Scott are not really upsetting and shocking. Society is not saying, oh my God this is terrible.

When William Donald Schaefer was mayor there was a lot of grifting going on but it wasn’t with him, it was his friends and associates. There was an expression used that Schaefer always knew when to leave the room. His friends got rich, his friends made money. Schaeffer looked at it like in exchange for all that, look at all the wonderful things I’m building and doing for the people of Baltimore and the state of Maryland. He never took a dime for himself but people who were his associates got a lot of dimes. A lot of his associates ended up going to jail but ironically when they came out of jail, they were not pariahs in society.

Because Schaeffer wasn’t seen as enriching himself, he got a huge hall pass. He was seen as the man who brought Baltimore back from the depths of the 1960s. He was doing things to move the city forward. You can walk around the Baltimore Inner Harbor area and see much of the work he did. Many of those projects were successful and people didn’t care how it happened, they were just glad all this good stuff was finally happening in Baltimore. It restored pride to the city.

Drifting hasn’t really changed since the Schaeffer era, and it appears that the Scott era is pretty good at grifting too. I’ve always felt that the public looks at grifting in a very simple way. If I’m doing OK economically, and the grift has a good public benefit, I’m not going to complain.

When I worked at Citigroup, they had a policy against accepting gifts from vendors. I had a policy of it it’s rude to turn down a gift when someone offers it. (When you ask your boss for a raise and they don’t give you a raise, you find other ways to compensate yourself). I discovered the joy of Panera Bread when a vendor sent me a gift card to thank me for going the extra mile. A company policy I violated, but I just love those cinnamon crunch bagels!

People may wonder why politicians participate in grifting let me break this down simpler. First, it’s easily available. You are an elected official and if someone is offering you something they would not offer you, if you were not an elected official. Politicians are told all the time how wonderful they are. Former President George H W Bush went 12 years without losing a single golf match. Not because he was a great golfer, but he was Vice President and President of the United States and losing a golf match is a good way to get on someone’s good side. After he left the White House in 1993 when he started playing golf he discovered many of his former golfing partners were very good at out driving him and could one putt really well. He started losing a lot more golf matches.

Another reason grifting occurs is because people want something from politicians and politicians have the availability of making dreams come true. Also, political leaders want to stay in office and that pressure is huge. Companies want contracts with the governments. In the Rodney Dangerfield movie, Back to School, there is a scene in the classroom, where he explains as a businessman the things that have to be done to make your business successful. He talks about kickbacks and bribes. The students are frantically taking notes about what he is saying and the professor admonishes him. But Dangerfield was right, it takes a lot of Teamsters to pour cement.

Think about the Trump grift in this sense, it’s not just media companies giving him financial benefits to settle lawsuits they could probably win. It’s about people who would under oath will not openly say Joe Biden was elected president in 2020. Those people are grifting too, they want a job and make money/grift too.

Currently Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming is under fire because of her work to root out waste, fraud and abuse along. Grifters do not want people investigating their grift. Senate democratic leader Bill Ferguson as a strong supporter of Mayor Scott and opposes restoring the powers of the Inspector General’s office that Mayor Scott wants to take away.

Ferguson has his own Grift though. His full-time employer is a solar energy company, CI Renewables. Do you really think his work as the company’s senior vice president and legal counsel that he never thinks about legislation related to the company that could appear before the Maryland General Assembly?

The best way to fight public grift is calling it out because a lot of citizens know they cannot get the benefits that politicians can get if politicians seek out the grift. That is why the work of inspector generals across the state of Maryland and across the country is so important.

On Tuesday Churchill Downs Incorporated and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announcing the creation of a Thoroughbred Championship Series. A new six race competition to start in 2027 that will establish an annual season long championship for America’s leading 3-year-olds. Churchill Downs and NYRA announcement that the new Thoroughbred Championship Series will not include Maryland’s Preakness was a gut punch.

In the middle of the 1950s horse racing was one of the top five favorites of sports fans. The peak of the era was in the 1970’s with horses like Secretariat and Seattle Slew.

As recently as ten years ago at Pimlico the highlight of going to the Preakness was the wild antics of the infield party which over the years has been tamed down dramatically to be more of a snooty little corporate affair.

For political purposes some people may want to blame Governor Moore. At this moment it appears it is not his fault that a private company, Churchill Downs Inc. has decided they don’t want to include the Preakness as a race for their Thoroughbred Championship Series. But maybe the Preakness needs to be rethought. On Wednesday Governor Moore announced that the Preakness would be moved back an extra day and would be done on Sunday May 23^rd. Valerie McDonough on social media criticize the idea of moving the Preakness to the Lord’s day. Clearly, she forgets that the Ravens and Orioles play regularly on Sunday. Also maybe there needs to be consideration of a larger purse, especially for the Kentucky Derby winner if they win the Preakness. Nothing says love like cold hard cash and more money always encourages people to make financial decisions they think will be better for them.

For years people have said that two weeks is not enough time for horses to recover from the Kentucky Derby. Also, as I’ve been told they are not allowed to use some of the drugs they use that could help them heal quicker. In response, will the Belmont Stakes now move a week back. One problem that Preakness has had over the years is some owners of horses skip the Preakness and set their sights on the Belmont Stakes because of the two-week time period between the Derby and the Preakness.

This feud with Churchill Downs started in June when the State of Maryland’s decided to match Churchill Downs Inc. $85 million offer for the intellectual property rights to the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

In April, the owner of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs announced an $85 million deal to acquire the rights of the Preakness, along with the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, from 1/ST Racing under the Canadian Stronach Group, which formerly ran horse racing in Maryland. The state currently leases the Preakness brand from 1/ST. That is the key.

Under a state law, Maryland had a 60-day window to exercise its right of first refusal following the formal notification of the sale by 1/ST Racing. The intellectual property package includes the names, branding, and an annuity of guaranteed annual payments. The potential purchase faced some opposition from state lawmakers concerned with taxpayers acquiring ever-expanding financial obligations. It’s $85 million but the state would buy is using MEDCO bonds that would be paid off with Preakness revenues. No taxpayer money used. But if this goes south all hell will break loose in Annapolis.

There is a rumor that Churchill Downs felt Maryland, based on conversations with state officials would not buy the Preakness rights and felt blindsided when the state of Maryland bought it. So, the question is because of all this, is Churchill Downs trying to stick it to the people of Maryland?

I’m not a horse racing fan. I’ve been to Pimlico once, when Bill Clinton was president, so I’ve punched that ticket. MMA has replaced boxing and the world has survived. The problem is how do you get people interested in a sport that so few people care about? In New York and Kentucky horse racing matters, in the majority of other states it’s a shrug of the shoulders.