As Gov.-elect and Mayor Martin O?Malley continue the process of naming his Statehouse staff, O?Malley said the transition team is focusing on making key budget decisions in the next two weeks.
“By Dec. 22, we have to make some tough choices,” he said at a news conference Tuesday. “There is a structural deficit we need to address,” as well as starting to make good on his campaign promises, such as making college tuition more affordable and increasing funding for school construction.
The new governor is required to submit his budget Jan. 19, just two days after his inauguration. But because of “administrative hurdles,” such as the printing the huge budget volumes, that work must be done by Dec. 22, said Del. Anthony Brown, the lt. gov.-elect, who is chairing the transition team.
“We?re meeting almost daily” with the transition?s budget group, Brown said. “It?s laborious.”
O?Malley said naming a new budget secretary was a top priority and also emphasized the need to be “prepared for the legislative session,” which starts work a week before he takes office. He named Joseph Bryce, currently the top lobbyist for the University of Maryland system, as senior policy and legislative adviser.
Byrce was chief legislative officer for Gov. Parris Glendening and was top aide to Senate President Thomas Mike Miller. “He understands state government, and he understands the legislative process,” O?Malley said.
The incoming governor emphasized the need for a “strongpartnership with legislative leaders,” and said Miller?s public push to retain some members of the Ehrlich administration “hasn?t angered me at all,” as Miller suggested at an event last week. “I?m sure he?ll anger me on other things,”O?Malley said.
Part of the transition process is “reaching out to legislative leaders,” and while he wouldn?t speculate about who might be Ehrlich holdovers, he emphasized the importance of his appointees work with legislative leaders.
O?Malley named Deputy Mayor Jeanne Hitchcock as his appointments secretary, handling the naming of top administration officials, judges and members of boards and commissions. Hitchcock, a lawyer, was O?Malley chief lobbyist on the city, state and federal levels, besides overseeing the city public schools. She was also the chief operating officer for the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People.
O?Malley said one of the big differences between being mayor and governor is “the sheer volume of appointments” at the state level.
New Lt. Gov.?s staff
Lt. Gov.-elect Anthony Brown named his own top staff.
» Gerard “Jerry” Boden will be his chief of staff. Brown termed Boden “a very close personal friend.” A 1985 graduate of West Point and former Army officer, Boden was most recently director of operations at Greater Maryland Dental Partners in Clarksville.
» Earl Adams Jr., a Prince George?s County lawyer, will be Brown?s deputy chief of staff.
» Dawn Flythe, deputy manager of the O?Malley-Brown campaign, will be director of intergovernmental affairs. She had been a senior advisor to Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Prince George?s County field director for Townsend?s campaign for governor.
