Nine more of the Cabinet secretaries nominated by Gov. Martin O?Malley sailed to unanimous confirmation by the Senate Friday. The Executive Nominations Committee unanimously approved the names Monday night.
At the hearing, senators gave their most attention to the heads of the three departments that both they and O?Malley have identified as the “most troubled” agencies in state government.
“It takes more than passion and commitment” to manage a department with 7,000 employees dealing with distressed families and children, said Brenda Donald, deputy mayor for family and children in Washington who will become secretary of Human Resources. It takes “management skills” and “I don?t step into this lightly.”
Donald DeVore, the new head of Juvenile Services who is still filling a similar role in Connecticut, promised to produce a 180-day plan to turn the agency around after bringing “all the stakeholders to the table to create a vision and a plan.”
“I bring to you a commitment to put in a new service system that we can all be proud of,” DeVore said.
Gary Maynard, on the job three weeks as secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said after visiting some of the 17 facilities that he had seen some of the best and some of the worst, which also had high rates of vacancies among prison guards.
“Reducing vacancies is one of my major jobs,” Maynard said.
The other Cabinet secretaries confirmed by the Senate were:
» Gloria Lawlah, a former Prince George’s County senator named secretary of aging;
» Secretary of Agriculture Roger Richardson, a Worcester County farmer;
» David Edgerly, secretary of Business and Economic Development, who served a similar role in Montgomery County;
» Catherine Raggio, secretary of disabilities, head of a nonprofit group serving people with disabilities in Prince George?s and Montgomery Counties;
» Alvin Collins, secretary of general services, former chief of staff to Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens and to Gov. Parris Glendening;
» Raymond Skinner, secretary of Housing and Community Development, currently head of a consulting firm in the field.
