LEADERS AND CANDIDATES REACT TO MOORE’S REPARATIONS

REACTION TO “RACE MONEY”

DELEGATE TODD MORGAN

Republican Member of the House of Delegates District 29C

“This month, we raised taxes and fees by $1.6 billion, a major rating agency downgraded our State’s bond rating, people are fleeing the state due to its onerous tax burden, and the Governor is passing out money like it’s an ATM. “

DELEGATE MATT MORGAN

Republican Member of the House of Delegates District 29A

“I voted against the ‘just communities’ initiative because I’m tired of our elected officials dividing us down racial lines. That is wrong. The ‘Just Communities’ initiative also includes Ocean City, which is one of the wealthiest areas of the state.

The dream of a color blind society is under threat by today’s Democratic Party. The 14^th Amendment guarantees equal protection regardless of race. Maryland’s elected officials take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution, not to circumvent it.”

WILLIAM B. J. HALL

Republican Candidate for Maryland’s House of Delegates, District 29B

“I think it is unnecessarily divisive, but let me dig a little deeper. Did the article mention that the “Just Communities” includes Town Creek?  This shows how Annapolis does random things that sound good when you say them fast. Then, when one digs a little, one realizes they haven’t put any thought into it. But they’ve been working on it for a year. I think the announcement was knee-jerk. These programs never help the targeted group.

KRIS MCDONALD

Democratic Candidate for Maryland’s House of Delegates, District 29b

Simply put, I think Gov. Moore got it right when he vetoed the bill to study reparations earlier this year. The time for studying, predicting, and discussing solutions to MANY of our state’s problems is in the past. We know what our problems are, for the most part. I also believe he should avoid the requests of race-baiting legislators entirely. What’s good for black people should be what’s good for ALL Marylanders, and I’m sick of seeing this distinction of blacks as a separate class of people who are less capable and constantly need the government to level the playing field.

I do want state agencies to come up with a plan to protect communities that may be “overburdened” with environmental challenges, but I’m not sure Wes Moore’s administration can carry this out effectively. Instead of mandating how far from residential areas trash incineration must take place (which was a legitimate public health issue), our legislators voted to exclude energy generated from waste from being eligible for benefits in the renewable energy portfolio standard. It was passed by the governor and will be effective in October.

Why remove the incentive of making use of waste? Is it really better to dump it in one of our landfills that are quickly filling and releasing over 60,000 tons of methane each, every year?

Anyway, there’s already around $200,000 allocated for VOICE next year, which isn’t much, but if you pay attention to the governor’s actions, you know he’s probably going to blow tens of millions as this order is carried out.

I have hope that the governor will be more responsible regarding this order, considering his veto of both the bill to study reparations and the bill to “establish a department to predict Maryland’s energy needs for the next 25 years” (HB1037).

Like I said earlier, I’ve noticed that a lot of Maryland’s problems receive responses that you could deduce to, “we’re spending taxpayer dollars to talk about this thing,” only for us to end up watching said problems get worse and worse.

I want the governor to remain consistent in his recent fiscal maturity, but this seems like Moore of the same kind of policy that forced him to freeze state hiring and pay employees to resign. And I don’t think he’ll be able to blame Hogan for it next year.

ST. MARY’S COMMISSIONER JOHN E. O’CONNOR

Republican, District Three (Seventh District, Mechanicsville, Golden Beach) from 2014 – 2022, soon to announce bid for another term in 2026

Governor Moore is doing what Annapolis Democrats do best: repackaging radical policies in softer language to fool the public. After vetoing the reparations bill to protect his national ambitions, he’s now sneaking it in through the back door as ‘Just Communities.’ This is reparations by another name, a $400 million socialist wealth transfer ripped straight from the Marxist playbook. They’re siphoning money from hard-working Marylanders to bankroll politically favored districts under the false flag of ‘equity.’

However, our nation was founded on the principle of equality, not equity. Equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. This isn’t justice, it’s redistribution. And every Maryland taxpayer should be outraged. St Mary’s Residents should watch very closely what this so-called Republican board does with the Marxist wealth redistribution.

ST. MARY’S COMMISSIONER DANIEL MORRIS

Republican, District Two (Hollywood, Leonardtown) from 2010-2014.

“This article left me with one nagging question: Does Governor Moore believe that black people are more damaging to the environment than white people, and would more money make black people cleaner?”

ST. MARY’S COMMISSIONER ERIC COLVIN

Republican, District One (Ridge, Valley, Tall Timbers) elected twice from 2018 to 2022, to present

“I have no idea what kind of funding this means will come to St. Mary’s County, but funding from the State of Maryland always has conditions and stipulations for using it. Any use of taxpayer money should be fully transparent.”

ST. MARY’S COMMISSIONER THOMAS H. JARBOE

Republican, District One (Ridge, Valley Lee, Tall Timbers), served 2014-2018, filed for Commissioner President for the 2026 election.

First, I heard Lexington Park was included in Moore’s nonsense. I don’t understand how these communities receive the funds. I really cannot comment because I’m not briefed. I would say, in general, that I’m completely opposed to the Governor using taxpayers’ money for this purpose, regardless of the communities that receive the benefit. That is not his decision.

THE FOLLOWING PERSONS WERE REQUESTED TO PROVIDE COMMENTS AND DID NOT. IF THEY SEND ANY COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE, THEIR COMMENTS WILL BE ADDED HERE.

Democratic Central Committee Member Karl Pence

Commissioner Mike Alderson

State Senator Jack Bailey

Delegate Deb Rey

Art Shepherd (As a Democrat, Shepherd lost the 2010 election to Daniel Morris, has now flipped parties to Republican, and filed for District Two, Hollywood, Leonardtown.)

Commissioner Scott Ostrow