Hogan: Remember me as a ‘regular guy who gave it his all’

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland’s outgoing two-term Republican governor leaves office next week with no regrets and an eye on the future.

Larry Hogan is scheduled to give a televised farewell speech on Tuesday night. He gave few clues Monday to what he will say (other than it won’t be “in the weeds” or “overly political”). He acknowledged he might feel a twinge of emotion at saying goodbye.

“I’ve always been sort of emotional,” said Hogan, during an interview in his State House office of eight years that is devoid of any mementos of its outgoing tenant. 

“You’ve seen me get a little choked up at press conferences here and there. But the older I get, the worse I get. My dad was like that and then you know, lately we’ve been having all these, we’d have a month of farewells like our senior staff is moving on and there was the final (Board of Public Works). I swore-in my daughter, Jaymi, last week and I was like crying during the thing it’s like you know, so I’ll try to get through it because I speak from the heart.  I’m an Irish guy who shows my emotion on on my sleeve. So hopefully I won’t break down and start sobbing on TV, but I think I’ll be probably get a little tear in my eye.”

Hogan leaves office in a week. There are talks about future plans. Hogan said he’s still focused on “running through the tape” but there’s room for discussion about legacy for the man who is only the second two-term Republican executive in Maryland history.

“I ran for governor with the challenge of I was going to try to take a state that was in really bad shape economically and turn it around,” said Hogan. “And that was my initial challenge was, you know, as a Republican. They said no Republican would ever win Maryland again, winning the race was a challenge.”

Hogan, a self-described workaholic with few hobbies, would have more than an economy to turn around.

In the first six months of his first term, Hogan publicly battled an aggressive blood cancer which is now seven years in remission. There was also a riot in Baltimore following the police-involved death of Freddy Gray and the start of a pandemic that is entering its third year.

“Dealing with the riots was a challenge and dealing with cancer was a challenge and dealing with COVID was a challenge,” said Hogan. “It was stressful and maybe took a beating on me physically. And sometimes you don’t get a lot of sleep. But I certainly got a lot in eight years. I thrive on meeting and overcoming challenges and getting things done.”

For the governor, his efforts during the pandemic and lowering taxes and tolls top the list of accomplishments for which he is most proud.

For eight years Hogan has maintained some of the highest approval ratings of any governor in the country. Hogan said he’s “thrilled that we’re leaving with that job approval that people really think three-quarters of the people in Maryland think we did a pretty good job.”

“I want them to say I was a regular guy who gave it his all, I think we left it all on the field, that we did what we said, and that the state, we’d love to stay in better shape than we found it,” he said.

At times openly disdainful of the legislature, Hogan has been happy to take his show on the road.

In 2016, he compared the Democratic-controlled General Assembly’s 90-day session to spring collegiate bacchanal.

“They come into town, and it’s like they’re on spring break,” Hogan said. “They come here for a few weeks. They start breaking up the furniture and throwing beer bottles off the balcony. All kinds of crazy stuff. Luckily in a few weeks they go home, and we go back to running the state and making progress like we have done for the last year.”

The comments on WBAL radio angered some.

“I loved it,” Hogan said on Monday. “I thought it was one of my better comments of the whole eight years. I would say it again. It was one of the most popular things I’ve said. I mean, there’s a couple of dozen people down here that didn’t like it, but everybody in the state loved it.”

Democratic leaders frequently complained that Hogan ignored them and would not testify on his bills. His department heads rarely took stands on proposals.

“I remember feeling when it was (Democratic former Gov. Martin) O’Malley, that we were part of the process of building things,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson. “And that was the big difference under the last (governor) was that it was reacting to things not building them, other than the (education reform) blueprint, which was really a legislatively driven initiative from the jump.”

Hogan was unmoved by the criticism calling it “nonsense.”

“I’m not in the legislative branch,” he said. “It’s different branch of government. I decide whether we’re going to sign or veto bills. We put a legislative package, we prepare a budget, but I’ve had no interest or desire or role in the ins and outs of all the arguing over 3,000 bills that these people were debating.”

Hogan described himself as a goalie defending against Democratic initiatives.

“We had a strategy,” said Hogan. “It worked very well. Partisan legislators wanted me to do what they wanted. They would say I don’t agree with everything they did or I didn’t provide them assistance to do what they want. I came here to stop that. I said I was playing goalie. That’s my job. That’s why I was elected. I was trying to bring balance, not join in with the legislature.”

Hogan, using his veto pen, was no doubt effective at blocking the first shot. A veto-proof Democratic super majority was equally effective at burying the legislative puck in the back of the net with override votes.

Lawmakers and others also criticized him for their view of his relationship with Baltimore. Hogan canceled the Red Line transportation proposal, calling the project popular with Democrats “a boondoggle.” At other times, he was seen as too harsh, too combative with leaders of the city, including Baltimore mayors and former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

“No governor in the history of the state has ever invested more in Baltimore, more in transit, more in public safety, more in education — record funding every single year, more than the legislature called for — but I wasn’t the mayor of Baltimore, I couldn’t fix the broken schools when they wouldn’t follow our directives, have more accountability, more transparency. I can’t fix the crime, in spite of a billion and a half dollar investment in public safety in the city. If we don’t have real leadership, I went through four mayors and five police commissioners. Yes, I’m frustrated that we didn’t make improvements in Baltimore City. But the only way I could do that is if I run for mayor.”

Hogan leaves office on Wednesday, Jan. 18, with the swearing-in of Democrat Wes Moore. Hogan said he plans to leave his successor a note (something O’Malley did not do for him) but declined to divulge what it might say.

And then there is the future and the talk of a possible run for higher office. Hogan said he’ll take his first vacation in four years, someplace sunny with a palm tree and a frozen beverage.

There is speculation Hogan is considering a presidential bid (he said he has made no decision but has ruled out a legislative run). Hogan could return to his real estate business from which he has been separated from the day-to-day activities for the last eight years.

That also seems like less of an option.

“I’m not gonna have an office here. So I might show up there for a couple of days, while I’m figuring out what to do,” he said.

“I was pretty good at business, you know, I think I’m pretty good at this politics stuff, too,” he said.