February, 18 2020, 11:00pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Don Owens, dowens@citizen.org, (202) 588-7767
Mike Stankiewicz, mstankiewicz@citizen.org, (202) 588-7779
Ethics Commission Should Investigate Gov. Hogan's Apparent Financial Conflicts of Interest Related to New Interchange And Other Improvements
Public Citizen Asks the Maryland State Ethics Commission to Investigate Violations
WASHINGTON
The Maryland State Ethics Commission should investigate whether Gov. Larry Hogan has conflicts of interest related to his public office and private business interests that could violate state ethics laws, Public Citizen said today in an ethics complaint to the commission.
Hogan founded and served as president and CEO of The Hogan Companies (now HOGAN), a Maryland real estate firm; after he took office, his brother became president of HOGAN. Nonetheless, Hogan maintains a financial stake in the company. Hogan's income from his business interests has far exceeded his gubernatorial salary. He has earned more than $2 million from these investments during just the first three years of being governor - more money than any other sitting governor has earned in the history of the state. These business stakes have led to concerns that Hogan may be making official decisions in public office concerning transportation, the environment, affordable housing and other development projects that have enriched himself and his family.
Hogan appears to have directly participated in making a major change to the 2015-2020 Capital Transportation Program and related 2015 transportation budget. His decision to expedite the construction of, and designate $58 million for, a new highway interchange in Brandywine, Md., enhanced the development value of several parcels of land HOGAN acquired during the state construction project. Hogan reportedly did not inform the Maryland General Assembly of his financial interests while seeking funding for the state project, which he is required to do under state law.
In addition to the Brandywine interchange, his administration has advanced other improvements in the same area, including the construction of embankments, exit ramps and median piers, a new park-and-ride lot and a bridge.
State public ethics law says that "an official or employee may not participate in a matter if ... the official or employee or a qualifying relative of the official or employee has an interest in the matter."
Meanwhile, other properties owned by HOGAN also have benefited from other transportation and land development projects begun during his administration, such as projects near HOGAN's the Villas at Severn Crest and a townhouse development project at Queens Chapel Road.
Hogan attempted to address some conflicts of interest by placing his properties into a trust. However, the trust is managed by the governor's business partners, and the company remains under the control of the Hogan family, leaving Hogan's trust falling short of a genuine blind trust sufficient to avoid conflicts of interest.
"It's as if Hogan is taking his ethics cues directly from President Donald Trump," said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. "Maryland has a good conflict of interest statute on the books. The state ethics commission should enforce it."
Public Citizen requests that the commission investigate these allegations and impose appropriate sanctions if it determines that Hogan's conduct violates the law. Public Citizen also asks the commission to ensure that any future efforts to avoid conflicts of interest by Hogan, such as establishing a blind trust, be done in a proper and effective manner.
The complaint is available here.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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At Least 95 Palestinians Killed in Israeli Attacks Including Massacres at Beach Café, Aid Points
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An Israeli strike targeted the al-Baqa Café in western Gaza City, one of the few operating businesses remaining after 633 days of Israel's obliteration of the coastal strip and a popular gathering place for journalists, university students, artists, and others seeking reliable internet service and a respite from nearly 21 months of near-relentless attacks.
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Warning: Photos shows image of death
Survivor Ali Abu Ateila toldThe Associated Press that the café was crowded with women and children at the time of the attack.
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Another survivor of the massacre told Britain's Sky News: "All I see is blood... Unbelievable. People come here to take a break from what they see inside Gaza. They come westward to breathe."
Eyewitness Ahmed Al-Nayrab toldAgence France-Presse that a "huge explosion shook the area."
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"We were targeted by artillery," survivor Monzer Hisham Ismail told The Associated Press. Another survivor, Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar, told the AP that Israeli troops "fired at us indiscriminately." Mokheimar was shot in the leg, another man who tried to rescue him was also shot.
IDF troops have killed nearly 600 Palestinian aid-seekers and wounded more than 4,000 others over the past month, with Israeli military officers and soldiers saying they were ordered to deliberately fire on civilians in search of food and other necessities amid Israel's weaponized starvation of Gaza.
Another 13 people were reportedly killed Monday when IDF warplanes bombed an aid warehouse in the Zeitoun quarter of southern Gaza City, according to al-Ahli Baptist Hospital officials cited by The Palestine Chronicle. IDF warplanes also reportedly bombed five schools housing displaced families, three of them in Zeitoun. Israeli forces also bombed the courtyard of al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinian families are sheltering in tents. It was reportedly the 12th time the hospital has been bombed since the start of the war.
The World Health Organization has documented more than 700 attacks on Gaza healthcare facilities since October 2023. Most of Gaza's hospitals are out of service due to Israeli attacks, some of which have been called genocidal by United Nations experts.
Israel's overall behavior in the war is the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including murder and using starvation as a weapon of war.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 204,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 14,000 people who are missing and presumed dead and buried under rubble, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose casualty figures have been found to be generally accurate and even a likely undercount by peer-reviewed studies.
The intensified IDF attacks follow Israel's issuance of new forced evacuation orders amid the ongoing Operation Gideon's Chariots, an ongoing offensive which aims to conquer and indefinitely occupy all of Gaza and ethnically cleanse much of its population, possibly to make way for Jewish recolonization as advocated by many right-wing Israelis.
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