Larry Hogan – Sandy Rosenberg

On Friday, Black Eyed Susan Day, the crowd at Pimlico set records for attendance and wagering.

Peter Schmuck, the Baltimore Sun sports columnist, was impressed by the Preakness Day numbers:

The announced attendance of 131,256 should remind everyone just how important the race is to the city of Baltimore and the record handle of $99,852,653 showed that the Derby controversy might have enhanced the attractiveness of the event — at least to the people that bet on the 14 races.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/preakness/bs-sp-schmuck-preakness-column-20190518-story.html

People voted with their feet and their wallets to keep the Preakness at Pimlico.

Politicians pay a lot of attention to polls. In this instance, they should.

These new records came about despite the closure of the grandstand, resulting in a loss of 7,000 seats. The engineers’ report that prompted this action is still being kept from the public.

After the turnout this weekend, it will be difficult for the Stronach interests to argue in the legislature or a court room that the dilapidated condition of Pimlico constitutes a disaster or an emergency, what’s required under state law to move the race.

After plumbing failed again in women’s bathrooms on Preakness Day, it will also be difficult for the track owners not to repair that problem before next May.

“I’ve said all along I’d rather see it stay here in Baltimore,” Governor Larry Hogan said on Saturday. “We’re certainly hopeful that cooler heads can prevail.”

He then said he was…hopeful that discussions could move forward despite the lingering legal fight between the two sides.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/preakness/bs-md-preakness-mainbar-20190518-story.html

I’m with Governor Hogan.

“You can’t handle the truth.”

If Col. Nathan R. Jessup, Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men, were a pundit, that’s what he’d say about Larry Hogan’s flip flop on gun control.

During yesterday’s debate, Mr. Hogan pledged that he would enforce the new gun law and had no plans to quietly roll it back, saying he was “very supportive” of the assault weapon and background check provisions despite opposing the bill.

When Lt. Governor Brown accused him of opposing those individual provisions, Hogan said he approved of those measures. He said he didn’t support the bill because he didn’t think it was strong enough in keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

If the bill had been amended to meet Mr. Hogan’s concerns, it would not have gained a single vote. The opposition to the heart of the bill, the restrictions on gun purchases, was too strong. I can attest to that as a member of the Judiciary Committee who participated in the hearings and the debate.

Mr. Hogan would not have won the GOP primary had he said then what he says now: that he would have supported the bill if amended.

What he did say then was this, according to the Sun: “It think it’s unlikely that it’s going to be repealed, given that the Democrats in the legislature just rammed it through. But I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. I opposed SB 281. There are things we can do administratively at the executive branch level to change some of the definitions, and so that we’re making it easier for law-abiding citizens to own firearms.”

You can stand down, Col. Jessup.

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Tag: Larry Hogan

Neglect it and they will still come.

A Few Good Flip Flops

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