In a 2020 New Republic column titled “The Most Popular Crook in America,” the author cites a lengthy investigative report documenting why Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is deserving of the title. Eric Cortellessa’s Washington Monthly report “Who Does Maryland’s Governor Really Work For?” documents how Hogan repeatedly steered state transportation development money to projects that would increase the value of his real estate holdings.

Hogan, like former President Donald Trump, is a real-estate executive who refused to divest private real estate businesses upon election. Hogan combined an amalgam of real estate companies that profit from land speculation and facilitating development into one entity – his real estate services firm called HOGAN.

Under this umbrella, one company owns 32 different limited liability companies each of which owns one property. HOGAN works the levers of state and local government to gain permits and then flips the properties to be developed. Often state funded transit improvements or other incentives enhance their value before they are sold. Hogan gets a percentage of profits from each deal, His companies report more than $2 billion in real estate deals since 1985. Developers also hire HOGAN to facilitate government permitting and concessions.

Like Trump, the governor turned over management of his real estate empire to family, in Hogan’s case to his brother Timothy Hogan. But the governor still maintains ownership through a trust and is aware of his profits from land deals. Surprisingly, this arrangement was approved by the State Ethics Commission.

Seeking reelection in 2018, Hogan released tax returns showing he had made $2.4 million from such deals in his first three years in office. No other governor has earned as much outside income while in office. Paralleling Trump, he has set up a very profitable system whereby he can use his powerful government position to increase his private profits. Last year, he purchased a $1.1 million five-bedroom home on six acres in Davidsonville. This is a striking financial turnaround considering Hogan was forced to file for bankruptcy in April 1994, when lenders called his loans and he liquidated his real-estate business and $750,000 home in Upper Marlboro.

A story in the Daily Record in 2010 described Hogan companies as “one of the state’s most politically connected land brokerage and development companies.” A Daily Record Op-Ed in 2014 detailed how Hogan “talked a year ago about running for Governor as a way to advertise his business” and commented on the political influence his company wielded.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt,” he said. “[T]he fact that I’m well known helps us in the market and helps the phone to ring. We know most of the local government folks that you need to deal with and we can get in front of the right people.

“Over the past 90 days, we have done 20 to 30 deals worth more than $200 million.”

Hogan canceled Baltimore’s long-planned metro rail Red Line, sending back $900 million in federal funding. He redirected $736 million of state Red Line funds to highway construction, increasing the value of some HOGAN properties – after HOGAN took control of a Brandywine land parcel, $58 million was specially earmarked to build a major interchange nearby.

The NAACP filed a Civil Rights Act complaint with the federal Department of Transportation over the racial injustice of the Red Line decision, noting whites received a hugely differential benefit from the Red Line cancellation compared to Black Americans. The Trump administration closed the investigation without making any findings.

After the story in Washington Monthly, the watchdog group Public Citizen and Maryland’s Green Party filed separate complaints with the State Ethics Commission charging Hogan with conflicts of interest. Neither ethics complaint received a response.

Of the dozens of HOGAN land development projects, here are a few in Anne Arundel County:

Athens (formerly Rocky Gorge): A 23-acre, 48 luxury home development, where access to Aris T. Allen Boulevard was prohibited by the 1995 City of Annapolis annexation agreement. Access was denied again in 2014 by the State Highway Administration. After Hogan’s election, SHA reversed its position allowing access to Aris T. Allen and when city permits were in hand, the HOGAN company assisted in flipping the property to a developer for $4 million. As The Capital reported, City Council members were blindsided by the bulldozers that suddenly began clearing trees in June for the development after nine forested acres were cleared five years ago.

The Willows: A Hogan affiliate in 2014 acquired 2.73 acres of this property for $585,600. It’s located next to the proposed Village at Providence Point, over which the state has approval authority before units can be sold. Developers agreed to purchase the HOGAN property for about $2 million to build 58 affordable rental apartments. This deal comes only after millions of dollars in subsidies from federal, state, and local tax credits. A $1.5 million low-income housing tax credit was approved by the Hogan administration, one of 13 out of 51 applicants. Hogan will reap 25% of the profits from the sale.

Villas at Severn Crest: In 2014, eight days after Hogan was elected, HOGAN bought 15 acres from the State Highway Administration in Severn for $400,000 at auction. HOGAN created the Villas at Severn Crest LLC, in which the governor holds a 25% interest. This was as his administration began construction of intersection improvements and road resurfacing less than a mile away. Despite fervent local opposition, the 46 adult townhouse and 20 assisted-living units have been winding their way through county rezoning and special exception requirements. The County Council even enacted a zoning change in 2021 to facilitate the development with 10 acres of forest to be cleared.

Marley Neck: A 751-lot mixed-use Critical Area site on 140 acres on Marley Creek.

Coates Reserve: Sketch plans approved for 24 houses on 6 acres of land in Glen Burnie.

Whitehall Road: Commercial site ideal for fast food restaurant or offices near Bay Bridge.

When development of HOGAN properties is met with vigorous community opposition and the necessary development levers get sticky, the properties are sold to other developers. These cases included the Enclave at Crofton after former Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh was forced to stop the necessary waivers. Monticello Real Estate Group also was sold when Schuh was defeated and his waivers to allow 76 assisted-living homes off of Bestgate Road were reversed.

To facilitate development, Hogan also:

• Reversed requirements for new septic tanks outside the Critical Area to remove higher levels of nitrogen. This facilitated developments with cheaper more-polluting septic systems;
• Emaciated enforcement of environmental laws to a 20-year low, cutting enforcement personnel, and rendering laws dealing with land development largely unenforced;
• Blocked the passage of the city of Annapolis no-net loss of forest law, which requires reducing and replanting all forest cleared by land development, ignoring an attorney general’s ruling. The legislature enacted a law to reverse this prohibition of tighter forest protections and Annapolis enacted its law; and
• Blocked reappointment of members of the Patuxent River Commission who opposed developments, including the Patuxent riverkeeper. Legislation forced the latter’s reappointment this year.

This is a governor who will do nothing to impede land development and, like Trump, now seeks the presidency. His development companies and decisions as governor have added to the death of the Chesapeake Bay by a thousand cuts.

Gerald Winegrad represented the greater Annapolis area as a Democrat in the Maryland House of Delegates and Senate for 16 years. Contact him at gwwabc@comcast.net.