Hogan vetoes bills pushed by teachers union
Hogan vetoed three education bills, two of the bills were backed by the Maryland State Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union. The legislation would have changed the composition of the Maryland Board of Education to include two teachers and a parent, made it possible for more school supervisors to join the union and made it harder to fire hundreds of political appointees at the state Department of Education. The state’s largest teachers’ union issued a statement calling Hogan partisan for vetoing the legislation that required him to appoint teachers — who would have been recommended by the union — and a parent to the state school board. “It’s the very definition of common sense that teachers should be at the decision-making table when developing policies that affect our students,” MSEA president Betty Weller said in a statement. “Gov. Hogan is sending a very clear message: He doesn’t believe teachers should have a voice in decisions about our schools, students and profession.”
Hogan called removal of confederate monuments political correctness "run amok".
Hogan stated that additional efforts to remove controversial Confederate symbols in Maryland was "political correctness run amok." A national debate over Confederate flags, statues and symbols erupted in 2015 after the shooting death of nine people in a historically black church in Charleston, SC. The racist shooter and his white supremacist views prompted calls for state and local governments to stop using the flag and to remove Confederate symbols from government properties. In Maryland, MoveOn.org launched a petition asking the state of Maryland to remove a statue of former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney outside the Annapolis statehouse. Taney wrote the majority opinion in the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision, which upheld slavery and said blacks born in the United States could not be U.S. citizens. Hogan stated that he would not support the removing of the Taney statue. Hogan, completely incapable of understanding that the issue surrounds the Civil War and these men's position on that war stated “George Washington was a slave owner,” Hogan said. “Should we remove him from the statehouse?” Hogan is completely unaware that George Washington passed away a good sixty years before the Civil War began.
Hogan and his team were recently caught deleting comments and banning critics on his official Facebook. More than 450 people have been blocked from Hogan’s page over the past two years. One caller on the Kojo Nnamdi show is quoted as stating, "“I was cordial. I was friendly … I was blocked after asking the question about where does Maryland stand with the Muslim ban. The next day my comment was gone and I could no longer comment.” Gov Hogan owes Marylanders answers, including whether public taxpayer dollars and resources were used to silence their voices and whether first amendment rights were violated.
Hogan Veto of Marijuana-Related Bill Defied Logic
Hogan’s decision to veto a bill that would have decriminalized the possession of marijuana paraphernalia defied logic and common sense. The bill was aimed at bringing the law surrounding marijuana paraphernalia—such as pipes and rolling papers—in line with the marijuana decriminalization bill that was enacted last year. The legislation this year would have eliminated the criminal penalties for a person caught with marijuana-related paraphernalia as well as for smoking marijuana in a public place. Under current Maryland law, a person caught with marijuana paraphernalia faces a misdemeanor charge and a fine up to $500 the first time and up to two years imprisonment the second time. Regulating and taxing marijuana would create a new taxpaying industry, allow law enforcement to use resources on more serious crimes and put drug dealers and organized crime gangs out of the pot business. https://bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2015/Hogan-Veto-of-Marijuana-Related-Bill-Defies-Logic-State-Senator-Says/
