Balancing the state budget in extraordinary times is hard. It is an ugly game of Whack-a-Mole. A large percentage of the expenses are baked into the budget based on prior legislative initiatives. Then, you take a whack at projecting revenue during a weak economy, manage the General Fund, which consists of revenue not dedicated to a specific purpose, and the Special Fund, which is dedicated to particular purposes. After a few more whacks at capital costs, you wrestle with budget cuts, and adding more revenue through tax modifications and increasing fees.

Then you factor in what the crazy guy in the White House is doing to the economy and the federal government, and how that will impact Maryland. Good luck with that. 

This is why being Governor is not easy. You struggle with challenging issues that require balancing various human and financial priorities while protecting the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, at the federal level, the GOP wants to cut such programs to fund a tax cut extension for the wealthy, adding trillions to the national debt. It is always rich when billionaires getting a tax cut ask everyone else to do more with less.

Another grim reality has also set in. Marylanders, including myself, have taken for granted the economic benefits afforded to Maryland due to its proximity to the federal government. Unfortunately, we are now experiencing the painful flip side of that coin as we watch the White House drop several nuclear financial bombs with a blast radius and shock wave that hits Maryland first and hardest.

The thoughtless gutting of the federal government has significantly added to Maryland’s financial problems. There are 160,000 federal workers in the state, many of whom own or rent homes in Maryland, pay taxes, and spend money, which helps fuel the state economy. Think of all the businesses and people you know, lawyers, lobbyists, contractors, scientists, and real estate professionals who provide services directly or indirectly to the federal government. Now, imagine a 30,000 reduction in federal workers who live in Maryland and its impact on our state. 

Critics of the state budget are angry at Moore and the General Assembly for tax increases that were part of a difficult effort to balance the $67 billion 2025 budget. The budget included $1.6 billion in tax and fee increases and $2 billion in spending reductions to address the $3.3 billion budget deficit. Some even called for a DOGEing of Maryland’s government institutions and “scared cows”. We have seen how badly that has worked out at the federal level.   

I supported Governor Moore and voted for Hogan twice. Nobody likes tax increases, including the Governor, but balancing any budget with a $3.3 billion deficit is challenging. Criticizing how he did it is fair game, but it’s easy when you’re not in the room doing the math. For example, I would have liked to have seen a reduction in the corporate tax, but realize when you are turning  over rocks looking for revenue, its hard to give up a chunk.

Some Republicans fantasize about Hogan running again for Governor in 2026 against Moore. Hogan fanboys and GOP strategists would love to brand Moore as a tax-and-spend Democrat, which is unfair. Serious problems are impacting Maryland, and issues like slow business growth have existed for a decade, during Hogan’s two terms and Moore’s short tenure in office. Members of both parties have acknowledged this, so let’s focus on the six key budget challenges ahead.

1- Maryland’s economy is stagnant and must improve. Last year, Comptroller Brooke Lierman issued a State of the Economy Report. Maryland’s economy began slowing in 2017 and rebounded sluggishly from COVID-19. At the time, she reported low unemployment of 1.8%, which today is 3% and will be further impacted by federal workforce reductions. Our state relies too heavily on the federal government (the top employer) to drive our economy, and we need more private sector jobs and business income. Maryland’s average household income was a healthy $108,200, ranking high nationally. Unfortunately, Maryland’s overall economy underperforms. GDP growth (personal income, real wages, and population growth) from 2016-2023 was only 1.6%, which lags behind our neighbors (PA & VA) and the US. The state’s population in 2024 was about 6.3 million, a 0.74% increase compared to 2023. And while many people move here from states with a higher cost of living, we lose people, including higher earners, who leave Maryland for less expensive states. 

2- Trump’s budget, tariffs, and other actions severely harm the State. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson recently said that Trump’s budget could result in an additional $430 million in federal cuts to the state. Trump’s tariff war will also result in thousands of small businesses in Maryland going bankrupt unless he finds an off-ramp. Since Trump took office, the stock market has lost trillions of dollars, damaging 401(k)s. It is also unclear if the federal government will support future funding for the Key Bridge rebuild and other Maryland capital projects available under the Biden administration. Do you remember when the worst thing Trump did to Maryland was kill the plan to build a new FBI building in Greenbelt, MD?

3- The debate about the so-called $5 billion “Surplus” handed over to Moore by Hogan is a waste of time. Lots of Federal COVID-19 money flowed into the state, which camouflaged weaknesses in the state’s economy. I assume Hogan did not know this was a fading Covid hangover surplus. I also realize Hogan had nothing to gain by reframing the reality of the surplus while running for the Senate. Also, our business-oriented Governor Moore, the General Assembly, and an accountant should have recognized the bogus nature of the surplus sooner. 

4- Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The expensive 10-year education reform plan is a financial problem. Democrats own this plan. It was recently funded for two years ($70 million next year and $100 million the year after). Beyond that, it will be funded through the state’s General Fund, which, according to a recent Maryland Matters article, has a projected deficit of up to $3 billion by fiscal year 2030. How Moore handles this issue will be another big test. You can’t do everything. In its current form, the plan is tough on rural communities with limited resources that have been further strained as the state has pushed down other costs to the counties.

5- Medicaid Costs. As reported in the Baltimore Sun, Maryland’s share of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIPS) covers roughly 1.6 million people, including long-term care coverage for low-income children, pregnant women, adults, seniors, and people with disabilities, costing about $4 billion annually. The big unknown is how federal cuts to entitlement programs will impact Maryland and other states, especially if the GOP forces states to bear more of the expense.   

6- Bond Rating Fiscal Status. A fellow Spy columnist, David Reel, recently focused attention on Maryland’s fragile bond rating, highlighting Moody’s downgrade of Maryland’s fiscal outlook from stable to negative. The Moody downgrade said, “Maryland ranks near the top for risk from changing federal priorities and policies.” Maryland Matters said, “The report highlights three factors: Federal unemployment, existing budget deficits, and concentrated federal grant funding.” It might be a while before Maryland’s AA bond rating bumps to AAA. Standard and Poors issued a negative outlook for outstanding revenue bonds issued by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDAT), which finances new transportation projects like bridges, tunnels, and the rebuilding ($1.8 billion estimate) of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. What will happen if Trump pulls federal funding for the Key Bridge?   

Things will likely worsen before they improve, especially if Trump drives us into a recession. The current budget cycle sidestepped more painful future cuts to the Blueprint Reform plan. Democrats must take a scalpel to the plan during the next budget cycle. With so many unknowns, Governor Moore will have to be tighter on controlling costs and veto bills from the General Assembly, controlled by his party, that the state cannot afford.

One of the best things Marylanders can do to help themselves is help Democrats win the House in the midterm elections and stop Trump’s reckless actions that will hurt Maryland. 

 Hugh Panero, a tech and media entrepreneur, was the founder and former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.

 

On Sunday evening, TikTok, the popular social media platform, was executed in the US. Since 2016, swiping through endless short-form videos on your smartphone customized to your tastes has been a guilty pleasure for 170 million active users in the US.

TikTok’s death may be short-lived. Trump announced on Sunday that he intends to bring the service back to life by executive order once he takes office to allow more time to find a 50 percent US investor.

TikTok uses a sophisticated recommendation engine algorithm that determines what content you like and lulls you into an addictive, viral, mindless stupor. Before you know it, minutes turned into hours.

After using the app for a long time in the bathroom, some users need help exiting due to trouble walking, and others experienced Carpal TikTok syndrome caused by excessive swiping (okay, I made that up). Others constantly bombarded family and friends with their favorite videos, whether they wanted to see them or not.

However, on Sunday, users were greeted with a message: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.” Adding, “we are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned.” It is reported that the service is preparing to reinstate service after assurances there will be no repercussions.

TikTok burst onto the scene eight years ago, catching social media behemoths Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google by surprise. It became one of the hottest social media companies and created a new group of loyal, young, social media content creators and influencers.

My TikTok scrolling featured short movie clips (“You can’t handle the TRUTH”), videos of dogs, babies, and babies playing with dogs, professional comedy bits, and funny videos created by users. TikTok has a dark side. It contributed to our political chaos by spreading untruths like all the other major social media platforms. However, for the US government, the scariest thing about the platform is that it is owned by a Chinese company ByteDance.

Unfortunately for TikTok, its enormous popularity (2 billion+ active users worldwide), and murky Chinese ownership put a large target on its back. Mark Zuckerberg began stealing elements of TikTok and incorporated them into his Instagram platform to compete. The call to ban TikTok was one of the only issues Democrats and Republicans could agree on. In a bipartisan effort, in 2024, Congress passed legislation to ban TikTok unless a new owner could be found. The vote was 353-65 in the House and 79-18 in the Senate. And the other two branches of the government, the executive and judiciary branches, have supported and reaffirmed the legislation.

Sunday, January 19th was established as TikTok’s execution date, not by lethal injection but for an app just as bad —pulling the plug and shutting down the app. The bill was challenged in court. Even the Supreme Court got involved, quickly dismissing the argument that the legislation and ban infringed on TikTok user’s free speech.

It is acceptable for US citizens to give away all their data for free to greedy tech companies, but a line has now been drawn regarding having a relationship with Chinese spies. Years of being trained to let tech companies know everything about them has led many to shrug off the risk of a foreign tech platform having access to their data. The shutdown is especially painful to thousands of users who created businesses and make a living on the platform. Many also feel that targeting TikTok, regardless of the real risk of Chinese data mining and foreign propaganda influencing tens of millions of US citizens, is actually part of a US tech bro plan to eliminate a social media competitor and create a fire sale for the company.

TikTok fans with a sense of humor, anticipating the January 19 breakup deadline, flooded the site with romantic goodbyes from or to their Chinese Spies, with Whitney Houston singing “I will always love you” in the background and other variations on the breakup theme.

TikTok’s competitors spent millions convincing politicians on both sides of the aisle to ban TikTok. Tech billionaires like Musk and Zuckerberg also made personal appeals to their newest BFF, Trump. Ironically, it was only a few years ago that US tech companies were angrily grilled by Congress for pushing untruths about the 2016 election, among other issues, and threatened with regulations that never happened. TikTok offered the perfect Chinese villain to deflect attention away from them. It also helps that the tech billionaire class is throwing millions at Trump, kissing the ring with front-row seats at the January 20 inauguration. How times have changed?

Trump has dramatically changed his position on TikTok. In 2020, he aggressively called for its ban due to National Security concerns. Now, he wants to facilitate its resurrection. More recently, he suggested the Supreme Court hold off banning TikTok to let him find a US buyer. His attitude change coincided with his effective use of social media and its biggest stars like Joe Rogan (Trump has 14 million TikTok followers) to win the White House. So why kill such a valuable political weapon that the Democrats are so pathetic at using? The Democrats, seeing Trump’s recent maneuvering to be TikTok’s savior, now also support a shutdown postponement. It’s stuff like this that makes you hate politicians.

Lastly, Trump’s billionaire buddies have voiced interest in buying TikTok, and Jeff Yass, a GOP mega-donor, owns a significant share of TikTok’s parent, ByteDance. Another billionaire, Frank McCourt, and Project America, think TikTok is worth $20 billion and want to buy it despite the fact you are not buying the algorithm that is the heart of the service, just the US operations. The Chinese appear unwilling to part with that intellectual property and are not racing to sell. The Chinese may like the idea of the US banning a media platform after years of being criticized for their heavy-handed censorship and control of all media touching their citizens.

Products have been banned in the US for decades for public health reasons but not a social media app for national security concerns. All I wanted was a few videos of dogs being sweet to babies. I guess I will have to get my fix somewhere else.

Hugh Panero, a tech and media entrepreneur, was the founder and former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.

In 2022, Talbot County first heard about a new fourteen-home luxury housing development in the Village of Bellevue, one of twenty-two unincorporated Villages in Talbot County. Bellevue stands out from other villages because it is a predominantly black community with a rich African-American maritime history. It is a quiet, off-the-beaten-path, peaceful community where people are neighborly. 

The villages’ tranquility was shaken when Long Iron Investment Group, LLC, purchased a plot of land in Bellevue with beautiful waterfront views near the ferry in partnership with Paquin Design Build. The land had been on the market for a while. The Ripple family owned the vacant waterfront property, and the investment group waited patiently and eventually bought 15 acres of land for an estimated $2.4M, setting forth what could become the gentrification of Bellevue. 

The development represented a traumatic change for this small, mixed-use waterfront community of about 100 residents and maybe 80, mostly small homes in what is called “Historic Bellevue.” Homes are one to two stories on lots ranging in size from .15 to .7 acres. Community trauma has morphed into a sense of helplessness and resignation. Four of the fourteen luxury homes have been sold. The largest can be 3500 sq ft on a 1.5 acre lot. Water views will be blocked. 100-year-old trees have been cleared and replaced by luxury homes designed for people in another tax bracket. From the project’s onset, there has been a lack of sensitivity and respect for Bellevue’s unique racial history. 

What is happening in Bellevue is a cautionary tale for small, poorer communities that don’t have the time, talent, organization, or capital to organize an effective grassroots effort to slow down development they may not become aware of until it is too late, or how to negotiate with a stealthy, fast-moving developer armed with lawyers and other resources. 

Residents in such communities are not well-versed in the complex regulatory processes involving land use and lot history. They do not attend Talbot County public regulatory or Council meetings. They do not have lawyers or other surrogates monitoring such proceedings over the years, nor do they have any inside information and get bulldozed and blamed for their ignorance. 

The first phase of gentrification can begin with a name. Residents learned that the developer had named the project “North of Oxford” when ads appeared. It was an insulting embrace of the wealthy, white community a short ferry ride away, in place of Bellevue and its historical legacy – so much for community outreach and racial sensitivity. Change is inevitable, but this was too much, too fast. Bellevue was being erased. Imagine naming a development in Harlem, New York, “North of 5th Avenue”, or building luxury homes in Anacostia and calling it South of Georgetown. 

After residents objected to the name and other elements of the plan at a public meeting with the developer at St Luke’s United Methodist Church, Bellevue’s spiritual center, Paquin appropriately renamed the project “Bellevue on the Tred Avon” and renamed streets within the development boundaries after historical references but rejected street names suggested by residents. The rebranding was also an effective public relations move to limit negative racially-tinged press from appearing in Google searches about Bellevue by potential home buyers. In a press release announcing the name change, Brent Paquin, Founder & President of Paquin Design Build, said, “Attending community meetings and engaging local residents plays a major role in fostering tight-knit communities,” oddly making it seem like the heated meeting resulted from planned community outreach rather than community outrage. 

It was a sleeves-off-your-vest concession in response to the community backlash of Paquin’s own making. By the way, the last time a friend checked, the Homeowner’s Association (HOA), which will eventually take over management of the development once all the units are sold, is still called “North of Oxford.” 

If Paquin read the 2017 Bellevue Master Plan, he should have known better. The Plan emphasized, “Although Bellevue is no longer a center of maritime commerce, the village’s significant African-American maritime heritage is still evident and an important historical context that should continue to shape its future.” 

The Bellevue Master Plan focused on balancing the often competing interests of working watermen and new and old residents with the community’s historic African-American legacy. According to the Plan, Bellevue is within the County’s adopted Critical Area Boundary and designated as a Limited Development Area.

The Plan also references the Talbot County Center Design Policies regarding villages, excerpted from the Talbot County Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 9. According to 9.12, “New development and redevelopment in villages should be compatible with the existing character, in terms of land use, density, scale setbacks, mix of use, and general design to maintain their “unique sense of place’.” And added in 9.13, “New village residential development and infills should be designed to be compatible with and complement that of the adjacent or surrounding community. How does a 14-home luxury development with its own HOA align with these village policies? 

The Master Plan provided a detailed history of Bellevue, showing why preserving its cultural heritage is so meaningful and emotional. Two seafood processing facilities, owned and operated by the Turner family, were two of three African-American-owned seafood packing houses on the Eastern Shore (the other being the Coulbourne & Jewett Seafood Packing Plant in St. Michaels). Bellevue first evolved around W.H. Valiant Packing CO., which operated a large seafood and vegetable cannery and packing house from 1889 to 1946. Later, the W.A. Turner and Sons Packing CO and the Bellevue Seafood Company operated from 1945 to 1996 and 1964 to 1998, respectively. The original Bellevue housing stock was for African-American workers at these plants. There even was a general store, gas station, restaurant, and community center. 

However, here we are in the Fall of 2024, and the relationship between the community and the developer is anything but tight-knit. There has been litigation. Tensions have risen as residents sadly watched old trees get chopped down, docks and pools pop up, and the property excavation become more dramatic. All design suggestions made by the community to help better integrate the project with the community at large were rejected or ignored, and now, several luxury homes have appeared. 

Community representatives also suggested creating a short pedestrian pathway for residents from the historic Bellevue community to the Bellevue Landing, where the public Bellevue Park and boat docks are located. The path would weave its way around the perimeter of the development. The Master Plan also recommended such a path. The developer’s help in making this happen would be a meaningful olive branch to the community and public safety measure, eliminating the need for residents to walk along Bellevue Road, which is regularly lined with trucks, boat trailers zooming in and out, and cars from the ferry. However, aspects of creating this pathway have stalled and should be revived. 

The developer should also consider investing in the Bellevue Passage Museum, a new museum created by community members to preserve the Village’s important place in the African-American history on the Eastern Shore. The pathway concept has been incorporated into the Bellevue Passage Museum footprint, which would provide pedestrian access off Orchard Terrace. Imagine walking along the path, with access to the Museum and Bellevue Landing.

I know a lot of developers. Some see the big picture and find a way forward in a complex situation; others just want to bang out a bunch of homes, sell them, hand over management responsibility to an HOA, and move on. I hope the builder and the investors will do the right thing as they did regarding the name change.

The developer should meet with community representatives and find a reasonable way forward. Otherwise, when the builder packs up and leaves, the community will be divided: luxury homeowners with their HOA on one side and the greater Bellevue community on the other. If that fails, Representatives should meet directly with the Long Iron Investment Group investors, the people behind the curtain, who might be more creative in mending fences. If nothing happens, luxury home buyers interested in waterfront property should look elsewhere where true community harmony exists.

Hugh Panero, a tech and media entrepreneur, was the founder and former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy. 

Donations to support the non-profit museum can be sent to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation Attention: Bellevue Passage Museum. Or use this Museum website link 

Convincing a retired, aging parent with diminishing site and reaction speed, hearing, etc., to give up their car keys is tough. They’re sure they can still handle the road despite the tricycle they nearly flattened last week. Now, picture having that same heart-to-heart with President Joe Biden, the most powerful man in the world, about giving up the keys to the White House. Here goes.

Safety First: It’s More Than Just Doing Your Best

When we ask Mom or Dad to consider retiring from the road, we’ve seen them miss too many stop signs, take turns that make us cringe, and find several dents on the car. Driving and running for President isn’t just about “trying your best” – the risks are too high. For Joe Biden, if we don’t address this now, we might find ourselves handing over the keys to a sociopath who does not respect any laws. No car insurance will protect us from what is coming, and good intentions won’t keep the country from veering off into an ugly ditch that will take decades to escape. And whatever you do, Joe, please don’t take advice from Hunter. His decision-making record isn’t exactly inspiring.

The Dreaded Conversation: A Battle of Stubbornness and Denial

You sit with Dad, who you love, and delicately broach the topic. “Maybe it’s time to think about giving up the car keys,” Fearful of a loss of independence, leaving the big stage, and entering the twilight of his life, he scoffs, brings up his many driving adventures, and insists he’s got it under control and the best man for the job. Now, swap Dad out for Joe Biden in this conversation with decades of political mileage and successes. It’s hard to argue with the literal king of the road. You tell him he must see the bigger picture and show him recent polling data and his approval rating, which is difficult for any politician with a massive ego to absorb. You delicately tell the President that freezing in a debate “was more than just one bad night.” We have an opportunity to make a grand move.

It’s Not About Ageism, It’s About Safety

We’re not trying to ground Dad arbitrarily, but all things end, even driving. The same goes for President Biden. It’s not about disrespecting his legacy; it’s about ensuring the road ahead is clear and safe for all of us. Obama, Clinton, and others should ask The President to help find someone to take us forward.

The Alternative: A Dangerous Driver in Control

If Dad doesn’t give up the keys, we worry he will end up in a dangerous car accident and potentially hurt other people. In Joe’s case, we risk the country being handed over to the most dangerous driver, who said his driving theme would be revenge and retribution. We need a steady hand on the wheel, not someone who thinks crashing through guardrails, barriers, and road rage is a strategy.

A Moment to Transform the Democratic Party

Some have predicted that by leaving the race now, Mr. President, you will become a beloved statesman, reinvigorate the Democratic party, infuse young energy into the race, and cause the national news to focus on nothing else for weeks, building up to a Hollywood dramatic climax at the National Convention, when Democrats will rally around a new leader along with Independents and moderate Republican, resulting in a big November victory. At least, that is the dream – if it was only that easy.

Time to Reflect, But Not Too Long

Joe, you’ve been driving the car for decades, surviving personal tragedies and professional challenges with remarkable resilience. We understand that stepping out of the driver’s seat is a monumental decision that deserves a moment of reflection, even some pushback. But we only have a little time. The Democratic National Convention starts on August 19th, and if you decide to step away, there’s a lot to get done. So take a moment, but not too long – the clock’s ticking.
In Conclusion, For Everyone’s Sake, Let’s Find a New Driver

So, Mr. President, just like we lovingly suggest to our parents, it’s time to pump the brakes, step back, and offer your wisdom to the next person behind the wheel. So Kamala, Gavin, Gretchen (maybe even Wes), and everyone else — start your engines.

But if you or the Party cannot get there, we will still support you because, in the words of the Comedian Bill Maher, I will vote for Biden’s head in a jar of blue liquid” versus the other guy.

Why? Because of the horrible policies Trump has described enacting: In his first term, he added $3.9 trillion to the national debt, and extending the tax cut to his rich friends in his second term would add another $3.9 trillion to the Federal debt.

He has said he will reduce “legal” immigration at a time when the economy needs workers, raise tariffs across the board resulting in increased prices just as we are getting the economy and inflation under control, use regulations as a weapon, further diminish existing institutions, stack the Supreme Court with more far-right justices out of touch with the mainstream (Roe/Dobbs), end the independence of the Federal Reserve; abandon our allies; further undermine the rule of law, hire only people who swear loyalty to him rather than Country; and institute the Heritage Foundation’s, 2025 Presidential Transition Project, an authoritarian manifesto to dismantle government and vastly expand executive powers.

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.

George R.R. Martin, the prolific novelist (Games of Thrones), grew up in a small house in Bayonne, NJ, a peninsula just south of Jersey City. When asked what inspired his imagination to create fantasy worlds as a child, Martin said he used to stare out his living room window at the lights across the water and imagine a Shangri-La. He later found out he was starring at Staten Island.

I regularly bike down Bellevue Road to the ferry and gaze out at Oxford across the Tread Avon River. Oxford is the quaintest town on the eastern shore. It is a Chesapeake Shangri-la accessible by ferry, one of the oldest in the land, a short eleven-minute ride. Our favorite activity is taking friends, family, and out-of-town guests on the ferry to Oxford or boating to Capsize in our clunky pontoon boat for water-view dining and a tasty Creamery ice cream cone afterward. I have many good friends who live in Oxford.

Sadly, town mismanagement has tarnished Oxford’s tranquility, turning this picturesque town into a political mess. Earlier this year, an Oxford resident, Scott Rensberger, a TV journalist by trade, frustrated by a lack of transparency and accountability on several issues, began producing cleverly crafted and controversial video reports.

Having been stonewalled by the town regarding his home’s flooding issues, he began using his significant media and investigative skills to focus on a lack of transparency regarding the town’s governance. Why was Town Manager Cheryl Lewis’ compensation with bonuses (est $179,000), not a line item in the town budget, a fairly standard practice? Why was it so much higher than the same job in towns of a comparable size? What was the context of Lewis’ daughter being hired by the Town, among other issues? The lack of a coherent, satisfying response from the Town prompted Rensberger and others to file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) submissions as a last resort to get information being withheld by the town. Where there is smoke, there is sometimes fire.

The reaction to Rensberger’s video reports was mixed. Many people applauded his efforts. Others were offended out of loyalty to those town officials singled out they had known for years. Another group could not handle the in-your-face social media content, which combined factual reporting with some needed entertaining snark and popular culture references to keep viewers’ attention since Rensberger could not get the key players to go on camera. This genre of independent grassroots journalism is not new, especially in places with limited local news outlets.

More importantly, the criticism of Rensberger’s videos was mostly about style rather than the substance of the central facts, which have not been disputed.

Oxford used to remind me of the 1950s black-and-white TV show Mayberry R.F.D. Today, it is closer to the more contemporary TV comedy series Schitts Creek, another small-town soap with its local drama and complex relationships.

Undoubtedly, Lewis has done some good things for the town during her long time in office. However, transparency was not her priority. When we learned that her salary, the highest of any town employee, was not listed as a line item in the budget or included on the town website, it should have been a red flag about transparency.

By the way, the current Town Manager job description shows a salary range of $90,000–$110,000 compared to Lewis’ base salary, which was about $164,000 (without bonuses). This indicates the Town is getting its Town Manager’s salary in line with the market rate and maybe using the freed-up funds to hire more staff.

Staying with this theme of openness, when the Lewis controversy erupted earlier this year, why didn’t the Town Commissioners immediately update the website and add a line item showing the Town Manager’s salary? And defend her higher-than-market compensation and daughter’s employment, explaining that it didn’t violate any ethics laws. And let voters decide if the Commissioners handled the issues appropriately when the Commissioner’s three-year terms expire and elections are held.

Instead, they stonewalled, I assume, waiting for things to blow over, for Lewis to retire in June, and hoping to hit the reset button with a new Town Manager. Things did calm down. Summer on the eastern shore has that effect. That ended last week when Oxford shockingly parted ways with its newly hired Town Manager, Micheal Calvert, only a week and a half before his scheduled swearing-in ceremony.

Rensberger, after doing some simple internet sleuthing on Calvert, forwarded to Town Attorney Lindsey Ryan a 1994 Washington Post story reporting that Calvert was charged with “Indecent Exposure,” a criminal offense, and “Prostitution,” a misdemeanor offense. Connecting the dots, I’m guessing this new information resulted in frantic conference calls, more diligence, and the decision to end the Calvert relationship before he was sworn in.

The Town quickly issued a “Dear Residents” statement about Calvert’s sudden departure, explaining, “We mutually agreed to the part-ways” with Calvert, adding that it was “not a good fit.” The statement also added to the PR word salad that because the Town’s background checks are confidential, personal records are not subject to disclosure – code for: “We will not discuss this in the future, and when we do, it will be in closed session.” This is unfortunate since it would be interesting to know the extent of the vetting failure as residents wait for an “interim” Town Manager to be named.

This should have been a squeaky-clean search process, but Oxford Commissioners chose not to hire a search firm that vets candidates as part of their statement of work. It has been reported that Commissioner Katrina Greer wanted to hire a search firm. However, Tom Costigan and departing Commissioner Susan Delean-Botkin did not, due to the cost directly leading to this egg-on-face moment. They preferred having their controversial outgoing Town Manager, Lewis, handle the search. How did that work out? Sadly, all Lewis or someone else had to do was ask the town’s police unit to do a criminal background check.

The Town of Oxford should thank Scott Rensberger.

Calvert’s sudden departure has generated a loud collective: “Are you kidding me? The Town Commissioners must clean up this mess, hire a search firm, and generally be more transparent and accountable.

Hopefully, Norm Bell, the incoming Commissioner, will bring a fresh voice and temperament to the Town’s governance and make Oxford more like Shangri-La than Staten Island. No offense intended to Staten Island.

Hugh Panero, a tech and media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.

I recently dreamt I buried myself in the ground like a Cicada for the next four years, resurfaced alive and well in 2028, comfortably past this election cycle and the wars that rage in Gaza and Ukraine. I am not alone and believe this version of burying your head in the sand is a shared desire triggered by our ugly politics.

If Cicadas could send a scout, they might have buzzed by 2024. According to experts, Cicadas, which have survived for 1.8 million years, are buried underground and only surface en masse for a few weeks every 13 or 17 years. Being underground for the next four years sounds about right.

In my dream, I start my journey into the soil today, so I miss the remaining five months of the 2024 presidential election cycle featuring two aging dinosaurs, which appeals to me. I will miss the spectacle of bizarre and cringeworthy presidential debates, constant fund-raising emails and texts, news coverage designed to generate clicks, views, and advertising revenue, and the partisan network’s screeching. I will also miss the escalating hateful rhetoric, threats of a civil war, and, of course, a stressful election night and its aftermath.

My brood will also miss seeing how the country is governed for the next four years, led by either an unhinged, indited, revenge-oriented lunatic or a steadier lifetime politician, both of diminishing capacity heading for the eventual lame duck status. Trump will be 81 and Biden 85 at the end of the next presidential term. As an aside, the ages of the Founding Fathers on July 4, 1776, were James Monroe (18), Aaron Burr (20), Alexander Hamilton (21), James Madison 25, Thomas Jefferson (33), John Adams (40), Paul Revere (41) and George Washington (44). Just saying.

I would happily miss a few years of nonstop coverage of Trump’s many trials and those of his henchmen, as well as the endless babbling legal talking heads and cable anchors’ breakdowns of every mind-numbing legal twist and turn. I could do without the trial coverage altogether. Just tell me the verdicts when the trials and appeals are over.

For four years, I would also relish not hearing another word from or about the sleaziest cast of B-movie mob characters from Trumpworld who became household names thanks to cable news and social media—Stormy, Michael “The Fixer” Cohen, Rudy “Bankrupt’ Guiliani, and of course, the Don, the married bible salesman, who likes pornstars and former Playboy Playmates. We are all just worn down.

Lounging under moist dirt, I’ll miss seeing the frantic race to become the 2028 Presidential frontrunner, which will begin moments after the 2024 election is decided. Get used to hearing the term “Presidential Exploratory Committee” and being repulsed by an obscene amount of ass-kissing on Trump’s derriere by those entering the Republican field, less so on Biden’s butt from a gaggle of 2028 Democratic contenders.

I also dreamt that during my slumber, the current crop of nut jobs vaporized into political oblivion like former Congressman George Santos. They include representatives Majorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Bobert, and Matt Gaetz. I will also not miss seeing clips of Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) walking around the Senate looking like a physical education teacher in baggie shorts and a hooded sweatshirt about to teach gym class. I am all for supporting mental health issues, but please put on a pair of long pants. I could do with less extreme wokeness and more energy focused on practical solutions to important things like immigration reform.

I would also miss the grinding end to the War in Gaza and Netanyahu’s time as Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s main job is to protect Israel. He failed miserably, allowing a Hamas sneak attack, resulting in 2000 dead and 200 hostages taken. His brutal response, killing 38,000+ Palestinians, flipped Israel from victim to villain for a generation of young people worldwide. Netanyahu’s self-interest is to keep the war going, delay a Commission to review his performance that will end his political career, and expose him to other domestic legal troubles. Someone has to negotiate a cease-fire, get the hostages back, and figure out how Gaza will be governed. It’s not easy.

Even while dreaming, I had no clear vision of how the war in Ukraine would play out. Putin would rather sacrifice another one hundred thousand soldiers than have his legacy include being defeated by the former comedian President Zelensky and his allies. I would not be surprised if the war raged on four years from now.

At the end of my dream, I rose from my underground habitat with millions of friends, forming a choir, and emitted a deafening high-pitched noise so everyone knew we had surfaced. However, unlike real Cicadas, there was not a lot of mating and mass dying a few weeks later. No one stepped on me, causing a loud crunching sound and I wasn’t swept up and put in the trash.

According to Psychology Today, psychologists either believe “dreams are nothing more than random brain activity that occurs while we sleep or, like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, believe that dreams reveal a person’s deepest unconscious wishes, fears, and desires.” I believe dreams are Cathartic. Catharsis is defined as providing psychological relief through an open expression of strong emotions. The word is derived from the Latin, Greek word kathartikos or “cleansing.” Boy, I need cleansing after four years of President Trump, several years of a defendant Trump, and almost four years of Biden, who while the right choice has never been an inspirational leader.

When I finally woke up, I was happy to find myself, not a dead Cicada, and less cranky. I felt cleansed and ready to help “Make America Kind Again” and power through the next four years until we can all experience a fresh start in 2028.

Postscript: We are all looking for good news that makes us smile. Above is a video of my son Liam’s unique, sweet wedding proposal to his girlfriend Jess on Saturday. Liam is an MMA fighter and an athletic performance trainer for elite high school athletes. His girlfriend Jess was a D1 collegiate wrestler who now coaches wrestling at Marymount University. She comes from an accomplished wrestling family. The surprise proposal happened at the end of a wrestling clinic taught by her parents held at Liam’s MMA gym, where he trains and teaches Jiu Jitsu. Watch it until the end.

Also, in my April 28, 2024, opinion piece, “Let’s Retire the Word Retire,” I asked readers to suggest a better word to describe retirement. The winner was Inspirement.

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We need a new word to better describe being “retired.” While there are multiple ways to talk about gender, there is only one measly, grossly inadequate word to represent what happens when you leave your job for good, irrevocably altering your life. Thirty-eight million retired people in the US likely agree with me.

In the past, I had no problem using signifiers like Student, Single, Married, and Parent, and my Occupation as a starter shorthand to help people understand what I was about. However, “retired” fails miserably as a descriptive term. It feels more suited to a bold, all-caps red stamp on an expired milk carton. 

I also dislike official forms that ask, “What is your occupation (RETIRED)?” or responding to the question, “What do you do for a living? ” Responding I am “retired” does not cut it. And all I see is the syllable “tired,” which also bothers me. 

It is not surprising because retirement used to be a simple equation. You worked a long time, retired, and soon after entered the pearly gates. However, on average in the US, people now live until they are almost 80, well beyond the average retirement age of 62.

Worst of all, “retired” doesn’t come close to describing the full and rich lives led by many retirees who use their expanded time on the planet to enrich their own lives and those of their families, friends, and communities. 

The word “retire” comes from the mid-century French “Re” (back) and “Tirer” (draw). When used as a verb, it can mean “to retreat,” like troops withdrawing from danger. It can also mean “taking one’s leave,” such as going to bed. As an adjective, it can describe a separation from society or withdrawal into seclusion—nothing you’d want to include in your LinkedIn bio.

To “retire” is defined as “to leave one’s job and cease to work upon reaching a certain age.” It represents the end, or withdrawal, from a career and its corresponding remuneration. However, the word does not fully describe the stage of life that my friends and I now find ourselves in, when people live longer and are physically and mentally healthier, hopefully with twenty years or more of runway left.

Retired became relevant as a life status in the late 1800s when pensions were invented in Germany. Offering a worker retirement plan was a political tool to help fend off socialism. The German government created a retirement benefits system targeting government workers like police, firefighters, and soldiers who deserved to be cared for after years of public service.

This concept sounded great, but the pension retirement age was set at seventy. Unfortunately, most of the population then only lived until their mid-40s and died before reaping the rewards. 

The word “retire” hit the big time in the 1920s, when private sector pension plans arrived to attract and keep employees. It got a jolt in 1921 after the IRS exempted taxes on corporate contributions to employee pension plans. The deal was you work for twenty years, and when you hit 65, you would receive an annual pension payment based on a percentage of your salary. In 1935, as part of FDR’s “New Deal,” the Social Security Act was created as a safety net for the elderly, unemployed, and disadvantaged. 

By the 1950s, about fifty percent of private-sector companies offered pensions, and retirement became a goal for many. Corporations eventually figured out that pensions could also be used to entice aging, higher-paid employees to retire through early buyouts that lowered costs and made room for lower-paid workers. Pensions also became a central point of contention during labor negotiations between management and powerful unions like the United Auto Workers. A pension was and remains an essential benefit for public service and blue-collar unionized workers.

If you worked 40-plus years ago, you likely had a pension. Not so anymore. In the 1980s, companies began replacing traditional pension plans with 401(k) plans, which shifted the cost of managing retirement plans from the company to employees. This move was motivated by corporate fear of millions of baby boomer employees hitting retirement age and the accompanying financial burden. Today, 85 percent of private sector plans are 401(k) plans, and unions are at the top of the shortlist of the remaining providers of traditional pension plans.

While funding for one’s retirement has changed, the definition of “retirement” has remained stagnant. AI noticed the insufficiencies associated with the definition.” I asked ChatGPT for one word that comprehensively best described being retired. According to the AI:

“…If you want a word encapsulating the broader idea of someone who has retired and is now engaged in other pursuits or enjoying life in their own way,  there’s not a single word in English that conveys that fully.”

People lucky enough to have a pension, a healthy 401(k), or who did an excellent job saving for retirement are re-reinventing themselves and indulging their passions. They are traveling, biking, starting new careers, working part-time, taking art classes, gardening, running for office, reading, writing, learning a new language, being active grandparents, volunteering, and yes, playing pickleball.

Some people who like working will do so until they’re booted out the door. Sadly, many people do not have the option to retire because they have debilitating debt, health issues, messy divorces, family to care for, and other financial pressures that force them to keep working and wait for Medicare, Social Security, and a little magic to kick in. 

My retired friends are not withdrawing at all. Kevin Beverly, the former President & CEO of Social and Scientific System, serves on four non-profit boards across Maryland, working as many hours “retired” as he did when running his company. My retired neighbors Susan & Barry Koh play leadership roles in the non-profit Chesapeake Music, Marty & Al Sikes produced a local jazz festival for a decade, and my buddy Scott Cohen, a self-made chef, travels to war zones and other dangerous places to feed people in need. The big difference compared to when they were employed is that these retired dynamos aren’t paid. 

Help me do justice to my retired comrades and find a new term that fully captures life after decades of hard work when we can finally do what we want to do with our time rather than what we have to do.

A recent WSJ article tried coining the phrase “post-achievement years” to describe retirement. However, as one might expect from the WSJ, “achievement years” were defined as the years you made lots of money and had a fancy job—as if being retired and giving back to the community, helping friends, and enriching your own life were not “achievements.”

Please feel free to suggest a replacement for the word “retired.” Until then, when I am asked, “What do you do for a living?” I will quote the poet William Ernest Henley and say, “I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul.” 

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy. And please do not call him retired.

 

 

15. You refuse to upgrade your Mac operating system because you are terrified it will have bugs and screw up your computer. You only do it when you find out important apps cannot run without the upgrade.

14. Your most sophisticated and used tech questions are: “Honey! Please call my phone” and “Is your internet down.”

13. You freak out when turning the power “Off” and “On” does not immediately solve your tech problem, and when your printer is not working, you hit it with your fist.

12. You can’t remember the new “easy-to-remember” password you were forced to create because you cannot remember your other 20 passwords.

11. When a ticket purchase website includes an obnoxious countdown timer, it feels like you’re in a tense action movie, and a bomb will go off if you do not complete the transaction before the timer hits 0000.

10. You long too much for your first Blackberry, a flip phone, or a landline.

9. You fear a ransomware attack more than an actual home invasion and are waiting for Netflix’s and other services password-sharing police to find you.

8. You spend too much time on social media, talking to Alexa and Siri, and when you go to dinner with friends, you have a rule to limit Google searches to fill in memory blanks in your conversation.

7. It is a horrible and expensive day when Apple announces it is changing all its power cord connector standards (i.e., USBC), making all the chargers and older connectors obsolete.

6. Speaking of obsolete equipment, you have boxes of old chargers, and you don’t know what they are for. Back in medieval times, I used to have this problem with keys.

5. Your home tech equipment has achieved special closet space status. It’s the home for your router, switch, and possibly a sound system and alarm equipment. I label the equipment due to my fading memory and have a yellow ribbon around the plug I must pull frequently when my Breezeline broadband service goes down.

4. When you call your adult children for help fixing a computer problem, they ghost you.

3. Finding excellent and reliable tech support is as essential to you as finding and keeping good childcare is for young parents. Remote tech support is excellent but I am always a little creeped out when they take control of my screen and fix problems in seconds I have labored over for hours.

2. You constantly fail the “I am not a Robot” test when asked to identify all the photos with a traffic light in the picture. You feel like an idiot.

1. When you were younger, you got excited about the introduction of new or upgraded tech devices (e.g., Walkman, iPod, iPhone, etc.) and raced to get one. Now, you just want everything to stay the same.

The indicators selected above were based on extensive research and do not depict me in any way. Yeah, Right! Please email me or comment with your indicator suggestions.

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media for the Spy.

Last week, I stepped into a movie theater for the first time in over three years. My son Liam lured me out of Easton with an invitation to see Dune Part 2 at an IMAX theater in Silver Springs, MD, with his girlfriend Jess. Since COVID, I have shunned big crowds and happily stream Hollywood movies, watching them on my big-screen TV with my dog, Ella. But it was impossible to turn down an invite from my son. 

We bond with our children in different ways. Liam and I bonded over superheroes and sci-fi movies. I was a big comic book kid. I constantly drew my favorite superheroes and got pretty good. As a parent, I learned that being able to draw Batman, Superman, or Thor, along with a few spaceships, was a sure way to impress a little boy. 

One of our first father-son traditions was going to a comic book store in Bethesda weekly. In 5th grade, we discovered Liam had dyslexia and had trouble reading. He was not a fan of the special tutoring we arranged. However, he loved comics, which helped get him to read. It was basic bribery. We would only go to the comic book store if he did his homework. It was an expensive trip since the cheap comic book of my day had inflated into the $20 graphic novel—it was a small price to pay.

Our next father-son tradition began when comic book characters moved to the big screen. The first Marvel movie (Iron Man, 2008) hit theaters when Liam was 11. Whenever a new superhero or sci-fi film hit the theaters, I would pick him up at the school bus stop and head to the nearest theater. This increased as theaters were overwhelmed with superhero films and reboots of the Star Wars and Star Trek movie franchises.

I always encouraged Liam to read Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965). It’s a foundational sci-fi book.  Star Wars creator George Lucus, Games of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, and many others borrowed generously from Dune. Liam never got around to it. Then girls, sports, college, work, and COVID got in the way, and our movie-viewing tradition ended—until last week.  

My return to the movie theater was worth it. Dune Part 2 is a well-crafted sci-fi epic with a balance of action and humanity. It’s visually stunning and features excellent acting from the next generation of Hollywood movie stars, including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, and Florence Pugh, as well as accomplished older stars like Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, and Christopher Walken. The Director, Denis Villeneuve, is an accomplished filmmaker and screenwriter with a vision. He is known for films including Blade Runner 2049, Sicario, and Arrival, which earned him a Best Director Oscar nomination in 2016. 

Villeneuve enticed us with Dune 1 (2021), a slower-moving set-up film designed to introduce the audience to the Dune universe. He delivered the goods in Dune Part 2. It’s Game of Thrones meets Lawrence of Arabia. The movie made $82M in its opening weekend, garnering a glowing 93% Rotten Tomato Review score and a 95% Audience Rating.

The movie is not a simple good versus evil story. Its so-called heroes are complex, and the villains are excellent. The film touches on adult and religious themes, including how outside forces can influence the masses, the need to be cautious of charismatic messiah figures, and the cult of personality that grows around them.

These are all relevant themes, considering the current political and personality landscape. And who doesn’t like a film featuring giant Sandworms? It’s also hard not to root for the Fremen, the indigenous, underdog desert people of Arrakis (aka Dune) in search of a savior. You know you have a hit movie when the audience applauds as the credits roll, and you see people dressed up as one of the characters. As I left the theater, I spotted a Bene Gesserit witch, a significant Dune character, walking behind me. Prepare yourself for Dune Part 3 and more after that.

The first Dune movie cost $165M. The pandemic and a dumb distribution strategy by Warner Bros hurt the theatrical box office. The studio released the film in theaters on the same day as its MAX streaming platform to juice subscription sign-ups. Why go to movies if people with MAX could watch it at home? It still earned a $434M.

Under new management, Warner Bros reinstituted an exclusive theatrical release window for Dune Part 2, followed by PPV streaming. The Dune Part 2 budget was $190M. It must earn $475M to make a profit. No problem. The film will eventually generate $2B+ worldwide and join the elite club. The marketing campaign for the film was massive, targeting the younger 18-24 demo, representing half the moviegoers. The movie’s young, attractive stars were sent everywhere to hype the film in TV ads, talk shows, industry events, and social media. Warner Bros. is counting on it to help turn around its sagging stock price.

These spectacle movies get a bad rap despite generating billions of dollars, employing thousands, and helping make movies our largest US export. Critics complain that the obsession with expensive franchises causes studios to abandon supporting smaller independent projects and limit the number of theaters available to show such films. 

Even Disney CEO Bob Iger said that increased film output designed to feed more content to its streaming platform Disney+ was a mistake, resulting in too much supply and the release of inferior-quality films and red ink. Disney’s Marvel and Warner Bros DCEU studios released 2023 films that bombed. Warner Bros lost $200M on The Flash, and Marvel lost $70M on The Marvels, projected to make $600M, rare for this genre. Dune’s success is a shot in the arm for the genre. The debate about these big-budget franchise films’ artistic and economic value will rage on.

What I love about them is that my son and I have enjoyed experiencing them together for a long time. When he was very young, we tried to move objects with our minds like a Jedi and debated the best superpower to have. Today, we discuss script construction, casting, and the business of Hollywood and pick out the best lines from the latest movie. For Dune, it was “All Hail the Fighters!”

Liam turns 27 on Sunday. He reads a lot now, trains elite athletes to improve their performance, and is a mixed martial arts coach and fighter. He is my favorite superhero, although he drives me crazy.

It’s unclear when I will return to the movie theater. I am just getting over parking in an elevated garage and being mocked for taking a picture of a sign showing the floor we parked on, the large crowds, and a thunderous sound system. But there is hope.

My brother Rick told me he watched Dune Part 2 in a high-tech Manhattan movie theatre with the 4DX movie experience technology. It’s a multi-sensory environment with specialized rumble motion seats that swivel, shake, tilt, and slide, plus environmental effects synchronized to engage all your senses. Marketing copy describes the experience as, “Imagine feeling like you’re flying alongside Iron Man or getting splashed in the face by Aquaman.” That might get me out of Easton.

If Liam can’t go, my 8-month-old grandson, Zev, will begin his Jedi movie-watching tradition in a few years. I have several boxes of comic books for him, but I might need to wait until he walks before taking him to the movies. 

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.

Wes Moore took office in January 2023 and has been riding an extended honeymoon. He has basked in gushing national press coverage, including cover stories in the New Yorker, Time, and Vogue that have propelled his political brand and turned him into a national figure and fundraiser. He is on a short list of young Democrats described as the party’s future and even mentioned as a 2028 presidential candidate. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.   

In 2022, Moore proved a formidable political talent, coming from behind to beat better-known Democratic opponents in the primary (Tom Perez, Peter Franchot). He then soundly trounced his Republican opponent, Dan Cox, with 64.5 percent of the votes. It did not hurt that the former, popular, two-term Republican Governor Larry Hogan called Cox a “Q-anon Wack Job.” Moore became the first black Governor in Maryland and only the third in US history.

However, Moore is about to have a significant political moment as his honeymoon ends. Real governing and tough decision-making began with the 2025 budget process, which has moved front and center in a state requiring a balanced budget. The sausage-making for the fiscal year 2025 budget (July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025) is underway, and Moore must submit a balanced budget to the General Assembly this week. 

When Moore took office and submitted his 2024 budget only a year ago, things looked pretty good. In his first budget cover letter, he painted a rosy financial picture. Working from budget projections his new team was provided, he wrote, “We are in a fortunate financial position to craft a budget with significant positive General Fund cash balances” but warned of economic uncertainty. Analysts projected 2024 budget surpluses of $232 million in 2025 and $263 million in 2026. 

However, in July 2023, there was a sudden swing from the rosy budget surplus projection to a deficit now estimated to be $761 million, growing to over $2.7 Billion in four years. This new financial reality will test Moore’s slogan, “Leave No One Behind,” and his ability to implement the key initiatives he touted as a candidate and during his first year in office.

The dark financial clouds appeared last summer when the Department of Legislative Services issued a report detailing so-called “structural budget deficits” that appeared after the 2023 General Assembly session. During this session, Moore’s first initiatives that he talked about on the campaign trail passed, among other Democratic initiatives, by Democratic majorities in Annapolis, according to Maryland Matters. 

Moore’s initiatives included extending the tax credit for military retirees, the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program, permanent extension of the State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and increasing the State’s minimum wage to $15 per hour that took effect in October 2023. The cost of these programs was not surprising to anyone and was part of Moore’s legislative agenda that helped propel him to such a large election victory.

The explanations for how the State’s finances so dramatically swung from surpluses to deficits have been weak from the various people and departments that report on the State’s financial health. Some have deflected, saying that dealing with deficits is the ordinary course of business when balancing the budget or resulting from a blurry sugar high coming out of COVID, which funneled lots of Federal money into the state.

A Washington Post article addressing the deficit noted that, according to Moore, “A similar dynamic has played out ahead of 17 of the past 20 budget cycles, Moore noted, with politicians pushing for policy wins passing legislation without putting money behind their plans. As Moore said Thursday, “We put everything inside of budgets without a plan on how to pay for it, and the budget gap is the result.” He added, “The hard thing means actually fixing a system that’s broken, so that we can lead and not simply sustain.”

Whatever the reason, it is what it is. 

The bigger issue is how our first-term governor will handle this budget challenge. The State’s budget in 2024 was $63 billion. Moore has to find cuts or more revenue to offset the projected $761 million shortfall in the 2025 budget cycle. Moore moved quickly to prepare everyone to make tough decisions in the 2025 budget at the August Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City. 

He told the crowd this was the season of discipline and added that everyone had to “put on their big boy pants.” He could have done without the patronizing football coach tone, and I expect many Republican and Democratic legislators, who have been through numerous budget cycles, winced at the comment. Not to mention female legislators and maybe his Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller, who don’t own big-boy pants. I expect next year, he will stick to “We have a job to do.”   

It would appear Moore’s wardrobe suggestion also applies to himself. He has already laid out some austerity measures, both large and small, to prepare for the budget submission. As a candidate in political sales mode, he promised as Governor to end child poverty, add 5000 state employees, create a transformational national service program, rebuild our schools, and implement various expensive education, infrastructure, and transportation projects. 

The Baltimore Sun wrote, “The administration has detailed $3.3 billion in cuts to the state’s six-year transportation agenda while maintaining support for the multibillion-dollar Blueprint educational reform plan and announcing climate goals that would cost $1 billion more each year.”  Moore also has backed away from his pledge to hire 5000 state employees, and his Service Program is modest compared to the press hype used when it was announced.  

A big budget challenge will be finding creative ways to deal with The Blueprint for Maryland Future, a multi-billion dollar educational reform program based on the Kirwin Commission. Passed in 2021, the plan was designed to revamp the State’s public schools and early childhood programs funded by a combination of the State and Counties. The plan calls for increasing teacher salaries to $60,000 annually, among other big-ticket expense items.   

The Counties are nervous regarding their ability to absorb their share of the cost of the program and want flexibility on its implementation, and the State is concerned about what happens when a combination of Special Funds and revenue currently earmarked for education reportedly runs out in 2027, shifting the budget responsibility to the General Fund, becoming part of the general operating budget of the state. 

Governor Moore must now work with the General Assembly to craft a balanced budget, avoid raising taxes and fees as much as possible, or lay out compelling reasons for their need. Moore’s private sector experience was running the Robin Hood Foundation, a non-profit that raised lots of money and gave it to worthy non-profit organizations. Balancing a budget is much harder since you can’t avoid making someone unhappy.    

Moore is lucky to have a Democratic supermajority in the House and Senate to help him get what he wants and be able to sign off on the 2025 budget. This contrasts with another rising star in the Democratic party, Governor Andy Beshear. He governs in conservative Kentucky and must have a balanced budget, but must work with a State House as red as Maryland is blue.

Governor Moore continued discussing the state’s fiscal health at the Maryland Association of Counties’ winter meeting. He told the crowd, “Our administration did not create the budget gap. But let me be very clear: We refuse to ignore it, and we refuse to push policies that will only make it worse. We might not have caused this problem, but we will address this problem”.  

Moore is a telegenic political talent and now must prove himself as a skilled chief executive for the state, balancing complex financial realities with lofty legislative goals while maintaining his pledge to “Leave No One Behind.” No one said this was going to be an easy gig. 

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.