LEVER PERSONA NON GRATA: Gov. Larry Hogan extended his feud with David Lever, refusing to act Wednesday on the Interagency Committee on School Construction recommendations while blocking the longtime official from addressing the Board of Public Works. Michael Dresser reports in the Sun, that Hogan, joined by Comptroller Peter Franchot, expressed lack of faith in Lever’s management abilities. The two officials restated their opposition to significantly reducing the number of school maintenanceinspections scheduled for the coming year, charging that Lever’s plan to do so compromises children’s safety and health.
Josh Hicks of the Post reports that Hogan acknowledged that his office had told Lever not to bother attending any more of the board’s meetings even though it expected someone from the school-construction program to be present to answer questions. “There’s one person that has resigned, no longer doing the work, who we don’t have much faith in,” the governor said. “We asked him not to attend.”
When several school construction and renovation funding requests were called for a vote at the PBW, the executive secretary of the board directed staff to see if anyone from the committee was in attendance. Lever had been spotted about 20 minutes before the meeting taking a phone call outside the State House press offices before going upstairs to the meeting. But a board staff member did not see him and Lever walked into the board meeting after Hogan and Franchot voted to delay action on the requests, reports Bryan Sears for the Daily Record.
