STATE HOUSE TANEY STATUE TAKEN DOWN: Under the cover of night, a work crew removed the statue of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney from the grounds of the State House, ending the monument’s 145-year perch on the prominent spot in Annapolis, reports Pamela Wood for the Sun.
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Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said his revulsion at what happened in Charlottesville — at a demonstration purportedly in defense of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — prompted him to change his mind about the Taney statute and push for its removal, an act long sought by civil rights groups, reports the Post’s Josh Hicks.
MILLER CRITICIZES E-VOTE ON TANEY: Senate President Mike Miller is criticizing the Maryland State House Trust for voting by email to remove the statue of Roger B. Taney from the State House lawn in Annapolis. Miller says a public meeting should have been held instead on a matter of such importance. The State House Trust rarely meets in person, often casting votes by email for matters such as approving new plantings on the grounds or giving the go-ahead for performances in the building, reports Pamela Wood in the Sun.
HOGAN, OTHERS BLAST TRUMP: Maryland’s popular Republican governor further distanced himself from President Trump on Thursday, saying that the president has not shown the kind of leadership the country needs following the deadly violence in Charlottesville, the Post’s Ovetta Wiggins is reporting. “I thought he did a really bad job responding to it,” Gov. Larry Hogan said of Trump’s comments in recent days. “It wasn’t presidential.”