Hogan gives first post-election speech at TEDCO conference

Maryland Governor-elect Larry Hogan said this week he wouldn’t tip his hand on specific policies his administration will pursue after he takes office in January. But before an appearance Wednesday in Linthicum, he signaled that changes may be coming in how Maryland’s economic development funds are disbursed.

“[Baltimore] is an economic engine that drives the state,” Hogan said. “It’s important, but we’re going to be looking at the state as a whole.”

There are a lot of regions outside of Baltimore that are really hurting.

Hogan delivered brief remarks ahead of keynote speaker Paul Reed Smith (of Stevensonville’s PRS Guitars) at TEDCO’s Entrepreneur Expo, held Wednesday at the BWI Marriott.

“I’m stopping by to say hello and tell them how important we think they are,” Hogan said.

Hogan was a late addition to the expo’s slate, with word delivered only Tuesday that the Republican, a staffer under former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich’s administration, would be speaking at the expo.

“Until last Tuesday, I wasn’t on anybody’s agenda,” Hogan quipped.

The expo featured businesses, incubators and institutions from across the state.

Hogan, a former real estate developer, compared his campaign’s upset win over Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown to the startups piloted by those in the crowd. Hogan, after Ehrlich, will become just the third Republican governor to lead the state in the last half century.

“We raised some seed capital from individual donors,” he told the crowd. “As of last Tuesday, we captured more than 50 percent market share.”

Hogan said in his remarks to the crowd of entrepreneurs and business leaders he would be a “friend of Maryland,” reiterating many of the points from his stump speeches. However, he implied in remarks to reporters that he may be inclined to be more friendly toward efforts in more rural Maryland counties.

“There are a lot of regions outside of Baltimore that are really hurting,” he said. “Unemployment doubled in Maryland under [Gov. Martin O’Malley’s] administration, but it’s even twice as high as that in the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland, so other places are hurting and need a lot of focus, but Baltimore’s going to be important.”

However, in the interview and his brief remarks in Linthicum, he avoided voicing specific policy plans for the business community aside from broader calls for a more business-friendly state.

“I’m doing a lot of listening, not doing a lot of talking, because we really want to put together the smartest people in the state, regardless of their party affiliation,” Hogan said. “We’re not going to be rolling out major initiatives in the first week of the transition. That’ll be happening in January.”