THE MARYLAND WIRE
Policy, Operations, and Government Analysis
Maryland Government Relations & Procurement Intelligence
1. High-Value Procurement & Solicitations Analysis
MDOT State Highway Administration (SHA) – Bridge Modernization & Engineering:
Scope: $120M multi-year bridge modernization program across targeted corridor structures.
Solicitation Details: Architectural & Engineering (A&E) solicitations actively listed on eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA) with Amtrak co-funding elements for rail-adjacent overpasses.
Primary Vendors/Contracts: HNTB Corporation engaged for core structural engineering and design coordination.
Strategic Takeaway: Represents a key infrastructure spend push ahead of winter budget reconciliations; high-margin opportunities remain for specialized subcontractors in non-destructive testing and traffic control systems.
Board of Public Works (BPW) & Local Media Ad Spending Directives:
Scope: $22M county-level infrastructure grant allocation scheduled across state dockets.
Policy Context: Following up on Gov. Wes Moore’s Executive Order directing state agencies to target local media outlets for outreach spend.
Impact for Publishers/Consultants: Opens immediate agency procurement lines for public notice compliance and community outreach campaigns tied to localized capital projects via Rebuild Local News.
2. Lobbying Registrations, Legal Filings & Agency Operations
iGaming Legislative Strategy & Retainers:
Entity: Bally’s Corporation
Action: Formally retained veteran Annapolis practitioner Bryson F. Popham, P.A. to direct legislative and regulatory strategy ahead of the upcoming General Assembly session regarding anticipated iGaming framework expansion discussions.
Executive Legal Defense Approvals:
Entity: Office of the Governor / Foley Hoag LLP
Action: Maryland Board of Public Works approval of legal fee structures for Foley Hoag LLP to handle specialized state executive defense and constitutional litigation matters.
Litigation & Practice Group Expansion:
Detail: Strategic expansion in civil rights and public interest litigation practice groups, highlighted in firm filings and partner practice updates.
3. Personnel Moves & Media Roundup
Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC (RWL): Formally launched its Administrative Law Practice Group, led by Michael Johansen, Sara Sellers, and Emily T. Gordon.
Senate Staff Transitions: Key legislative staff shifts across committee dockets ahead of pre-filed bill deadlines for the upcoming session; tracked via the Maryland General Assembly Portal.
Media Contact Sync: Newsletter master contact updated to
barry@themarylandwire.com| SMS/Voice direct line set to570-447-4395.
💡 Have an intelligence tip, contract filing, or statehouse move to report?
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Megawatts for Maryland: Moore launches $200 million clean-energy auction
Governor Wes Moore launched “Megawatts for Maryland” on October 26, a $200 million clean-energy auction program run by the Maryland Energy Administration to add hundreds of megawatts of in-state generation — enough, the administration says, to power more than 150,000 homes a year. Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk backed the launch, and MEA Director Kelly Speakes-Backman called renewable generation and storage “the quickest, cleanest, lowest cost option” for new local supply. The two-year program draws up to $100 million a year from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund; preliminary applications are due November 30, with final bids due January 22, 2027.
Source: Office of Governor Wes Moore
Via The Maryland Wire: MGM first, Live! second in Maryland’s gambling-money map
My October 26 Maryland Wire piece ranks Maryland’s casinos by the dollars they generate, then matches each one to its Annapolis lobbyists on the State Ethics Commission portal — MGM first, Live! second, and everybody else far behind. The map is built from the state’s own revenue numbers rather than from who talks loudest, and it names the firms carrying each casino’s money into the State House. Paid post; the full roster is behind the paywall.
Source: The Maryland Wire
Prince George’s: $7.6 million back, roughly $5.2 million still out
Prince George’s County has recovered $7.635 million of the roughly $12.8 million the County Council directed between fiscal 2024 and 2026 to the Edward Charles Foundation, fiscal sponsor for Community on the Frontline — but the remaining roughly $5.2 million has not come back, and how the money already spent was used remains unanswered in the public record. County Executive Aisha Braveboy says the county expects the rest in the coming days, after Council Members Jolene Ivey and Sydney Harrison called for independent audits of the group run by Janna Parker, a close friend of Council Chair Krystal Oriadha, who has denied the relationship influenced the awards. Ivey says Braveboy’s office is still working with the foundation to pin down how much ultimately comes back.
Source: Washington Sun Metro; Baltimore Banner
An interesting read: JEI’s Michigan outlook, signed by chair Barbara Goldberg Goldman
An interesting read from one of Maryland’s most influential Jewish Democrats: Barbara Goldberg Goldman, chair of the Jewish Electorate Institute, signed JEI’s new state-by-state election outlook on Michigan, rating the open Senate seat — Democrat Abdul El-Sayed vs. Republican Mike Rogers — a toss-up, alongside the Benson–James governor’s race and the open 11th District seat. JEI describes the series as nonpartisan analysis; Michigan is its second installment after Florida.
Source: Jewish Electorate Institute
Revolving door: Kristen Harbeson leaves Maryland LCV for Gally Public Affairs
After 11 years as political director for the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Kristen Harbeson is departing for Annapolis lobbying firm Gally Public Affairs, where she starts November 15. Harbeson joined the League in 2015 after serving as a senior staffer to Del. Maggie McIntosh and working for the legislature’s former Environmental Matters Committee — and she moves to a firm that has itself represented the League, along with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Earthjustice and the Nature Conservancy. Her new title at Gally was not stated. Harbeson said it had been an honor and a privilege to work with the League’s team for more than a decade, and that she looks forward to supporting its mission from her new post.
Source: Maryland Matters
Question 3: Moore rallies in Bowie, Obama ad drops, as mail-ballot request deadline hits today
Governor Wes Moore rallied voters in Bowie on Monday morning for Question 3, the constitutional amendment that would loosen the state’s rules for drawing congressional districts, and the yes campaign released a 30-second ad featuring former President Barack Obama urging a yes vote. On the other side, Representative Andy Harris, the state’s lone Republican in Congress, has warned the change could leave the Eastern Shore represented by someone shaped by Western Shore interests, and President Donald Trump has pushed Maryland Republicans to turn out for early voting. Early voting runs through Thursday, October 29; today, October 27, is the last day to request a mail-in ballot by mail or fax.
Source: Fox 5 DC; Cambridge Spy
BGE’s $156 million rate case: Zeke Cohen calls it ‘a complete money grab’ at PSC hearing
Baltimore residents and city leaders pressed the Maryland Public Service Commission at an October 26 virtual hearing to reject or shrink Baltimore Gas and Electric’s proposed $156 million rate increase, which would add about $8 a month to the average bill starting early next year. Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen called the request “a complete money grab” and urged commissioners to cut BGE’s proposed 9.5% return on equity to 7.3%, while BGE spokesperson Nick Alexopoulos said the money covers essential work including replacing aging poles, trimming trees and restoring service after storms. Commissioner Bonnie Suchman told participants their testimony helps regulators weigh the effects; the commission’s next meeting is November 4, with a final decision expected in January.
Source: Baltimore Focal
Today: Prince George’s council votes on $215 million Sphere financing
The Prince George’s County Council is set for a final vote today, October 27, on the National Harbor Sphere financing bill, which would set a $215 million ceiling on bonds the county can issue — about $130 million for Sphere construction and related infrastructure, with the rest covering reserves, interest, other costs and refunding an earlier series of National Harbor bonds. The council advanced the bill October 5 with strengthened labor and community-benefit requirements, including a Community Benefits Agreement and a labor peace agreement. The vote lands with Council Chair Krystal Oriadha under scrutiny over the county’s nonprofit grants.
Source: Maryland Bay News
Staffer to know: Yaslin Machuca, chief of staff to Councilwoman Odette Ramos
Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos’s Team 14 listing names Yaslin Machuca as her chief of staff, handling social media and communications, Latino community matters, scheduling meetings with the Councilwoman, and Recreation and Parks issues — the contact for District 14 residents who need the Councilwoman’s office (yaslin.machuca@baltimorecity.gov; office 410-396-4814). Machuca is an established member of Ramos’s staff, on the council payroll as a council assistant as far back as 2022, rather than a newly announced appointment — but she is the name to know for anyone working the Councilwoman’s office.
Source: Councilwoman Odette Ramos
First indictment under Maryland’s unlicensed-care felony law: Daquan Dwight Thomas
A Baltimore grand jury indicted Daquan Dwight Thomas on Monday, October 26, over allegations he operated an unlicensed assisted-living program at a Garrison Boulevard property — the first indictment under a 2023 Maryland law making unlicensed assisted-living operations a felony, according to Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office. Thomas, owner and operator of the nonprofit Aim to Inspire Care Forever, applied for a license in January 2025; the Department of Health’s Office of Health Care Quality denied it in January 2026, and a March 30 inspection found residents needing assisted-living care before the Fire Marshal deemed the building unsafe. Thomas faces up to a $10,000 fine and five years in prison if convicted; an indictment is an accusation, and he is presumed innocent.
Source: Baltimore Focal
WOMAN OF DISTINCTION: Mónica Guerrero Vázquez, MS, MPH
Executive Director, Centro SOL (Johns Hopkins Medicine)
Across Maryland’s healthcare landscape, translating complex institutional medicine into trusted, community-level care remains one of the state’s most pressing challenges. At the intersection of that work stands Mónica Guerrero Vázquez, Executive Director of Centro SOL (Center for Health/Salud and Opportunity for Latinxs) at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Over the past decade, Guerrero Vázquez has systematically expanded Centro SOL’s operational reach, turning community-based participatory research into concrete access points for physical, adolescent, and mental health services across Greater Baltimore.
Systemic Impact & Municipal Leadership
Linguistic & Cultural Access: Spearheaded clinical consultation frameworks, research inclusion protocols, and youth opportunity pipelines tailored to eliminate structural barriers for limited-English proficient and undocumented residents.
Targeted Mental Health Infrastructure: Co-developed grassroots mental health interventions, including the Testimonios bilingual support program, designed to address trauma, migration-related stressors, and mental healthcare disparities in emerging Latino communities.
State & Local Policy Appointments: Leverages public health data to inform statewide policy through appointments to the Maryland State Commission on Suicide Prevention and the Baltimore City Trauma Informed Care Task Force.
Data-Driven Health Equity
Holding a background in computer science along with a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health—where she is completing her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)—Guerrero Vázquez pairs systems-level analytical rigor with community organizing. Her focus on culturally responsive health literacy, equitable clinical trial recruitment, and state-level policy advocacy continues to reshape how major healthcare anchor institutions engage marginalized populations across Maryland.
For future features or submission recommendations for our Women of Distinction series, contact the desk at Barry@themarylandwire.com.