Notes & Personnel
Quick reads, lateral moves, and news from around the Free State.
Bryan P. Sears reports the Maryland Board of Contract Appeals has sanctioned the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency for dragging its feet on discovery in the Scientific Games contract dispute — the board will treat withheld documents as favorable to Scientific Games and barred the agency from using unproduced records or calling related witnesses. The lottery agency and the Attorney General’s office declined comment, citing ongoing litigation. Maryland Matters
Mike Ertel, the Baltimore County Council chair, has introduced bills raising council pay from $69,000 to $119,750 (chair: $77,000 to $129,750) and the county executive’s salary from $192,000 to $240,000, as the council expands from seven to nine members. A public work session is today, with a hearing October 13 and a vote October 19; Councilman Nino Mangione is the vocal opponent. Outgoing County Executive Kathy Klausmeier’s successor is likely either Democratic Councilman Julian Jones or Republican Pat Dyer. Dundalk Eagle
Nearly 300 new Maryland laws take effect tomorrow, October 1 — including the Fair Chance Housing Act, which requires landlords to make a conditional offer before running a criminal-history check and bars them from demanding drug tests, plus doubled fines (to $10,000) and prison terms (to ten years) on at least one measure. AP
The African American Heritage Preservation Program is being renamed for former House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, effective October 1 — Stacy Montgomery, the Capital Grants Administrator, announced the change, crediting Jones’s 2022 vote that lifted annual grant funding from $1.5 million to $5 million. The renaming legislation was carried by Del. Hill (HB 1300) with a Sen. Brooks amendment, and the announcement names Rev. Alicia Hundall of Cowdensville A.M.E. Church among the program’s stewards. EIN Presswire
In Howard County, Councilmember David Yungmann — the council’s lone Republican — has introduced Council Bill 59 to pause commercial solar projects over 1 megawatt pending clarity on federal clean-energy credits. Chair Opal Jones has the bill before the council; testimony has split between supporters like Jeff Pollock of Richland Farm and opponents including Doug Siglin. No vote yet. citizenportal.ai
Via The Maryland Wire: “Why Your Candidate’s Dollar Is Worth Two of Theirs” — a deep dive into the two-tier political ad market, walking through 47 U.S.C. §315(b)’s lowest-unit-charge rule, the AdImpact/Axios finding that issue advertisers pay roughly double, and NRSC coordinated-buy figures, with Wes Moore vs. Dan Cox spending as the Maryland case study. The Maryland Wire
Via The Maryland Wire: “Undue Attention and Unforced Errors” — a GOP slate led by Nino Mangione directed more than $153,500 to Campaign Communications, a firm employing Kelley Rogers, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2019 over scam PACs and served two and a half years in federal prison; Patrick Dyer and Kevin Ford are also named, while Chris West has distanced himself. The Maryland Wire
Via The Maryland Wire: “The Rural Maryland Shake Up Nobody Saw Coming” — diesel over $5 a gallon is squeezing rural donors, with Clemis Kaikis, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, and Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey all in the frame, plus a rural rift over solar leases. The Maryland Wire
Housing & Development Signal: Land use attorney and government affairs strategist Tom Coale continues tracking a noticeable surge in client inquiries for residential projects across Maryland, driven by early vesting provisions under the Housing Certainty Act and local zoning shifts [Tom Coale / LinkedIn Notice].
County Procurement Openings: Howard County Purchasing released pre-bid conference schedules for updated municipal infrastructure solicitations, including long-term fuel storage and public facility upgrades listed on eMMA [Howard County Procurement].
State Agency Solicitations: The Maryland Department of General Services (DGS) updated vendor guidelines and eMMA form requirements for all formal solicitations posted on or after September 1 [Maryland Procurement Office].
Defense & Federal Pipeline: General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) secured a $16.5M federal IT infrastructure award to maintain Defense Stockpile Management Systems, supporting ongoing logistics and IT operations in the region [U.S. Dept. of Defense Contracts].
Key Recent Filings
Harris Jones & Malone, LLC registered Swan Point Development Company LLC. Filed under partner Lisa Harris Jones and associate Gabriel Auteri, this account covers real estate, land use, and development representation in Southern Maryland.
Compass Government Relations Partners, LLC (Tyler Bennett) registered AMP Robotics Corporation. The representation covers state and county procurement, along with legislative matters involving advanced recycling and waste processing technologies.
Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd. (Elizabeth C. Rogers) filed for William Morris. The land-use representation specifically covers zoning and entitlement matters (including ZTA 26-08 regarding Non-conforming Use Reinstatement).
Drew Construction Company, LLC filed an in-house registration via Alex Denicoff. The representation focuses on general contracting regulations and managed Wi-Fi requirements in residential multi-family units.
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A Socialite in the Modern Sense: Jessica Haire
Some people collect titles. Jessica Haire collects professions — and masters every one of them.
Start with the résumé, because it reads like three different people’s lives. A civil engineering degree, cum laude, from George Washington University, followed by real work as a project engineer — she knows how things are actually built, not how they look on a rendering. Then law school at American University, where she picked up both a J.D. and a master’s in international politics. Today she sits as a partner at Thompson Hine, practicing at the highest levels of federal construction and government contracts law: Best Lawyers in America for Construction Law, the Legal 500 for Government Contracts, a seat on Law360’s Government Contracts editorial board. She has litigated against the Maryland State Highway Administration and handled the Naval Academy Parking Garage matter right here in Annapolis. When Jessica Haire walks into a dispute over a bridge, she understands both the concrete and the contract.
That engineer’s mind is what makes her such a distinctive figure in Maryland politics. She served on the Anne Arundel County Council from 2018 to 2022, ran a serious race for County Executive against Steuart Pittman — loaning her own campaign $575,000, which tells you something about commitment — served as legal counsel to the Maryland Republican Party, and is now the Republican nominee for State Senate in District 30, challenging Shaneka Henson in one of the cycle’s most watched races. Henry Green endorsed her just last month.
She is married to former Maryland GOP chairman Dirk Haire — they wed in the summer of 2014 — and together they are raising four children in Edgewater, which means she is doing all of the above while running what amounts to a small, joyful enterprise at home.
And yes — since this is the socialite feature, it may be said plainly — she is a beautiful woman, the kind whose photographs flatter the camera rather than the other way around. But the beauty is the least interesting thing about her, which is precisely what makes her the modern sense of the word: accomplished, formidable, and impossible to put in a single lane. Many Maryland Republicans will tell you she is the most exciting figure in their party. After reading the résumé, it’s hard to argue.