I want to direct media attention to corruption in the MD state government. How do I do that?

[Anonymous]

I have been thinking about this for awhile. My husband recently left the MD state government after about a decade of service and some of the shenanigans that the Hogan administration pulled were beyond reason. Now there are consequences to public services that I believe are clear and incontrovertible evidence of an unacceptable level of corruption.

I don’t think that Maryland voters should vote for the Senate without understanding the depth of rot in the Hogan administration. I have been pleading with my husband to file a complaint with the Office of the Inspector General at the least, but I believe that the media would also have a field day with what is going on. All it would require is a few FOIA requests and a platform. My question is… how would I alert anyone in the media? What should I say?

[Anonymous]

Call the news stations??

[Anonymous]

You don't have any real standing to do this. If your HUSBAND wants to be a source and has the goods/evidence to back up his claim, he should find either an investigative reporter or editor at the Baltimore Sun or another MD newspaper (or maybe the Washington Post) and reach out. But this isn't something for you to do. You don't have first-hand knowledge of anything and aren't a credible source.

-- former journalist.

[Anonymous]

This is a bit late in the game. Hogan's been out for a while and so have his appointees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a bit late in the game. Hogan's been out for a while and so have his appointees.

But he is running for Senate. So very relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't have any real standing to do this. If your HUSBAND wants to be a source and has the goods/evidence to back up his claim, he should find either an investigative reporter or editor at the Baltimore Sun or another MD newspaper (or maybe the Washington Post) and reach out. But this isn't something for you to do. You don't have first-hand knowledge of anything and aren't a credible source.

-- former journalist.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Call the news stations??

They don't do investigative work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't have any real standing to do this. If your HUSBAND wants to be a source and has the goods/evidence to back up his claim, he should find either an investigative reporter or editor at the Baltimore Sun or another MD newspaper (or maybe the Washington Post) and reach out. But this isn't something for you to do. You don't have first-hand knowledge of anything and aren't a credible source.

-- former journalist.

Yes, obviously he would be the one providing the information. It has no impact on his career so he is not opposed, his former supervisor just convinced him that there are “powerful people” who would successfully cover the whole thing up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't have any real standing to do this. If your HUSBAND wants to be a source and has the goods/evidence to back up his claim, he should find either an investigative reporter or editor at the Baltimore Sun or another MD newspaper (or maybe the Washington Post) and reach out. But this isn't something for you to do. You don't have first-hand knowledge of anything and aren't a credible source.

-- former journalist.

Yes, obviously he would be the one providing the information. It has no impact on his career so he is not opposed, his former supervisor just convinced him that there are “powerful people” who would successfully cover the whole thing up.

i mean, you can't control for that.
also a former journalist and pp's advice is correct - he could also tweet out a thread and tag a bunch of publications if he wants to own the story and is fairly internet literate and a decent writer

[Anonymous]

Maybe start with the FOIA requests and see what a few journalists think about the information?

What matters is doing your due diligence, not the end goal. If a whistle-blower informs some expert members of the public (a few journalists), and it doesn't lead to what you think should happen... then instead of thinking that the entire affair has been covered up, maybe it just means that the issues, real though they are, are not as important as you think.

But at least the whistleblower will have done his duty.

Please don't confuse releasing information and your desired outcome, which is getting Hogan out of the Senate race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't have any real standing to do this. If your HUSBAND wants to be a source and has the goods/evidence to back up his claim, he should find either an investigative reporter or editor at the Baltimore Sun or another MD newspaper (or maybe the Washington Post) and reach out. But this isn't something for you to do. You don't have first-hand knowledge of anything and aren't a credible source.

-- former journalist.

Yes, obviously he would be the one providing the information. It has no impact on his career so he is not opposed, his former supervisor just convinced him that there are “powerful people” who would successfully cover the whole thing up.

i mean, you can't control for that.
also a former journalist and pp's advice is correct - he could also tweet out a thread and tag a bunch of publications if he wants to own the story and is fairly internet literate and a decent writer

DH is highly intelligent but he is also none of the above. He does not want attention or to own anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe start with the FOIA requests and see what a few journalists think about the information?

What matters is doing your due diligence, not the end goal. If a whistle-blower informs some expert members of the public (a few journalists), and it doesn't lead to what you think should happen... then instead of thinking that the entire affair has been covered up, maybe it just means that the issues, real though they are, are not as important as you think.

But at least the whistleblower will have done his duty.

Please don't confuse releasing information and your desired outcome, which is getting Hogan out of the Senate race.

I think actually the opposite is true… what we can see/perceive from our vantage point is just a piece of the elephant and so many worse things are there, waiting to be discovered.

I don’t care what happens to Hogan but I think voters should be aware of the financial malfeasance that happened on his watch. What they do with that information is up to them.

[Anonymous]

Can your husband share anything here? Maybe we have a journo who is willing to pick up the story from little snippets you provide here.

Also I'm curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can your husband share anything here? Maybe we have a journo who is willing to pick up the story from little snippets you provide here.

Also I'm curious.

I don’t want to totally give it away but basically government contracts for services were funneled to Hogan’s friends and contacts, which I get, is sometimes how things are done, but the new contractors have completely failed and it is impacting government services in such a way that lots of money is being lost, mishandled, etc., and funds that were essentially supposed to go to poor people are just… disappearing, going to the wrong individuals, etc.

[Anonymous]

You and your husband’s motives for making this public now are highly suspect and obviously politically motivated.

You should be prepared and understand that this will more likely lead to significant scrutiny about your husband’s behavior while employed by the state.

Before taking any action, you should be sure that he has not himself violated any laws or policies or if whether he could be claimed to be a party to the accusations that he wishes to make.

What’s interesting to me is that if he was a long time state employee and predated Hogam, that this supposed unstated allegation would somehow be the first questionable issue that he encountered that he found troubling during his employment. Particularly when the previous governor was O’Malley.