Former Salisbury Mayor Jake Day, others advance in path to joining Wes Moore's cabinet
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The first group of cabinet secretaries to join the administration of Gov. Wes Moore received their Senate confirmation on Monday night. A second group, including former Salisbury Mayor Jake Day, faced the chamber’s Executive Nominations Committee earlier in the evening.
The latter group of nine, minus potentially a couple of exceptions, are scheduled to be before the full Senate for a vote on Friday.
Based off the committee questioning, the former Salisbury mayor did not appear to have any roadblocks in his way to confirmation as the Secretary of Housing and Community Development.
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“All of Jake Day’s prior professional and personal experience will be brought to bear in the leadership of this new position at the state level,” said Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, R-38 (Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties), who introduced Day and supported his nomination.
Carozza, the sole member to ask a question of Day during the public hearing, noted his work experience as a veteran and mayor as well as his familial background as the son of Randy Day, CEO of Perdue Farms, and Debbie Day, a retired teacher.
Day lists priorities for Housing and Community Development Department
The nominee’s first stated priority had to do with those who are not housed, indicating his desire to adopt and achieve policies that address chronic homelessness
“We must treat shelter as a human right,” Day told the senators in the crowded room of the Senate Office Building. He then moved on to the topics of housing costs, housing design and past housing discrimination.
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“Design lends dignity to people’s lives,” the past president of the American Institute of Architecture Students said. “The greatest multiplier effect we can have is to build places where people want to be.”
He also noted that the department’s “policy decisions must amount to a deliberate counteraction of redlining,” referencing the early 20th century real estate practice that kept Blacks and immigrants in certain neighborhoods, often with high rents and poor-quality housing.
Department of Environment nominee questioned on gas-powered car ban
Perhaps the hearing’s most intriguing line of questioning came from Senate Minority Leader Jeff Hershey, R-Upper Shore, during an exchange with Department of Environment Acting Secretary Serena McIlwain, most recently the undersecretary of California’s Environmental Protection Agency.
He referenced a 2007 law that led Maryland to follow California’s vehicle emission standards. He noted California’s goal of last year to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
“Your thoughts on the ban of gas-powered road vehicles?” Hershey asked the nominee “Is that achievable?”
“Everything that works in California doesn’t work in Maryland,” the former U.S. Department of Energy and federal Environmental Protection Agency employee said.
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“We follow California when it makes sense,” said McIlwain, noting she had been involved with the negotiations regarding the multi-state agreement. “That’s something I need to look into.”
After confirmations, Moore's cabinet starts taking shape
McIlwain, Day and five other secretary nominees were approved and their names sent to the full Senate for consideration. The nominees included: Paul Wiedefeld, acting Transportation secretary; Rebecca Flora, acting Planning secretary; Carolyn Scruggs, acting secretary of Public Safety and Corrections; Atif Chaudhry, acting secretary of General Services, and Rafael López, acting secretary of Human Services.
To accommodate additional meetings with senators, the hearings for the nominees to lead the departments of Veterans Affairs and Juvenile Services were held by the committee on Monday.
Emily Keller, Moore’s pick to lead the state’s opioid response as Special Secretary of Opioid Response, did not require a Senate vetting or confirmation. Keller reports to Secretary of the Department of Health Laura Herrera Scott, who received Senate confirmation on Monday night. Keller is the former mayor of Hagerstown.
The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Scott as well as Carmel Roques, secretary of Aging; Kevin Atticks, secretary of Agriculture; Helene Grady, secretary of Budget and Management; Kevin Anderson, secretary of Commerce; Katie Savage, secretary of Information Technology; Portia Wu, secretary of Labor; Josh Kurtz, secretary of Natural Resources, and Susan Lee, secretary of State.
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Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Jake Day, many other nominees on fast path to join Wes Moore cabinet
