Hogan, Franchot criticise speaking payments to O’Malley

ANNAPOLIS — Approval of a nearly $800,000 contract with a longtime state vendor was postponed when Gov. Larry Hogan and Comptroller Peter Franchot raised sharp criticisms over the company’s outside payments to former Gov. Martin O’Malley, at Wednesday’s Board of Public Works meeting.

As part of a $140,000 speaking contract, O’Malley delivered the keynote address at Environmental Systems Research Institute’s annual user conference in San Diego in July, said Christian Carlson, a representative from the company who addressed the board.

“Hope that was a hell of a speech,” Hogan remarked.

A spokeswoman for O’Malley would not directly address the speech-contract details, but said ESRI’s relationship with the city of Baltimore and state of Maryland predate the former governor’s tenure.

More