Republican Family Values

Roy McGrath, Maryland Governor Paul "Governor Ratf%$#" Hogan's former chief of staff, has been indicted for embezzlement and wiretapping.  (Maryland is a 2 party consent state)

This is going to play so well for Hogan's presidential bid in 2024:

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s former top aide, Roy McGrath, faces dozens of federal and state criminal charges that he misled officials into paying him a six-figure severance, embezzled funds for personal purposes and illegally recorded phone calls with the governor and other members of Hogan’s staff.

A federal grand jury indictment and a state criminal information against McGrath were filed Tuesday, alleging a broad range of illicit behavior. The state charges describe four phone calls in which Hogan was recorded in March, April and May of 2020 without his “knowledge or consent.”

McGrath resigned from his job in August 2020 and moved out of state after The Baltimore Sun reported on his severance from the Maryland Environmental Service.

………

Mike Ricci, a spokesman for Hogan, said in a statement that the charges are “very serious and deeply troubling.” He said the governor’s office has “actively assisted” in the criminal investigations.

“Marylanders deserve to know that their public officials are held to the highest ethical standards,” Ricci said.

McGrath, 52, served as the Republican governor’s chief of staff for 11 weeks in the summer of 2020, resigning just days after The Sun reported that he’d negotiated a lucrative payout when he left his prior state job.

It was subsequently revealed that as McGrath departed the environmental service to head Hogan’s staff he led the service’s board members to believe the $233,650 payout had the governor’s blessing. He also was paid more than $55,000 in expense reimbursements shortly after he left.

The federal indictment says McGrath “falsely represented that the Governor knew of McGrath’s request to the MES Board of Directors for a ‘severance payment’ in the amount of his yearly salary as MES Executive Director.”

………

The federal indictment also accuses McGrath of defrauding MES by obtaining more than $14,000 to attend a program at Harvard University following his resignation, and for failing to take leave when he took a vacation cruise to Spain, Italy and France in August 2019 and another vacation to Florida in December of that year.

………

The state charges also include multiple counts of “unlawful intercept” — wiretapping — and misconduct in office for recordings of conversations allegedly without consent of the other parties.

The illegally recorded conversations took place over the spring and summer of 2020, and included conversations with Hogan, leaders on his staff, the governor’s chief legal counsel, political consultants, Maryland Environmental Service employees and others. None knew they were being recorded, the criminal information alleges.

………

Based in Millersville, the Maryland Environmental Service is an independent agency of the state with more than 800 employees. It carries out environmental and public works projects, such as operating sewage plants and dredging waterways, primarily for local and state government agencies. Ninety-five percent of its budget comes in payments from state and local governments.

This is another problem with the setup.  Going with a private, albeit a non--profit, corporation to provide basic services and expertise that should be a core government function is a petri dish for looting like this.

………

A chief of staff is typically a right-hand assistant to a political executive, responsible for managing staff and making sure the executive’s priorities are carried out.

In choosing McGrath, Hogan picked someone right at hand, as he’d already borrowed McGrath from the environmental service to help with buying supplies and negotiating contracts as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hogan credited McGrath with “spearheading” the $9 million purchase of coronavirus tests from the South Korean company Lab Genomics. However, the tests couldn’t be used because they were shipped with an ingredient that wasn’t the same as one approved by federal regulators. The state had to spend $2.5 million more to replace them, spurring a scathing audit report that found contracting rules weren’t followed.

Yeah, corrupt and incompetent.  THAT's a great combination.

………

McGrath sold his Edgewater home, overlooking The Golf Club at South River, in December for $1.29 million and has moved to Naples, Florida.

No sign of corruption there, huh?

………

“It really shined a light on the fact that oversight is really important, and what happened back in the summer of last year was not OK,” [State Senator Clarence] Lam said. “And that public officials will be held accountable when they defraud taxpayers or mislead state agency boards.”

No it shows that when private entities are given contracts to execute core government functions,  corruption is almost inevitable.

It's going to be fun to see Hogan's opponents in the 2024 primary going after him for hi, as (McGrath's) mismanagement of the early days of the Covid pandemic.  (Assuming that McGrath doesn't try to trade Governor Ratf%$# for a reduced sentence).