Since January 2017, many Marylanders have been frustrated by Governor Hogan’s lack of leadership in publicly addressing and supporting efforts to mitigate the potential impacts on Maryland of proposed federal policies and budgetary initiatives.  A group of concerned citizens acted on this frustration and circulated among fellow citizens an invitation to the Governor to attend a forum in Montgomery County to address those potential impacts. Five hundred Marylanders signed the invitation, and it was submitted to the Governor on May 18, 2017.  He declined our invitation, indicating he was unavailable any weeknight evening in fall or winter 2017.

The Governor was advised in the invitation that the forum would be held even in his absence.  After a date of Oct. 4th was selected, he was invited once again, this time with 600 Marylanders joining the invitation. He declined once more. If he won’t show leadership for the community, then we will, with the hope that he’ll hear us and step up. 

In an effort to provide a voice to the community, six community groups (Do the Most Good, Indivisible All In, Indivisible Cabin John, Diversity Matters, Indivisible Montgomery, and Takoma Park Mobilization) have united to provide this forum on key Maryland priorities, where we will speak to the Governor whether he’s there or not.  

Congressman Jamie Raskin will kick off the forum, and introduce the moderator  and speakers.  Speakers are policy experts in three critical issue areas:  

• Healthcare 
• The environment 
• Public education

In keeping with the title (“Marylanders Speak to Governor Hogan”), audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions of the policy experts (the link to submit your questions is provided upon RSVP) and will be able to vote to prioritize specific policy actions within each of the three issue areas. Voting results will be reported out to state officials and the media.

The Forum will be held on October 4, 2017, 7:30pm-9:00 pm, at Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, MD. RSVP below, and use the links below to spread the word!

To RSVP, click here.