File this under…interesting.
As he prepares for his second term, Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford (R) is getting his own dedicated communications staffer for the first time.
Hannah Marr, who has been doing press for Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) dating back to his Change Maryland days – save for her stint as the top press aide to Alfred W. Redmer Jr. (R) during his unsuccessful bid for Baltimore County executive this year – joined Rutherford’s staff last week as a special adviser for communications. Marr, who is especially talented in social media, has worked as Hogan’s press secretary and deputy press secretary, did communications for his 2014 gubernatorial campaign and was communications director for Change Maryland, the precursor to the campaign.
Rutherford’s media relations have so far been handled by the governor’s press office, so Marr’s addition to his staff is noteworthy.
The conventional wisdom among Maryland political insiders has been that Rutherford, a seasoned government manager and technocrat with a quirky, nerdy side, would not be interested in running for governor in 2022, when Hogan’s second term ends. But following the losses last month of the men who were seen as Hogan’s likeliest successors on the Republican side – former Anne Arundel County executive Steve Schuh and former Howard County executive Allan Kittleman – that calculus may be changing.
One way or the other, the Rutherford-Marr collaboration should be formidable and fun to observe for the foreseeable future.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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