Posts by Sean

Blended Public Affairs, an Annapolis public relations firm, conducted a survey with names of previously known candidates and asked residents what they wanted to see from a future executive. Inflation and cost of living and crime/public safety were identified as top concerns. Nearly half of respondents surveyed said they would support an infrastructure fee to upgrade schools, libraries and fire stations.

Blended found that while Klausmeier led the pack in name recognition, most voters did not know enough about her or any of the other candidates to have an opinion.

If council members are deadlocked for two weeks, the person who is the sitting council president at the time becomes executive for two years — though that person’s identity won’t be known until the council’s organizational meeting on Dec. 3.

Confused? You should be.

But this may not come as a surprise: The candidates quietly — and in some cases, not so quietly — mobilizing to try to succeed Olszewski and Alsobrooks aren’t terribly well known to average voters.

That’s according to a poll conducted for Blended Public Affairs, an Annapolis-based firm headed by Alexandra Hughes, the former chief of staff to two Maryland House speakers. This is the maiden public poll of a new alliance between the firm and Donna Victoria, a Maryland-based Democratic pollster, who has just become a strategic partner at Blended Public Affairs.

“We started Blended based on a theory that impact and influence happen in a different way today than 20 years ago,” Hughes said. “Media, social media, grass-roots, coalition building and research drive the way people make decisions now more than ever. We are thrilled to add polling and qualitative research to our suite of services to give clients the best possible real-time information to impact their long-term strategic goals.”

Hughes’ firm already expanded earlier this year when she hired Dori Henry, a former top aide to Olszewski and other leading Maryland Democrats, as senior vice president.

Dori Henry, a seasoned policy and communications strategist who is leaving her post next month as chief of staff to Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D), is joining forces with Alexandra Hughes, the former chief of staff to state House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) and the late Speaker Michael E. Busch (D).

Henry is set to become senior vice president of Blended Public Affairs, the firm Hughes started after she left the legislature. Henry’s addition is another a sign of the firm’s steady growth since Hughes launched it in 2022.

Current clients include US Wind, MCB Real Estate, Anheuser Busch and the William Julius Wilson Institute, a national anti-poverty think tank.

“We are so thrilled to welcome Dori to Blended,” Hughes said. “Dori is a powerhouse and her local, state and federal communications, political and executive management experience are second to none. She brings tremendous value to our team and elevates Blended to another level in the DMV.”

Henry has worked for Olszewski since he took office in 2018, becoming chief of staff in September 2022 after stints as his communications director and deputy chief of staff. Olszewski is heavily favored to win a congressional seat in November and leave the county executive’s job.

“From the moment we took office, Dori has been an integral partner in every major initiative our administration has undertaken and has been an invaluable leader in our work to build a better Baltimore County,” Olszewski said. “Our communities are stronger today because of her unwavering commitment to innovative, accountable government and her passion for public service.”

Prior to her service with Baltimore County, Henry oversaw communications for the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, served as assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, and held roles at the U.S. Department of Justice, the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. Besides Olszewski, her ex-bosses and professional mentors have included Tom Perez, for whom she worked at the DOJ and state and federal labor departments, and Josh Sharfstein, the former Maryland health secretary.

Henry, who began her career as a journalist but has spent most of the past two decades in government, said she’ll be able to apply what she’s learned in her new position.

“Obviously my background is largely in communications and more recently, strategy – political strategy and community engagement,” she said.

Henry added that Hughes will be one of her first women bosses.

“I think our skills are aligned, and this is a good opportunity to try something new with someone I really respect,” she said. “She’s already been a strong foundation. I’m excited to help her grow.”

Harborplace was a sensation, drawing millions of visitors, but over time it lost its luster, traded hands and fell into disrepair. Last June, an LLC created by Bramble bought Harborplace for nearly $83 million after its previous owner defaulted on a loan and the property came under the control of a court-appointed receiver, records show. He beat other developers vying for the project.

According to Bramble and MCB, the designs were based on a massive amount of public input solicited both online and during in-person community meetings throughout the city. But he also knew the plans would face pushback.

Behind the scenes, Bramble hired Alexandra Hughes, a longtime political operative in Annapolis, to handle public relations. According to briefing documents obtained by The Baltimore Banner in a public records request, Hughes identified several controversial points ahead of the plan’s public release:

Why spend so much public money on a single project in Baltimore instead of other areas in Maryland? Does the project need apartments? And will they be priced for the average Baltimorean? Can this project attract enough retailers? Or would it just cannibalize retail from other areas of the city?

Illustration Featured: Alex Fine for the Baltimore Banner

On the eve of a new year — and a new General Assembly session — Maryland voters are generally optimistic about the future, though many have jitters about inflation and crime in Baltimore. They are also looking to their government leaders for bold solutions — though it isn’t clear whether there’s the political will or the desire by taxpayers to pay for the initiatives that may be needed to move the state’s economy forward.

Those are some of the conclusions of a recent issues survey for Maryland that was taken by a Democratic pollster and commissioned by a leading Annapolis lobbying firm and a politically wired public affairs strategist.

The poll showed that many voters are comfortable in their own lives and are enthusiastic about several proposed measures that could improve Maryland’s economy and create more opportunity and equity for residents who are struggling financially.

The poll was broken into two parts, testing the opinions of 813 likely 2024 general election voters of all political persuasions, and 502 registered Baltimore City Democrats who are likely to vote in the city’s primaries next December. The statewide survey had a 3.3-point margin of error, while the Baltimore Democratic portion of the survey had a 4.4-point error margin.

The 45-question poll was paid for by the Annapolis lobbying firm Perry White Ross and Jacobson, whose senior partner is Tim Perry, a former chief of staff to the late Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D), and Blended Public Affairs, whose principal is Alexandra Hughes, a former chief of staff to House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) and the late Speaker Mike Busch (D).

Both firms have an array of clients who will be closely monitoring the developments in state government in the months ahead. Perry White Ross and Jacobson is one of the top-grossing lobbying firms in the state.

An industry-backed campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Maryland launched Thursday, urging voters to pick “yes on 4,” the November ballot question about legalizing pot possession for adults 21 and over.

If the measure passes, Marylanders who are at least 21 will be able to legally possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis and grow two marijuana plants out of public view, beginning July 1, 2023. Under legislation approved by state lawmakers earlier this year, the sale of marijuana remains a crime.

A top adviser to the last two leaders of the House of Delegates will leave her post at the end of the year.

Alexandra Hughes, 44, will be missing from her usual spot on the rostrum within earshot of House Speaker Adrienne Jones when the 2022 session starts. A fixture in the speaker’s office for 15 years, Hughes will leave to start her own Annapolis public relations firm.

The change, and word of her successor, was part of an announcement from Jones Friday morning and an earlier Maryland Matters report.

On May 1, 2019, as the House of Delegates gathered in Annapolis to select a new leader three weeks after the sudden death of Speaker Michael E. Busch (D), Alexandra M. Hughes, Busch’s longtime lieutenant, packed up her State House office, unsure if the next speaker would want to keep her around.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Hughes recalled in a recent interview. “It was so hard not to be in control of that process and to leave everybody to their own devices.”

She shouldn’t have worried.

By that point, Hughes had worked for Busch for 13 years — including 4 1/2 years as his chief of staff. She served, in the words of one admirer, as Busch’s “war-time consigliere,” as he navigated a strained relationship with Republican Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.

So when Del. Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), who had been Busch’s loyal, low-key speaker pro tem for the entirety of his tenure, emerged as the Democratic caucus’ compromise choice to replace him that May Day, it wasn’t surprising that she chose to keep Hughes as her chief of staff. Jones said it never occurred to her that Hughes might leave.

“As pro-tem, I dealt with her a lot,” Jones said. “We really had a good rapport. Plus, we’re both Scorpios. Scorpios have this sense about people, so we really connected early on,” Jones said, referring to their shared astrological sign.

But now, Hughes is packing up her State House office for real. She plans to step down as Jones’ chief of staff at the end of the year and set up her own public affairs shop in Annapolis.