Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.101) on December 13, 2000 at 20:47:
GOP's Hogan now Democrat
By Douglas Tallman, Frederick News-Post, December 13, 2000
Four months ago, Patrick J. Hogan was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, supporting Texas Gov. George W. Bush's drive for the White House.
On Tuesday, he became a Democrat.
Close associates confirmed Tuesday night that the Montgomery County state senator changed parties. Mr. Hogan could not be reached for comment.
"He thinks he can serve his constituents better if he becomes a Democrat," said Rep. Connie Morella, R-8th, whose 2000 campaign Mr. Hogan managed.
She said it was a personal decision on Mr. Hogan's part.
"I have great respect for P.J. It was his decision," Ms. Morella said.
Sen. Martin Madden, R-Howard, told Mr. Hogan the choice was a mistake.
"I told him he would have a much tougher time in a liberal Democratic primary. ... I told him I was deeply disappointed. I thought he had a bright future in the Republican party, particularly as a Montgomery County moderate," said Mr. Madden, the Senate minority leader.
Mr. Hogan, 38, was first elected to the state Senate in 1995. He serves on a political action committee that helps Republicans get elected to the Senate.
"I hope this was a very personal decision," Sen. Timothy Ferguson, R-Frederick/Carroll, said, "and not one that (he made because) he's frustrated with the leadership, because he's part of the leadership."
The 39th District, created by redistricting following the 1990 Census, has many voters who cross political boundaries to vote on issues. It has one of the state's largest pools of voters who decline to affiliate with either the Republican or Democratic parties.
Mr. Hogan, a Pittsburgh, Pa. native, crossed party lines himself this year when he joined many Democrats in the last legislative session to vote in favor of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's "Smart Gun" law. The gun safety bill requires all guns sold in the state after 2003 to include integrated mechanical trigger locks.
In his own account of the 2000 session, Mr. Hogan writes, the locks "can be disabled by the owner. ... The intent of the bill is to reduce accidental shootings and homicides committed with stolen guns. After long and careful consideration and after hearing from many constituents, I voted in favor of the legislation. My hope is that families might be spared the grief of losing a child or family member from gun violence."
From the time of his first election in 1994, when he first won the office he now holds, Mr. Hogan's campaigns have stressed education issues such as increased school construction to meet northern Montgomery County growth as well as development of new high technology jobs in the I-270 corridor.
He has also long stressed reducing the size and cost of government.
Mr. Hogan serves on the Senate committee of Budget and Taxation and that group's subcommittees on Health, Education and Human Resources and Pensions. Mr. Hogan's other committee assignments include: Spending Affordability; Joint Audit; Joint Committee on Federal Relations; Joint Committee on Legislative Data Systems; Special Joint Committee on Pensions and Committee Schedules.
He is the owner of a computer consulting firm and the former proprietor of a sporting goods store, which he sold in 1990.
Last year, another state senator defected from the GOP -- Sen. Robert R. Neall of Anne Arundel County became a Democrat, the party he left once before in 1972.
Mr. Hogan's switch leaves the Senate with 13 Republicans and 34 Democrats.