State Appointments Secretary Tisha Edwards delivers more than 200 state board and commissions nominations to Senate President Bill Ferguson in what is known as “Green Bag” appointments day. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
A former legislator expelled from the Senate by his colleagues and a former Baltimore City Council president turned out by voters are among more than 200 appointments sent by Gov. Wes Moore (D) to the Maryland Senate on Tuesday.
The tranche of third-year appointments are part of what is known as the “Green Bag” tradition, when the names of nominees to 97 state boards and commissions were delivered to the Senate in a green leather pouch by Appointments Secretary Tisha Edwards.
Included on that list is Larry Young who was nominated to a vacancy on the Maryland Automobile Insurance Board of Trustees. If confirmed, Young would earn more than $20,000 annually as a board member.
Young served a decade in the Senate before being expelled in 1998 after an ethics investigation. He was later acquitted in a criminal trial and Young, 75, is now a morning talk show host on WOLB in Baltimore.
Former Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby was nominated to a position on the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Commission. He served three years in the House of Delegates before being elected council president in 2020. Mosby, now 45, was defeated in the 2024 Baltimore City Democratic primary election.
The governor also reappointed Yaakov “Jake” Weissmann to the Maryland State Board of Elections. The head of government relations for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and former chief of staff to Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) was first appointed in 2023.
Linda Lamone, the former long-time state elections administrator, was nominated as an attorney member of the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities. Lamone served on the state’s Attorney Grievance Commission for 30 years before leaving last year. She chaired that panel for 15 years.
All of the appointments must be confirmed by the Maryland Senate. Many will take part in hearings before the Senate Executive Nominations Committee.
Edwards, who delivered the nominations, told the Senate that the more than 200 nominees “are not only high-caliber individuals but are representative of the rich diversity of the state of Maryland.”
Two counties — Baltimore and Montgomery — accounted for nearly 30% of all the appointments. More than two dozen appointees live in Baltimore City, while Moore appointed 22 residents each from Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.
Those five jurisdictions, which make up more than 66% of the state’s population in the 2020 Census, accounted for 63% of all appointments.
The aggregate is slightly deceiving.
For example, Anne Arundel County, which makes up about 9.5% of the state’s population, accounted for 11.6% of all appointments in the Green Bag.
Baltimore City, which is 9.48% of the state’s total population, accounted for nearly 12.6% of all appointments.
The state’s two largest jurisdictions by population — Prince George’s and Montgomery counties — underperformed on appointments.
Residents of Montgomery County accounted for 14.5% of all appointments. More than 18% of the state’s population live in that county.
Similarly, more than 11.6% of all appointments came from Prince George’s County. More than 15% of the state’s population live in that county.