MD Gov: It Took ‘Quite Some Time’ to Hear From Baltimore Mayor

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) claimed Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) took “quite some time” to get in touch with him regarding the rioting in Baltimore and that he was “glad that she finally” got in contact with them during a press conference on Monday.

Hogan said, “we declared the state of emergency and I issued the executive order less than 30 seconds after requested by the City of Baltimore. So, it didn’t take us very long at all. I — signed an executive order almost immediately as soon as we received the call and then called the president, there was no delay whatsoever. We’ve had this emergency operation center activated since Saturday. We’ve had hundreds of state police on the ground. We’ve had every single state agency and local agency coordinated out of this operation already for the entire week. I’ve been in daily communication with the mayor, and others in the city, and our entire team has been involved from day one. But frankly, this is a Baltimore city situation. Baltimore city was in charge. When the mayor called me, which quite frankly, we were glad that she finally did, instantly we signed the executive order. We already had our entire team prepared, and in fact I already called General Singh earlier in the day and asked her to get prepared to be called up. We were all in a command center in the second floor of the State House in constant communication and we were trying to get in touch with the mayor for quite some time. She finally made that call, and we immediately took action.”

Hogan added, “I know that the city has done everything in their power to get this under control. I don’t want to question what they have been doing. They’re all under tremendous stress. We’re all here on one team. I want to thank the mayor for all of her involvement. We’re just happy that we’re all on the same page and we’re all able to help each other at this point.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett