Criticisms of Jealous came from Hogan ally

The Sun did its readers a grave disservice in its article, “Some Dems tepid on Jealous” (Sept. 24), by withholding critical information about the article’s primary source, former Del. Tim Maloney. Despite following Maryland politics closely, I had never heard of Delegate Maloney before reading the story, and I was struck by how closely his statement, “Ben Jealous’ platform is so extreme, so undisciplined, and so reckless that it would be bad for the state of Maryland” echoed some of Gov. Larry Hogan’s paid ads. Who was this person, and is he really a Democrat? The Sun’s story provided no context about this individual, other than to say he had supported past Democratic gubernatorial candidates.

So I put down my Sunday newspaper and picked up my phone to search for information about Mr. Maloney. The first link took me to an article in The Sun (“Maryland must pay cabinet secretaries who weren’t confirmed, judge rules,” Dec. 14, 2017) that informed me Mr. Maloney is an attorney who represented two of Governor Hogan’s abinet secretaries. The next link took me to a profile of Mr. Hogan (“Hogan, activist and businessman, ‘wears his passion on his sleeve,’” Oct. 18, 2014) in The Sun that told me Mr. Hogan and Mr. Maloney have been close friends since attending high school together in the 1980s.

None of this information was included in the article, one that presented Mr. Maloney as an objective observer, dissatisfied with the Jealous campaign. In reality, previous Sun reporting reveals that Mr. Maloney is a lifelong friend of Governor Hogan who is now profiting from a professional relationship representing Hogan appointees. I believe these relationships should have precluded Mr. Maloney from being included at all in a story that purports to discuss how ordinary Democrats feel about the governor’s race. But at the very least, readers should have been informed of Mr. Maloney’s close personal and professional relationships with Governor Hogan.