Republican Governor-elect Larry Hogan has tapped Democrat Robert Neall to take the lead on his budget and taxation transition team.
Neall is a former state senator, delegate and Anne Arundel county executive who became a Democrat in 1999 after saying he felt uncomfortable in the GOP.
Hogan described Neall as the most respected fiscal mind in the state of Maryland adding that nobody knows the tax and fiscal budget issue better.
Among the jobs facing the transition team Hogan said will be any mid-course corrections for the rest of the seven months of the fiscal year of 2015.
But Neall said there few precious opportunities for the new governor to tweak a budget that was put together by his predecessor’s staff.
During the campaign Hogan promised to cut spending and taxes after denouncing O’Malley administration’s tax hikes and spending increases.
