AUG 14, 1:18 PM

Hogan’s New Chief Of Staff Received A Six-Figure Payout After Voluntarily Leaving Maryland Environmental Service
Elliot C. Williams https://twitter.com/ecwilliams30 Hannah Schuster https://twitter.com/hschuster28

This story has been updated.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s new chief of staff, Roy McGrath, was paid a six-figure severance package when he voluntarily left his former position as director of the Maryland Environmental Service. The Baltimore Sun first reported the news.

McGrath has defended the payment as “a standard business practice,” but state lawmakers in Annapolis are pledging to investigate.

McGrath left his former job to join the governor’s office in June, and was granted a package that included a year’s salary — $233,647 according to budget records obtained by the Sun — tuition reimbursement, a cell phone, and a laptop. According to the Sun, the department’s Board of Directors approved the package at a May 28 meeting, whose minutes confirm the decision.

McGrath replaced Matthew Clark as Hogan’s top aide and according to the paper, he receives a $233,000 salary. Clark left to become a senior vice president in the University of Maryland Medical System.

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Governor Hogan’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

This isn’t the only financial dealing that has raised eyebrows in recent weeks. On Thursday, the Sun’s editorial board slammed the state school board’s decision to grant Superintendent Karen Salmon a $40,000 pay raise in the midst of a pandemic and budget deficits.

Sunday, Aug. 16 at 9:02 a.m.: This story was updated to include McGrath’s response to criticism of the severance package and comments from the co-chairs of the Maryland General Assembly’s Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight.

New Hogan chief of staff got six-figure payout as he left Maryland Environmental Service to work for governor

By PAMELA WOOD
BALTIMORE SUN | AUG 14, 2020 AT 8:29 AM

When Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s new chief of staff left his job running an independent state agency to work at the State House, he walked away with a six-figure severance package that included a year’s salary.

The Maryland Environmental Service’s board of directors approved the payout for Roy McGrath’s voluntary departure in a private online meeting May 28, according to the meeting minutes posted on its website. The salary amount is not in the minutes, and the minutes don’t offer a reason for the payment.

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Pamela Wood
https://twitter.com/pwoodreporter

Pamela Wood covers Maryland politics from The Baltimore Sun's State House bureau in Annapolis. She's been with The Baltimore Sun since 2013, and previously wrote for The Capital, the Maryland Gazette, the Daily Times (Salisbury) and Gannett News Service. She grew up in Howard County and graduated from the University of Maryland.