Outgoing Harford County Executive David Craig officially has been asked to serve on Maryland Gov.-elect Larry Hogan's transition advisory board.
Hogan announced the appointment of Craig and 19 other people who will advise him on Tuesday, as he spends the next eight weeks in preparation for taking office on Jan. 21.
Craig lost to Hogan in the June Republican gubernatorial primary and then actively supported Hogan in his successful general election campaign to win the governor's office. Also joining the Hogan transition team is Del. Jeannie Haddaway from Talbot County, who was Craig's running mate for lieutenant governor in the primary.
Craig said Wednesday that he will be working under Lt. Gov.-elect Boyd Rutherford but had not yet talked with Rutherford about his assignment.
"I will be part of it," Craig said of the Hogan transition. "I just don't know exactly what I will be doing."
He added, however, that when he and Hogan discussed Craig's joining the team when they were together on election night, Craig explained if it came to pass, he wanted to work on relationships between the state and the county and local governments.
He pointed out that Doug Duncan, a former county executive in Montgomery County, has also been announced as a member of the team.
Craig, a Republican, is due to leave office after nine and a half years on Monday, when he'll be replaced by Barry Glassman. Craig said he spent the past few weeks assisting in Glassman's transition, which he noted is the first for the county since 1998, when Jim Harkins succeeded Eileen Rehrmann as county executive.
"A lot of people in county government haven't experienced this," he said.
Harkins left office midway through his second term in June 2005 to became head of the Maryland Environment Service, a state agency, and Craig did not have any transition period after the county council appointed him as Harkins' successor.
"I was appointed on Tuesday and sworn in on Thursday," he recalled.
With county government closed on Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving, Wednesday was essentially Craig's final day at work.
His office was already cleaned out and most of his possessions gone, with the exception of his two swan decoys and a crystal vase he received for his prior service as Havre de Grace's mayor.
The swans and vase sat where they always have on a table in his reception room, where Craig was giving a few final interviews and posing for some photographs.
"They'll be going with me when I leave today," he said.
He also emailed a letter to county employees, thanking them for their support and praising them for the professionalism, hard work and dedication.
In addition to aiding in the Hogan transition, Craig said he will be spending his first few weeks out of office getting his house ready for which it will be a stop on the annual Candlelight Tour of Historic Havre de Grace Homes coming up on Dec. 13. In fact, he said he has already started.
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He has no firm plans beyond that except to spend time with his family over the rest of the holiday season, he said.
