The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland raised concerns Wednesday about Gov.-elect Larry Hogan's choice of former Maryland State Police Superintendent Thomas E. "Tim" Hutchins to head the state's homeland security office, pointing to the surveillance and infiltration of protest groups when he led the agency.
In a letter to Hogan, ACLU Executive Director Susan Goering urged Hogan to reconsider the appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, because of Hutchins' involvement in the Ehrlich administration program of monitoring such groups.
Goering pointed to a 2008 investigation by former Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs that found that the state police's Homeland Security and Intelligence Bureau had improperly targeted peaceful protest groups -- including death penalty opponents and anti-war advocates -- and falsely described their members as terrorists in state data bases.
The ACLU leader pointed out that Hutchins had defended the 14-month program, describing the activists in testimony to a General Assembly committee as "fringe people" and "those who wish to disrupt the government."