A Senate committee recommended confirmation of Gov. Larry Hogan's pick to be economic development secretary Monday. But the panel put off voting on five other Cabinet nominees amid continuing questions about two of them.
The vote on R. Michael Gill to run the Department of Business and Economic Development came a week after his nomination had been held up by the Executive Nominations Committee. Sen. Joan Carter Conway had said she was unhappy with some of the answers he gave her on the issue of diversity.
The Baltimore City Democrat said she has since gotten "some answers to where we need to be going," but remained dissatisfied. Hers was the lone no vote against Gill on the 19-member committee. His nomination now goes to the full Senate for a vote.
The panel delayed until next week voting on five other nominees, though issues seemed to linger with only two. Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera, tapped by Hogan to be secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, was asked to explain a 2009 vote of no-confidence given her by the faculty of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute when she was its president. And Sen. Thomas B. Middleton, a Charles County Democrat, said he has more questions for David Garcia, interim secretary of information technology.
Other Cabinet picks held up were Carol A. Beatty to run the Department of Disabilities, Mark J. Belton to be natural resources secretary and William M. Pallozzi as superintendent of the Maryland State Police.