Roy McGrath (far right, center row) testifies Wednesday during a hearing on the reimbursements and severance payment he received from the Maryland Environmental Service. Screen shot.
For four hours Roy McGrath responded to questions from a General Assembly oversight committee on Wednesday.
But Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s former chief of staff shed little light on a controversial severance payout he received when left his prior post, at the Maryland Environmental Service, to run the administration.
For months McGrath has insisted that Hogan (R) “anticipated” that he would receive a year’s severance when he left MES in May, a claim the governor has flatly denied.
Democrats in the legislature have sought to resolve that conflict. Asked on Wednesday what the governor knew and when, McGrath declined to say. The hearing was held via Zoom, and McGrath’s attorney, veteran defense counsel Bruce L. Marcus, sat at his side.
Although he answered some of the questions put to him by the Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight, McGrath invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination more than 170 times.
