April 21st, 2018 by WCBC Radio

Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is responding to ethics concerns raised over a proposed consulting contract that is tied to a huge transportation project. The $68.5 million contract, related to Hogan’s $7.6 billion plan to widen parts of the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, was pulled from consideration Wednesday by the Maryland Board of Public Works, which approves state contracts. “We held up the approval just to make sure that there isn’t any conflict,” Hogan told WTOP in an interview Friday. “I expressed some of the same concerns that other people have and that’s why the board of public works agreed to hold it up to make sure that we get all the transparency that we need.”  In what has become an election-year debate, state Democrats have criticized the speed with which the contract, sought by HNTB Corp., moved through the Maryland Department of Transportation’s approval process.