WASHINGTON —聽The fight over furniture at the Maryland governor鈥檚 mansion escalated Tuesday, with current Gov. Larry Hogan accusing former governor Martin O鈥橫alley, now a Democratic presidential contender, of misleading the public about a deal that let O鈥橫alley leave the mansion with 54 pieces of furniture.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Hogan said O鈥橫alley never told him that the furniture Hogan admired during a tour of the governor鈥檚 mansion was paid for by taxpayers.
鈥淚 asked,鈥� Hogan said, recalling how he admired the furniture in the living room and family room.
Hogan said he asked whether the furniture was O鈥橫alley鈥檚 or whether it had been paid for with tax dollars. 鈥淎nd he said, 鈥楾his is mine.’ And it wasn鈥檛鈥t was paid for by the taxpayers.鈥�
But O鈥橫alley has told that his purchase of the furniture聽—聽at a rate well below the $62,000 originally paid for the collection聽—聽had been disclosed to the current governor.
Hogan called that assertion “blatantly false.”
鈥淎t no time did Gov. O鈥橫alley or the First Lady mention anything about their plan to take the 54 pieces of furniture. I had no idea鈥攊t was never mentioned. I think he simply made that up to The Washington Post,” Hogan said.
O鈥橫alley has said in the past that his purchase was within the rules set by the Department of General Services. But an ethics investigation has been launched, and if it鈥檚 found that O鈥橫alley was given a preferential price聽on聽the furniture, it聽could be a violation of the rules regarding purchase of state property.
that the former governor paid $9,638 for the 54-piece collection.
The dustup does show that the Republican Hogan and Democrat O鈥橫alley can agree on one thing: They have similar taste in furniture.
海角社区app’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
