O’Malley replaces Calvert native Owings in cabinet

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

With Owings’ departure, the only Southern Maryland voice in O’Malley’s cabinet will be Col. Tim Hutchins, the head of the Maryland State Police.

‘‘You like to have some sort of balance statewide,” Owings said. ‘‘But that is solely the governor’s choice.”

Adkins is a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Army and the Maryland National Guard. In the Army, he received the Legion of Merit, the Maryland Distinguished Service Cross and the Order of the White Cross from the Republic of Estonia.

Adkins also was deputy secretary of the department from 2004 to 2006, serving under Owings.

Owings, a Democrat, was the former majority whip of the House of Delegates and left the legislature to take the seat in Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s cabinet.

Owings said Adkins would have no trouble assuming the secretary position because he has remained in contact with him regularly even after he left the state last year.

‘‘While he might have gone, he never left. I just didn’t pay him,” Owings quipped.

As he was introducing the new secretary, O’Malley (D) criticized the war in Iraq for depleting resources that state National Guard units would use in case of a domestic disaster.

‘‘These continued deployments, extended tours of duty ... have made our country more vulnerable instead of more safe,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley (D) particularly noted that National Guard units often are deployed with heavy equipment that is never returned stateside.

‘‘In practical terms, it means Humvees that we would rely on in a big snow emergency or a hurricane or, God forbid, a second terrorist attack, that a lot of those are no longer here,” the governor said.

O’Malley was asked if he were concerned about National Guard preparedness in light of difficulties following a tornado packing 205 mph winds that tore a path of destruction 1.7 miles wide and 22 miles long in the town of Greensburg, Kan.

‘‘My heart went out to the governor of Kansas as I saw her on the television this morning,” O’Malley said. ‘‘She does not have the National Guard forces that Kansas should have to respond to this emergency. Why? Because they are fighting a long and extended war in the deserts of ... Iraq.”

Adkins, who lives in Cambridge, said his department would pay particular attention to the needs of the families of veterans and soldiers.

‘‘We all have to consider ourselves an extended family of those individuals as we treat and care for their wounds, visible and invisible,” Adkins said.

In addition to Adkins, O’Malley also introduced Wilbert B. Forbes Sr. of Fort Washington and Luwanda W. Jenkins.

Forbes will be the deputy secretary of veterans affairs. He serves on the 6th District National Executive Committee for the Disabled American Veterans. Jenkins will be the special secretary of the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs, a position she held under former governor Parris N. Glendening (D).

Jenkins will oversee the minority business enterprise program, or MBE. She said those letters should represent ‘‘more business for everyone.”

Owings was one of three Ehrlich appointees in the O’Malley administration — State Police Superintendent Thomas E. ‘‘Tim” Hutchins and Adjutant General Bruce F. Tuxill are the others.

Staff writer Alan Brody contributed to this report.

E-mail Douglas Tallman at dtallman@gazette.net.