La nominación de María Martínez a la prestigiosa junta de directores del Maryland Stadium Authority, no ha tenido aún al cierre de esta edición, la respuesta de la Comisión Ejecutiva del Senado, justo a pocos días de finalizar su Sección Legislativa.
Recientemente un artículo, de la publicación Maryland Matters y reproducido por WTOP, creó nuevas expectativas y la comisión decidió posponer hasta nuevo aviso su decisión en esta nominación, pero también generó una reacción inmediata de muchos miembros del Maryland Latino Caucus, quienes en respaldo de Martinez respondieron con una carta y posterior rueda de prensa solicitando la aprobación de esta nominación.
En conversación con la diputada Joselyn Peña manifestó su respaldo y a la espera de una decisión positiva para esta semana en curso. Hizo énfasis en la baja representación de los Latinos en las mesas donde se toman decisiones importantes en proporción al porcentaje de los mismos en el estado siendo este segmento Hispano liderado por los condados de Montgomery y Prince George’s. Expresó que no es la primera vez que el caucus aboga por Latinos cómo recientemente lo hicieron logrando dos sillas en el gabinete de la gobernación de Maryland.
A continuación, a petición y solicitud de algunos de nuestros lectores, reproducimos el artículo del Maryland Matters, la carta enviada al Senado y un sumario de la rueda de prensa efectuada en Annapolis. También otras publicaciones anglo reseñaron lo acontecido siendo no reproducidas en esta nota por no tener autorización de las mismas.
Senate Committee holds off vote on nominee to Maryland Stadium Authority
By William F. Zorzi / March 13, 2023 / www.marylandmatters.org
The Senate Executive Nominations Committee held the name of Gov. Wes Moore’s nominee to the powerful and prestigious Maryland Stadium Authority board Monday evening, after hearing testimony from the woman being considered for confirmation.
With limited discussion, the panel opted to hold off its vote on Yolanda Maria Martinez, a 60-year-old businesswoman from Ellicott City with a troubled 35-year financial history that includes a recent $7.2 million personal bankruptcy and dozens of lawsuits for unpaid debts.
The decision not to take action on Martinez’s nomination came after an article Monday morning in Maryland Matters detailed how she had millions of dollars in judgments filed against her and other financial difficulties. Both Martinez, who is known as Maria, and the governor’s staff said that she had told Moore of her past history before the he nominated her Feb. 17 to the Stadium Authority board.
The committee held her nomination hours after Moore told reporters he continued to back her.
Sen. Antonio L. Hayes (D-Baltimore City), the panel vice chair, made the motion to hold Martinez’s nomination. It is Senate tradition that any member of the Executive Nominations Committee may delay a final vote on a gubernatorial appointment.
“There are questions that members of the committee still have … and they probably need more time to digest it; so, it was asked that we hold onto it,” Hayes said. “In this case, I agree with that, given what we read today, we should hold off on it.
“We may bring it back up; we may not,” Hayes said. “It just depends on how the session is moving, and it’s moving really quickly.”
Being named to the prestigious Maryland Stadium Authority’s nine-member board is considered a plum appointment, because of the agency’s high-profile work. The authority has wide-ranging responsibilities, including the award of contracts, structuring of financing deals and negotiating of multiyear, multimillion-dollar leases with professional sports teams and others.
Martinez told the committee that her financial problems started years ago, when she was caught up in the 1994 bankruptcy of a company owned by her abusive former husband — circumstances that she said affected her for years.
She then explained how she overcame being a victim of domestic abuse and rose up to found another business, Respira Inc., a medical equipment company, which enjoyed success until a change in government reimbursement rates forced her to close the doors in 2018.
“I just needed to clarify all that because it’s very painful for me,” Martinez told the committee.
Prominent in the state’s Hispanic community, she has been active in civic causes over the years.
Martinez told the committee how she had been a past appointee to state boards and commissions, including as chair of Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs, the board of trustees of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, the state’s insurer of last resort, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Board of Review.
She mentioned her work with the United Way of Central Maryland on helping to launch the Maryland 211 support hotline, and of helping former Secretary of State Mary D. Kane (R) with legislation establishing the state’s “Safe at Home” program for victims of domestic violence.
“I have been before this body several times in my career and it’s always been nothing but support, and it just is very difficult to be defined through a lens that has just information that has been obtained in public records” without the benefit of comments from her supporters.
Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) told Martinez that members of the Senate must answer to their constituents, who have questions about the nomination to the Stadium Authority board because the agency has such enormous power and financial oversight.
“When our constituents raise concerns about a challenged fiscal history and background that’s being applied to an appointment to one of the most important and prestigious [boards] in the state, those are legitimate questions,” Carozza said. “And they ask the question, are there others who didn’t face these challenges that might have been better nominees? They ask those questions. You should know that.
“So when questions are being asked, it’s not to personally challenge you, it’s to put it in the context of this specific appointment and the fact that it’s not your normal board or commission. It is at a different level,” the senator said.
“I am sorry for what you’ve gone through personally [and] I am sorry for what you’ve gone through financially, and I know my colleagues share that,” she said.
Carozza was the only member of the committee to speak before Martinez finished and left the room with her husband, Ricardo Martinez. Then, Hayes called for the vote on other names the committee was considering.
Through Tisha S. Edwards, Moore’s appointments secretary, Martinez declined to speak to a reporter after the hearing.
Earlier in the day, at a Baltimore event about electric vehicles, Moore said he was supportive of Martinez being on the Stadium Authority board.
“I’m excited for the fact that she’s now going to have a chance to have a fair hearing,” he said of her appearance before the Senate committee.
“I know when it comes to Maria, we know that for many of us, our paths have not been even. And I know that giving her an opportunity to be able to meet with the Senate, giving her an opportunity to be able to make her case and to see why I was so excited, and am so excited, to see her as part of the Maryland Stadium Authority,” Moore said.
“I think people will see that she brings unique perspective, that she brings a unique view, and that the journey she has had, the life journey that she has had, not only does it mirror many Marylanders’, but it brings a unique additive to what we need to see on the Maryland Stadium Authority,” he said.
Diputada Demócrata del Distrito 21 de los condados de Anne Arundel & Prince George’s
Vice-Chair de Maryland Latino Caucus
Dear Madam Chair and Members of the Executive Nominations Committee, The Maryland Legislative Latino
Caucus offers our highest support and recommendation for Yolanda Maria Martinez’s nomination for the Maryland Stadium Authority. Her wealth of experience and dedication to community service make her wellqualified to serve as a member of the Maryland Stadium Authority.
Ms. Martinez is a lifelong resident of Maryland, born and raised in northeast Baltimore City. She has spent the past
quarter-century building a successful career in business and government and establishing herself as a respected community leader and philanthropist. Her commitment to public service is unwavering, and she has made it her
life’s mission to open doors for women and minority communities.
First, Ms. Martinez is committed to advancing the success of minorityowned businesses. She has used her significant talent and skills to engage countless public officials and government agencies on the need to reform practices to ensure that Black, brown, and women-owned businesses share in the economic opportunity too often dominated by Whiteowned businesses in government contracts. She has served as Chair for the Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Maryland Hispanic Business Conference, and the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation, among others. She has also served as a board
member for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and an executive board member and Secretary for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Ms. Martinez’s dedication to public service extends to her work at the municipal and state level. She served on the Healthcare Transition Team for Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon and was Co-Chair of the Advisory Council on Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises for Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She was a Task Force member of the Baltimore City Public/ Private Development Financing Efforts and a board member of the Baltimore Workforce Development Board and the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. During the
O’Malley-Brown administration, she represented our community as Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs for Maryland for eight years.
Ms. Martinez’s philanthropic work is also noteworthy. She is a fierce advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion and has mentored an extraordinary number of aspiring men and women, young and old. She served on the board of the United Way of Central Maryland where she was Co-Chair of 2-1-1 Maryland pilot program. She has also served on the board of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Victim Services Sub-Committee of the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force and as a Hotline Volunteer for the House of Ruth, a shelter that provided her a safe haven almost 30 years ago. Ms. Martinez has been criticized for having filed for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy laws exist to allow people to take the risk of starting a business, which Ms. Martinez was able to do with Respira, ahealthcare company that provided home medical equipment for respiratory sleep conditions.
Unfortunately, the business faced changing market conditions that caused it to cease operations in 2018. Prior to
the nomination, Ms. Martinez disclosed her financial issues to the Governor’s administration, which did not impact
their decision to move forward with the nomination. Ms. Martinez has faced enormous challenges in her life and has consistently overcome them. We feel that Ms. Martinez’s financial past has little bearing on her ability to effectively serve as a member of the board of the Maryland Stadium Authority; in fact, we believe it is her dedication to serve our community while dealing with personal and financial hardships that make her an asset to the body. After all, no one comes with a perfect record. Regardless of her past financial history, she has proven she is qualified by successfully being confirmed and serving on various boards and committees.
Ms. Martinez is an outstanding choice. We offer our highest recommendation and support for her appointment. Her diverse professional and personal background have prepared her to serve on the Maryland Stadium Authority. We urge you to recognize Ms. Martinez’s business experience, years of community service and the wisdom she has drawn from her unique personal history, by appointing her to the Maryland Stadium Authority. Should you have any questions or would like to discuss the scope of this appointment in greater detail, please feel free to contact us. Sincerely,
Delegate David Fraser Hidalgo
Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk
Delegate Gabriel Acevero
Delegate Denis Taveras
Delegate Ashanti Martinez
Delegate Joe Vogel
Delegate Adrian Boafo
Delegate Anne Healey
Delegate Bonnie Cullison
Delegate Diana Fennell
Delegate Heather Bagnall
Delegate J. Sandy Bartlett
Delegate Jen Terrasa
Delegate Jessica Feldmark
Delegate Julian Ivey
Delegate Julies Palakovich Carr
Delegate Karen Simpson
Delegate Ken Kerr
Delegate Lorig Charkoudian
Delegate M. Courtney Watson
Delegate Mary Lehman
Delegate Nicole Williams
Delegate Pam Queen
Delegate Robbyn Lewis
Delegate Sheila Ruth Delegate Terri Hill
Delegate Vaughn Stewart
Delegate Andrew Pruski
Delegate Anne Kaiser
Delegate Bernice Mireku-North
Delegate Jeffrie Long
Delegate Linda Foley
Delegate Tiffany Alsto
Este es un artículo de Latin Opinion con permiso y contribución del Maryland Matters, para la reproducción de su artículo.
Foto crédito: Danielle E. Gaines
