By Sharif Hodges
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
When World Class Soccer lands in Charm City six years from now and the city streets are filled with athletes from all nationalities excitedly sampling Baltimore’s unique food, enjoying boats at the Inner Harbor and visiting the Aquarium and museums, few people will know that the No. 2 man in the state is responsible.
Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford isn’t always in the limelight like Gov. Larry Hogan. In fact, the average Maryland resident may not be certain what the No. 2 man does, or even who he is for that matter.
For example, Towson University student Sara Bensimhon responded, “I have no idea” when asked to name the lieutenant governor.
When asked about the role the lieutenant governor plays, vague answers and guesses seemed to be the norm.
“I think [he] help make decisions and [is] next in line to be governor if something happens,” said TU student Megan Hein.
Rutherford explained his duties like this in a recent interview with The Baltimore Watchdog: “There’s really no typical day in the office for me. There aren’t many face-to-face meetings anymore, which gives me more time to be in office.”
“COVID-19 has changed some things because during the spring Gov. Larry Hogan devoted pretty much his full time to it,” Rutherford added, “so I took over a lot of the day-to-day operations of state government, which we could be possibly returning to given the numbers are on the rise.”
Rutherford said he substitutes zoom calls for meetings now because of the pandemic, and, of course, meets with Hogan regularly.
Hogan and Rutherford have a long history together.
“I wasn’t setting out that way,” Rutherford said about his path to the No. 2 slot, “but our families knew each other and I only supported whatever his efforts were. Then, he asked me if I wanted to become lieutenant governor. I took a couple of days to consider, and decided to join.”
With a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Howard University, Rutherford said he was ready to take on his new duties.
The path to Howard in Washington, D.C. where he was born and raised was less straightforward than the one to Annapolis, however. Rutherford graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School and initially decided to attend Northeastern University in Boston, not fully understanding the seriousness of the desegregation busing crisis in that racially divided city. Not wanting to deal with the racial violence and disparities during the time, he returned to the nation’s capital to attend the prestigious historically black institution.
“It was just shocking for me,” Rutherford said of the violence in Boston. “I said I’d rather go back home and attend Howard. I had applied to Howard before and when I got there, [officials] said I was already admitted even though I never started, so they had to correct their records.”
Rutherford earned both a Juris Doctor degree and a master’s degree in communications management from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the State Bars in both Maryland and California. Rutherford has worked as an attorney in both the public and private sectors. He also served as an assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“I think the legal training has helped me read a lot better and identify issues with regard to matters that are public policy,” Rutherford said. “Being in private industry gave me a better understanding of being careful with the money coming to you from taxpayers. You have to deliver what they expect to receive.
“The experience at both federal and state level gave me a wonderful understanding of the workings of government,” he added.
Rutherford’s knowledge of government was put to the test when Hogan was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015. He stepped up and took on the extra workload Hogan usually dealt with.
“I wouldn’t really say I became governor, because Hogan never stepped down,” Rutherford explained. “I did have to pick up more activities that typically the governor would be doing like attending public meetings. The decision-making was still largely done with the governor, but our working relationship may be a little different from the previous seats in office because I am included in most of, if not all, of the major decisions that are made.”
Rutherford acknowledged that he is just as busy off the job as he is on.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a very passionate person,” Rutherford said when asked about his hobbies. “I like history and biographies. I pay the mortgage in my house so there’s usually housework that needs to be done like raking leaves and preparing for winter.”
“I am also a premiere league and international soccer fan, and my favorite team is Manchester City,” said Rutherford, noting that his love of the sport largely influenced his aspirations to bring the World Cup to Baltimore.
“We’re bidding on the 2026 World Cup to come to Baltimore, and I’m currently chairing that effort,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford also has a large family with three children living in Santa Monica, California, Brooklyn, New York and Baltimore.
“They were very supportive in terms of me running for lieutenant governor,” he said. “They were all out of grade school during my first-time joining Larry Hogan, so I didn’t see them ever getting any harassment in school because of their father running for office.”
With speculations that Hogan might run for president in 2024, or the Senate in 2022, Rutherford stressed that he is supportive but has no plans of his own right now.
“I don’t think from his potential political aspirations that anything will change for me,” Rutherford said of Hogan. “However, I sometimes get questions about what he may be planning to do, but it’s not a lot different from what I was doing before.”