MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5 at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," connecting your neighborhood with the world. Later in the broadcast, an arrest in an abduction case raises new questions about GPS technologies and how law enforcement can use them. But first, the red wave in Maryland and the future of the Purple Line. Republican Larry Hogan upset the balance of power in the Old Line State last week when he won the race for governor in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by a margin of two to one.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIHis victory injected new life into a state Republican Party that many people left for dead. And it may alter the course of a long-running debate over building a light rail line connecting Montgomery and Prince George's Counties. Joining us to explore what a Republican administration in Annapolis could mean for the future of the Purple Line and other priorities that local lawmakers have for the Washington region is Kumar Barve.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIHe is the majority leader of the Maryland House of Delegates. He's a Democrat from Montgomery County. Welcome. Thank you for joining us. Good to see you again.

MR. KUMAR BARVEKojo, great -- great to be here.

NNAMDIYou, too, can join this conversation. Give us a call at 800-433-8850 if you have questions or comments for the majority leader. How do you expect the election of a Republican governor is going to affect major projects in the Washington region, like the Purple Line? 800-433-8850. You can send email to kojo@wamu.org or shoot us a tweet @kojoshow. A lot of people predicted last Tuesday was going to be a big day for Republicans at the national level.

NNAMDIFew people predicted this red wave would crash into Maryland, where Larry Hogan defeated a heavily favored Democratic candidate. Before we explore what this means for the governing process next week, how do you account for the result of that election? And what message are you, Maryland Democrats, taking out of it?

BARVEWell, let me begin by saying that Anthony's personal friend, like him a lot, but his campaign really didn't make the case for what our accomplishments were over the last eight years. His campaign appear to be focused primarily on his resume, the fact that he served in the military, which everyone finds to be laudable. And it focused also on a lot of social issues, where we disagree with the Republican Party and the far right of the Republican Party.

BARVEBut all this happened within the context of an electorate that really was interested more in the economic issues. And, you know, it's -- it seemed a little strange to many of us, especially in the Washington metro area that there just wasn't as much of an emphasis on the fact that we have the best public school system in the United States by many measures, that we have a top 20 university system in the University of Maryland and that we had basically frozen tuitions for four years outright.

BARVEAnd then allowed them to only go up for inflation for four years after that. And, you know, it seemed that the positive case for what we have done between that and cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay hadn't really been made. And now, you know, when you don't run a positive campaign of any kind and that's the way it appeared to voters.

NNAMDIA lot of the campaign was attacking the opponent.

BARVEYeah.

NNAMDIBut even if those issues have been emphasized in the way that you mentioned, it would seem that there was an electorate here that focused on economic issues.

BARVEYeah.

NNAMDIAnd Larry Hogan's attacks on what he called right, raises and taxes seem to have some traction there, seems to be some fatigue of the O'Malley administration. And Governor O'Malley's recent approval numbers suggest that there is some fatigue. Where do you think that fatigue is coming from?

BARVEWell, you know, we've just had the second greatest recession in U.S. history that we are very anemically recovering from. But we are recovering from it. Not just Maryland, but virtually every other state in the Union, Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservatives raise taxes in order to finance their government functions. I mean, conservative states like Louisiana, like South Carolina, like Texas, have state sales taxes in the -- I mean, taxes in the 8 percent rage.

BARVELouisiana is in the 8.8 percent rage, South Carolina, 7.1 percent. Every state has done this. And there's a lot of anger directed toward incumbents throughout the entire United States. And so, I wouldn't make too much of what's happened here in Maryland. Obviously, it had the effect of causing us to lose an election. And, yeah, economic issues and tax revenues were part of that issue. But you can't -- you can't divorce that from the good that we've accomplished.

BARVEOr at least you can't not emphasize it, you know. I think that, at the end of the day, a different campaign would have had a different result. But regardless, the fact is it was very close. There was a national tidal wave similar to 1994 that, in this case, swamped over Maryland as it did not in 1994.

NNAMDIOur guest is Kumar Barve. He is the majority leader of the Maryland House of Delegates. He's a Democrat from Montgomery County. If you'd like to join the conversation, give us a call at 800-433-8850 or send email to kojo@wamu.org. You can go to our website, kojoshow.org, ask a question or make a comment there. You told the Washington Post last week that there's a great deal of uncertainty as to how Larry Hogan is going to govern.

BARVESure.

NNAMDIUncertainty that won't necessarily be there if -- or wouldn't have been there have Anthony Brown had won. What are the things you would most like for there to be clarity about in the weeks ahead?

BARVEWell, pretty much everything. Let me just be clear about why I said what I did. I mean, I have been in the legislature for quite a while. I've cast votes on virtually every issue. There is no mystery to where Kumar Barve stands. You know, no mystery whatsoever. And same thing with Anthony Brown. He's been in the public arena and he's been casting votes and taking actions. Hogan has never served in elected office.

BARVEI don't mean that as a criticism, by the way. But because we only know what he has said, we don't know what he has done because he doesn't have a track record. And my feeling with respect to politicians has always been that you cannot judge us by what we say. You can only judge us by what we do. And by that metric, there's nothing to measure as of yet. Also, I just read in the paper today, I think, that Hogan -- Governor-elect Hogan said that he is not really going to get into public policy debate until after he's been inaugurated.

NNAMDIYep.

BARVEAnd so, the whole issue of whether it goes -- Purple Line, the Red Line in Baltimore, all these issues are really going to be held off until after he's taken the oath of office. I actually...

NNAMDILet's stick -- let's start with the Purple Line.

BARVESure.

NNAMDIThis was a project that Governor Martin O'Malley revived when he came into office in 2007. What do you see at stake in how Hogan ultimately decides to move forward?

BARVEWell, you know, first of all, I only -- I only know Larry Hogan a little bit. Perfectly -- perfectly nice gentleman, you know, easy to get along with from my experience eight years ago. But it was a -- it was a very limited experience. You know, the Purple Line is important to southern -- to the southern parts of Montgomery County and Prince George's County near the, you know, in the region of the Beltway.

BARVEIt's important to our economic growth and development. The business communities in the area support it. And Hogan has, in the past, both said he didn't like the project and then more recently backed off and said, well, I want to have an open mind. And I'd like to encourage Governor-elect Hogan to maintain an open mind because transit and roads are both extremely important in the Washington metro area.

BARVEAnd I support the Purple Line, most people in Montgomery County do as well. And I think that that and the Corridor City Transitway, which I don't know what opinion he's -- I think he's given a positive opinion of that. But there are a lot of transportation projects in Montgomery, Prince George's County that are extremely important, are all important. By the way, Kojo, I want to make it clear that I'm not one of these people who says we should only build roads.

BARVEOr -- I'm not in the category of people who say we should only do transit. We need to do all of it. And it needs to be balanced. And so, I support -- I support road construction and the Purple Line.

NNAMDIWell, when we hosted the lieutenant gubernatorial candidates for a debate here last month, Larry Hogan's running mate, Boyd Rutherford, told us that he wouldn't lose sleep over the Purple Line being canceled and that he and Hogan would prefer expanding the Metro network if there were to be a real expansion.

MR. BOYD RUTHERFORDLarry and I would prefer to evaluate expanding Metro similar to what Virginia did with the Silver Line. The Silver Line goes on an existing travel route, that's an existing route so it means that people have the option of getting out of their cars, getting on the train and resting and coming into D.C. Whereas before, they may have been going down 66 or somewhere going into D.C.

NNAMDINo Purple Line for you?

RUTHERFORDNo -- well, not at this particular time, the Purple Line. I'd really like to see these estimates in terms of ridership. I mean, I would -- I would not lose sleep if it was canceled completely. Put it that way.

NNAMDIWhat do you make of that argument, Kumar Barve? And would you try to engage Governor-elect Hogan before he actually takes office and get him to talk about it?

BARVEWell, first, let me say, well, of course, I'd be happy to -- I think we'd love to sit down and talk to Governor-elect Hogan on this and on many other topics. But let me just say this about Boyd Rutherford's criticism. This is strikingly similar to the criticism that was leveled against the inter-county connector by those who opposed it. I'm not -- well, I support the inter-county connector. The transportation problems in Montgomery County in particular have always been east-west problems.

BARVEGoing east to west, you only -- you had very limited options. You had to use the Beltway, which is a terrible option, you had to use cross streets like Randolph, another terrible option. To say that the Silver Line makes sense because it goes parallel to a driving route right now is really the wrong argument. The fact is, people need to go from my district in Rockville and Gaithersburg to the University of Maryland College Park campus.

BARVEAnd people need to go to -- need to go east and west. And that's what the Purple Line, inter-county connector, that's what these -- these transportation options give us. And so, I would -- I would want to talk to him about that argument.

NNAMDIIf -- if Governor-elect Hogan puts this off until January 21st, the Washington Post reports that the state could lose money, as much as $8 million.

BARVEYeah, because there's federal government money involved in this.

NNAMDIYep.

BARVEA great deal of it. And, you know, the way the transportation projects in the United States tend to work is that the state government have to partner, they have to bring money to the table in order to get roads and transit built. And I would hate -- you know, I didn't realize that we were on such a tight deadline, maybe for some planning money we are. But, you know, I would hate for us to lose out on an opportunity to fix our transportation problems and use federal money to do so.

NNAMDIFrom a federal funding perspective, what concerns do you have about Democrats losing clout on Capitol Hill? Barbara Mikulski, the senator, had an influential position on appropriation, she's now in the minority in the Senate.

BARVEYeah, that's a problem for Maryland. Barbara is -- was a brilliant -- is a brilliant chair for that committee and has done really wonderful things in terms of the process and perfect things for the United States of America generally. And, of course, she was going to take -- look after the interest of the state of Maryland and that is absent. Now, however, I would never count Barbara Mikulski out even as a non-committee chair member. As the ranking minority party member of that committee, I would never count her out of the equation. But it certainly as having her as chair.

NNAMDIHer voice will definitely be heard. Let's go to the telephones. We start with Anthony at Annapolis Junction, MD. Anthony, you're on the air, go ahead please.

ANTHONYThank you, Kumar. Mr. Barve, what do you believe are the top three health care issues that the Hogan administration and the general assembly will be working on or ought to be working the next four years?

BARVEThanks for the question. I mean, I think the number one issue has still got to be the health exchange, making sure that the Medicaid expansion works properly, making sure that everybody's who's eligible for this gets signed up. I mean, I really -- I think that is -- that really is the number one thing. Because we have to get as many people signed up for health insurance as we can because as I think everybody listening right now knows, is that it's a lot -- it's better for a person's health and better for our budgets if people have primary care physicians who they see, who -- and monitor their health situation.

BARVEWaiting until you get into an emergency room is bad for a person's health and it's extremely bad for the budget. So pardon me if I don't come up with three things, but that's the one thing that dominates my thought right now with respect to health.

NNAMDIThank you very much for your call, Anthony. We move onto to Keith, in Washington, D.C. Keith, your turn?

KEITHHey, Kojo. If it was only that easy that it could imitate (unintelligible) in four and five. But no one picked up on -- with the transportation issue -- that more than likely the FBI headquarters is coming to P.G. County. And it will be an east to west issue with East-West Highway, as well as Randolph Road. And you tie that in with the start of school at the University of Maryland. And, you know, to back to Barbara Mikulski, she's tough. I think she will able to get to Hogan and explain to him.

KEITHAnd he will do the wise things, but, you know, my concern is what is he going to do with Baltimore and P.G. County, as far as education and the other things that those two counties have been deprived -- even with a Democratic governor in office.

NNAMDIIs that concern of yours also, Kumar Barve?

BARVEWell, he just brought up the issue of the Red Line in the Baltimore area. A transit program that the governor elect has been much more negative about than even the Purple Line. Let me just say something. I mean, a lot of people are critical of transit when it's being planned. They are critical of ridership estimates. They're critical of whether or not there are really the businesses there to support it.

BARVEI am old enough, Kojo, to remember all of those same arguments being used by two congressman to not build the Metro system here in the Washington metro area. I won't call them out by name, although they're probably not with us anymore, but the fact of the matter is that the wonderful thing about transit -- about rail transit in particular, is that it gives the business community a footprint on where to develop and where to develop smartly.

BARVEThe fact is subway lines, transit lines, rail lines end up becoming magnets for economic development. And if there is one thing the Baltimore region can use more -- and in particular the city of Baltimore can use more of -- its economic development centered around transit. And so, you know, I think that -- I really hope that the new governor has a very open mind about assessing these issues, not from a 10-year perspective, but from a 20 or 30-year perspective.

BARVEBecause I just want people to consider what our traffic and our economic situation would be like today if the opponents of the Metro system had succeeded it the 1960s and '70s with stopping it. If we had never built it. I mean, of course, probably 50 percent of the economic development that's occurred in this region would never have occurred. And that would be a bad thing.

NNAMDIAnd I'm assuming that Governor-Elect Hogan would say to our caller if he were on the line that the fact that he does not have what would appear to be a great deal of support in Prince George's County and Baltimore County -- even though one must mention that he did win Baltimore County -- that that doesn't mean that he's not going to pay a great deal of attention to school systems there.

BARVEI don't want to prejudge this governor. I mean, I think that we really have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean every politician comes into office and we all have to look at the positions we took when we ran for office and make a decision about what's best for the state of Maryland. I mean, I myself became a supporter of the Intercounty Connector after not initially supporting it.

BARVEI mean, sometimes you have to look down -- look at the issues in a dispassionate way and make a decision that you think is the best thing for your community and for the state. And I hope that he'll recognize that these two projects are important, just as other road projects around the state are extremely important.

NNAMDIAnthony, in Port Tobacco, Md. Anthony, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

ANTHONYHey, Kojo. It's good to hear you again, talk you about an important issue. I have a question that I'd like to have you and your guest weigh in on it. And how much do they think ethnicity and race and played a part in Anthony Brown's loss, with strong feelings against and for President Obama, and many of them based in race and ethnicity, how much do they think that hurt or helped really -- unfortunately it hurt Anthony Brown in the areas of southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County in western Maryland.

NNAMDISince I have little or no qualifications in analyzing vote counts, I am therefore authorized to speak on this. I am absolutely not sure. It is, I think, virtually impossible to calculate the extent to which Anthony Brown's race may have impacted voters in the state. What is clear, is that in the areas in which he expected a really large turnout, or hoped for a large turnout among African American voters, particularly in Prince George's and Baltimore County, he did not the…

BARVEBaltimore City.

NNAMDIBaltimore City, I'm sorry. Baltimore City -- he didn't get the kind of turnout he expected.

BARVEYeah, I don't think race really played much into this, personally. I think this was about issues. This was about the way the campaigns were run. I, you know, Anthony Brown is a very attractive guy because of his resume, because of what he's done, his service in the military, his service in Iraq. I think that -- I think people liked Anthony Brown. I think even people who voted against him liked the man. So I don't think who he was intrinsically was a factor.

NNAMDIWhat are your expectations, generally, for how Hogan's election is going to affect conversation about taxes in Maryland during the next several years? He and other Republicans running this fall made a lot of hay about the stormwater runoff tax, which they called the rain tax, as an example of Maryland going too far.

BARVEWell, first of all, let's understand a few things. Number one, the federal government requires us to control and mitigate stormwater runoff. This is not something that we just sat in a room and made up in Annapolis any more than, you know, any of the other issues where the federal government asks us to clean up waterways. That's number one.

BARVENumber two, this is not a rain tax. This is a tax on runoff and sewage runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. And the cost of it is somewhere it the range of $39 per family per year. Now, for a state that loves its blue crabs, for a state that loves the Chesapeake Bay, I see -- I always saw that as an extremely reasonable charge. Now, you know, Governor Ehrlich actually was the man who implemented the flush tax or the flush fee. And I voted for that. I agree with Governor Ehrlich on that. I think that protecting the Chesapeake Bay is important.

BARVEIf you don't care about the Bay itself from an aesthetic or an environmental point of view, the Chesapeake Bay is a major source of economic activity for the people of the state of Maryland. And, you know, the way I saw this is that we had to comply with federal law. And we had to do it in a way that minimized the impact on the citizens of the state of Maryland. And it's why I supported it and it's a tax on sewage runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. That's what it is.

NNAMDIThe governor elect will probably find that these are difficult waters to navigate. Kumar Barve, thank you so much for joining us.

BARVENot at all. My pleasure.

NNAMDIKumar Barve is the majority leader of the Maryland House of Delegates. He's a Democrat from Montgomery County. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, an arrest in an abduction case raises new questions about GPS technologies and how law enforcement can use them. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.