ANNOUNCER: Make the choice to begin anywhere in your life and the journey has started and along the way, be inspired.

Listen to the stories by joining the President of Howard University, Dr. Wayne AI Frederick on The Journey.

[Dr. Wayne Frederick] As our country continues to battle the Coronavirus pandemic, our elected officials are working to balance constituents desires for return to normal with the need to ensure public safety and wellness.

Hello, my name is Dr. Wayne Frederick and my guest today on The Journey is the current Lieutenant Governor of Maryland Republican, Boyd Rutherford.

An accomplished Attorney and Public Servant with experience working for the federal government as well as state government.

Lieutenant Governor, Rutherford Welcome to The Journey.

[Lt.

Governor Boyd Rutherford] Well, thank you.

I'm honored it's always great to be able to speak to you and you know, come back to the Mecca even if it's just virtual, we'll make sure that we get back there physically as soon as possible.

That's absolutely right.

We we'd love to have you.

So I want to jump right in.

I love to meet people from Washington DC.

I moved here in 1988, I was a 16 year old.

And I tell people when you meet people who originally are from Washington DC, there's nothing like it.

So with that in mind, tell me what it was like growing up here in the chocolate city.

Uh, it was a wonderful experience.

Um, you know I grew up in Northeast DC and um you know and in a neighborhood that the families were similar to mine many of them you know African-Americans who had their first opportunity to buy you know, houses and bought houses.

And in that area, and in the mid to late 1950s, um when you know at a time where they could probably couldn't buy houses uh everywhere in the city, and definitely not everywhere in the area because of restrictions, but um you know all you know family environments, lots of you know kids, lots of guys in particular it seemed to be more boys than girls.

And so it was it, you know, and I'm still close to many of the guys and gals that I grew up with to this day.

Yeah.

You know, I, I first lived in Brooklyn in Northeast at the corner Oh yeah, I felt that's.. of 14th and Jackson.

Okay, that's not far from I was I grew up in Michigan Park which is the next area beside Brooklyn.

And so many of us, you know, went to uh Elementary School together at Bunker Hill Elementary which is on Michigan Avenue.

Yeah.

Uh so, yeah it's and playing at the field there Turkey Thicket, which is uh in Brooklyn.

And so, yeah no that's that's.. that's home.

Yeah.

So what, what was your school like at that time?

Because at the time that you would have gone to school, we the country would have been undergoing a significant change in terms of uh you know School segregation although Right.

being in DC and in that neighborhood it probably would have been different.

Yeah DC, yeah DC was a very different field because, um you know whereas Prince George's County was going through busing you have desegregation of busing and Prince George's County DC and the 1970s when, when I was in High School was, you know some 87% African-American.

So there really wasn't that particular issue in the city.

Now I went to Public Schools up until High School and I went to Archbishop Carroll High School, uh a Catholic School, Catholic High School.

And at the time uhm Carroll was all boys it's now um Girls and Boys in the School.

Um and probably 60% of the Students at that time were, were white Students many of them from Prince George's County.

And uh but we, we really didn't have any racial issues Nothing that I can't think of I mean, Um and I think a lot of is, cause it's all boys so you didn't have girls that you competing against.

So they said there wasn't too much drama from that standpoint, um but uh yeah we didn't have the challenges that I think Prince George's County had particularly since they were going through uh the, the busing situations and uh some, some of the white flight that starts to take place probably in the 80's and 90's.

I know what was your home life like?

How did your appearance influence?

You know what you would eventually get involved in in terms of Public Service.

Well, um you know you grow up in DC and the industry town is uh the, the town of the or the industry of the town is Government and uh Public Service.

My parents were both uh Government workers, my Father worked at the post office, um my Mother uh worked out over at NIH National Institutes of Health.

And so you know, you read the Washington post she listened to DC Media or watch DC Media and its government and um you know service.

My uh Grandmother um on my Father's side was was very active uh, in a social causes.

She was a Social Worker actually a Howard uh Graduate as well.

She got her master's in social work from Howard Uh, but she was very active in.. in the community um, both on the civil rights side and just you know issues affecting Senior Citizens and, and beyond.

So, there were a lot of conversations about, you know the issues of the day that happened around the, you know the dinner table or holiday events.

And so, you know, that helped to, I guess shape things and just a general interest and in policy and trying to do what's best for people.

Now, obviously Howard university uh, isn't far from where you grew up.

Uh, most kids (mumbles sound) when they get a chance to go to college they want to move as far away from home as possible.

What kept you home uh, in DC made you go to Howard University?

Well, you know, I applied to Howard when um I was coming out of High School but I too, wanted to get as far away from home as possible.

And my first year I actually went to School in Boston uh and I transferred back to Howard.

And that year that I was in Boston was during a phase one busing.

And there was an iconic picture of a a mob beating an African-American with the American flag on the courthouse steps.

Uh, this was a Lawyer who just happened to be coming out of the courthouse.

And at the time there was this big protest about busing in Boston and he was attacked and it was during a lot of that that was going on my freshman year in College.

And I mean, it was shocking for me because had come out of a city that, you know, didn't have racial strife particularly since it was 87% African-American and you always heard of Boston as the cradle of Liberty and, you know, the abolitionist movement at Frederick Douglas, you know, escaped to Boston.

And so to get there in the sea and hear the vitriol that was going on on these issues where people were, you know, throwing rocks and bricks at School Kids and buses, you know, it just it was shocking for this 18 year-old Washingtonian.

So after my freshman year, I said, I'm going back to Howard.

Uh I'm going to go, you know go and just get my education at a School where I feel a little more comfortable and, and um came back.

And so then, you know, got my degree at Howard.

And then, what was that experience like because you would have been here at Howard uh again doing a period while there wasn't necessarily racial stripe probably in the city, I would imagine there was a bedrock of Student activism uh at the time that you were here.

Yeah.

I mean, I think a lot of the activism, you know was really looking internationally in terms of what was going on in South Africa, what was going on.

And some of the other African countries Uh, I can remember, you know, speakers coming in.

Um, and I, and I can't remember which country it was in particular but there was a, um an African dignitary coming in and a number of the African students who were from that same country where were protesting uh that person coming in, because they were, you know claiming that this individual is a dictator and had a poor civil or human rights record.

Uh, so a lot of the activism I saw was, you know was international focused, although we had as how it always has a number of speakers that come in and talk about issues that are domestic uh in nature.

And, uh you know, I would try to participate, you know where I could um in those and take advantage of the opportunity that was there at Howard.

And I, and I say opportunity because I had transferred from another school.

I, I think I appreciated the opportunities that Howard presented maybe a little bit more than some of the students who had started there as freshman uh because I had seen the difference in school and I could feel the difference and being uh, at Howard versus when I was in Boston.

Right.

And I know obviously uh you would go on to get a master's and your law degree from USC.

That's again, very different.

You went to the West coast uh, apart from climate very different political scene.

I would imagine as well at that time.

Yeah.

Well um, I had you know and I have work when I first came out of Howard.

I moved to New York city and I worked in New York and uh, then outside New York uh, and in New Jersey for a number of years before relocating to the West coast and decided to go to law school and graduate school while I was out there.

Um, and I, I tell people all the time, the Howard experience I think, you know, really helped me through that process.

And also, also being a little more mature than some of the other first year students.

um when I came in uh to, to the law school class We had a class of 181 students and there were 6 of us who were African-American, 6 African-Americans out of 181 students and I can remember um being in a in the combined (mumbles) combined ethnic black student, Latin student nation student offices, um and talking to some of the other students.

And they were, you know, kind of voicing concerns about being the uh only African-American or one of two African-Americans in their class.

There may have been 75 students at, you know first year of class.

And, and, you know, just saying how people were looking at them when they were asked the question.

And I said to him, I said, you know you're reading too much into this.

I said um, those students aren't really caring about the fact that you're answering the question or how the question is answered.

They're just happy.

They didn't get called on.

And, and I think it was that I came into the situation without the baggage that many of these kids had from the schools that they had gone to before where they truly felt like they were, you know a minority or out of place uh, in the school.

And so they brought that same kind of feeling into the law school.

Whereas I had gone through the experience of Howard where I just went through school, like any other student because I didn't, you know, there was, you know they have that level of acceptance.

So when I got to graduate school uh, and law school I didn't have that baggage.

I wasn't looking over my shoulder.

I wasn't concerned that someone was, you know trying to assess what I said because of the fact that I was an African-American in that class.

I knew that the folks that were there, they, you know if they were looking at me, they were just happy that they didn't get called on and in the law school class in the Socratic Method um, and they may have liked or disliked my response, but it wasn't anything that was something that I should worry about.

And I would explain that to, you know, the other students No.

So as you finished what drew you back into public service at that point?

I understand that obviously you grew up in DC and that was a, and the federal government obviously is the cottage industry.

But the reality is that you will also the West schools went to law school.

Um, I can imagine lots of opportunities to go into private practice and do so many other things and detainment law, et cetera.

What still drew you back to public service and got you into the federal government?

Um, well you know, I, I still paid attention to policy even while I was practicing law, both on the West coast.

And eventually I returned back to the East coast and I was practicing in DC.

And a lot of the work that I did was, was governmental related.

Um, you know, some of it was environmental work that dealt with either state or federal environmental uh laws and rules and some energy work.

So I was still, you know, getting involved in policy um, and you know, and an opportunity came up um, to participate uh, and you know, a possible appointment to federal government uh presidential appointment.

And it was partly because it was people that I had come to know and know alumni, as well as in social settings um that I, you know, I thought it would be you know, something that I could enjoy.

And um, I really did enjoy it because you feel as though you're you have an opportunity to make a difference and make a difference where you can help people.

Um, and it's not that you just, you know helping yourself say financially or helping a client in a situation that they have but you really are you know, doing the greatest good.

And so uh, that was, that was an opportunity that came up.

And um, I, I continued once, once that opportunity reduced itself and and moved on to the others.

Good.

So, so that in mind, But I never thought working from about Running for office though I had not thought about running for office.

Okay.

And that's exactly what my next question was going to be about.

W-what then made you make the switch to run for office because most public officials will tell you, they the ambivalent about running for office or they see it as a necessary evil.

Well, w what's your frame of reference on running for office I say much more ambivalent.

I was not really interested in running for office.

I had people ask me from time to time, um but it really wasn't until um uh, Governor Hogan, then just citizen.

Larry Hogan asked me to join him.

Um, and we had been friends.

We had worked together in the prior Governor, Governor Ehrlich's administration.

We had developed a friendship during that time and continue to, you know, socialize together.

Our families socialize together.

The strange world that we all live in is that is his wife's middle daughter.

And our oldest son actually went to high school together.

So they knew each other before Larry and I knew each other.

Okay.

And so uh, when he asked me to join him, I I just and he explained his reasons for asking me I thought there was something I could add.

My, my governmental experience, particularly as operational.

If you look at my my resume in terms of Government has been much more operational than the policy.

It's, you know, making sure that the trains are running on time.

Um, and so I thought there was something I could do some some benefit that I could bring.

And I think it was a good time in my life.

M-my kids were out of the K through 12 experience.

And so I thought it would be something that was worthwhile.

Well, what are some of the biggest challenges you think you've faced as a Lieutenant Governor?

Obviously the pandemic, I would imagine it would be one of those, but outside of the pandemic what are some of the other challenges that you think you've faced that have been pretty significant?

Um, yeah.

Some sometimes when you are working on something and you get most people agreeing that it is the right thing to do, right approach to take, um there are other interests that in some cases may be, you know self-interests that kind of step in the way of, you know doing what you believe is the right thing and what there's a large number of people feel it's the right thing.

And that, and that could be frustrating, you know from a policy standpoint, um you know, sometimes the lack of uh, it gets put in Partisan, you know, framework with the lack of being able to really address challenges without folks, you know, taking positions purely or on Partisan grounds or on the position that, you know a particular group that is outside of the state of Maryland, you know, may be supporting a direction.

And they, they follow that along just to oppose what it is that you, you know, reasonable policy and not willing to even, you know, kind of discuss it.

That can be somewhat frustrating, but uh, that's that's really rare, um you know, in terms of, you know how many things that we deal with on daily basis.

I, I have to say, you know, for me a lot of that is rare, but you do face that.

And that, that can be frustrating Right.

Now, you, you, you parts of the Mellon equity task force as it relates to vaccinations and you've been touring the vaccination centers throughout Mellon.

What have you gleaned so far from that process and as well I think from the overall pandemic and how it has impacted us Well, you know, one of the, the big thing that you see is that we really have to make sure we get the vaccines, you know to people where they are having the facilities and have a large sites that are available to anyone to to get the vaccines.

And it does help process a lot of people through at any particular time but it doesn't often get to the vulnerable communities.

And those who don't have the transportation that's readily available or don't have the support structure in the way of family or, or, you know friends or colleagues that can get them to the facilities.

And so we have to get the facility get the vaccines closer to the people in the communities.

And so that's one reason why we've engaged with a lot of the faith community, particularly as we, you know early in the process have been focusing on um Senior Citizens because they they have been the most vulnerable population is really making sure we get to people where they are.

And we're utilizing of course now mobile sites to get into various communities.

There isn't much resistance that we're finding particularly in the older populations.

And when I say older, probably 60 and above we are a little concerned about the younger population when we get to 20 and 30 something year olds.

And so that's, that's going to be another challenge that we'll have to address as we continue to open this up.

Right.

And, and, and as you look at Melon's um, reopening uh, strategy, and the concern about spikes I do think the citizens of Melbourne have been doing what You and the Governor have been asking in terms of trying to respect the phases that we've been in and and being as patient as can be.

Now.

I, I definitely think the, the population in the Maryland citizens have done an extremely good job of being careful about the distances and wearing masks and wa washing their hands.

I, I we've, we haven't had the type of resistance that, you know, other States have had.

And in some cases, I mean you're always going to have someone, you know, a couple of people who don't think it's as serious as it really is but the vast majority of the citizens that have really taken this very serious from the very beginning.

And I think that's why we we haven't had the same situations that we saw in New York city, Italy, Spain and some other places where our health system healthcare systems were overflowing and overrun because we were able to get out there early and really engage the citizenry.

And they took it seriously and have been able to do the right thing as far as protecting themselves and their families.

Infrastructure is a current hot topic.

Um Melon certainly, I would imagine would have a lot of interests, major port.

And as you go from the East coast, West coast and traverse the state, lots of highways, bridges w-what are your thoughts on America's infrastructure, melons infrastructure and what do you think is necessary to upgrade it if you think it needs upgrading?

Right.

We have been working over the last, you know six years that we've been in office to really improve our, our roads and bridges.

When we came in, there was a lot of reports with regard to the fact that we had uh some bridges that were in disrepair and road roadway that had not been addressed in many, many years.

And so we, we started out early on addressing those issues and have repave most of the state highways state roads in the state of address, the bridges that were graded as being deficient.

And so from that standpoint, we're in a pretty good shape now where we can use the help is making sure that we have brought back to as many people as possible particularly in rural areas that last mile abroad man as well as improving it in some of our urban areas our urban core, particularly in Baltimore city.

So that from that standpoint, we can use to help.

There are, there are some areas in wastewater treatment that we could always use some assistance with, but you know, in terms of the transportation side of it we we're doing fairly well.

Now, we, we are getting assistance that started before the president's recent announcement with what's called the Howard street tunnel.

And that's a rail line, real tunnel that the tunnel dates back to the 1800's.

So it's not, you know, they don't have the size to take the double stack containers, cars that come off come out with the court.

And so that's a project that the federal government is helping us along with CSX who owns the rail line state to make sure that and then we'll have much more traffic coming through the port.

There may be some areas where we could get some help in terms of some of the dredging but we're doing dredging now.

So that can also help in terms of, you know with the larger freighters that are coming through because of the expansion of the Panama canal.

Now we're getting a lot more traffic coming into the port of Baltimore, you know and one of the things people could look at is that historically the reason the port of Baltimore was so important is because the connections to the rail lines that got you to the middle of the country and got you to the Midwest.

And you could do that much quicker than coming into Norfolk or some of the other ports because you came further inland when you came up the the Chesapeake Bay into the port of Baltimore Understood I, as we wrap every Howard alum who comes on the show, the closing question is why Howard but I'm going to put a slight twist on this political science is now does number two subscribed major at Howard University, from the undergrads for a variety of reasons for those young people, listening who see you in this position, very unique.

What is your advice and why is Hollywood the place for them to fulfill their dream of becoming the next Lieutenant governor let the foot?

Well, I think, you know, I know that, you know Howard prepared me for whatever it was that I would decide to do at a later point.

I did not envision at the time, you know, being Lieutenant governor I studied political science and I studied economics.

The political science probably was much more of an interest to me.

The economics was, and he, Frank I thought it would be more marketable to get a job because my, my objective, and it should be your objective.

And I know your parents and whoever's helping you pay for this would feel the same way is that you need to get a job when you get out of school.

And so that was, you know, I didn't want to be, you know still living in my parents' house when I got out.

And so, you know, as far as Howard is concerned it is going to prepare you for a future that you really can't envision at this point 40 years ago.

And it's a little longer than 40 years ago.

When I graduated from Howard I did not envision being in Lieutenant governor.

Now, I did think about law school, which had I ended up doing eight years after graduating from Howard.

I went to law school but I did not envision being in this position.

So, um you know, you're preparing and how it will prepare you for that future.

Thanks for being here.

My guest today was Boyd Rutherford, Lieutenant Governor of Mellon I'm Dr. Van Faegre, please join me next time on The Journey.

(upbeat music) This program was produced by WAGT and made possible by contributions from viewers like you for more information on this program or any other program, please visit our website@whut.org.

Thank you.