Statewide candidates pledge cooperation with local officials at MACo finale

The most heavily attended Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in history concluded Saturday with presentations from five of the six major-party candidates for statewide office. The contenders for governor, attorney general and comptroller did not appear onstage together, but offered opening and closing statements and answered three questions apiece that had been developed by MACo leaders. Wes Moore, the Democratic nominee for governor who attended numerous MACo events in Ocean City this week, was the only no-show, due to a scheduling conflict. All three major offices are open this year — a rarity in recent Maryland political history — and all the candidates, to one degree or another, pledged to boost cooperation between state and local government.