Maryland’s Democratic governor tapped one of the world’s largest risk-management firms for a short-term contract in preparation for Republican President-elect Trump moving in next door.
Gov. Wes Moore hired Accenture PLC, an Irish IT and consulting firm with an estimated $60 billion in revenue, to be its eyes and ears on Trump’s return to Washington, D.C.
Two days after Trump was projected to win, Maryland finalized its $190,000 contract.
Consultants at Accenture have been charged with analyzing how Trump and congressional Republicans will affect Maryland, including in terms of federal monies sent across the Anacostia River as the new administration signals a major belt-tightening.
MOORE: DEMS MUST EARN SUPPORT OF BLACK VOTERS
Maryland Gov. Westley Moore (Getty)
The contract includes a section focused on identifying state “resources and efforts and consider potential avenues for legal challenges.”
It also seeks to track Trump’s agenda and his circle’s engagements with third-party groups like the Heritage Foundation, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Moore appeared to acknowledge there will be times Maryland’s interests run counter to the White House’s, but suggested his hiring of Accenture was not to create such an overtly adversarial relationship as critics have suggested.
A spokesman for Moore appeared to dismiss claims the governor is trying to set up a showdown, saying there are four tenets guiding him into a new Trump era: “Defend our constitutional rights, grow our economy, and restore faith in our public servants [and] our institutions, and our democracy.”
“Governor Moore is ready to work with the incoming administration to ensure these goals are accomplished, and where there is common ground to be found, he will find it. Not only as a matter of principle – but as a responsibility to the people the Moore-Miller administration represents.”
The spokesman said hiring a firm like Accenture is standard practice in business, and that with the “unique…
