Gov. Wes Moore was interviewed by David Rubenstein Tuesday morning, kicking off The Banner’s third annual Impact Maryland conference.

Moore said he didn’t have a “personal beef” with President Donald Trump, but said there’s been an “assault” on Maryland that “has been aggressive, has been intentional, it’s been petty, it’s been partisan and it’s been punishing.”

At a later panel, Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman said the state hasn’t yet felt the full economic impact of the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal government.

Many workers who left under the “fork in the road” option laid out at the start of the year just received their final paycheck at the end of last month. Decreases tied to the job losses — like personal income and sales taxes — won’t be baked into the state’s revenue estimates until December or March, Lierman said.

During his conversation with Rubenstein, Moore also said it did not matter to him who his Republican opponent in the governor’s race next year will be, saying the declared candidates “all kind of sound the same at this point.”

The governor said he had no desire to be a senator or member of Congress, but neither he nor Rubenstein directly discussed the presidency.

The daylong conference at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore is tackling multiple subjects, including how Maryland can respond to threats from federal spending cuts, the future of college research and the impact of the arts.

In addition to Moore, Rubenstein and Lierman, more than 30 speakers are joining panels throughout the day, including Housing Secretary Jake Day.

Optimism from higher education, despite ‘challenging’ times

Despite the recent challenges facing higher education, four college presidents at Impact Maryland were optimistic during their panel moderated by Brian McGrory, a Banner board member who served as interim editor-in-chief.

“We wake up every day, and the challenge is new and it’s different, but it is profoundly meaningful,” said Valerie Sheares Ashby, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Ron Daniels, president of the Johns Hopkins University, admitted it was a “challenging time” in higher education.

About 50% of Hopkins’ budget comes from federal research funding, Daniels said. He acknowledged that “there’s things we want America’s research universities to do differently,” but said it’s important to still stand by the mission of higher education.

For Bruce Jarrell, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, that mission is crucial. He warned that cuts to the National Institutes of Health and other grant-awarding agencies could cause the country to lose a “generation of scientists.”

Despite those losses, University of Maryland, College Park President Darryll Pines believes his university, and others in Maryland, will persevere.

“Students who come to our institutions’ lives are transformed and they go off and do great things,” he said. “That is the promise of what we do, and we will continue to do that.”

This story will be updated throughout the conference, so check back to see what’s being discussed.

Banner reporters Hayes Gardner and Ellie Wolfe and editor Julie Bykowicz contributed to this report.