Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has withdrawn the nomination of Dennis R. Schrader as secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene, a spokesman said, after concluding that the Senate Executive Nominations Committee would not vote on the appointment before the legislature adjourns April 10.

Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said the governor plans to reappoint Schrader as acting secretary, allowing him to remain in the job until next year.

“We just believe he is too qualified and too important to the people that he serves to be left hanging in the wind,” Mayer said, calling the nominations process “heavily politicized” this year. “Hopefully, next session, cooler heads will prevail.”

Mayer said the administration was told that there would be no vote on Schrader’s nomination. He declined to say who relayed that information.

Hogan also withdrew the names of Board of Education nominees Laurie Halverson and Barbara Shreeve, and Health Care Commission nominees Cassandra Tomarchio, Elizabeth Hafey and Gerald O’Connor.

Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), chairman of the nominations committee, said he was “baffled” by the governor's decision and had planned to hold committee votes this week.

“It’s my belief [Schrader] would have been moved forward to the full Senate,” Ferguson said, adding that he also thought the other nominees would have been approved as well.

Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said it was an “absolute lie” that the administration was told Schrader would not receive a vote. “People told him that he was going to get voted on,” Miller said. “As was everyone else on the list.”

Schrader plans to remain in his job even though the fiscal 2018 budget includes language that could prohibit someone in Schrader’s situation from receiving a salary after June 30 without committee approval.

The language reads: “No funds in this budget may be expended to pay the salary of a Secretary or Acting Secretary of any department who was a recess appointment in 2016 and whose nomination as Secretary was put forward and was not acted upon by the Executive Nominations Committee.”

Mayer said he did not believe the budget language would hold up in court.