Comptroller Peter Franchot has found yet another issue on which to differ with
Gov. Martin O?Malley ? the annual “begathon” for school construction funds that O?Malley is seeking to dismantle.
The annual hearing before the Board of Public Works has been a command performance that lasted all day in past years for hundreds of legislators and local officials.
Last week, O?Malley told legislative leaders that he wanted only local superintendents and school board members to testify before the board, which he chairs and includes Franchot and State Treasurer Nancy Kopp.
Franchot sent his own letter Tuesday to county executives, commissioners and council members, encouraging them to attend the hearing to allocate more than $100 million.
“I strongly believe that the process of allocating funds to our public schools should be as open and participatory as possible,” Franchot told the officials. “You were elected as a representative for the people of your county and, as such, deserve the opportunity to come before the board and have your voice heard on this important matter.”
In his letter last week, O?Malley said this “large, tumultuous event” had not only “taken significant time away from the pressing duties of legislators and others, but tends to actually reduce the focus on the substantive issues surrounding the public school construction program.”
The governor?s office had an official “no comment” to Franchot?s invitation.
Senate President Thomas Mike Miller said they were trying to have schools awarded on need, and not politics. “He wants to bring people down to beg and plead for schools that are not needed,” he said. “The children?s needs are more important than the comptroller?s need for publicity.”
