For the first time in 46 years, retiring Attorney General J. Joseph Curran will be out of elected office Tuesday as successor Doug Gansler is sworn in.
With 20 years of service, Curran is Maryland?s ? and the nation?s ? longest-serving attorney general.
“I?ve worked since I was 14, and I?m not going to just stop,” the 75-year-old Curran told The Examiner.
He?s talked to local colleges about teaching part-time and said he?s also considering writing a book to “collect all my thoughts” ? especially on growing up in a segregated city.
And Curran has even floated the possibility he might fill in as president of the Injured Workers? Insurance Fund, the quasi-public agency that just lost its top official.
Staying in the political loop
Curran announced his retirement May 8, leaving office under his own power, saying, “I?d rather have it said, ?Why did you leave too soon?? than ?Why did you stay so long?? ”
It?s not as if Curran will be completely out of the political loop. He?s the father-in-law of Gov.-elect Martin O?Malley.
If O?Malley wants advice, “I?m available when asked,” Curran said, “but I don?t pretend to be making all sorts of suggestions.”
“Martin has surrounded himself with some really senior, seasoned staff,” Curran said. “They give good, sound advice.”
Leader with ?progressive? principles
Curran has always been what?s now called “a progressive,” but what used to be termed liberal.
A Catholic, he?s long supported abortion rights, and in 1968, in his second term in the state Senate, he barely lost a race for Congress as a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War.
He was known over the years for his good humor, principled positions and kind demeanor.
Man of integrity in working with others
In the recently published autobiography of former Gov. Harry Hughes, who picked Curran to be lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1987, Hughes said Curran was “as decent a man as any I knew in politics.”
Curran?s principles sometimes put him at odds with the governors ,for whom his role was being chief legal adviser.
He sometimes infuriated then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer, whose biographer reported an incident in which the irascible Schaefer said to Curran: “How can you be so nice all day long?”
Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich complained frequently that he wanted “his own lawyer,” not the father-in-law of his opponent and an attorney who sided more with the legislature than the chief executive.
“That?s really unfair,” Curran said. “We live by our oath to fairly and honorably practice law. Our integrity is the only credential we have.”
Champion of social causes
Curran?s main role was overseeing a 400-lawyer firm that provided various legal services to state agencies, but he is perhaps best known for the social causes he championed from his earliest days inthe General Assembly.
He supported civil rights and open housing laws in the 1960s, when that stand resulted in his own home being picketed.
He repeatedly fought to tighten handgun laws, which earned him the enmity of the National Rifle Association, and he even questioned the need for widespread ownership of the weapons.
From the beginning of his career, Curran opposed the use of the death penalty, and as more states turned to gambling to boost their revenues, he issued a study called “The House Never Loses and Maryland Cannot Win.”
Advocate for consumer rights
“Joe Curran?s legacy is generally and universally understood to be in the consumer protection arena,” incoming Attorney General Gansler told The Examiner.
A recent salute by the National Association of Attorneys General recognized that contribution, as did a lifetime achievement award from the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition.
In December, Verizon Wireless and the Verizon Foundation made $300,000 in grants to 11 nonprofits with domestic violence programs, another issue where Curran won passage of major pieces of legislation.
He also has targeted Internet predators and lax monitoring of released sexual offenders.
“I love the job,” Curran told The Examiner earlier this year. “I love the people who are working here. I?ll obviously miss it. But there comes a time when, you know, just like Willie Mays, shouldn?t he have stopped maybe a year or two early?”
