Is Peter Franchot avoiding Anne McCarthy?
The little-known Republican candidate for state comptroller thinks so. Her Democratic opponent was a no-show Monday at the Maryland Chamber of Commerce annual policy conference, where they were both invited to address state business owners.
And, McCarthy said, he cancelled on a scheduled radio discussion the day before.
“Either he?s afraid of me ?and who could be afraid of me ? or he?s convinced he?s going to win,” McCarthy said.
Indeed, trailing 2 to 1 in the polls, McCarthy is “desperate and grasping at straws,” said Franchot press secretary Warren Hanson, who explained the candidate?s absence as a simple prior commitment. The favorite with about three weeks left in the campaign will continue to speak at venues with or without McCarthy, he said.
McCarthy, the former dean of the business school at University of Baltimore who said she left her job to campaign, told conference attendants she aims to increase the state?s tax revenues without increasing its tax rate.
She said she wants to be a better protector against fraud and waste in state contracts, and be a steward for the currently under-budgeted state pension fund. “It becomes a drain on our operating budget, which most likely means a tax increase for you,” she said.
Franchot has campaigned to improve health care funding, the transportation system and school funding, none of the things the comptroller does, McCarthy criticized.
But Franchot, who met with chamber executives last week, calls the position an independent voice for taxpayers and the state?s fiscal stability. The Montgomery County delegate insists the issues are relevant to comptroller, Warren said.
Franchot?s campaign funding also dwarfs McCarthy?s: He has just under $900,000 cash on hand compared to her $4,365, according to their most recent finance reports.
Still, McCarthy remains resilient. Joking with conference attendees, she promised not to follow the legacy of former comptroller William Donald Schaefer, who lost in the Democratic primary, by vowing to keep state Board of Public Works meetings to the point.
“And I promise not to make fun of anyone?s outfits,” she added.
