Attorney General-elect Doug Gansler is moving his household yet again, but no, he?s not moving to Baltimore, where his new office is located and where he?ll become the first Montgomery County resident in Maryland history to become the state?s top lawyer.
Gansler, finishing his second term as Montgomery County state?s attorney, is moving from Chevy Chase to Bethesda ? he said his wife likes to move every eight years or so ? and he said he plans to keep the attorney general?s office and most of its staff in downtown Baltimore. Apparently, an attorney general in the 1800s moved the office from Annapolis in a tiff with the governor at the time. Maryland is the only state where the attorney general?s office is not located in the capital city.
But Gansler said he plans to move some parts of the operation to the Washington area.
“We need to have a presence in suburban Maryland,” where 1.8 million Marylanders live, Gansler told The Examiner on Thursday. “There is a lack of access to the office by citizens and lawyers,” including the 5,000 bar association members in Prince George?s and Montgomery counties.
“One of the things we?re considering is moving the criminal appeals divisions,” and “part of whatever we do move is an outlet of the consumer protection division,” which already has branch offices in Hagerstown and Salisbury, Gansler said. With 420 lawyers for the state, the bulk of the operation “is going to remain in Baltimore,” but “there is going to be a presence throughout the state.”
The commute to Baltimore is “not that bad,” Gansler said. His commute will also be eased by having a state trooper on his security detail drive his state car.
“I?m looking forward to being in Baltimore,” he said. “I like being in Baltimore.”
Other than appointing two new deputy attorneys general and other members of his personal staff, Gansler plans no wholesale changes in staff.
“We?re going slowly,” he said. “Personnel-wise the office is loaded with talent in terms of qualifications and experience. I can really take my time, and it?s comforting that it?s running very well.”
Retiring after 20 years, Attorney General J. Joseph Curran agreed.
“There so much institutional memory here,” Curran said.
“The bright people come and stay. Here you can have a great career and a great family life. Some of the senior attorneys make more than me,” said Curran, who gets $125,000 a year. “That?s pretty good.”
