After months of indecision about her future plans, Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens has told state Comptroller William Donald Schaefer that she wants his job and will challenge him in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary.
Owens met with Schaefer late Wednesday afternoon. “He wished her well,” said Schaefer spokesman Mike Golden, but “he has not changed his plans” at all to run for a third term.
“The comptroller was gracious,” Golden said, but “he?s disappointed that someone he considers a friend would do this.”
“I adore him because he?s been a good friend to me,” Owens told The Examiner. But she says she not running against Schaefer ? “I?m running for comptroller.” She will formally announce next week.
“Maybe I?m a little nuts about my decision to run for comptroller,” Owens said. “I decided it was the right job for me” some time ago, even though she actively toyed with a race for Congress. She said she prefers an executive job that has more impact on people?s lives than a legislative post.
The comptroller collects taxes and manages state finances, and has a crucial role on the Board of Public Works in approving all state contracts and many official actions.
“I?m fiscally conservative,” said Owens, who was limited to two terms as county executive. “I love protecting people?s money and I intend to be a consensus-builder.”
Owens joins Montgomery County Del. Peter Franchot in the Democratic primary race. Owens said she did not enter the race because of recent controversies that Schaefer has stirred with his freewheeling comments. “I was more troubled by Peter Franchot?s numbers” in polls showing that he was running not far behind the 84-year-old Schaefer, who has also been governor and Baltimore mayor.
“If you like Bob Ehrlich, you?re gonna love Don Schaefer and Janet Owens,” Franchot said. She is “pro-development, pro-slots and pro-Ehrlich.”
Franchot, who says he is running as “the real Democrat,” is especially critical of Schaefer?s support of Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich. Owens is “the handpicked insurance policy for Ehrlich that reflect Schaefer?s collapsing poll numbers,” Franchot said. She would be the crucial second vote for Ehrlich on the Board of Public Works, as Schaefer has been, he said.
Janet Owens
Born: Feb. 18, 1944, on a farm in southern Anne Arundel County.
Education: Anne Arundel public schools; B.A., George Washington University; master?s in education administration, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Career: Director, Anne Arundel County Housing Authority; director, County Department of Aging; elected 1990, Judge of the Orphan?s Court; elected in 1998, Anne Arundel County executive.
Family: Husband, David, lives in Millersville; two grown sons.
