Comptroller of the Treasury Peter Franchot is having the time of his life as Maryland?s chief money man.
Gov. Martin O?Malley is not.
Those two facts are related. But “there?s no cause and effect,” Franchot said.
But sometimes, at Board of Public Works meetings, where Franchot has an equal voice and equal vote with the chief executive, it sure seems that way.
O?Malley?s aggravation was intense at their June 25 meeting. As the comptroller prodded a second O?Malley Cabinet secretary, prolonging the meeting and delaying an O?Malley news conference, the governor snapped, “Do you want to make a motion so we can get on with this?”
No, not yet, Franchot calmly replied. As the comptroller kept up his incredulous interrogation of the Juvenile Services secretary ? he called one of his statements “fantastical” ? the governor pushed away from the table, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a while, transporting himself to a calmer, Franchot-free zone.
Hot dog with relish
Franchot?s public postures have riled not just O?Malley, but many Democrats in the legislature. More importantly, to their annoyance he opposed the special session and the tax increases it passed ? despite his own past support of similar taxes as a delegate. He is the most visible foe of the November referendum on slot machine gambling ? a gaming measure he supported years ago and O?Malley largely opposed.
From his 1986 election to the House of Delegates, Franchot has been consistently depicted as a hot dog and a grandstander. Don?t get between Peter and a TV camera, or you?ll get run over, the saying goes. Or Franchot: Only the T is silent.
Friends who concede those qualities said they are often directed at larger policy goals.
“He was accused of kind of being a showboat in his first four years,” said House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, another Montgomery County Democrat who modeled his own first campaign on Franchot high-energy door knocking. “After that, he became a pretty successful legislator,” particularly in “knowing how to craft an argument.”
“A lot of people who don?t like him see him as just someone who?s seeking to advance himself ? but what politician isn?t?” Barve asked.
When powers collide
Martin O?Malley has learned a lesson familiar to other Maryland governors ? the comptroller of the treasury can be a real pain in the butt on the Board of Public Works, whether he be named Louis Goldstein, William Donald Schaefer or Peter Franchot.
Gov. Parris Glendening (1995 to 2003) often had Schaefer chomping on his leg and barking at his Cabinet secretaries. “He used the office of comptroller to make a statement that ?I could be better than you,? ” Glendening said.
State Treasurer Nancy Kopp recalls a meeting of the Board of Public Works shortly after she was elected to the post by the legislature. Schaefer and Glendening “had me sit in the middle,” she said. “They wouldn?t talk to each other” and relayed messages through her.
Glendening and his predecessors remember Louis Goldstein, who held the office for 39 years until his death in 1998, more fondly. “He clearly knew what the role of the comptroller was,” Glendening said. “He was not looking to use that office for a stepping stone for other positions or to advance other causes.”
As state transportation secretary for Gov. Marvin Mandel in the mid-1970s, Harry Hughes, who succeeded Mandel, tangled fiercely with Goldstein over contracts, eventually resigning in protest. As governor, somewhat to Hughes? surprise, “Louie and I got along fine,” Hughes told The Examiner. But in his autobiography, he recalled the folksy Goldstein as a grandstander “always putting you on the spot” and “promising something that ? he couldn?t do ? time and time again.”
Gov. Marvin Mandel (1969 to 1979) said, “I had an excellent relationship with Louie. I can?t think of any major decision-making problems.” But “we were on the other side of the fence on some issues,” and “we agreed to disagree.”
“Louie gave us fits and starts on the Board of Public Works,” recalled Paul Schurick, who served as Gov. Schaefer?s liaison to the board and later chief of staff, and finally as communications director for Gov. Robert Ehrlich. “I don?t think Peter is doing anything on the Board of Public Works that his predecessors didn?t do.”
Ehrlich said he and Comptroller Schaefer “had a collegial relationship. We worked things out, not just with William Donald but Nancy [Kopp] as well. The purpose was not to sell tickets and conduct a circus.”
?He thinks he?s governor?
The main beef with Franchot is that he?s overreaching his authority and changing his stripes. “He thinks he?s governor,” said Ehrlich. “He?s gone from being an antagonist of the far left to being an antagonist of the administration and leadership.”
Schurick still works for Ehrlich but admits to being “a huge fan of Peter Franchot.”
“Peter is a voice of dissent” among Democrats, said Schurick. “I think he?s taking full and proper advantage of his role on the board.”
“What he?s emphasizing are certainly not what I would consider the core functions of the office,” said Kopp, who served with Franchot for 15 years on the Appropriations Committee. “He is not the governor, but as an independently elected constitutional officer, who?s to tell him what he should do?”
“I happen to think the comptroller should focus on the taxes and keeping the books right,” Kopp added. On the other hand, “almost anything comes before the Board of Public Works.”
Franchot and O?Malley have had well-publicized disagreements on some issues, but in fact, the comptroller votes with the governor on more than 95 percent of the agenda items. O?Malley and the legislature see him challenging their policy prerogatives with the help of highly paid top aides who have more credentials in communications and politics than in government finance.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and other senators were so outraged at Franchot?s self-aggrandizement that the Senate budget committee added language that “restricts the comptroller from expending any funds except in furtherance of the office?s constitutional responsibilities.”
“I went back and read the constitution, and it describes the comptroller?s office in very broad terms ? broader than even I?ve been thinking about,” Franchot said in an interview. Says the constitution: “The Comptroller shall have the general superintendence of the fiscal affairs of the state.”
“I?m more than a tax collector, I can tell you that,” Franchot said.
Watchdog, not a lapdog
As Louie Goldstein did, Franchot casts himself in the role as the independent watchdog for the people?s money. In fact, his criticism of Schaefer was that he was far too much Ehrlich?s lapdog.
Franchot is not about to muzzle himself. “I campaigned on that, I said I was going to do it, people voted for me. It is sometimes surprising that someone actually does what they say they?re going to do during the campaign. It?s probably ruffled some feathers with the governor and some of his supporters. But people ought to get used to it.”
“As long as the rest of the office operates in a professional way, I don?t carewhat he does,” said Del. Gail Bates, a Howard County Republican who served with Franchot on Appropriations. As a CPA, she has advice for Franchot on the smooth-running tax collection agency was: “Don?t screw that up.” So far, he hasn?t, she said.
Democrats are more concerned with Franchot challenging the governor.
“I hate to see this wasted energy in this dance between them,” said Glendening, who called Franchot “a great guy and a personal friend.” Glendening hopes they?ll both “relax this summer and come out and shake hands,” advice he?s shared with Franchot.
Hughes, who helped O?Malley pick his running mate and co-chaired Franchot?s transition team, said, “I?d like to see them work together, and basically they are.”
“I?m hoping maybe it?ll cool off, but that won?t happen until the slots thing is over,” said Hughes. (Both Hughes and Glendening oppose slot machine gambling, but neither plans an active role on this year’s referendum.)
Challenging O?Malley?
In private, aides to both Franchot and O?Malley say the relationship is largely cordial. But there is persistent speculation that Franchot will challenge O?Malley.
“I don?t think so,” Glendening and Hughes agreed.
“It seems not very likely,” said political consultant Laslo Boyd, who ran Schaefer?s 2006 campaign. “It?s very hard to beat an incumbent governor.” While O?Malley?s approval rating is a dismal 39 percent, “if you pull Republicans out of that,” Boyd said, “his numbers would be much better” among Democrats ? above 50 percent.
And what about O?Malley getting rid of a pest by running someone against Franchot? Someone like Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith, for instance?
Repeatedly asked about his plans, Smith has consistently refused to say why he?s raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. “In poll numbers, he?s not well-known outside Baltimore County,” Boyd said.
“The most politically significant thing about the [2006] election is that Peter Franchot ran up a huge plurality in Montgomery County,” Boyd said.
As Franchot told The Examiner in June ? repeating what he has said before ? “No,” he does not plan on running against O?Malley, and “yes,” he will support O?Malley?s re-election,
Will O?Malley support Franchot?s re-election?
“I hope he does,” the comptroller said. “We ran on a ticket last time. I anticipate running on the same ticket with him in 2010.”
ABOUT PETER V.R. FRANCHOT
- Age: 60, born Nov. 25, 1947 in New Haven, Conn.
- Education: Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; U.S. Army, 1968-70; Amherst College, 1973 (B.A.); Northeastern University, 1976 (J.D.)
- Career: Congressional staffer, 1980-86; House of Delegates, 1987-present; health care consultant for Washington lobbying firms
- Family: Wife, Anne Maher (a Washington lawyer); two children, Abby, 25, and Nick, 22; yellow Labrador retriever named Cody
- Home: 1880s house in Takoma Park; second home on Cape Cod (Orleans, Mass.)
