Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, accused of insulting Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens with comments about her clothes and weight, has sent her a letter accusing her of insulting “senior citizens.”
“From the start, you have run a campaign based on age discrimination and filled with criticism of older Marylanders,” Schaefer said. He called her campaign theme ? “It?s time” ? “a thinly veiled attack on older people.”
Owens refused to respond to Schaefer?s comment. Through a spokesman, she said Friday was “a day of celebration” of the Wiley Bates Heritage Park in Annapolis, the site of the former all-black high school that she had worked to transform into a center of community activities.
“We?re not going to continue this discussion,” said Owens campaign spokesman Bob DiPietro.
The other candidate in the race, Del. Peter Franchot, on Friday morning pleaded with the two to “stop the insults” and return to the discussion of issues about health care and schools that he had been raising. But he continued his criticism of the two as “pro-slots, pro-sprawl and pro-Ehrlich.”
Franchot repeated his charges that Schaefer “is no longer up to the important job of comptroller.”
It was those kind of remarks that got aging friends of Schaefer up in arms at a Friday afternoon news conference in Fells Point that the comptroller did not attend. Bob Romatka, 76, read Schaefer?s letter to the cameras.
The charge of age discrimination was based on a remark by Owens several months ago.
She was asked to describe how it felt to tell Schaefer that she was going to run against him, and she said it was like asking your grandfather for the car keys.
“It?s unfortunate she said that,” Romatka said.
Schaefer?s attacks on Owens have helped her campaign pick up momentum, DiPietro said.
On Thursday, she was endorsed by former Prince George?s County Executive Wayne Curry, and Friday she got the backing of Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore. Both men recorded phone messages for Owens that went to 100,000 households in each jurisdiction, according to Sushant Sidh, an Owens spokesman.
