Comptroller Peter Franchot accused Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller of trying to cut his top staff and budget in “significant political retaliation” for his opposition to slot machine gambling.
“He wants me to shut up about slots,” Franchot said, citing “credible rumors from high placed insiders” about “draconian” budget cuts and efforts to eliminate his chief of staff. He called the moves “unwise,” “unethical” and “ruthless.”
Miller called the charges “outrageous.” Miller said he had not seen the recommendations from the nonpartisan fiscal analysts in the Department of Legislative Services. “I?m not going to go beyond those recommendations,” Miller said. “I will adhere to them for the most part.”
Fiscal analyst Jody Sprinkle, who reviews the budget of the comptroller as well as other agencies, said her analysis was not complete and needed to be reviewed by supervisors. The analysts typically recommend reductions in agency budgets and staffing in reports that the budget subcommittees review with agency heads. The hearings on the comptroller?s budget are next Monday and Tuesday, and Sprinkle said her analysis would be done by Friday.
Miller has long had complaints about Franchot, and the comptroller?s allegations added fuel to the fire.
“He doesn?t have tax experts on his staff, he?s got PR experts” whose job is to promote Franchot, Miller said. “It?s a one stop political shop designed to grandstand and promote Peter Franchot.”
Franchot said he added six people to his personal staff in an agency of 1,100. The two people allegedly targeted are Chief of Staff David Weaver, formerly communications chief for Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, and Deputy Comptroller Len Foxwell, formerly an assistant to the president at Salisbury University. Both make $150,000, salaries that were initially resisted by Gov. Martin O?Malley?s Department of Budget and Management.
“We worked this out,” Franchot said. “They?re underpaid. I?d be happy to supply a long list of people in state government that are equally paid.”
“There?s no single person that?s going to be targeted on his staff and that?s a promise,” Miller said. But then he attacked again, saying Franchot “and his staff were missing in action this entire year” as the legislature dealt with difficult budget and tax issues.
Miller called Franchot, elected comptroller in 2006, “a political chameleon” and “an embarrassment to the state of Maryland.”
