State Treasurer Nancy Kopp is virtually assured of her re-election to the post today after a special joint committee of the House and Senate voted almost unanimously Tuesday evening to support her nomination.
The former Democratic delegate from Bethesda was first elected to the job by the General Assembly in 2002. The position oversees state bonds and insurance, and has a most important role representing the legislature on the Board of Public Works, sitting with the governor and comptroller. The committee took about 45 minutes to interview six candidates and vote on the position.
“Being state treasurer is about the best job anyone can have,” Kopp told the committee. While she has lived in Montgomery County for 40 years, Kopp said her “188 constituents come from all over the state of Maryland.” There are 141 delegates and 47 senators.
The new comptroller, Peter Franchot, is from Montgomery County, and Gov. Martin O?Malley grew up there, giving county connections to all three members of the powerful board approving contracts and purchases.
Veteran Republican Sen. Donald Munson from Western Maryland assured Kopp, “you do a lot of really good stuff. You?re responsive to your constituency.”
There had been a movement after the election to replace Kopp with a black person from Prince George?s County, but Kopp worked privately to gain the support of many key delegates and senators, including House Speaker Michael Busch.
Because of the lack of “racial diversity” on the board, Baltimore City Del. Frank Conaway Jr. urged members of the Legislative Black Caucus to look at the racial composition of all state boards and commissions.
However, Sen. Thomas Mac Middleton, D-Charles, who co-chaired the special committee selecting the treasurer, noted that Kopp is the only woman with a statewide elected office.
Thirty members of the committee of 18 senators and 18 delegates voted by secret ballot to send her name to the full legislature.
At the request of the committee chairmen, the counting of the ballot was witnessed by reporters from The Examiner and from The Baltimore Sun.
