COMPTROLLER William Donald Schaefer, who routinely opens meetings of the state Board of Public Works by denouncing fellow politicians who have offended him, has found a new target in Del. Howard P. Rawlings.
The Baltimore legislator, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, irritated Schaefer by writing an op-ed article published Aug. 16 in The Sun -- disputing the comptroller's repeated statements blaming former Gov. Parris N. Glendening and General Assembly leaders for the state's budget woes.
Rawlings wrote that he was disappointed at his fellow Democrat Schaefer's "twisting of the facts to fuel his continued animosity toward Mr. Glendening."
In his opening statement at Wednesday's board meeting, Schaefer called Rawlings' article "outrageous" and "way out of line."
Turning to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Schaefer urged the Republican to fight back against Rawlings' critical comments about his administration.
"You've got to remind that chairman that he was the one who put that budget through," Schaefer said in an apparent reference to the spending plans for the final years of Glendening's term.
Ehrlich, criticized by Rawlings for blaming the state's budget woes on the General Assembly's failure to pass his slot machine plan this year, called Rawlings' article "unfortunate, counterproductive."
It was Schaefer who led the attack, however, saying that Rawlings "has the audacity to say everything's rosy" and criticizing Schaefer because the comptroller would not support the chairman's call for a tax increase.
Rawlings' article reviewed the former governor's handling of the 1991-1993 budget crisis and concluded that Schaefer "did no better when he was in charge."
"If [Rawlings] wants to be governor, let him run," Schaefer fumed.
Schaefer's denunciation of Rawlings, whom he called "a good man" and "brilliant," lacked the vitriol of his diatribes against Glendening.
But unlike the former governor, who seldom responded to the comptroller's remarks, Rawlings is perfectly happy to mix it up with Schaefer -- an occasional ally over the years.
Rawlings said he wasn't angered that Schaefer wouldn't support tax increases during a meeting several weeks ago. "I was troubled that he didn't support Thornton," Rawlings said, referring to the state's new formula to equalize education spending among local jurisdictions.
Rawlings noted that Schaefer had increased both short-term and long-term taxes to deal with the recession of the early 1990s.
