Last week's debate over an Eastern Shore land deal brought to the surface tensions that have been brewing between Gov. Martin O'Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot for months over how Maryland's chief tax collector plans to change the structure and scope of his office, a problem some political observers believe became inevitable when voters elected the two highly ambitious Democrats last fall.
A day after Franchot demanded a halt to an open-space purchase in Queen Anne's County until the administration answered his 11-point query about the deal, the governor directed some unusually pointed public barbs at Franchot, who represented Montgomery County in the House of Delegates for two decades.
And a series of letters and e-mails between their staffs reveal deep misgivings on the governor's part about Franchot's attempts to bulk up his top staff.
Franchot has made no secret of his desire to move the comptroller's office further into the policy realm than his predecessors did, and those who have watched him over the years say it was only a matter of time before he started stepping on the governor's toes.
"He's not the governor, in case nobody has told him that," said Del. Galen R. Clagett, a Frederick Democrat who counts himself as a friend and supporter of Franchot. "Peter needs to read his job description. I think he's overstepped on a number of occasions, and am I surprised by that? No."
The most recent dust-up came when Franchot questioned why the state and Queen Anne's County were paying $5 million for the land -- $400,000 more than the highest appraisal and nearly $1 million more than the average of two appraisals.
Franchot also expressed concern that Department of Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin, who did consulting work related to the deal before coming to the O'Malley administration, had a conflict of interest.
O'Malley was not amused. At a news conference, the governor dismissed the issues raised in Franchot's "18-question interrogatory," saying that neither they nor any facts that had come to light warranted a review of "the decision the Board of Public Works reached unanimously."
"I would hope in the future he might ask these questions up front as opposed to after the fact," O'Malley said, referring to Franchot's Board of Public Works vote in favor of the deal two weeks before.
