Comptroller

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.

As a top contender for the mayor's job backed away from the race yesterday, Baltimore's public unions were poised to back the candidacy of City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III, bolstering his bid for the city's top post.City Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, who flirted with a run for mayor during the past two months but never officially declared, said yesterday she will seek re-election as comptroller this year. Pratt said she wants to finish work she began in her first term."I think with a second term as comptroller, it will prepare me to lead the city as mayor," Pratt said.

On the steps of the State House was a marching band, in the balcony a string ensemble. The marble lobby was resplendent with flags and mobbed with well-wishers. Generations of politicians greeted one another as if at a family reunion.William Donald Schaefer made his triumphant return.In a ceremony that rivaled his past inaugurations, the 77-year-old Schaefer officially ended his retirement yesterday to become Maryland's comptroller.Striding back into the House of Delegates chamber, Schaefer was cheered by a standing-room-only crowd, and delivered a spirited, 25-minute address that was gubernatorial in tone and included several swipes at his successors as governor and mayor.

Corrective actionQUOTED FROM a recent, memorable press release out of the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Millersville:"Dennis was in the rear of his house target shooting when he had some type of malfunction with his revolver. In an attempt to correct this problem he discharged one shot into his abdomen. Dennis had been drinking."-- Devon SpurgeonA monumental matterTHE BUICK Regal that had stopped dead in the middle of West Street before lunch was still there, still stopped, after lunch.

William Donald Schaefer wants his bus back.The former governor's hard feelings over Gov. Parris N. Glendening's 1995 sale of his beloved vehicle bubbled over yesterday at a meeting of the Board of Public Works. Schaefer, as comptroller, sits on the board, with the governor and state Treasurer Richard N. Dixon.The board was conducting a routine review of Department of Transportation contracts when Schaefer criticized Glendening's plans to have officials make their own way to a Cabinet meeting this month in Western Maryland.

In a show of Democratic solidarity, four congressional leaders announced their support yesterday for their party's nominees for mayor, City Council president and comptroller -- a political trio they dubbed "Team Baltimore.""Baltimore is the home of many great teams," said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, standing with mayoral nominee Martin O'Malley, council president nominee Sheila Dixon and Comptroller Joan M. Pratt. "We have the Orioles. We have the Ravens. And here we have Team Baltimore."Business park planMikulski joined Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes and U.S. Reps.

In Highlandtown, he's Mayor. In Cumberland, he's Governor.And in Annapolis, as William Donald Schaefer ends his restless retirement to become Maryland's first new comptroller in 40 years, nobody knows quite how to address him."What will we call him?" puzzled House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. "Probably, at least in public, I'll refer to him as Mr. Comptroller. Most of the time, though, I'll call him Governor, which is what I've always called him. Privately, I'll call him Don."It's a dilemma that goes beyond etiquette.

The 30-cents-a-pack increase in state cigarette taxes that took effect July 1 is making Maryland an attractive target for bootleggers who do a thriving business in Northeast states with high tobacco taxes, state regulators say.Since the tax increase took effect, agents from State Comptroller William Donald Schaefer's office said they have made four separate arrests, confiscating 15,000 packs of unstamped cigarettes worth more than $40,000.State officials said three of those arrested were from the New York City area, and that it was not clear whether the cigarettes, purchased in Virginia, were intended for resale in Maryland or destined for sale elsewhere in the Northeast.

City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III gained a critical boost to his mayoral hopes yesterday with the endorsement of popular Baltimore Comptroller Joan M. Pratt.Pratt ran for state comptroller in September, losing to former Gov. and Mayor William Donald Schaefer by 1 percentage point in the city. With her political organization's muscles flexed and poised to push her city re-election, Pratt's backing is expected to shore up Bell's bid."This is huge," Gary L. McLhinney, president of the Fraternal Order of Police union, said of the endorsement.

Crofton board members scrutinized the administration portion of their special tax district budget Monday -- the second-largest piece of a nearly $1 million pie -- questioning the need to extend the comptroller's hours and provide more overtime for the administrative assistant.The Crofton Civic Association must present a balanced budget to residents in the tax district in time for the community vote in January. The meeting was the second of four on the budget.Although the board has not recommended changes to the proposed budget, which is $36,000 more than last year's, the weekly meetings have focused on explaining budget increases and pointing out areas where the budget could be cut to make way for a possible 1-cent decrease in the tax rate of 27 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Comptroller Peter Franchot, a Democrat who often posits himself as an independent voice, filed Friday for re-election to a second term as Maryland's chief tax collector. Franchot eschewed a news conference or rally and instead announced his re-election filing at the state elections board with a low-key e-mail message and YouTube video message to supporters. The comptroller, whose job also entails regulating the alcohol, tobacco and motor fuel industries, said he has been a fiscal watchdog who has cracked down on delinquent taxpayers.

It happens to the best of us. Just the other day, I put on a jacket I hadn't worn since last spring and - bonus! - there was $5.31 in one of the pockets. Found money - maybe enough to super size my order at McDonald's. So I'm trying to be fair and not get all "Whaaa?" over how Baltimore City somehow found nearly $40 million that was sitting around in some forgotten bank account for the past decade. Like I said, it happens: $5.31 in one pocket, a subway farecard with 15 cents left on it in another, and soon you're talking some real money.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to get a raise. At a time of fiscal constraints and shrinking revenues, when City Hall is demanding cutbacks in public agencies and deferring salary upgrades for mid-level managers, Baltimore's top elected officials last month authorized a cost-of-living increase for themselves and the City Council. The annual 2.5 percent raise is proving to be more trouble than it's worth - the phones in some City Hall offices are ringing. Forgoing the annual adjustment would have banked Mayor Sheila Dixon, Comptroller Joan M. Pratt and Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake some well-deserved political capital.

With the passage of the slots referendum last week, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot dined on a big, cold wedge of humble pie last week that Gov. Martin O'Malley and some other Democrats were only too happy to serve. If the comptroller's relations with Mr. O'Malley, state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and others in Annapolis were frosty in the past, his behavior during the slots debate tossed them into the deep freeze. It isn't that Mr. Franchot opposed slots. Plenty did. It isn't even that he was outspoken in the matter, raised large sums for anti-slots ads and traveled across the state to rail against them.

The animus between Comptroller Peter Franchot and Gov. Martin O'Malley is taking center stage in the Maryland slots contest, providing a lively sideshow to a years-old debate to be decided by voters next month. Campaigning against legalization of slots yesterday in Northwest Baltimore, Franchot called on the pro-gambling governor to "cease and desist" what the tax collector described as "Swift boat-style" and "Karl Rove-style" attacks on him, according to prepared remarks. Franchot was responding to a letter by the pro-slots ballot committee sent this week to Maryland elected officials that said Franchot "has spent the past year trying to run away from his 'pro' record on slots."

A rift among Maryland's Democrats - with Comptroller Peter Franchot increasingly on the outs - became decidedly more public and bitter yesterday with a tartly worded missive from one of the party's standard-bearers. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Prince George's County Democrat who has held his leadership post in the General Assembly for more than two decades, sent a letter to Franchot, the state's elected chief fiscal officer, excoriating him for his "obsession with the press" and "disregard for the relationships you need to be an effective leader."

Between hosting his own biotechnology summit, leading the crusade against the legalization of slot machines and pushing for a new elementary school in Towson, Comptroller Peter Franchot appears to be squeezing in time for an activity his critics don't expect: his job. State law sets out a relatively narrow role for the comptroller: chiefly to collect taxes on income, sales, gas, alcohol and other items, and to sit on the Board of Public Works. Franchot, a former state delegate from Montgomery County, came into office promising a much broader policy agenda dealing with the environment, minority contracting and anything related to state finances - which is pretty much everything.

It's not often that the state's chief tax collector makes a trip to Towson to share his views on local elementary school overcrowding, but Peter Franchot is not your average comptroller. Even by Mr. Franchot's just-spell-my-name-right standards of publicity, Wednesday's visit was notable: There was no pending state contract, tax issue or related matter to justify his decision to visit Rodgers Forge Elementary School as part of a broader school construction projects tour. Instead, it appears Mr. Franchot came to send a message.

A rift has developed over Comptroller Peter Franchot's role in the campaign against legalizing slot machines in Maryland, with some in the anti-gambling coalition unsure whether his high political profile will help or hurt the effort. It is a problem that both sides face as the multimillion-dollar campaign takes shape in the months leading to November's referendum on legalized gambling. Gov. Martin O'Malley acknowledged recently that his ability to enact his agenda over the coming years is strongly tied to the passage of the slots referendum, and he said he will campaign for it. The prospect that the public face of the anti-slots campaign could be Franchot, who has frequently clashed with the governor, has already led to Annapolis buzz that the vote could shape up as a quasi- gubernatorial primary between the two Democrats, a perception that could inject the issue of conflicting loyalties into the debate.

Edna M. Cadigan, a retired state comptroller's office secretary, died of heart disease Feb. 29 at the Pickersgill Retirement Community. The former Rodgers Forge resident was 97. Edna May Foster was born in Baltimore and raised in the Patterson Park area. She attended St. Bridget's Parochial School and earned a diploma at Strayer Business College. In 1929, she married Timothy J. Cadigan, a manager for the A&P grocery stores, who died in 1943. She raised her two sons and, to prepare for the job market, she practiced her shorthand skills by listening to radio shows and transcribing the words.