Peter Franchot: ‘I will prevail’

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Del. Peter Franchot, a Montgomery County Democrat, announced in November that he was running for state comptroller against William Donald Schaefer. Polls show the little-known five-term lawmaker not far behind Schaefer. The Examiner interviewed Franchot about his candidacy.

Q: What about the liberal reputation of the “People’s Republic of Takoma Park” that you represent?

A: I’m a solid Democrat. I believe in the Democratic core values, the principles of higher education access, good public parks and open space, accessible health care. I don’t believe in slot machines. Republicans have always called me liberal, and I assume my opponents may try to come up with that criticism down the road. But I see myself as a very solid advocate for core progressive values that have resonated all around the state.

I don’t represent the Ehrlich wing of the Democratic Party. I’m all for bipartisan compromise. I’m just not in favor of bipartisan capitulation, and active support for a Republican like Bob Ehrlich who’s taken the state in the wrong direction. Gov. Schaefer and Janet Owens have been very supportive of Bob Ehrlich.

Q: You’re critical of Gov. Ehrlich because he’s a conservative Republican?

A: I would call him a fiscally irresponsible, borrow-and-spend Republican. There’s nothing fiscally conservative about borrowing half a billion from the transportation trust fund, taking it from crucially needed projects. Or $300 million from Program Open Space, a critical program to protect the Chesapeake Bay; $200 million from the university system; and then taking that money and holding it up in front of people and saying: “This is a surplus.”

Q: Why are you running against Bob Ehrlich?

A: It’s really the Ehrlich-Schaefer administration, because the governor has used William Donald Schaefer and his vote on the Board of Public Works to implement a lot of his agenda. In 2003, there were a series of devastating cuts on the Board of Public Works to higher education, health care, open space.

Q: What’s your problem with Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens, who’s running for comptroller too?

A: Don Schaefer and Janet Owens come from what I call the Ehrlich wing of the Democratic Party. They’re close to Ehrlich. They support him philosophically. A lot of their voting base comes from geographic areas that are supportive of the governor.

William Donald Schaefer probably doesn’t miss any public or private opportunity to say Bob Ehrlich’s a terrific governor. I’m going to voters in the Democratic primary and saying it’s time to put a Democrat who agrees with your values on the Board of Public Works.

Q: How would you improve the Comptroller’s Office?

A: One of its most important functions is to give the legislature revenue estimates for a balanced budget. We use the figure from the Board of Revenue Estimates, and they staff that board. Their figures have not been accurate. In 2005, they were off by a billion dollars. As a result, we’ve made cuts and fee increases which proved to be unnecessary once the revenues actually came in.

The Revenue Estimating Office has been chronically underfunded and understaffed. Either because of incompetence or for other reasons, the Comptroller’s Office has underestimated revenues in ways that have seriously hurt the state.

Q: What’s your problem with Schaefer’s role on the Board of Public Works?

A: Under Ehrlich, it has become a mini-legislature — I would contend more powerful than the legislature — because the board has the unilateral power to reduce the state budget without hearing and without notice. I’m concerned with the Ehrlich agenda that I consider divisive and a failure, and I’m concerned with the comptroller for having helped implement that agenda.

I will seek to restore the independence and integrity of the Comptroller’s Office in the Louie Goldstein tradition.

Q: You say that Ehrlich and Schaefer are not pro-business.

A: The traditional pro-business philosophy is let’s get a highly educated work force, let’s have efficient transportation, let’s have a good quality of life. Ehrlich, aided by Schaefer, has focused almost exclusively on bringing slot machines to Maryland as a form of economic development.

Q: Didn’t they really abandon slots this year?

A: We’ve stalled for four years and focused almost exclusively on bringing the national gambling industry into Maryland. Both my opponents support Ehrlich on slot machines, and it’s just a bad economic development strategy. We have this diverse rich, economy based on information technology and the life sciences, and that’s what we should be promoting.

Q: Schaefer asks, “What has Peter Franchot done?”

A: I’ve got a 20-year record on the Appropriations Committee. I’m a subcommittee chairman on transportation and the environment. I’ve had a very pragmatic reputation for getting things done. We’ve put hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure.

Q: The conventional wisdom on this race is that Don Schaefer has a solid 40 percent of the vote.

A: When I announced in November against William Donald Schaefer, people said he’s the Babe Ruth of Maryland politics. Even Babe Ruth retired at some point. That myth of invincibility and re-electability come from the same pundits you’ve been talking to. I will prevail.

Peter Franchot

» Age: 58, Born in New Haven, Conn., Nov. 25, 1947.

» Education: Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; U.S. Army, 1968-70; B.A., Amherst College; J.D, Northeastern University.

» Career: Congressional staffer, 1980-86; House of Delegates member, 1987-present; lawyer.

» Family: Wife Anne; two children, Abby, 24, and Nick, 21.

» For fun: He plays with his yellow Labrador retriever, Cody.

» Favorite books: Reading “Marley and Me” by John Grogan (about the world’s worst-behaved dog); finished Nelson Mandela’s “Long Walk to Freedom.”

» Favorite Restaurant: Jackie’s in Silver Spring.

llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com

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