Politics

With Peter Franchot (D) set to step down after four terms as Maryland’s comptroller, voters will select someone new for the post in a little more than two weeks’ time. During a radio debate on WAMU’s “Politics Hour” Friday, the candidates vying to take his place sketched out very different visions of how they would approach the job.  Del. Brooke Lierman (D-Baltimore City) said she would bring an expansive, values-driven outlook to the Goldstein Treasury Building — and she accused her opponent, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman (R), of being out of step with the electorate. “My opponents thinks that climate change, gun violence, workers’ rights, education, transportation and economic fairness are outside the purview of the state comptroller’s office,” Lierman charged. “But I think those values are central to the comptroller’s mission…” 

Democrat Heather Mizeur’s bid to upset Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Harris relies on making inroads in GOP-oriented Harford County, which accounts for 35% of voters in the newly redrawn 1st Congressional District and has demonstrated an independent streak. The district, which also covers the Eastern Shore and a piece of Baltimore County, is the only one in Maryland where Republican voters outnumber Democrats. That means Mizeur, a former state delegate and 2014 gubernatorial candidate who lives in Kent County, must assemble a bloc of Democrats, unaffiliated voters and moderate Republicans in her long shot challenge to Harris, whom she has sought to label a “traitor” for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Maryland ranks second in election integrity according to a report released recently by the Democracy Initiative Education Fund, a coalition of 75 civil rights, environmental and civic organizations dedicated to building democracy. The score card reflects all aspects of the voting process, from registering to vote and casting a ballot, to confidence that the vote would be counted accurately and safely. This doesn’t surprise Barbara Sanders from Silver Spring, who after a career as a reference librarian for the United States Information Agency, tasked with explaining American life abroad, has directed her energy to the Montgomery County non-partisan League of Women Voters. There she has headed efforts to produce the group’s popular Election Voters’ Guide and chaired the Making Democracy Work Committee.

Maryland’s chief tax collector said a decision striking down the state’s digital ad tax should not be appealed. Instead, Comptroller Peter Franchot, who is the named party in a lawsuit challenging the tax, on Friday called for lawmakers to revisit the policy. “While the enactment of this law was well-intended, with revenue dedicated to funding the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, its constitutionality — coupled with the tax’s residual impact on small businesses that utilize digital advertising services — continue to give me pause on the prudence of this law,” Franchot said in a statement. Franchot and Senate President Bill Ferguson, the main sponsor of the law, have opposing views on an appeal that set up an unusual conflict between state entities both represented by the Office of the Attorney General. Despite Franchot’s opposition, an appeal seems likely.

As the Baltimore City government pours unprecedented resources into alternative approaches to stemming gun violence, City Council members on Thursday expressed frustration at the mayor’s top official overseeing the work for not giving them a heads up on major changes announced last month. The exchange between Councilman Mark Conway and Shantay Jackson, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, or MONSE, started out diplomatically enough, but soon escalated into a curt back-and-forth after Jackson revealed that the changes were being planned as far back as March.

Del. Brooke Lierman (D-Baltimore City) had the stage to herself Tuesday at Goucher College, at what was supposed to be a forum for the two candidates for state comptroller. Her opponent, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman (R), couldn’t attend due to a family medical emergency. Lierman said that if elected, she would make it easier for Marylanders to file state tax returns, modernize the comptroller’s office and improve customer service, because the office should function as a “taxpayer advocate.”