This is the one hundred and fifty-first episode of Public Interest Podcast with Peter Franchot, Democratic Comptroller of the State of Maryland, member of the Board of Public Works, former Delegate representing District 20 in Montgomery County, former Capitol Hill staffer, attorney, former Democratic nominee for Congress, former delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2008, 2012, 2016, and U.S. Army veteran. Franchot, a self-styled fiscal watchdog and warrior for the public interest, speaks about elected office as a noble profession in which empathy, compromise, and independence are virtues that he hopes will reverberate across society, generating a future generation of public servants.
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PETER FRANCHOT is the Comptroller of the State of Maryland. Peter is also a
member of the Board of Public Works. He's a former Democratic delegate
representing District 20 in Montgomery County, Maryland, is a former Capitol
Hill staffer, an attorney, and a veteran of the United States Army. He's a
former delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2003, 2012, and again
in 2016, and is also a former Democratic nominee for the United States
Congress.
Franchot: I have been a warrior for
public interest issues all my life. I think my mother taught me always to stand
up the police and in school and I always felt much better when I was sticking
up for some of the kids that were not good athletes, so that is the genesis of
my altruism that I've carried forward in my public career.
Now
that I'm Comptroller I find that every day I am working in the public interest
primarily by helping individuals who are in financial situations that are
difficult and complicated but also in being available as a state elected
official.
Cooper: After college you enlisted
in the United States Army, which is associated with more politically conservative
individuals, yet you made a career out of serving as a liberal elected official.
How did you end up in the Army with such liberal views?
Franchot: Well I actually didn't
finish college. I was at Amherst College and halfway through my sophomore year
I dropped out to go to New Hampshire to work on the “Clean with Gene” campaign
with Gene McCarthy who was running in the 1968 Democratic Primary on an
anti-Vietnam War platform.
Ironically,
while organizing college campuses against the war for Gene McCarthy, I got a
draft notice saying: “Dear Sir, You no longer are protected by your college
involvement and you are to report for the draft law,” which was a shock to me.
Cooper: You left college to join a
political campaign because of the anti-Vietnam war platform of those campaigns.
And by virtue of your civic activism you actually ended up getting embroiled in
the war.
Franchot: My parents actually said I
was pretty clueless that I didn't realize I was giving up my student deferment
but such as it is it actually in retrospect proved to be a tremendous
experience. I was drafted for two years. I spent 21 months not 24 months
because I was allowed to get out early to return to college. But the Army was a
great experience for me not in the sense that I enjoyed it but I was put on a
troop train in New York City and sent down to Fort Jackson, South Carolina with
the other draftees, who were a different group of people than those with whom I
was previously associated in my life.
Cooper: Despite your experience in
the Army, you’ve never seemed to use your experience and your status as a veteran
to your political advantage as have others, most notably former Lt. Governor
Anthony Brown in his 2014 bid for Governor. Why?
Franchot:
I didn't have the kind of long-term career that Lt. Governor Anthony Brown had;
I was just a very ordinary cog in a very big machine. But I will say that the
machine the military proved to be enormously beneficial to me as an individual
and I would recommend the military as a terrific stabilizing force for young
people who are looking for direction in life.
Cooper: So running off that idea,
Peter I'd like to ask your opinion on a matter that you don't have jurisdiction
over as a comptroller but that you might have theoretically had jurisdiction
over the course of your 20 years representing the People's Republic of Takoma
Park in the Maryland House of Delegates.
As
you know, many nations in Western Europe and perhaps in other parts of the
world have service requirements for their youth. Military conscription is
something that's widespread around the world and that clearly led to your experiences
in the U.S. Army. My question is do you think that there ought to be either mandatory
requirements or guaranteed opportunities for all youth between certain ages to
either join the military or perform some other form of civil public service?
Franchot: I generally support that
concept. I think it should be mandatory that every young person puts at least a
year of their lives towards some constructive public purpose by serving in the
military, teaching in a school, or being involved in some other fashion in
supporting our infrastructure. And I would like to see veterans included in
some leadership capacity. I don't suggest that everybody has to go through boot
camp, but I do think it's an opportunity to install some structure, discipline,
and to give a sense of purpose to some young people's lives, [which is] particularly
important now [since] the economy is changing in front of our eyes [under the
influence of] globalization and modernization using technology. [As a result] a
lot of jobs are being eliminated, which is causing a tremendous amount of
dislocation in the country and around the world. I think that a mandatory one
or two year program for young people where they are involved in some kind of
public interest activity would give them the chance to learn about the new
economy rather than the old one.
Cooper: And the one thing that kids
lack when they leave high school or college is professional experience and perhaps
one of the greatest obstacles to finding entry-level employment is a lack of professional
experience. A mandatory service project will give them the opportunity to do
the give back to a state that has given them so much. This service experience
will complement a free public education by providing youth with an opportunity
to gain real on-the-job experience that will make them more marketable in the
new economy.
Franchot:
To finance this national effort [taxes could be levied on industries composing
the new economy] or it could be some kind of national or state equivalent of
war bonds where you ask people to participate.
Cooper:
But the key is that such a program would include every person between 18
and 25. That would provide youth with one to two years of skill-building while
teaching them how to show up on time for a job and demonstrating what it takes
to hold a job in the private sector.
Franchot:
I think it's more imperative now because this whole job situation is
changing. Driverless cars [may replace] taxi cab drivers and it may be possible
for robot [drones] to deliver food at a restaurant. I know it's a little bit
far-fetched but we're in the process of replacing people in the workforce with
machines. So we have to come up with new jobs and new ways of employing people,
especially young people. And so I think you're onto something there with the
mandatory service requirement but the jury's still out on how to pay for it, how
it's structured, and what exactly a job of the future will look like.
Cooper: So I’d like to transition
back to the topic of you being Comptroller. We've just been discussing how to
find jobs, gain job experience, and how to pay for it. But once someone has a
job, they pay income taxes and the Comptroller collects those revenues. So I'd
like to ask you to define the role of the Comptroller?
Franchot:
The Comptroller of the State of Maryland is a statewide elected position,
which makes it somewhat unique since many other states do not have elected
comptrollers; instead most states have appointed budget officers. [The role
Comptroller of Maryland] was established in 1851 to oversee the finances of the
state. The state was in bankruptcy because the bank and the Treasury made all
sorts of unwise investments and so they created in the state constitution the
position of comptroller. I'm the chief fiscal officer of the state according to
the Constitution. As [Maryland’s] fiscal steward I 1) collect all taxes, 2) process
3.2 million tax returns each year, 3) am heavily involved in issuing tax
refunds, and 4) am responsible for fighting tax fraud, which is an emerging
problem. Those are the core responsibilities of the office.
I'm additionally
a member of the Board of Public Works (BPW) which is an extremely powerful entity
in Maryland and is unique in the country as a three person panel that also
includes the governor and the state treasurer. [The governor and I] happen to
come from different parties. He's a Republican and I'm a Democrat. The
Treasurer is elected by the legislature. This panel approves 9-10 billion
dollars in state contracts every year. We meet every two weeks and it's an
enormous kind of clearing house of taxpayer funding for different contracts.
Cooper: You mentioned that you sit
on the BPW and you alluded to the fact that you sit on the Board with the
governor and the Treasurer, the Treasurer being Nancy Kopp, a Democrat, alongside
you, a Democratic Comptroller, with both of you being joined by Republican Governor
Larry Hogan. You previously mentioned that in the House of Delegates you
represented a very liberal, progressive, somewhat socialist-leaning constituency
in the Takoma Park and Silver Spring area of Montgomery County. Since Governor Hogan
was elected in 2014 you and he have come, at least in the public eye, to have
quite a personal friendship and furthermore you seem to have forged a
successful working relationship together.
Your relationship is especially striking when juxtaposed
to the tenuous and slightly acrimonious relationship between the legislature
and Governor Hogan and when juxtaposed to your previous stances while a part of
the legislature under the previous Republican Governor, Bob Ehrlich. To many it
would seem that your views have evolved into more moderate positions. Could you
elaborate on the gradual evolution of your political identity and how that
occurred within the confines of realpolitik requiring you to work across party
lines on the BPW?
Franchot:
[As] Comptroller I have some independence from the political machine
to which I ordinarily [would] have had allegiance [as a legislator]. [I hold] a
statewide [elected] office [and voters] expect someone who [holds this office
to be] fiscally moderate and independent of normal political machinations. [That
of course comes with caveats;] if you become someone who is harmful to and
opposed to your own party's values [then] I suppose you might be subject to
defeat in a primary election.
But
I follow two truths. One truth that I hold very strongly is that [in elected
office I must always be] working in the public interest, as [being] an elected
official is a noble profession. And the second truth [that] I follow is that
there's nothing wrong with bipartisanship. And so during my tenure as Comptroller
I have actively tried to drop the partisanship except when it gets around
election time. I have tried to be independent, which I guess is the word that I
would use to describe myself.
And
since the election of Governor Hogan two years ago, yes, [he and I have] formed
a friendship but it's mostly around moderate fiscal policies where we have a
strategic partnership on the Board of Public Works. I think it's single-handedly
been a relationship that has resulted in the fiscal house of the State of
Maryland being put into much better shape. I don't want to take too much credit
for doing things on the Board of Public Works, but on things such as state
procurement we have significantly reduced single-bidder procurement awards.
This is that important because [without this reform] the incumbent vendor [generally
wins state contracts], taxpayers [have no sense of whether or not] they're
getting a good deal, [and] there's no transparency, there's no competition, and
there's no accountability.
So
together, Governor Hogan and I significantly cut down on the number of single
bidder contracts and that's good for the State of Maryland. Unfortunately it
often gets mischaracterized as sleeping with the enemy. [I’ve been focusing on]
getting results [that benefit] the people and I think [that] it's [been] well
received by the public. [And I’ve been] elected three times and each time I've
gotten more votes than anyone else in that election. And I'm now going to be on
the ballot again in 2018.
Cooper:
I'd like to ask about your work as comptroller where you try to
identify and penalize tax cheats, reduce cigarette smuggling, and the illegal sale
of alcohol and fuel. As Comptroller, you’re fond of claiming that you're
closing corporate tax loopholes and of characterizing yourself as a fiscally
responsible, independent fiscal watchdog. However these were not the manner in
which you characterized yourself when you campaigned for or worked within the
House of Delegates. Given those differences, how has it come to pass that you
decided to run for comptroller against the incumbent former Governor of
Maryland, William Donald Schaefer?
Franchot:
Well let me be really honest and say that the iconic former Mayor of
Baltimore, Governor of Maryland, and two-term Comptroller didn't very much like
me running against him and, ironically, I ran against him on a [platform] that
I was a real Democrat and that he wasn't because he had gotten so close to President
George H.W. Bush and other national Republicans.
I
have moved to the center on fiscal issues because of the nature of the job. The
expert briefings that I receive on economic issues have caused me to come more
in the center on fiscal issues. And have been very well received by the voters
not just around the state but frankly also in District 20, my old liberal
district, [proving] that it is a myth that liberal Democrats are somehow not concerned
about fiscal matters; they are and they're very concerned about their own
budgets, their own small businesses, and about fiscal matters in politics. [However]
the state Democratic Party does not focus on [fiscal responsibility] and
instead focus on issues that are very important like discrimination and gun
control, which are issues that I've worked on, but those are more cultural
issues than they are economic issues. And so that's the reason that I've moved
to the center on fiscal issues but I remain an absolutely rock solid Democrat my
entire life.
Cooper:
I'd like to ask you a final question Peter, which is to speak to the
taxpayers of the State of Maryland and explain why being a politician is a
noble profession. Elaborate upon how you have managed to become independent, act
in accordance with what you believe is in the best interest of the public, and why
you've been motivated to serve the public interest for the past three decades.
Franchot:
Well I enjoy the opportunity to make a difference. And I'm very
honored and very privileged to have been the comptroller for the last 10 years.
It's a large statewide office and there are very few of them in Maryland. [Being
comptroller] gives me an opportunity to do the right thing for people and I'm
grateful to the voters for letting me do that.
Recently
we helped an elderly woman in western Maryland who we found had fallen way
behind on her taxes and she owed quite a sum of money in back taxes. We put her
on a payment plan, which I believe [came out to] five dollars every other week.
And my staff came to me and said, “Sir with all due respect, the woman is going
to have to live to be 142 to pay off all of her back taxes.” And I said that's
fine. I understand that but we're not here to make her life miserable. She
doesn't feel right about falling behind on her taxes but we're not going to [extract]
a pound of flesh from her because she didn't have very much money. We're simply
going to put her on a payment plan that she can afford. It's that ability to
inject myself into situations where the bureaucracy might otherwise be harsher than
I would be where I can supply some of the empathy that I value so highly. [Regarding
your question about whether] politics is a noble profession, [my answer is]
absolutely, and it's harder than you think.
Now
what happened recently in politics [with the 2016 Presidential election] is a
little troubling to me because the hyper partisans on either side have [taken]
control of their [respective] parties. [While] I do not believe that Donald
Trump should be President of the United States because he is a reckless, impulsive,
volatile, and frankly a dangerous individual, I do not believe that his
followers should be punished, confronted, orshouted at by [the Democratic
Party].
[Instead]
we need to get [Trump] supporters and Hillary Clinton supporters together and
have them talk more to each other so that we don't end up having neighbors
hating neighbors because of who they support politically. And I am positive that
I can play a positive force in urging people to fight the emotions of the day and
to try to be rational, level headed, and empathetic. And I've already indicated
my opinion that no one should be treated with disdain or hatred simply because
they are Republican; we can either support or oppose the President and still
interact with your neighbors and friends. I hope to play a calming role [in the
current political environment].
Cooper:
That has been Peter Franchot, the Comptroller of the State of
Maryland who speaks about a noble tradition of public service through elected
office or otherwise, from his time on the front lines as a campaigner, as an
advocate for environmental issues alongside Ralph Nader, and who speaks about
the importance of having empathy for those with whom one differs. He calls for
greater civility and respect in the national dialogue as together turn to face the
many challenges facing our great nation. Peter is a man who is willing to be
pragmatic when it comes to advancing the public interest and he's willing to
put aside any sort of reservation he may have with another's approach to the
public interest and find compromise because, for Peter, as we've heard before
with other interviewees half a loaf is better than no loaf at all. And making
sure that everyone gets a fair shake and that we humanize the political process,
for example by enabling a woman of limited means to feel like she is
responsible and she's being fair and that she's being treated fairly by the
state. Peter is someone who seeks to raise the path of public service to
something of a noble calling and that is why he touts the benefits of
bipartisanship and empathy as he recounts his lifelong path of public service.
