Comptroller Peter Franchot has steadily expanded his enemies list from Senate President Mike Miller to Governor Martin O’Malley to the General Assembly as a whole to the state Democratic Party. Not even his controversial predecessor, William Donald Schaefer, went this far. He is virtually begging for a primary challenge. But who could take him out?
The most-commonly mentioned possible candidate is Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith. Smith’s political career goes back to 1978, when he first became a Baltimore County Council Member, and paused for 16 years while he was a Circuit Court judge. In 2001, Smith resigned his judgeship to run for County Executive, beating a Republican with 56% of the vote while Bob Ehrlich carried the county in his successful campaign for Governor. Smith was then re-elected with 77% of the vote in the primary and 66% in the general election. He has attracted support from business, labor and many other players in his county and reported a campaign balance of $495,348.07 last January despite being term-limited.
Smith is a particularly attractive Comptroller challenger for the Governor for several reasons. First, Smith’s Chief of Staff is none other than Peter O’Malley, the Governor’s brother. Second, Smith’s age (68 in 2010) will likely prevent him from having ambitions for higher office, which will not earn the resistance of the current Governor’s hopeful successors. Third, Smith can be counted on to not rock the boat of the O’Malley-Miller-Busch-State Democratic team. Finally, Smith’s long record of success in Baltimore County, historically a swing jurisdiction, leads some to believe that he will be a strong centrist candidate statewide.
But there are two problems with Smith as a challenger. First, he underwent triple-bypass open heart surgery in August. Does he have the stamina to barnstorm across Maryland for more than a year? Second, Smith seems temperamentally ill-suited to a contentious matchup with the hypercompetitive Franchot. Check out this 2004 account from Baltimore Magazine posted on Smith’s own website:
Jim Smith is a terrible politician. “He’s not a gifted, natural politician — nobody would deny that,” says Sun reporter Andy Green, who covered Smith for almost two years. “Which is not to say he’s a bad county executive…”
Smith admits he hates the political side of the job. “So much of politics is gamesmanship for the sake of the game, not for the responsibility of governing,” says the 62-year-old Democrat.
These may be admirable traits on the part of Jim Smith, but is a person who is a “terrible politician” truly ready for a doomsday showdown with ultra-political Peter Franchot?
If Smith decides to run, the Governor and Big Daddy will clear the field for him and make sure he has the resources to compete. But what if Smith stays out? Then another challenger will have to be found. And the Post has identified such a potential candidate: District 15 Delegate Brian Feldman. More in Part Three.