Franchot, state clashed over pay for assistants

Third deputy was flashpoint for comptroller, budget chief

Upon his inauguration in January, Franchot (D) sought to revamp the Comptroller’s Office to establish a three-person senior management team that would oversee day-to-day operations.

Deputy Comptrollers Linda L. Tanton and Len N. Foxwell and Chief of Staff David S. Weaver each are paid $148,245 annually, salaries that did not win easy approval.

Foster had ‘‘significant concerns,” encouraging Franchot to eliminate one senior-level position. Previous comptrollers have used a two-person model with success, she said.

‘‘Overall, we believe a two-deputy organization will more equitably distribute managerial responsibilities and make better use of limited state resources,” Foster wrote in a May 14 letter.

Franchot’s predecessor, William Donald Schaefer (D), had three deputies in his first year in office, but scaled back to a two-person management structure after his deputy comptroller, Robert L. ‘‘Bobby” Swann, retired in 1999.

Tanton, a longtime employee of the Comptroller’s Office, received a more than 15 percent pay raise this year from the $128,603 salary she was paid when Schaefer left office.

Foster noted that Franchot’s aides’ salaries matched or exceeded those of several Cabinet secretaries. ‘‘These jobs have distinctly greater responsibilities for statewide programs affecting the quality of life for the citizens of the state,” she wrote.

Despite the administration’s disapproval, the comptroller’s salary requests were not blocked ‘‘because of your position as a publicly-elected constitutional officer,” Foster wrote.

Franchot (D) responded, in a sharply worded letter, that the management structure would be more efficient.

‘‘Each agency and branch of government must put in place structures and management teams that best support their core mission,” he wrote on May 18. ‘‘I certainly do not presume to know, for example, what works best in the executive branch in terms of structure or management compensation, but I completely support the governor’s right to organize his departments and pay his people what he feels is necessary to carry out the mandate he received from the people of Maryland.”

Several of O’Malley’s top aides also draw hefty salaries. Chief of Staff Michael R. Enright, Chief Legal Counsel Ralph S. Tyler and Chief Legislative Officer Joseph C. Bryce are paid $150,000 annually. Deputy Chiefs of Staff Peggy J. Watson and Matthew D. Gallagher are paid $145,000 annually. Appointments Secretary Jeanne D. Hitchcock and Communications Director Stephen J. Kearney make $138,126 and $130,000, respectively.

Franchot’s deputies’ salaries are higher than those of some department heads: Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin ($143,000), Housing and Community Development Secretary Raymond A. Skinner ($143,000), Labor, Licensing and Regulations Secretary Thomas E. Perez ($137,705), General Services Secretary Alvin C. Collins ($133,000), Environment Secretary Shari T. Wilson ($130,000) and Agriculture Secretary Roger L. Richardson ($125,000). Franchot is paid $125,000 a year.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) — salary $125,000 — pays his top deputies, Katherine Winfree and John B. Howard Jr., $137,705 a year.

The three-person management structure is not unique to state government. Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) — salary $125,000 — also has three deputies, but none is paid more than $125,000.

Overall, 2,119 state employees are paid more than $125,000 annually. More than three-quarters are employed by the University System of Maryland.

Franchot kept O’Malley (D) apprised of his office’s reorganization before and during the process, said Joseph T. Shapiro, a comptroller’s spokesman. ‘‘He agreed to defer [to the comptroller] as an independently elected public official to allow him to assemble his team.”

The two men have agreed on ‘‘99 percent” of things since being sworn in. ‘‘They will continue to work well together,” Shapiro said. ‘‘This hasn’t caused a rift between the two.”

All state agencies need to offer lucrative compensation to compete with other levels of government and the private sector, he added.

‘‘We need the best talent that we can to keep the agency running smoothly,” Shapiro said. ‘‘...If you aren’t able to compete and you lose any talent in state agency, the operations of the government are going to run less efficiently — maybe less timely — and that in and of itself would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese declined to comment directly on the salary spat, but pointed out that the governor has asked department chiefs to streamline their operations and flatten their command structures without sacrificing services.

‘‘The governor came into office cognizant of the $1.5 billion structural deficit and we’ve tried to proceed with that in mind,” Abbruzzese said, noting that O’Malley is set to propose $200 million in departmental savings next week.

Top Earners

Of the state’s 81,353 employees, 2,119 are paid more than $125,000 a year; three-quarters of the high earners work for the University System of Maryland, according to data from the state Department of Budget and Management. Here is a sampling of the top paid state workers:

Stephen T. Bartlett, chairman of surgery, University of Maryland’s School of Medicine — $752,481

William E. Kirwan, chancellor, University System of Maryland — $419,900

C.D. Mote Jr., president, University of Maryland, College Park — $403,300

Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president, University of Maryland, Baltimore County — $369,999

Gary Williams, head men’s basketball coach, University of Maryland, College Park — $356,526

Earl S. Richardson, president, Morgan State University — $355,000

Debbie Yow, athletic director, University of Maryland, College Park — $350,000

Jane M. O’Brien, president, St. Mary’s College — $329,930

Robert L. Caret, president, Towson University — $325,000

Timothy L. Campbell, executive director, Maryland Aviation Administration — $251,400

Ralph Friedgen, head football coach, University of Maryland, College Park — $232,510

Robert R. Bass, executive director, Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems — $228,919

Steven B. Larsen, chairman, Maryland Public Service Commission — $185,000

Nancy S. Grasmick, schools superintendent — $185,000

Robert M. Bell, chief judge, Maryland Court of Appeals — $163,352

T. Eloise Foster, secretary, Department of Budget and Management — $159,632

John D. Porcari, secretary, Department of Transportation — $159,632

John M. Colmers, secretary, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — $159,632

Gary D. Maynard, secretary, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services — $159,632

David W. Edgerley, secretary, Department of Business and Economic Development — $159,632

Donald W. DeVore, secretary, Department of Juvenile Services — $150,000

Joseph C. Bryce, chief legislative officer, governor’s office — $150,000

Ralph S. Tyler, chief legal counsel, governor’s office — $150,000

Michael R. Enright, chief of staff, governor’s office — $150,000

Martin O’Malley, governor — $150,000

Linda Tanton, deputy comptroller — $148,245

Len Foxwell, deputy comptroller — $148,245

David S. Weaver, chief of staff, comptroller’s office — $148,245

Brenda Donald, secretary, Department of Human Resources — $148,245

James E. Lyons Sr., secretary, Maryland Higher Education Commission — $148,205

Matthew D. Gallagher, deputy chief of staff, governor’s office — $145,000

Peggy J. Watson, deputy chief of staff, governor’s office — $145,000

Raymond A. Skinner, secretary, Department of Housing and Community Development — $143,000

John R. Griffin, secretary, Department of Natural Resources — $143,000

Jeanne D. Hitchcock, appointments secretary, governor’s office — $138,126

Thomas E. Perez, secretary, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation — $137,705

Alvin C. Collins, secretary, Department of General Services — $133,000

Shari T. Wilson, secretary, Department of the Environment — $130,000

Stephen J. Kearney, communications director, governor’s office — $130,000

Gerard ‘‘Jerry” Boden, chief of staff, lieutenant governor’s office — $127,000

Peter V.R. Franchot, comptroller — $125,000

Nancy K. Kopp, treasurer — $125,000

Anthony G. Brown, lieutenant governor — $125,000

Douglas F. Gansler, attorney general — $125,000

Luwanda W. Jenkins, special secretary, Office of Minority Affairs — $125,000

Roger L. Richardson, secretary, Department of Agriculture — $125,000

Source: Department of Budget and Management