With a critical deadline looming tonight, Maryland politicians are scrambling to find a successor to the late Louis L. Goldstein as state comptroller from a wide open field that includes Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and former Gov. William Donald Schaefer.
Also today, Democrat Ray Schoenke is expected to abandon his bid to become governor after showing scant progress in the polls, said sources familiar with his thinking.
But the day could be dominated by Gov. Parris N. Glendening's choice to fill the comptroller's post, held for almost 40 years by Goldstein. Last night, his first choice appeared to be Duncan, who was weighing whether to accept, sources said.
Schaefer's possible re-entry into Maryland politics reflected the intense machinations prompted by Goldstein's death Friday night, which created a vacancy in a powerful state post only 72 hours before tonight's 9 p.m. deadline for filing a candidacy with the state elections board.
Today promises to provide an extraordinary dose of political jockeying -- even as Goldstein's body lies in state at the State House, an unprecedented honor for an elected official.
Among the decisions converging today:
Glendening was to appoint someone to fill out the rest of Goldstein's four-year term, which ends in January. The choice was not known last night, but the governor said in a statement that he would select someone who would finish the term and run in the fall election -- not simply a caretaker.
Along with Duncan, among those sounded out about the job by Glendening was House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., an Allegany County Democrat.
Duncan could not be reached. Taylor declined to comment.
"I'm certain that if Duncan would accept, Parris would appoint him," said Thomas V. Mike Miller, state Senate president.
Glendening's main Democratic opponent, Eileen M. Rehrmann, was considering switching to the comptroller's race after being urged to all weekend by several top Democrats, some of her allies said. But she said last night: "At this point, I'm running for governor."
On the Republican side, gubernatorial candidate Charles I. Ecker apparently had settled on his running mate -- trucking company executive Barbara J. Windsor of Frederick County -- but he said last night that he was weighing remaining in the race despite his poor showing in the polls.
The entrance of Schaefer -- perhaps the best-known politician in the state -- would be an astonishing development.
Sources close to Schaefer said the 76-year-old former governor was seriously considering the race for comptroller and seemed energized by the prospect of returning to politics.
Reached by phone last night, Schaefer said: "I'm not denying it, but I have no comment." But he later said that if Duncan runs for comptroller, he would not.
Schaefer was a Baltimore City Councilman for 16 years, Baltimore mayor for 15 years and Maryland governor for eight more before leaving public office in 1995.
By all accounts, his has been a restless retirement. Schaefer works for a Baltimore law firm and is a guest lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, College Park.
This is not the first time that Schaefer's name has been floated as a candidate since he left office. Three years ago, Schaefer discussed running for mayor of Baltimore again but never filed.
In this year's governor's race, Schoenke, a former football player with the Washington Redskins, tapped into his own funds to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars of air time for campaign commercials.
But Schoenke, who made millions from his Montgomery County insurance business, failed to make a significant showing in the polls and told associates in recent days that he would pull out today and support Glendening.
Schoenke, despite overtures over the weekend from some Democrats, told them he had no interest in running for comptroller. Schoenke was not available for comment last night.
In between campaign events, Rehrmann fielded calls yesterday from prominent Democrats urging her to switch and run for comptroller.
Rehrmann, the two-term Harford County executive, showed no sign yesterday that she was considering such a move. But privately, Rehrmann was weighing the comptroller's race, Democrats familiar with her thinking said last night.
Along with Rehrmann, several other Democrats were considering the race or had decided to run.
Among them was Baltimore Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, former Baltimore City Council President Mary Pat Clarke and former state Sen. Julian L. Lapides of Baltimore.
Clarke, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1995, could not be reached for comment, but two close allies said she would file today. Pratt and Lapides said they would run.
"I think it's something I can handle," Pratt said. "Income taxes have been my life."
Republican leaders see an opportunity to win a statewide office for the first time since former Sen. Charles McC. Mathias was elected to his final term in 1980.
But several of the party's veteran politicians -- including Ecker, state Sen. Robert R. Neall of Anne Arundel County and former state Sen. Howard A. Denis of Montgomery County -- rejected requests this weekend to run.
That left the party with a handful of relative unknowns with little or no electoral experience likely to seek the job.
The list includes Ardath Cade, 61, of Severna Park, a top appointed official in Anne Arundel County government and the widow of the late Sen. John A. Cade; Jeff Hooke, 43, of Chevy Chase, an investment executive and activist with the Maryland Taxpayers Association; Timothy R. Mayberry, 42, of Boonsboro, the party's 1994 nominee for comptroller; and W. Gregory Wims, 48, of Rockville, vice chairman of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission and the former Maryland head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Ecker -- who spent the weekend debating whether to stay in the governor's race against Sauerbrey -- was the first choice of many Republicans seeking a comptroller candidate. But against the advice of close supporters, the Howard County executive is saying no.
At a news conference this morning, he plans either to quit the governor's race or name a running mate. "My options are to stay in or get out," he said yesterday. "I've ruled out comptroller."
If Ecker announces a running mate, Republican sources say, it is likely to be Windsor, 48. She is executive vice president of Hahn Transportation in New Market, former chairwoman of the Maryland Motor Truck Association and a newcomer to elective politics.
In memory
In an unprecedented honor, the body of State Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein will lie in state at the State House in Annapolis from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today. His casket will be taken there after a private funeral service this morning at an Annapolis synagogue.
State House visitors may sign guest books and leave expressions of sympathy for Mr. Goldstein's family. Parking will be available at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium; buses will transport visitors to the viewing.
Mr. Goldstein's body will be escorted to his native Calvert County tomorrow by a state police honor guard for a nonsectarian funeral service at 11 a.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church in Prince Frederick. He will be buried with his late wife, Hazel, in Wesley Cemetery across from the church.
The family has requested that no flowers be sent. Well-wishers may make contributions in Mr. Goldstein's name to the Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick or to his alma mater, Washington College in Chestertown.
Pub Date: 7/06/98