When William Donald Schaefer was governor, he sometimes groused that when the mayor of Baltimore got out of line, there wasn't much he could do about it. After all, if the governor cut funding to the city (the traditional disciplinary tactic), who was going to get hurt? Mr. Schaefer knew the answer wasn't anybody in City Hall; it would be ordinary folks in his beloved hometown.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and others in the General Assembly might want to keep that lesson in mind as they seek to exact revenge on Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot for - let's put it bluntly - not acting with sufficient deference. Lawmakers have grown particularly tired of Mr. Franchot making hay by criticizing his fellow Democrats in Annapolis.
It's tough enough to raise taxes, the legislators complain, but to be second-guessed by the publicity-hungry comptroller is more than some can bear. Mr. Miller's ire is no doubt additionally fueled by Mr. Franchot's aggressive opposition to legalized slot machines.
Mr. Franchot is worried that lawmakers will now take an inordinately large bite out of his agency's budget. They may also choose to eliminate one or two of the comptroller's senior staff positions - those filled by people more steeped in politics than finance.
In Annapolis, this kind of payback is fairly common. Legislators took a mini-swipe at the comptroller last year by approving budget language forcing his director of revenue estimates to report to a different deputy (the one with the greater financial acumen).
But before this gets out of hand, Mr. Miller and others may want to give pause. Not only are they at risk of further raising Mr. Franchot's stature as the capital's leading naysayer. but, more important, they also could jeopardize efforts to enhance tax collection.
The comptroller wants to hire 22 more auditors and revenue examiners and has promised a major payoff: as much as $100 million more each year in tax collections. That could go a long way to keeping the state budget balanced without more unpopular tax increases or budget cuts. And it's probably why Gov. Martin O'Malley, whose unhappiness with Mr. Franchot is clear enough, included the jobs in his proposed budget.
It's one thing to stick an errant elected official in the cheap seats at public events; it's quite another to jeopardize the workings of a vital state agency. Who loses if the comptroller isn't given the resources to do his job? That would be all the law-abiding taxpayers. When tax evaders aren't detected, everyone else makes up the difference.