Comptroller Peter Franchot

Gunston was visited today by our state Comptroller, Mr. Peter Franchot, who spoke with our students about the duties of the comptroller's office, the importance of financial literacy, and his own background and entry into politics.  He also provided us a proclamation that honored our 100-years of existence.  Here are some excerpts from my introduction of him:

"Sixteen billion dollars.  This is how much Maryland collects each year in state and local tax revenue, and it is the amount of money that our speaker today oversees: sixteen billion dollars. The role of Comptroller is one of the four statewide elected offices in Maryland, the other three being Governor/Lt. Governor, U.S. Senator, and Attorney General, so it is one of the most important positions in our state.  

In addition to overseeing the collection of taxes, auditing taxpayers for compliance, handling delinquent tax collection, and enforcing license and unclaimed property laws, the Comptroller also oversees the information technology services that are critical to the daily operation of most state agencies. Acting as Maryland's chief accountant, the Comptroller pays the state's bills, maintains its books, prepares financial reports, and pays state employees.  It is a an enormous job of extraordinary complexity and responsibility.

Our Speaker today, Mr. Peter Franchot, was elected Maryland's 33rd Comptroller in 2006.  Throughout his career, he has been a strong advocate for education, health care, transportation and environmental protection initiatives.  As a member of the powerful Board of Public Works and Vice-Chair of the State Retirement and Pension System of Maryland, Franchot has worked tirelessly to keep Maryland competitive in the knowledge-based economy, create a climate of economic equality and opportunity, and protect Maryland's parks, waterways and open spaces.

As a generation, you are living through the worst financial crisis in nearly eighty years, and there is little indication that the crisis will be resolved quickly.  A few days ago, in honor of 40 years of its Op-Ed page, the New York Times published some of the most important editorials written over the past four decades.  In an editorial from last year written by the famous financial journalist Michael Lewis, he wrote:

Americans enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics. We’ve been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing. 

In the editorial, Lewis goes on to explain the full extent of the Bernard Madoff scandal, which many of you know was the Ponzi scheme that robbed thousands of people of their life savings, and which has served as the symbol of the financial recklessness which precipitated this scandal.  About that scandal, Lewis writes:

The Madoff scandal echoes a deeper absence inside our financial system, which has been undermined not merely by bad behavior but by the lack of checks and balances to discourage it. “Greed” doesn’t cut it as a satisfying explanation for the current financial crisis. Greed was necessary but insufficient; in any case, we are as likely to eliminate greed from our national character as we are lust and envy.

Many of you in this audience today will someday enter the noble calling of public service, where you will be responsible for maintaining these checks and balances.  Now more than ever, we need public servants who will be responsible and ethical stewards of the public welfare, especially our financial welfare.  Today we have the honor of welcoming one such public servant: Mr. Peter Franchot."