Franchot trying to mend fences with Schaefer
Baltimore Sun colleague Laura Vozzella reports from Arbutus:
Comptroller Peter Franchot was the official guest of honor at the Arbutus Roundtable Friday, but participants joked that the gathering was really a rally for Baltimore County Council hopeful Rebecca Dongarra, who joined the political gabfest at Paul’s Restaurant.
Dongarra, of Catonsville, is one of four people vying for the Democratic nomination in District 1. That race is certainly more of a nail-biter than Franchot’s. He has no opponents in the Democratic primary. An 18-year-old is among those in the race for the GOP nomination.
Quite a change from four years ago, when Franchot endured a knock-down, drag-out, three-way primary that ended the political career of the legendary William Donald Schaefer.
Franchot told the group that he’s started mending fences with Schaefer. Franchot’s 88-year-old mother has written to the former Baltimore mayor, governor and state comptroller. After Schaefer’s former chief of staff, R. Dean Kenderdine, happened to mention that Schaefer loved tongue sandwiches, Franchot arranged to have one delivered from Attman’s.
“They knew exactly what he wanted” – on rye with mustard -- said Christine Feldmann, Franchot’s deputy director of communications, who placed the order at the deli. She and former Schaefer spokesman Mike Golden delivered the sandwich in late July.
Franchot said he got a handwritten thank-you note from Schaefer two weeks ago.
