Responding to Sen. Ed DeGrange's earlier protest of his release of (publicly available) information about top-paid state employees, Comptroller Peter Franchot sent out his own statement this afternoon. Via his spokesman, Joe Shapiro, Franchot says:

The Comptroller respects Senator DeGrange and has enjoyed a productive working relationship with him through the years. However, with respect to the issue of public records, the Senator unfortunately misunderstands State law and the importance of transparency in government.

Section 10-611(g)(2) of the State Government Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, a part of the State Public Information Act, very clearly states that "‘Public record’ includes a document that lists the salary of an employee of a unit or instrumentality of the State government or of a political subdivision."

It is under this legal authority that Senator DeGrange and his colleagues engaged in very thorough public scrutiny of specific state employees’ salaries when his Committee reviewed the Comptroller’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget request last week.

The Comptroller takes very seriously his obligation under the law to keep confidential records out of the public domain. This agency deals with millions of taxpayer records every year, and enforces a strict policy of absolute confidentiality. However, the Comptroller also believes very strongly in the open conduct of government and in the public’s right to have access to public information. Tax records are confidential; State employees’ salaries are not.