Franchot vows to shine light on Md. lawmakers’ connections

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Maryland’s top tax collector and enforcer of alcohol laws — at least for now — is vowing to shine a light on lawmakers and their associations with corporate special interests.

Peter Franchot told reporters Tuesday he plans to comment on the relationships between top lawmakers and what he called out-of-state corporate interests intent on stifling the state’s craft brewing industry.

“They’ve opened pandora’s box,” said Franchot.

“We’re going to have lots of conversations down the road about what I call the swamp of Annapolis which has many, many connections between high-ranking members of the General Assembly and the out-of-state beer corporations in particular the beer industry but we’ll also get into tobacco and oil,” said Franchot.

In what is likely the first salvo, Franchot criticized Sen. Ben Kramer, D-Montgomery County, for sponsoring bills to strip the comptroller’s office of enforcement authority over alcohol, tobacco and motor fuel and another bill prohibiting the comptroller from accepting donations from the alcohol industry.

Franchot said the bills were retaliation for Franchot’s strident advocacy for the craft brewing industry in the state and what the comptroller called Kramer’s “ancient animus” because Franchot has called for an end to government control of liquor distribution in Montgomery County.

Kramer’s business relationship was highlighted by Bethesda Beat in 2016.

The article notes that a business owned by Kramer and his sister, Rona Kramer, a former state senator who is now Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s secretary of the Department of Aging, collected nearly $2.6 million in lease payments from the the Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control. The business is expected to collect another $2.7 million through the expiration of the contract in 2025, according to the report.

Franchot this week hinted that he would spotlight other lawmakers including, potentially, House Speaker Michael Busch.

“I’m sure lots of information will come out down the road,” he said.

Busch formerly chaired the House Economic Matters Committee, which is charged with overseeing all liquor-related legislation that passes through the House. Additionally, his campaign treasurer is Neal Katcef, president of Katcef Brothers Inc., an Annapolis-based alcohol wholesaler.

Franchot promised more to come.

“We haven’t really started looking at this because we didn’t think they would have the brazenness to put (the bill) in,” said Franchot. “There will be a lot of ancillary information from our office on this particular travesty.”