William Donald Schaefer

William Donald Schaefer
William Donald Schaefer
	Thomas D'Alesandro
Succeeded by	Clarence H. Burns
Personal details
Born	November 2, 1921; United States Army Reserves (1946–1979)
Years of service	1942–1979
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	World War II

William Donald Schaefer (November 2, 1921 – April 18, 2011) was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in

58th Governor of Maryland from January 21, 1987, to January 18, 1995, and the 32nd Comptroller of Maryland from January 20, 1999, to January 17, 2007. On September 12, 2006, he was defeated in his reelection bid for a third term as Comptroller by Maryland Delegate Peter Franchot in the Democratic Party primary.^[1]

Early life and career

Schaefer was born in

LL.B. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1942 and an LL.M.

in 1954.

Schaefer was a member of the Order of DeMolay in Baltimore as a youth, later inducted into the DeMolay International Hall of Fame. He was also a Freemason and a member of the "Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Maryland".^{[citation needed]} He was a member of "Mystic Circle Lodge No. 104" when he first ran for public office.^[6] During his childhood and much of his adulthood, Schaefer was a member of Cummins Memorial Church in the Reformed Episcopal Church, serving as a vestryman and treasurer.^[7]

When the United States entered World War II on Monday, December 8, 1941, Schaefer joined the United States Army and later achieved officer rank, taking charge of administering hospitals in England and the rest of western Europe.^{[citation needed]} He continued to remain in the U.S. Army Reserves during his academic, legal and political/public service careers until 1979, when he retired with the rank of colonel.

Schaefer resumed his legal career afterwards, practicing

Edmondson Avenue) all his life, until moving to the Government House (Maryland Governor's Mansion) at age 65 in 1987.^{[citation needed}

]

Impelled, according to his biographer, by a situation in which Cummins Memorial Church lost a city property auction in which it was the highest bidder due to alleged corruption,

Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro III, brother of Nancy Pelosi

, retired after one term.

Mayor of Baltimore (1971–1987)

Schaefer served four terms as mayor, being first elected in

Italian American members of the city police department.^[11] Baltimore's 1967 police headquarters were renamed for Robinson in 2007.^[12]

Throughout his tenure as mayor, Schaefer realized that the closings of large manufacturing plants like

University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Schaefer as the twentieth-best American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.^[16]

Colts leave

Schaefer constantly battled

Memorial Stadium, which the Colts and the American League's Baltimore Orioles shared, was antiquated due to a lack of quality seats and inadequate parking. Schaefer extracted a promise from Irsay that the Colts owner would call Schaefer first before moving the team. However, after one of the houses of the Maryland State Legislature passed legislation giving the city of Baltimore the right to seize ownership of the team by eminent domain^[17] – an idea first floated in a memo written by Baltimore mayoral aide Mark Wasserman – Robert Irsay called Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut that afternoon and began serious negotiations in order to move the team before the Maryland legislature's other chamber could pass similar legislation.^[18] In the early morning hours of March 29, 1984, Mayflower moving vans began relocating the Colts from the team's Owings Mills training facility to Indianapolis

. Schaefer lamented that "[Irsay] didn't call his old friend, Don" before the move.

Ravens arrive

The Colts were not the first professional sports team to leave Baltimore on Schaefer's watch. In 1973, the

Baltimore Bullets moved to Landover, Maryland

and were renamed the Capital Bullets, and later, the Washington Bullets. In his last years as mayor, and later during his two terms as governor, Schaefer led the push to build Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the Orioles and M&T Bank Stadium for a new NFL team, which came to fruition in 1996 when Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, giving credit to Schaefer for the transaction:

He's the reason the Ravens are here, he laid the foundation first as Baltimore's mayor and as governor of Maryland when he championed the funding of a new stadium. In fact, champion is the right word. Gov. Schaefer was a champion for Baltimore, for Maryland and for the common man.^[19]

Governor of Maryland (1987–1995)

Schaefer, with running mate Melvin Steinberg, was overwhelmingly elected the 58th governor of Maryland in 1986, defeating Republican challenger Thomas J. Mooney with 82% of the vote, the largest percentage total ever for a contested statewide election in Maryland. He was re-elected in 1990 with almost 60% of the vote. Immediately upon taking office, Schaefer sought to take on the state's unemployment problem. After learning of a proposed closing of a major corporation in western Maryland, he personally went to Allegany County with his top advisors and the Maryland Congressional delegation and devised a plan of state and federal action to meet the needs of the faltering company. The corporation kept its headquarters in Allegany County, saving 600 jobs.^[2] Schaefer's legacy includes the construction of

public schools

.

Schaefer reappointed Philip Kapneck as Maryland Trade Ambassador, originally appointed by Governor Mandel. Kapneck worked closely with the pro-business governor, bringing overseas companies to Maryland, creating many new jobs and generating revenue for the state.

Schaefer as governor also pushed for the

light rail line of electric trains that run 30 miles from Hunt Valley in Baltimore County, through Baltimore, past Oriole Park at Camden Yards, to Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County, near BWI Airport.^[20]^[21]

Detractors remind the public that, in the winter of 1991, Gov. Schaefer compared Maryland's

Eastern Shore to an outhouse (he referred to the region as a "shithouse"^[22]

). When the remark circulated, Eastern Shore residents erupted in protest.

In the 1992 presidential election, Governor Schaefer endorsed Republican President George H. W. Bush over Democratic challenger Bill Clinton.^[23] "He was a great man. I liked him; he was a friend. I went up to Camp David with him.".^[9] He also endorsed Republican Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley in her bid to succeed him as governor in 1994.

Schaefer stepped down from his position as governor on January 18, 1995, after serving the maximum two four-year terms.

Post-gubernatorial activities

Following his career as governor, Schaefer became Of Counsel to the law firm of Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC, in Baltimore until 1999. The William Donald Schaefer Chair was established at University of Maryland, College Park's School of Public Affairs in 1995. Schaefer held the position until 1999, at which time the program was expanded to include funded internships.

Schaefer had a long-time companion in

Robert Ehrlich held a ceremony to turn the water flow back on in the fountain. Snoops is interred in the mausoleum at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens

, with an adjacent place reserved for Schaefer.

Comptroller of Maryland (1999–2007)

In 1998, three years after leaving the governorship, with the sudden death of longtime (forty years in office) Comptroller and Maryland political legend Louis L. Goldstein of Calvert County in southern Maryland, Schaefer ran in the special election for the position of Comptroller of Maryland against Republican Mark Epstein. He won by a substantial margin, 62% to 38%. Schaefer came into the office on January 25, 1999. In 2002, he had remained extremely popular in Maryland and received almost 68% of the vote in the general election.

Schaefer feuded frequently with Governor

Robert Ehrlich

, the Republican who succeeded Glendening on January 15, 2003.

Controversies

As Comptroller, Schaefer regularly spoke critically of immigrants who cannot communicate in English. He was particularly well known for his May 2004 comment about a non-English-speaking McDonald's cashier.^[26]

Schaefer also stirred up controversy on October 12, 2004, when he called people with

AIDS "a danger". He said that those with the disease "brought it on themselves." From the 1990s, he had repeatedly called for a public registry listing HIV-positive Maryland residents. "As far as I'm concerned, people who have AIDS are a danger", Schaefer said. "People should be able to know who has AIDS."^[27]

On February 15, 2006, Schaefer made suggestive comments to Elizabeth Krum, a 24-year-old assistant to then-Governor

Robert Ehrlich. Responding to Schaefer's request for tea, Krum set a thermal mug in front of him. Schaefer watched her walk away, then beckoned for her to return. When she obliged, he told her, "Walk again", staring after her as she left the conference room. Schaefer initially refused to apologize, saying, "She's a pretty little girl. She ought to be damn happy that I observed her going out the door. The day I don't look at pretty women is the day I die." (Schaefer long called the women with whom he worked "little girls.") However, within days of the leering incident, Schaefer issued a handwritten letter to Krum informing her she had handled the affair as a "trouper."^[28]

On July 5, 2006, Schaefer launched into a rambling commentary on immigration as the public works board considered a contract to provide testing services for the

Baltimore Sun

reporter about the ESOL program, Schaefer's response was to call her a "sweet little girl."

2006 re-election campaign

Schaefer faced a competitive primary challenge for Comptroller in 2006. He was challenged by

Benjamin Cardin

(so that Cardin could run for the U.S. Senate), Owens decided to jump into the race for Comptroller.

In early July 2006, when asked if he would debate Owens, he said he "wouldn't debate her on how to bake a chocolate cake." Franchot campaigned strongly as the "only real Democrat in the race." On September 5, 2006, Schaefer told

age discrimination. One viewer wrote in, suggesting that perhaps Schaefer was showing signs of dementia. The anchor responded that the caller had pointed out "the elephant in the room" that, until then, the media was hesitant to suggest.^[31] Schaefer refused to apologize for his comments regarding Owens' appearance, saying, "An apology? An apology for what? I can't help it how she looks." Asked about his heated exchanges with Owens, Schaefer said, "This was started not by me." He added, "There's dirty politics, and then there's filthy politics."^[32]

On September 12, during the Democratic primary election, Schaefer was pushed into third place behind Franchot and Owens, with Franchot winning the primary by 15,000 votes over Owens. The tight three-way race saw Franchot winning the Washington, D.C., suburbs (
Baltimore City and Baltimore County).^[33]
This was Schaefer's first campaign loss since 1954.
Schaefer's last day at work as Comptroller was January 19, 2007. He was succeeded on January 22 by Franchot, who won the general election, and was not present for Franchot's swearing in.[34] After retiring, he moved into the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville, Maryland. His health declined quickly and he made few public appearances in his final years.

Death

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Donald_Schaefer&oldid=1211439289"

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Party political offices
Preceded by Harry Hughes	Democratic nominee for Governor of Maryland 1986, 1990	Succeeded by Parris Glendening
Political offices
Preceded by Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro III	Mayor of Baltimore 1971–1987	Succeeded by Clarence H. Burns
Preceded by Harry R. Hughes	Governor of Maryland January 21, 1987 – January 18, 1995	Succeeded by Parris Glendening
Preceded by Robert L. Swann	Comptroller of Maryland January 25, 1999 – January 22, 2007	Succeeded by Peter Franchot

External links