Schaefer Ends the Guessing: He'll Run

84-Year-Old Comptroller Has Primary Challengers

Former Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer ended weeks of speculation about his political future yesterday, announcing he will seek a third term as state comptroller.

The 84-year-old political veteran, who became widely known over 50 years in public life for his theatrical flair and unpredictable wisecracks, launched his campaign without any of the usual fanfare. Instead, he made an announcement shortly after delivering a glum monologue about aging and death at a public meeting.

He has some reason to be dour: Recent polls showed Schaefer (D) at a level of political danger he has not experienced since his early years as Baltimore's mayor in the 1970s, and he has attracted two aggressive primary challengers.

Speculation about Schaefer's intentions hit a fever pitch in recent days, with some insiders emphatically predicting he would step down and others insisting he would run. The disagreement reflected a split within Schaefer's own camp about the wisdom of running again, given that, if he wins, he will be 89 at the end of his term. The speculation was heightened by Schaefer's recent bout with pneumonia, for which he was hospitalized briefly.

But yesterday, Schaefer ended the chatter when he ambled into the State Board of Elections office at 2:30 p.m. to file for reelection. His confidants say he is upbeat about the race.

"We have money. We have plans. My man is running," said Lainy M. LeBow-Sachs, one of Schaefer's closest friends.

Still, just a few hours before he filed, Schaefer was in a meeting of the Board of Public Works, which is often a public forum for his idle thoughts. He ruminated for several uncomfortable minutes about life and death after Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) mentioned the death of a veteran state delegate.

"As I get older, I spend more time than ever in funeral homes and at funerals," Schaefer said quietly. "After a while, you start to wonder, 'What are you doing?' . . . You feel a great sadness come over you the older you get. . . . You just wonder, 'What's going on?' . . . And you figure, some day the bell will toll, and you'll be gone."

Not exactly a rousing cry to return him to office, his supporters agreed. But then, Schaefer rarely follows custom.

During four terms as Baltimore's mayor, and then two as governor, Schaefer's political currency has been his ability to surprise. When he famously donned a 19th-century bathing suit and jumped into a seal pool, or patrolled the streets of Baltimore looking for litter, he cemented a reputation for the audacious.

But during his reign as comptroller -- essentially the state's chief tax collector -- his antics have also brought him trouble. He sparked a firestorm with an impromptu tirade about a McDonald's cashier who didn't speak English. And he took even more heat when he ogled a young aide to the governor after she had brought him coffee at a Board of Public Works meeting. Before a shocked audience of state employees, he asked her to turn around and "walk again" so he could admire her backside. He later apologized, though only under pressure from his close friends and advisers.

Those incidents, along with his age and open support for Ehrlich, led some critics to declare him politically vulnerable. He drew two Democratic challengers, Del. Peter Franchot (Montgomery) and Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens.

Edgar Silver, a high school classmate and lifelong friend of Schaefer's, said yesterday he believes the challengers have miscalculated.

"He's known to virtually every person older than 40 years old in this state," Silver said. "And he has never stopped campaigning. He'll have the money to do whatever he has to. And if he needs more, they'll give it to him. This man has no shortage of friends."

But within his own party, and even within his own circle of advisers, there were some who felt Schaefer should retire while still on top. When Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D) announced his retirement, he said pointedly: "I don't want it said maybe I stayed around too long."

Franchot has not made a point of drawing attention to Schaefer's age, but he has not avoided the topic altogether.

"I respect William Donald Schaefer and thank him for his 50 years of service, but it's time for a change," Franchot said yesterday.