By John Wagner and Matthew Mosk
Sunday, July 30, 2006; C04

S tuart O. Simms , a Democratic candidate for attorney general in Maryland, had several staff members leave his campaign last week amid concerns about its financial position.

Simms acknowledged yesterday that he will not have as much spending money as his rivals -- a situation he attributes partly to a recent decision not to transfer a large sum of leftover funds from the now-defunct gubernatorial campaign of Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D).

Simms had been on the ticket as Duncan's running mate but moved to the attorney general's race after Duncan dropped out last month. At the time, aides to the ticket talked about giving Simms as much as $700,000 from Duncan's account, though it was not clear that such a transfer would be allowed under campaign law.

Under normal circumstances, candidates are restricted to giving $6,000 to another campaign.

"My goal here is not to exploit any loopholes," Simms said yesterday as he attended a Democratic Party rally.

The repercussions of that decision -- as well as spending decisions -- were starting to show last week.

Antwaun Griffin , who had been Simms's campaign manager, said Friday that he was no longer in that job and that the campaign was going through "a sort of restructuring" that would require "some tough choices with regard to resources."

Griffin said he was likely to stay on as an adviser to Simms. He said he was not certain whether other staffers might be leaving or playing different roles.

Jody Couser , who had been Simms' press secretary, no longer is involved in the campaign. "Your call is best directed directly to Mr. Simms," Couser said when asked where to go with media inquiries.

A call placed to Simms's campaign headquarters in Baltimore was fielded by Marsha Koger , an aide to Simms, who acknowledged that "the campaign is in the middle of a transition."

Griffin and Couser had been senior aides to Duncan and joined Simms after Duncan dropped out.

Other sources familiar with Simms's staffing said several other aides were leaving because of concerns that Simms would not be able to continue paying them. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they have not been directly involved in the campaign, also said some staff members were taken aback at how much the campaign had spent in recent weeks on yard and rally signs.

Also seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general are Douglas F. Gansler , the state's attorney for Montgomery County, and Montgomery County Council member Tom Perez (Silver Spring).

"We're the underdog in this," Simms said yesterday. "I've got some well-funded opponents. I've been saying that all along."

Del. Peter Franchot (D-Montgomery) turned more aggressive last week in his bid for comptroller, purchasing an ad in Baltimore's Afro-American newspaper that attacks the incumbent for alleged racial insensitivity.

The ad featured a large picture of Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (D) with a quizzical look on his face and the question: "Does this man deserve four more years as Comptroller?"

The ad went on to assert that Schaefer, a former governor and Baltimore mayor, "has demonstrated insensitivity, intimidation and abuse towards Maryland's minority communities."

Among the examples cited were comments Schaefer made last year regarding the renaming of the Baltimore-Washington International Airport to include the name of former U.S. Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall .

The Board of Public Works, a three-member panel on which Schaefer sits, was required to sign off on the name change. During public comments before a vote, Schaefer said, "This is wrong, and it shouldn't be done."

Schaefer, who wound up abstaining from the vote, said that in the past, Marshall had resisted being honored in Maryland, a state that denied him admission to law school because of his race. Schaefer said he was annoyed by Marshall's reluctance to attend the 1980 dedication of a statue in the judge's likeness erected in downtown Baltimore, the city where the justice was born in 1908.

"It's really kind of sad that Peter's running this kind of campaign," Schaefer spokesman Laslo Boyd said.

Boyd said Schaefer is running for reelection based on his record as comptroller, and "this ad isn't focused on the real issues affecting the job of comptroller."

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens also is challenging Schaefer for the Democratic nomination.

What do Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Maryland Senate hopeful Allan Lichtman (D) have in common?

Two things, apparently.

Both, according to Lichtman's campaign, have been endorsed by a group called the American Women Presidents. And pictures of both now appear on a billboard in Baltimore paid for by the Lichtman campaign that declares they are "2 Winners."

The goal of the American Women Presidents, according to its Web site, is to elect women to the U.S. presidency. In addition to Clinton, the group has endorsed Condoleezza Rice , President Bush's national security adviser, for president in 2008. Rice has not indicated whether she will run.

The group, according to its Web site, also supports women who are "in the pipeline to the presidency." A dozen governors and U.S. senators, from both political parties, are listed.

So how did Lichtman -- an American University historian who lives in Montgomery County -- attract the group's attention?

According to a news release from his campaign, Lichtman is the only man ever to have been endorsed by the group, which he was "instrumental in launching" in 2000. Lichtman also said one of its founders is a former student of his.