Since former Governor Marvin Mandel died Aug. 30, 2015, I have been mulling what, if anything, I should write about a man whose accomplishments as governor from1969 to 1977 were extraordinary, blemished by his federal conviction in 1977 of mail fraud and racketeering charges.
He masterfully reformed state government in a remarkably effective way that no governor before or after has matched. He also squandered public trust through a shrewdly manipulative legislative maneuver that no other governor probably could have achieved—unless advised by Marvin Mandel.
We all balance our good and bad deeds as we attempt to create and sustain a balance in life. Hopefully we veer toward the good and tamp down, if not push aside our bad or dark tendencies. It’s the human struggle, I guess.
My positive view toward Mr. Mandel is a personal one. My mother, a civic leader in Baltimore, served as a delegate to the 1967 Constitutional Convention. Led by a well-respected Baltimore attorney who knew or cared little about politics—defined in this instance as the art of the doable—the convention produced a superb document calling for restructuring all three branches of state government, including the antiquated judicial system and the inefficient executive branch. The convention called for a cabinet structure that would create 17-18 agencies rationally addressing areas such as natural resources, environment, economic development and others.
The new proposed constitution met strong opposition, going down in flames in a statewide referendum. My mother was not entirely surprised. The convention chairman refused to accept that the wonderful document produced by many well-intended Marylanders who were not professional politicians needed to be sold to statewide voters—that it was a political document requiring a strategy to convince Marylanders to enact it.
When he became governor in 1969 after then Governor Spiro Agnew resigned to become Vice President of the United States, Marvin Mandel took the best from the Constitutional Convention and developed constitutional amendments that resembled the convention model, persuaded the General Assembly to approve the amendments and then garnered public support. He had the political savvy and vision to accomplish what the high-minded convention could not.
He scrapped the political magistrate system for a professional District Court. He created an intermediate appellate court to upgrade the quality of judicial decisions.
He took politics out of appointments to the District Court and appellate court. He did so much more to enhance the professional operation of Maryland’s executive and judicial branches. He seemed unbeatable in persuading the legislature to approve his priorities. Simply, he was an incomparable maestro in directing state government.
Then, he and his wife had an ugly divorce. He was in love with a woman in Southern Maryland, drawing the State Police into his romantic web by securing their silence about the governor’s frequent trips to St. Mary’s County. Marvin Mandel needed money to settle his divorce from his longtime wife.
For the sake of brevity, I won’t describe Mr. Mandel’s legislative maneuverings, shrewdly and secretively engineered to benefit his wealthy friends who enriched the governor to enable him and his mistress (later his wife) to live well and provide money to support his expensive divorce. In today’s dollars, these gifts apparently would amount to nearly $3 million.
Marvin Mandel served time in jail, a sentence later commuted by President Reagan, with the verdicts vacated after a Supreme Court reinterpretation of mail fraud. The legal machinations, including a colorful cast of characters, were a fascinating spectacle of their own.
Mr. Mandel’s tragic fall from huge gubernatorial power due to corruption imposed a pall over state government as practiced in Annapolis, stirring a commonplace public cynicism that results in a constant characterization of public officials–at least those on the state and federal level–as crooks and people determined to enrich themselves from the public trough.
I find this perception a real shame. In my long government career, I’ve worked with exceptionally honest and conscientious people. I don’t believe I suffer from naiveté. Others may disagree.
Like many, I mourn former Governor Mandel’s death at age 95. I so admire his incredible accomplishments. At the same time, I bemoan his corrupt manipulation of the legislative process for the economic advantage of his friends and him.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
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