{"id":15670,"date":"2022-07-08T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=15670"},"modified":"2022-07-08T05:30:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T09:30:50","slug":"foxwell-slams-franchot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=15670","title":{"rendered":"Foxwell Slams Franchot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Len Foxwell\u2019s Facebook posts about his former boss and gubernatorial candidate, Comptroller Peter Franchot, have the marks of a kamikaze pilot rather than that of highly skilled political operative trying to rebuild his career after a major stumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost the least of these attacks was his takedown of a Franchot ad:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Earlier, Foxwell boosted Jill Kamenetz\u2019s devastating video<\/a> blasting Franchot\u2019s behavior in office and at her husband\u2019s funeral:<\/p>\n\n\n

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But most incredible was his exchange in the comments with Wayne Frazier in which he accuses Frazier<\/a> of \u201ctrying to shake down vendors competing for government contracts\u201d and writes \u201cI have all the receipts.\u201d He later replies<\/a>: \u201cMy prediction is that if Peter wins, you will both end up getting yourselves indicted for extortion.\u201d When asked for evidence that Franchot \u201cscrewed taxpayers\u201d, Foxwell replied \u201cStay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a stunning turnabout for Foxwell, who was Franchot\u2019s biggest booster right up until his termination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarded by many as Franchot\u2019s political Svengali, Foxwell unquestionably played a critical role in Franchot\u2019s office. First elected as a left-liberal, Franchot rebranded himself as a consumer advocate fighting for the little guy during Foxwell\u2019s tenure as his chief of staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This smart positioning is a sweet spot for Democrats that counters an increasingly educated elite stereotype. It has echoes of popular Gov. William Donald Schaefer\u2019s bread-and-butter focus, such as his \u201cReach the Beach\u201d campaign resulting in new bridges and bypasses that cut beach traffic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positioning himself as a public ally of a Republican governor may seem more questionable but remember that Gov. Larry Hogan remains more popular than not with Democrats. While still risky, so many Democrats are fighting for the progressive label that it leaves room in the primary for Franchot. One can\u2019t help but wonder where Franchot might be now with more of Foxwell\u2019s help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though understandable from a personal perspective, Foxwell\u2019s attacks make little professional sense, being as likely to inflict wounds on himself as Franchot. Politicians and others surely must hesitate before hiring someone who turned publicly on his former boss, wondering if he might do the same to them. If Franchot was so awful and corrupt, why did Foxwell boost him relentlessly? It makes Foxwell appear hopelessly cynical and unscrupulous, tainting himself as well as Franchot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franchot and Foxwell’s detractors, many of whom work at the General Assembly and clashed with both, will enjoy watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Len Foxwell\u2019s Facebook posts about his former boss and gubernatorial candidate, Comptroller Peter Franchot, have the marks of a kamikaze pilot rather than that of highly skilled political operative trying to rebuild his career after a major stumble. Almost the least of these attacks was his takedown of a Franchot ad: Earlier, Foxwell boosted Jill … Continue reading Foxwell Slams Franchot<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1835,1472],"class_list":["post-15670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peter-franchot","tag-len-foxwell","tag-peter-franchot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-44K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15670"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15676,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15670\/revisions\/15676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}