I. Biographical
A. born in Prince Frederick, Calvert County, Maryland
on March 14, 1913 to Goodman and Belle Butcher Goldstein
B.Earned B.S. in Chemistry from Washington College,
Chestertown, Maryland
C. Earned J.D.or L.L.B. from University of Maryland
Law School
find out which degree he really got from law school,
or if same, which term should I use?
II. Early Years in Government
A. Served in Maryland House of Delegates from 1938-42
for Calvert County
B. Served in Maryland Senate 1946-58
1. Became Majority Floor
Leader in 1951
2. Became President of the
Senate in 1955
C. As legislator, involved w/ bills that created
Maryland Port Authority, required open government meetings, prohibited
oil discharges in the Chesapeake Bay, and established retail sales tax.
III. Election as Comptroller
A. First elected in 1958; served from 1959 until
his death in 1998.
B. Won easily on a Democratic ticket w/ J. Millard
Tawes of Somerset County as governor, Thomas D'Alesandro of Baltimore for
U.S. Senate, and C. Ferdinand Sybert of Howard County for attorney general.
IV. Reputation
A. Penchant for campaigning
B. Sometimes criticized for paying more attention
to next campaign than to his job.
C. Late Lucille Maurer, former Treasurer, described
him as "the most popular tax collector in Maryland history."
V. Most significant changes in Maryland and United
States during his time in office
A. Sporadic Democratic disarray
-find out more about all the times Goldstein was re-elected
even after a Republican governor was elected
B. Legislative reapportionment in 1960s
-find more specifics about when and why this occurred,
how it changed Maryland electorate demographically, and how Goldstein fared
compared to others in his party
C. Trends toward change in tax structure
1. Shift in importance towards
income and sales taxes rather than property taxes as primary source of
government revenue as land becomes a less significant source of wealth.
-find out more background about this. How did
Maryland compare w/ other states? What are the end results of this change
in taxation?
D. More public demand for full disclosure of government
accounting and less tolerance of corruption in wake of Watergate at federal
level and Agnew and Mandel administrations at state level.
-find out more about how oversight changed after this
point; what types of changes in procedure occur?
E. Change in
Comptroller's role on Board of Public Works as social significance of the
economic influence of the government becomes of greater public concern.
(i.e. shift from strictly competitive bidding to instituting affirmative
action in government contract bids)
-find out about changes in BPW bidding procedures as
they occur; Goldstein's specific role within these procedural changes.
VII. Legacy as Comptroller
A. Worked to achieve and maintain AAA bond
rating
1. Wall St. measure of fiscal
soundness
2. Saves state money by
giving lower interest rates for government borrowing.
when was this obtained and has Maryland had the rating
continuously since then? Who gives it and what standards do they
use? How does Maryland compare currently with other states in obtaining
this rating?
B. Insisted on Maryland staying on top of latest
technology
1. one of the first to recognize
potential problems of Y2K allowing the state to address it early and be
prepared a year in advance.
how
did he know this would be a problem and how did he go about fixing it?
2. first state to employ
a computerized collection & income tax processing system & to share
computerized data w/ IRS.
when and under what circumstances?
3. At his death, Comptroller's
office was developing computerized filing system for state income tax.
when did this system become available for use?
C. Well-known for being fiscally responsible
1. Maryland's financial
solvency unusual for a traditionally Democratic state where expensive social
programs are popular.
2. Stickler on BPW in ensuring
government money was not spent on unnecessary public works projects.
more than anecdotal evidence for both of these conclusions?
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