Originally published February 5, 2002

                    MEMBERS OF the General Assembly pride themselves on being citizen
                    legislators: teachers, firefighters, doctors, housewives, lawyers and others
                    who come to the task of making laws with knowledge of the issues they
                    shape.

                    Two excellent examples of that tradition now pass each other in the office
                    of state treasurer: Richard N. Dixon, a former member of the House of
                    Delegates from Carroll County who resigned recently for health reasons,
                    and his successor, Nancy K. Kopp, a House member from Montgomery
                    County.

                    Mr. Dixon leaves office with a few bruises, having presided over the
                    state's employee pension program during the recent stock market
                    downturn. That program's recent losses should not overshadow his career
                    accomplishments: He brought a new awareness of the stock market to his
                    job - and the pension fund grew rapidly with him as chief steward.

                    As a delegate, he saved the pension system almost single-handedly. A
                    stockbroker as well as a legislator, he knew ruinous pension benefits had
                    to be trimmed. Though he had promised unions he'd oppose 1984
                    pension reform legislation, he abstained on a critical committee vote,
                    breaking a tie and allowing the bill to reach the full House, where it
                    eventually passed. He voted against the bill as he had promised.

                    He served in the House from 1983 to 1996, when he was elected
                    treasurer.

                    Nancy Kopp - mother of two, fan of Jane Austen and master legislator -
                    comes to the treasurer's office as Mr. Dixon did, from the House
                    Appropriations Committee. Like him, she knows state finance.

                    And she comes to her new post in the tradition of numbers-wise
                    Montgomery County legislators who gave Maryland generations of
                    progressive and generous funding formulas for various programs.

                    Both legislators have done their work in Annapolis with skill,
                    professionalism and deep devotion to the state's financial health. They
                    would say they were simply doing their jobs.

                    Marylanders should say, "We're in your debt."

                    Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun