[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 98 (Friday, June 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7325-S7326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING LUCILLE MAURER

 Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I rise today to join the citizens 
of Maryland in honoring a distinguished public servant, and a respected 
role model, Lucille Maurer, who died earlier this month.
  I am proud to have served with Lucy Maurer in the Maryland House of 
Delegates after her appointment in 1969. While Lucy was selected to 
serve the people of Montgomery County, her interests and efforts 
extended far beyond parochial concerns, encompassing all the citizens 
of Maryland, especially the children. A formula that she was 
instrumental in devising--and in fact bears her name--the Lee-Maurer 
formula, is still used by the State of Maryland to determine the amount 
of State educational assistance that each county receives, and ensures 
those jurisdictions most in need received the state assistance they 
require to assure educational opportunities for all of Maryland's 
children.
  In addition to her commitment to the children of our State, Lucy was 
gifted with a keen grasp of State finances and budgeting issues which 
served her well as Maryland's first female treasurer. Elected to this 
position in 1987 by the State legislature, Lucy brought to the 
treasurer's office the same commitment and competence which 
characterized her service in the House of Delegates.
  Throughout her 35-year career in public service, as well as in her 
work with organizations such as the PTA and the League of Women Voters, 
Lucille Maurer was a person who effectively brought people together for 
worthy purposes and with commendable results. She was a positive and 
unifying force in our State and her quiet competence and pleasant 
demeanor will be deeply missed. She was a good friend and respected 
colleague in the public service, and I would like to take this 
opportunity to extend my deepest and heartfelt sympathies to her 
husband, Ely and her sons, Stephen, Russell, and Edward.
  Mr. President, in testimony to Lucy's exceptional efforts on behalf 
of the people of Maryland, I ask that the following articles from the 
Baltimore Messenger, the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post, which 
pay tribute to this respected and honored individual be printed in the 
Record.
  The articles follow:

             [From the Baltimore Messenger, June 26, 1996]

                  State Owes Maurer Debt of Gratitude

       The death of Lucille Maurer is a sad reminder of how far 
     Maryland government has come since the days when bankers 
     controlled the state treasurer. Or, more accurately, when you 
     had to be a banker to become state treasurer.
       Partly because of reforms instituted by Maurer and the late 
     Billy James, her immediate predecessor as state treasurer, 
     those days are gone.
       For decades before they came along, the office was a 
     fiefdom of Baltimore bankers favored by the General Assembly. 
     This flowed from the quaint practice of letting the House and 
     Senate elect the treasurer by joint ballot. Because a 
     delegate's vote in this process is equal to a senator's vote 
     and because delegates outnumber senators, this is one of the 
     few situations in which the House holds the upper hand.
       Until 1966, the treasurer's post paid only $2,500 a year 
     but was still one of the most prized jobs in Maryland 
     politics.
       The reason? Banks paid little or no interest on the 
     hundreds of millions deposited in them by the state, and the 
     treasurer decided whose banks got this bonanza.
       He--it was always a man; Maurer was the only woman elected 
     to the job in its 221-year history--also decided which 
     politicians or other insiders got the juicy casualty 
     insurance business on state property--schools, office 
     buildings, even the State House and the governor's mansion 
     itself.
       One state treasurer insisted that any qualified agent could 
     play in this little game. When I tried to pry the list of 
     participants from him to check this, he refused and threw me 
     out of his office. There was no freedom of information law 
     then, but the game began to fall apart when his refusal was 
     reported. An indignant legislator made him cough it up.
       This led to more equitable distribution of the state 
     insurance business. Then, with James and Maurer, came reform 
     of the no-interest bank-deposit system.
       James, a highly respected former Senate president, was the 
     first to require that banks pay interest on state accounts. 
     Maurer refined the practice to include offsets of some 
     banking services in exchange for interest. Both ran the 
     office responsibly and never confused the banks' interests 
     with the public interest.
       James, and now Maurer, are gone. But because they abolished 
     an obsolescent, putrescent practice, the state owes lasting 
     tribute to the memory of both.
                                                                    ____


                    Maurer, 73, Dies of Brain Tumor

                 (By Thomas Waldron and Marina Sarris)

       Lucille Maurer, a suburban Washington legislator who 
     championed state aid for Baltimore and later became 
     Maryland's first woman treasurer, died yesterday at her home 
     in Silver Spring of complications from a benign brain tumor. 
     She was 73.
       Mrs. Maurer's health problems forced her to resign as 
     treasurer in January, ending a career in public service that 
     spanned more than 35 years.
       Friends and elected officials yesterday recalled a 
     determined and incisive woman who brought a personable, 
     optimistic approach to politics and life.
       ``To me, she's the model of a public servant,'' said state 
     Del. Nancy K. Kopp, a Montgomery Democrat and long-time 
     friend and colleague. ``She was intelligent, dedicated and 
     willing to go in and fight long, tough battles, battles that 
     might last for years.''
       ``She paved the way for a lot of women in politics early 
     on, and she proved that a woman can produce as much as any 
     man,'' said Sen. Ida G. Ruben, also of Montgomery 
     County Democrat.
       During her 16 years as a legislator, Mrs. Maurer was 
     scarcely known outside political circles. But inside the 
     State House, she was respected for her keen understanding of 
     state finances and her statewide perspective on budget 
     issues.
       Mrs. Maurer was widely appreciated around the capital for 
     her work crafting the complicated formula that has been used 
     for two decades to determine the amount of state education 
     aid each county receives--a formula known as Lee-Maurer, for 
     Mrs. Maurer and former acting Gov. Blair Lee III.
       Under the formula, the richer a county was, the less state 
     aid it received, which benefited poorer areas such as 
     Baltimore City.
       While her concern for other jurisdictions won her acclaim 
     in Annapolis, it did not always impress the people back home. 
     Her aversion to parochialism helped cost her a Senate seat in 
     1986.
       In 1987, the legislature elected her to the job of 
     treasurer, where she oversaw state investments and the sale 
     of state bonds.
       As treasurer, Mrs. Maurer also was the first woman to sit 
     on the Maryland Board of Public Works, the three-member panel 
     that approves all major state contracts.
       As a board member, she expressed herself firmly yet 
     quietly, at least compared with

[[Page S7326]]

     her more outspoken and colorful colleagues, former Gov. 
     William Donald Schaefer and Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein.
       ``She was a woman of passion, ability and intelligence,'' 
     said Mr. Goldstein. ``She held her own while we had some very 
     unusual discussions back in the governor's private office.''
       Gov. Parris N. Glendening said, ``Through persistence, 
     professionalism and quiet persuasion, she epitomized the art 
     of good government and good politics.''
       The former Lucille Darvin was born in New York City in 1922 
     and grew up in Rockland County, north of the city.
       She received a degree in economics from the Women's College 
     of the University of North Carolina. After working as an 
     economist with the U.S. Tariff Commission, she received a 
     master's degree from Yale University in 1945.
       She moved to Montgomery County in 1950 and became active in 
     community groups, particularly the League of Women Voters. 
     That led to two terms on the county school board from 1960 to 
     1968.
       In 1969, she was appointed to fill a vacancy in the House 
     of Delegates representing a suburban district that took in 
     parts of Wheaton and Silver Spring.
       At that time, Mrs. Maurer was one of only a handful of 
     women in the legislature. She won re-election to four four-
     year terms in the House.
       As a legislator, Mrs. Maurer took on issues of concern to 
     many mothers. bills to regulate public swimming pools and 
     camps for children, for instance, and to strengthen laws on 
     child abuse.
       Colleagues recalled that she did her homework on the 
     issues, took unwavering positions but remained cordial and 
     diplomatic with her opponents.
       ``She never made a public display of a confrontation, but 
     she let you know personally how she felt, in a quiet way,'' 
     Mrs. Ruben said.
       The Evening Sun wrote in a 1975 editorial, ``Without the 
     rancorous or strident tones too often heard on the subject, 
     she has been a persuasive, constructive leader in the 
     movement for women's rights.''
       Her career came to a crossroads in a hard-fought campaign 
     for the state Senate in 1986. Her opponent, Idamae Garrott, 
     accused her of caring too little about Montgomery County and 
     worrying too much about the financial needs of Baltimore.
       Senator Garrott's message resonated at home. ``Montgomery 
     County was feeling the pinch,'' Senator Ruben said. ``Taxes 
     were rising and people felt they were not getting the 
     services they thought they should.''
       Mrs. Maurer lost, but rebounded quickly when the General 
     Assembly elected her treasurer in early 1987.
       A private burial is planned in Rockland County, N.Y. A 
     memorial service will be held later in Maryland.
       Mrs. Maurer is survived by her husband of 51 years, Ely 
     Maurer, an assistant legal adviser in the U.S. State 
     Department; three sons, Stephen Maurer of Swarthmore, Pa., 
     Russell Maurer of Pepper Pike, Ohio, and Edward Maurer of 
     Lido Beach, N.Y.; and seven grandchildren.
                                                                    ____


               [From the Washington Post, June 22, 1996]

                             Lucille Maurer

       For as long as anyone can remember, Montgomery County has 
     been a wellspring of civic and public service, famed for its 
     concentration of highly informed, superactive citizens who 
     revel in pursuing the essentials of good local government. 
     Out of this grass-roots tradition and on to the high office 
     of state treasurer came Lucille Maurer, an able, 
     knowledgeable and beloved servant of her fellow Marylanders. 
     Mrs. Maurer, who died this week at the age of 73, rose to 
     recognition along the classic civic-path--from PTA to the 
     League of Women Voters, two terms on the county school board, 
     18 years in the Maryland state legislature and nine years as 
     treasurer until her resignation for health reasons last 
     January.
       Never one to seek the spotlight, Mrs. Maurer won attention 
     and respect for her hard work, fairness and gentle approach 
     to political solutions. Early on, her keen sense of local and 
     state finances won her acclaim and additional 
     responsibilities. If there was any quarrel with her 
     performance in Annapolis, it came from those in her county 
     who did not appreciate one of her greatest strengths: the 
     times when she would forsake parochialism in the interest of 
     statewide concerns. She believed that the health of the state 
     as a whole was in the interests of her constituents--and 
     worked to that end on funding formulas aimed at helping those 
     areas most in need, and especially Maryland's poorest 
     children.
       When she became the state's first female treasurer and the 
     highest-ranking state official from the Washington suburbs. 
     Mrs. Maurer transformed the office, ending old-fashioned 
     bookkeeping techniques, consolidating operations and selling 
     off much of the state's stock portfolio before a downtown in 
     the market. It was this blend of hard-nosed decision-making 
     and personal congeniality that endeared Lucy Maurer to those 
     with whom she worked as well as the many more whom she served 
     with dedication, integrity and fondness.

                          ____________________