“His knowledge and creativity allowed him to call balls and strikes. He was our guiding light, but could do these things without breaking the bank,” he said. “Just last week on the phone, I told him he had saved an entire city. “The city would not have survived without additional financial help from the State of Maryland because Bill knew how to work the formulas,” Gov. “Ratch” Ratchford II was a former longtime director of the General Assembly’s Department of Fiscal Services with a well-earned reputation for keeping governors and their budget directors honest. Ratchford in a 1996 Sun article as the “institutional memory on the fiscal condition of the state of Maryland.” Taylor Jr., who died Monday, described Mr.
“I know there are other people in the wings, but he has such a wealth of experience and a storehouse of knowledge that he is able to bring to the table at any given moment.”įormer House speaker Casper R. “He is the one indispensable person, in terms of the legislature having a complete handle on the state’s $14 billion budget,” he said. “He doesn’t get rattled, and he doesn’t get irritated - even though he has to keep reinventing the wheel with each new generation of legislators, every four years,” the late Senate President Thomas V.
Ratchford oftentimes in the closing days of the legislative session, found himself cast in the role of peacemaker between battling House and Senate committees. DeFilippo in a 1997 Baltimore Business Journal article.Ĭool under fire and gifted with an even-keeled disposition, Mr. William Donald Schaefer and his budget director, Charles Benton, is the stuff of legislative lore and yarn-spinning,” observed veteran political commentator and writer Frank A. (MCCARDELL / Check with Baltimore Sun Photo) “Ratch” Ratchford II was a log canoe racing fan and enjoyed making homemade ice cream. Glendening, including the mercurial William Donald Schaefer, with whom he clashed. Ratchford’s career spanned five Maryland governors from Marvin Mandel to Parris N. He knew what was doable.”ĭuring his years in Annapolis, Mr. He had principles and he knew how to lay out options. He added: “Bill clearly knew his role was to advise and counsel and get us to where we needed to go. He knew the role of his staff was to raise issues and just not be a rubber stamp when it came to the budget,” Mr. “He set the tone and standards for our staff which created the quality of the work we do. “That has stayed with me all these years,” Mr. “Colonel Shriver said, ‘Let me tell you something: There’s only one source of revenue for what we do in this government - it’s the taxpayers.’ Ratchford explained in a 1996 interview with The Baltimore Sun. “I was testifying before a committee and talking about finding ‘alternative sources of revenue,’” Mr.
John Shriver, once imparted a piece of advice that ended up defining Mr.
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