Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Submitted without comment.

Montgomery County Del. Peter Franchot launched a campaign for state comptroller yesterday, saying voters should oust incumbent William Donald Schaefer because the former governor and Baltimore mayor has aligned himself too closely with Republicans.

“It is now November. Halloween has come and gone. The time for masks is over. William Donald Schaefer is a Republican,” Franchot said during an announcement speech in Fells Point attended by a handful of supporters. “I am running as the real Democrat in this race.”

A 19-year member of the General Assembly, Franchot, 57, said he hopes to raise $1 million for a primary challenge to Schaefer, who he said has helped steer the state on an unacceptable course by frequently siding with Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to form a majority on the three-member state Board of Public Works.

The board, comprising the comptroller, the governor and the treasurer - who is appointed by the Assembly - authorizes most state spending, buys preservation land and approves contracts.

“For the past three years, Governor Ehrlich and Comptroller Schaefer have taken us in the wrong direction, down the wrong path,” Franchot said. “Now our state is at a crossroads, and we have a decision to make: Do we take the high road, the Democratic road, the road of peace, prosperity and personal freedom? Or do we take the low road, the Republican road, the road of intolerance, inequity and injustice?”