The soft yellow walls in Peter Franchot’s office are bare, just a scattering of nails and hooks that once hung dozens of pictures and certificates and plaques.

Now they’re all packed up, filling four cardboard boxes stacked near the door — a visual sign in the change in Annapolis leadership and Franchot’s long career.

Franchot, who as comptroller is the state’s chief tax collector, is closing out a decadeslong career in public service that started with a stint in the Army and on Capitol Hill, then progressed to the Maryland General Assembly and his last stop as comptroller.

Along the way, Franchot won both allies and enemies. He took on causes that ruffled Democratic leaders, from chastising Baltimore-area school systems for their slow pace of installing air conditioning to running a TV ad that skewered General Assembly leaders as machine politicians producing automaton lawmakers. All along, he maintained that he’s simply an independent voice who isn’t scared to go his own way.

Franchot wasn’t planning to end it all here. He thought he could parlay his experience and independence into becoming the next governor. But he finished third of 10 candidates on the Democratic ballot in last year’s primary election, spelling an end to his time in politics.

On Monday, Franchot’s successor, fellow Democrat Brooke Lierman, will be sworn into office and Franchot, 75, will officially become a retiree.

He’s got plans to spend more time with his grandchildren and travel more with his wife, Anne Maher, including a bike tour in the Netherlands that she booked as consolation for his gubernatorial loss.

The outgoing comptroller recently met with The Baltimore Banner to reflect on his career following his final meeting of the Board of Public Works, a powerful panel that approves state contracts and often makes news. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Banner: You just had your last Board of Public Works meeting. You spent 16 years as comptroller and 20 years in the House of Delegates and now you’re doing your sort of farewell tour.

Franchot: While doing my job.

Yes.

I think it was my 355th meeting of the Board of Public Works. Each meeting, every two weeks, we spend on average $440 million in taxpayers’ money. No other state has a Board of Public Works. We’re lucky and blessed in Maryland to have it. And it is a somewhat imperfect, but often very helpful, check and balance.

You often get that discussion of: “Why are we spending the money in this fashion?” There’s a level of transparency there.

Yes. And guess what? The press is there. And so you get transparency, you get oversight.

When I was first elected, we used to have pre-meetings, which was the governor and the treasurer and I would go into his office. Basically it was: Anybody got a complaint about anything? But the understanding was once we left the office, nobody was going to complain.

We would go into the back room, everything would be somewhat resolved, I guess. And then we’d go out and see the public. And it was it was not transparent, put it that way.

Right.

So we changed that, because after a couple of those I said: “No, I’m not going to that anymore.”

Looking back at when you started in the House of Delegates in 1987, what would you say to young Del. Peter Franchot? What advice would you give your former self?

I was very independent because I came out of the public interest movement. I had spent years working against the war in Vietnam, working against the the nuclear power issue with Ralph Nader and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

My whole career had been built around policy issues that I was urging state legislatures and ultimately the Congress [to address]. I was someone that was there to represent issues that I felt deeply about. And often I was as upset with Democrats as I was Republicans.

I found it very easy to pick issues like slot machines and gambling as a example, or now as comptroller, I supported the craft brewing industry against the distributors. I didn’t mind the kind of criticism I got from my own party for upsetting their relationships.

Is there any specific legislation or specific things you did when you were in the House of Delegates that you look back on and you’re proud of?

I was chairman of an appropriations subcommittee, where I had tremendous authority over a number of state agencies, and that was very effective.

I began to get my confidence as far as opposing gambling as a source of revenue. Because of its instability, it’s a very bad source of revenue for the state of Maryland.

And not only that, there are all sorts of social problems associated with gambling, which I’m sure we’re going to see now that we have this explosion of sports gambling, of all things. During times when we’re scared of recession, we’re out advertising that people feed their often common addiction to gambling.

Gambling has continued to expand over the years and the state is relying on it for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund and for other needs.

Right underneath the stone is a tremendous amount of suffering because of that and that’s why I opposed increasing funding from the lottery advertising ... Basically, gambling addiction is more potent than heroin addiction. And so it’s somewhat unexamined, the social losses that we have as we pursue the desired revenue.

Let’s talk about your years as comptroller. You came into this office after a pretty dramatic election, knocking off William Donald Schaefer and Janet Owens. At your victory night party on election night, you told supporters that you would measure each decision carefully, but also be progressive.

Here’s a quote that you said at that party: “These are not Republican, Democrat or independent values. They’re Maryland values.”

Do you think that you fulfilled that promise to be both progressive and pragmatic with the state’s dollars?

Yes. I voted in 355 meetings, [on] over $400 million in state spending. ... You have to have transparency and accountability and you have to be a check and balance on state spending, because otherwise it will metastasize, it will just grow.

I don’t remember that exact quote, but it is very accurate and it’s kind of guided me through the 16 years I’ve been comptroller.

The key here is that you can’t really be an effective advocate for the public if you’re constantly at the beck and call of powerful special interests, or the legislative leaders, scared of someone telling you you can’t do something, and furthermore that you’ll be punished or the agency will be punished by something that we do in response to the fact that you’re limiting our spending. That has never stopped me and the agencies flourished under my leadership.

In addition to running the comptroller’s office and being a fiscal watchdog, you’ve also not been shy about taking on issues that are important to you: Schools starting after Labor Day, the air conditioning in schools issue and craft beer industry advocacy.

You’ve come under some criticism for that, that it strayed too far from the core mission of this office. What’s your response to critics of those campaigns of yours?

They’re wonderful people, many of them are my friends. Now all is forgiven, I guess.

But it exactly makes my point, which is that we need more honest checks and balances, folks that are independent of party control, and unbought, unbossed, free from scandal. That’s my 36 years.

But primarily, it’s my ability to stand up to my own party’s leadership. I’ve given issues, like school after Labor Day or the craft beer industry versus the distributors — I mean, these entrenched interests, they’re tremendous forces to get legislators or other elected officials to toe the line.

And my only suggestion to everybody is be independent. And yes, you can be proud of your party and the principles, but you’re not a robot. My critics can say there’s too much friction. I say it’s good trouble.

What would you say, in 16 years as comptroller, is the place where you’ve most made your mark? Where people will look back and say: “That was because Comptroller Franchot did that”?

An independent check and balance who put the state of Maryland in front of his party. That’s manifested, I think, directly by my opposition to gambling as a source of revenue for the state, just as not stable enough.

As you’re doing all this reflection on your career and as you’re ending this chapter of public service, this wasn’t how you had hoped it would be. You had run for governor and you had hoped you’d be transitioning to the State House right now. How has that been going, absorbing that loss and figuring out what you’re going to do next?

It’s been great. Mostly because my wife has been so great to me.

And it’s opened up the potential of a number of years where I can, in a more relaxed way, focus on some issues that I really care about. And I see that as a as a benefit. Also, we’re planning some vacations, after my term’s over.

Do I feel I’m not going to miss my staff? Yes, I’m going to miss my staff. And I’m going to miss people holding the door and saying, “Mr. Comptroller.” Yes, I suppose I will miss that. Will I miss my troopers taking me around in the car? Sure. Everybody would love to be driven. But you just have to realize that it wasn’t all the time that I was being driven happily to the next meeting.

It was great to be comptroller. I love the job. But I’m happy that I can look back and say, “Job well done.” We took the agency to a new level and I’m proud of that. And happy despite the transition.

Losing an election is no fun, but a lot of people tell me that it can be really rewarding running for office, especially for governor. Was there anything that you took away from that or anything you learned?

I loved the experience of running for governor. I mean, a lot of people treated me as the likely governor. It didn’t work out. I didn’t have enough votes. That’s OK. Life moves on and I have other priorities.

What are going to miss most? And is there anything you’re not going to miss about being an elected official?

I’m not going to miss having to be “on” with people in a way that’s inauthentic. That’s OK, that’s part of politics. You have to be high energy and high decibel and be kind of super energetic.

Now I don’t have to be that kind of charismatic. I can be a much quieter charisma and a much more, I think, satisfied one.

One final question and it’s very important. This office: Is it “COMP-troller” or is it “CON-troller”?

COMP-troller. Yes, the French version. I know what I’m talking about. It’s COMP-troller.

And secondly, please put in as proof that I know what I’m talking about: The only thing silent about me is the “T” at the end of my name.

pamela.wood@thebaltimorebanner.com