Janet S. Owens

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Janet S. Owens (born February 18, 1944 in Lothian, Maryland) is an American politician and Democrat who served as County Executive of Anne Arundel County, Maryland from 1998 until 2007. She is a resident of Millersville, Maryland. As County Executive, she is seen as a moderate, frequently implementing more conservative policies than the County Council, which is now led by Republicans.

Prior to serving as County Executive, Owens was the Executive Director of Anne Arundel County Housing Authority from 1984-1986 and later as the Director of the Department of Aging for Anne Arundel County from 1986-1990. She then served as a Judge of the Orphans Court from 1990-1994. She ran for county Clerk of the Court in 1994 but was defeated by Bob Duckworth.

[edit] 2006 Maryland Comptroller election

Main article: Maryland Comptroller election, 2006

Janet Owens announced her plans to seek the office of Maryland State Comptroller on May 4, 2006. This was done after months of rumors that she would seek the Democratic nomination for the third congressional district of Maryland, as well as rumors that she was under consideration as a potential running mate for current Governor Robert Ehrlich, a Republican, during his campaign for re-election. (Ehrlich's current lieutenant governor, Michael S. Steele, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate rather than for a second term as lieutenant governor. Ehrlich ended up choosing Kristen Cox as his new running mate.) Term limits prevent her for seeking another term as county executive. Owens will compete with controversial Democratic incumbent comptroller William Donald Schaefer for her party's nomination. In early July 2006, when asked if he would debate Owens, Schaefer said he "wouldn't debate her on how to bake a chocolate cake." In early September 2006, Schaefer called Owens in the Washington Post a "prissy little miss" who wears "long dresses, looks like Mother Hubbard -- it's sort of like she was a man." Schaefer made similar comments in a taped interview with News Channel 8: "She's got these long clothes on and an old-fashioned hairdo," he said. "You know, it sort of makes you real mad." Schaefer refused to apologize for his comments regarding Owens' appearance, saying: "An apology? An apology for what? I can't help it how she looks." In the primary election on September 12, 2006, Owens garnered more votes than Schaefer, but Peter Franchot received the most votes, earning the Democratic party's nomination for Comptroller. Franchot went on the win the general election on November 7, 2006.