WOO HOO!
EHRLICH MAKES UP MAKING UP QUOTES: In an interview on WBAL Radio, Ehrlich defended banning officials from talking to Sun columnist Michael Olesker, claiming he had "made up quotes," referring to a May 14 column that included quotes from Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele on multiculturalism. Olesker denied the charges, saying, "They are trying to deny having conversations with me that absolutely occurred and that I would never in a million years make up." Ehrlich's administration finally came clean by reversing itself last week and "acknowledged that Steel did have the conversation with the columnist."
WATCH YOUR METAPHORS: The governor's office also tried to attack Olesker for describing the governor's communications director as "struggling to keep a straight face" while testifying that use of taxpayer money in tourism ads was not politically motivated. Ehrlich says Olesker wasn't at the hearing and thus didn't know what Schurick's face looked like; Olesker has explained it was a figure of speech and he didn't mean the phrase to be taken literally. In retribution, Ehrlich used this as his justification for banning the Maryland government from talking to Olesker.
EHRLICH KICKED REPORTERS OUT OF THE STATE HOUSE: This isn't Gov. Ehrlich's first attempt to muscle out journalists. Last summer, he concocted a plan to bodily evict the Maryland press corps from its long-held offices in the State House. (After the resulting uproar, he recanted and reporters were able to stay on site.) He also removed newspaper boxes from the State House for "security" reasons. The Governor "has professed not to read the newspapers, maintains that The Washington Post and The (Baltimore) Sun are biased against him, and has professed a preference for talk radio."