WBAL-AM talk-radio host Chip Franklin, who frequently comments on state government -- and whose show often provides a friendly forum for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- has been paid more than $30,000 in the past three years to appear in commercials for the Maryland Lottery. Franklin, who hosts a morning show with about 130,000 listeners a week, receives a $1,500 payment each time he tapes a television commercial for scratch-off lottery tickets in an arrangement that predates Ehrlich's election. He is paid by Eisner Communications, a Baltimore advertising agency hired by the lottery. Station management and Franklin defend the...