Free Republic

Is fighting sprawl still a goal for those who decide the fate of transportation funding at the federal, state and local levels?Transportation planning is deeply connected to economic development, but there in any agreement about transportation funding among government leaders often ends.Parag Khanna, a senior public policy analyst in Singapore and author of “Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization,” summarized the political divide over transportation planning like this: “America is increasingly divided not between red states and blue states, but between connected hubs and disconnected backwaters.”But division that stymies transportation planning goes further. Government leaders have always been divided...

It’s hard to know whether Maryland’s Intercounty Connector, also known as the ICC and Route 200, will ever become informally known as Ehrlich Highway or the Ehrlich Connector, but it now has a shot. On Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) dedicated the 18.8-mile toll road to his Republican predecessor and onetime boss, former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., whom he credited with reviving and championing a road mired for decades in political controversy. “It wasn’t until Governor Bob Ehrlich made it a top priority of his administration that the Intercounty Connector project finally moved forward and became a reality,”...

In what could be called a new version of “Romney-CAIR,” Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Maryland campaign chairman, former Republican Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, is an endorser of the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations. “I’m glad that you have established such a strong voice in the community and that you are working to maintain a strong sense of cultural and economic identity,” Ehrlich is quoted on CAIR’s website as saying in December 2005. Under the headline “What They Say About CAIR,” dated March 2010, there are lists of comments from religious, law enforcement and election officials. Ehrlich’s comment is included...

When Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. won election as governor in 2002, he was faced with a tricky problem. He had campaigned on a pledge to build the long-delayed Intercounty Connector in suburban Washington. The highway project would cost a fortune, far more than the state could afford out of its Transportation Trust Fund, and the Republican Ehrlich had taken a hard line against new taxes. He had to come up with some way to pay the $2.6 billion it would eventually cost. The answer? He would make it a toll road. And to give his policies a semblance of geographical...

Governor Martin O'Malley says Maryland has to "dial up mass transit." His opponent, Bob Ehrlich, says there needs to be a better mix of road and mass transit projects and has been sharply critical of problems on MARC trains. Mike Hellgren takes a closer look at transportation and why it's creating a politically charged controversy. Governor O'Malley says Maryland just doesn't have more room for new road projects, although some are underway, including the Intercounty Connector. His push for mass transit includes the red line in Baltimore and purple line in the DC suburbs. At the center of the debate:...

BETHESDA, Md. - When candidates are vying for votes it can be hard to get them to agree on issues. But WTOP managed to get all the major candidates in the Maryland governor's race to make the same pledge: Not to distract drivers by waving campaign signs at them. This pledge comes after political volunteers created 10 miles of delays on Interstate 270 last week by waving signs from the Falls Road overpass. Some drivers were furious about the delays. Others believe roadside distractions of any kind are a hazard that can cause crashes. "We would never condone stopping traffic."...

Republican challenger Robert Ehrlich now leads Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley in the rematch of their 2006 gubernatorial contest, according to a new poll released Friday. Mr. Ehrlich has opened up a 3 percentage point lead over the Democratic governor in one of the nation's more liberal states, according to an automated survey of over 750 likely voters by the polling firm Magellan Strategies. It is the first poll to show the one-term former GOP governor ahead in the race. According to the Magellan poll, Mr. Ehrlich was preferred by 46 percent of state voters to 43 percent for Mr. O'Malley,...

Deviant Speech Defined When Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich fired a transportation official at the urging of gay rights groups, he was replaying an act of capitulation that has already taken place in education circles. “Homosexual behavior, in my view, is deviant,” Metro Transit authority appointee Robert J. Smith said on an after-hours cable TV broadcast. “I’m a Catholic,” Smith explained. “The real issue here is the right of government employees to voice their religious convictions with impunity,” William Donahue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights says. “Moreover, Robert Smith’s remark is so innocuous that, up until recently,...

The campaign for Maryland's next governor has surfaced on Facebook.com, the popular social networking site used more often to get dates than to learn about political candidates. According to profiles on the site created by college-age Democratic campaign workers, Douglas M. Duncan is interested in "Thinking Bigger!" Martin O'Malley is interested in "Moving Maryland Forward," and Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is interested in "Getting terrible haircuts."

BALTIMORE -- Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday said he was considering slashing the state gasoline tax to counter the jump in prices at the pump. "All options are on the table," Mr. Ehrlich said. "We are looking at repercussions should we decide to do anything concerning the gas tax." Mr. Ehrlich said cutting Maryland's 23.5 cent per gallon gas tax was his only option for lowering gasoline prices, but it is also a "limited option" since the state's highway programs rely almost exclusively on gas-tax revenue. Eliminating the tax would throw road projects into "disarray," he said.

ANNAPOLIS -- Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday won approval for an election-year cut in the state property-tax rate. In a 2-1 vote, the state Board of Public Works approved a 2-cent reduction of the property-tax rate, to 11.2 cents per $100 of assessed value. The board consists of the governor, Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp.

ANNAPOLIS -- The Democrat-controlled General Assembly overrode 22 vetoes by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. this session, but couldn't pass bills that would have cracked down on child molesters or resolved the state's energy-rate crisis. Meanwhile, lawmakers proposed 17 measures this year aimed at reducing the governor's powers, according to a list composed by Mr. Ehrlich's office. "These misplaced priorities are a function of partisanship," said Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican seeking re-election. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said the "political and philosophical divisions" between Mr. Ehrlich and the legislature are typical of a competitive, two-party environment. Mr. Miller,...

ANNAPOLIS -- The Ehrlich administration yesterday said it anticipates widespread voter fraud this year, as Democrats take advantage of election-related legislation passed this session. "I fully expect the governor's political opponents will take advantage of the opportunities for fraud. I expect them to try to engage in organized, large-scale voter fraud," said Paul E. Schurick, director of communications for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican. "I think it will be everywhere, statewide," Mr. Schurick said. State Democratic Party Executive Director Derek Walker called the accusations a "scare tactic" and said Mr. Ehrlich is "petrified that the more people that...

The operators of a conservative Web site yesterday released three e-mail addresses they said were connected to the anonymous site user who drew a former aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) into discussions of a smear campaign against a political rival -- and one of the addresses matched that of a former state Democratic Party official. A spokesman for the Free Republic Web site said the account MD4BUSH was originally created by someone with access to the e-mail address ryanrock2004@yahoo.com . The address of record was changed twice, first to rodoherty@mddems.org and later to brianwaverly@yahoo.com , said Web...

Court Hears Internet Anonymity Case ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The publisher of a financial newsletter told Maryland's second highest court Wednesday that he should not be forced to disclose his subscriber list and other information sought by an Arizona company seeking those it says made defamatory online comments. The publisher, Timothy M. Mulligan, told the judges "almost everything we publish could potentially be subpoenaed," putting him in the position of constantly appearing for depositions if his request to quash a subpoena by the Arizona drug company, Matrixx Initiatives, is denied. The judges, however, appeared to side with Matrixx, repeatedly asking why...

Thanks to the efforts of investigative reporters for WBAL in Baltimore, which has just broken the story, the former third-ranked official for the Democrat Party in Maryland has been outed as the original source for sexual slanders against Baltimore’s Democrat Mayor, Martin O’Malley, who is currently running for Governor. The original stories in February in the Washington Post blamed the kerfuffel on Joseph Stefan, then an aide to Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich, Jr. The aide was terminated from his position as a result of his name (but not the Democrat’s name) coming out at the time. Source: www.wbal.com/shows/Smith/ Transcript should...

By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press Writer BALTIMORE (AP) -- A spokeswoman for Maryland's first lady said the governor's wife made "an inadvertent figure of speech" when she spoke at a domestic violence prevention conference of shooting pop singer Britney Spears. In remarks taped by WFMD-AM in Frederick, Kendel Ehrlich, wife of Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, addressed an audience Friday at Hood College in Frederick as part of a program called, "Men and Women: Partners in the Fight Against Domestic Violence." She talked about the need for "educating our women to get as much schooling as possible, to not become dependent...

BALTIMORE -- Gov. Robert Ehrlich's decision to sign a medical marijuana bill strongly opposed by the Bush administration will help many patients end their suffering, supporters said Thursday. "These are people who are suffering. They're dying. It will help those people," said Delegate Dan Morhaim, D-Baltimore County, a sponsor of the bill and an emergency room doctor at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. Ehrlich Signs State's First Insurance Reform Bill Despite opposition from some Republicans, Ehrlich had indicated support for the bill early on because of his belief that people can differentiate between legalizing the drug and allowing those dying of...

<p>While Gov. Robert Ehrlich was the official bearer of the bad news that Maryland property taxes will increase by nearly 60 percent in the coming months, the bulk of the responsibility for higher taxes lies with the people who created the deficits and sought to sandbag Mr. Ehrlich into raising taxes in order to foot the bill. The Democrats, in particular, former Gov. Parris Glendening — who left Mr. Ehrlich a legacy of several billion dollars worth of deficits when he departed the Governor's Mansion in January — and the current leadership of the General Assembly share most of the blame.</p>

Filed at 7:25 p.m. ET ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Following through on a campaign promise, Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich said he will lift Maryland's moratorium on the death penalty immediately after taking office in January. Lifting the ban Gov. Parris Glendening declared in May could mean as many as seven inmates would be executed in Ehrlich's first year in office. Ehrlich, who made the announcement Friday, said the governor should review the case of each person on death row individually, rather than issuing a blanket moratorium. Death penalty opponents said they will try to persuade Ehrlich to wait to lift the...