A senior aide and a consultant for former Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign were indicted Thursday on charges related to Election Day robocalls prosecutors contend were used to suppress voter turnout in liberal pockets of Maryland. Paul Schurick, who was essentially Ehrlich’s campaign manager, and Baltimore political consultant Julius Henson were indicted by a Baltimore grand jury for calls advising voters to stay home because Gov. Martin O’Malley had secured the race.
The duo was charged with three counts of conspiracy to violate state election laws, one count of attempting to influence a voter’s decision on whether to go to the polls through the use of fraud, and one count of failing to provide an authority line on distributed campaign material. In addition, Schurick is facing an obstruction of justice charge for withholding documentation sought through a grand jury subpoena.
Announcing the indictments, State Prosecutor Emmet Davitt said his office was responsible for “safeguarding the integrity of the election process” and would “aggressively investigate and prosecute any illegal tactics that attempt to threaten its integrity.”
Ehrlich’s campaign initially denied placing the calls to more than 110,000 Democratic voters in Baltimore and Prince George’s County before Henson said he was responsible — and that the former governor had no knowledge of the calls.
“Hello. I’m calling to let everybody know that Governor O’Malley and President Obama have been successful,” a voice on the call said before polls closed. “Our goals have been met. The polls were correct, and we took it back. We’re OK. Relax. Everything’s fine. The only thing left is to watch it
on TV tonight. Congratulations, and thank you.”
O’Malley won by more than 14 points.
Peter R. Zeidenberg, a lawyer representing Schurick, said the charges were “based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts.”
“Mr. Schurick never conspired with anyone to suppress the votes of any Maryland voters, and he did nothing to obstruct this investigation.”
A lawyer representing Henson did not returns multiple requests for comment.
An O’Malley spokeswoman called the indictments “unfortunate” and added, “we’re going to let the process play out in the courts.”
