The “doomsday budget” unveiled to legislators Wednesday and talk of a “comprehensive solution” to a “structural deficit” are simply code words for a tax increase or “a fait accompli,” former Gov. Robert Ehrlich told The Examiner in an exclusive interview.
“They don?t need to make the case” for tax hikes to their constituents; “they have the votes,” Ehrlich said at his Linthicum law office Tuesday. “The lesson learned in the last four years is that we can basically do anything we want and get re-elected.”
Gov.Martin O?Malley and Democratic lawmakers are doing what victors deserve to do ? governing on the basis of their promises, he said.
“This is what they ran on; this is what they believe and they won,” Ehrlich said. “It is what the people voted for. They now get to implement their views.”
Same goes for the firings and forced resignations under O?Malley, which “number well into the hundreds,” Ehrlich said, a figure consistent with numbers compiled by O?Malley?s budget secretary.
“This administration has every right to bring in their own people,” Ehrlich said. “We also had that right, and they sought to curtail it in the most partisan and transparent fashion” in a 13-month investigation by a special legislative committee.
Ehrlich, 49, has kept his name in the public spotlight by hosting a WBAL radio show on Saturday with his wife, Kendel, but said he is not using the platform as part of a permanent campaign. Asked about his plans for 2010, he brushed it off.
“It?s sort of premature at this point to think about any options,” Ehrlich said. “We?re so busy doing what we?re doing ? building this law firm, my speaking schedule, doing a book, doing the [Rudy] Giuliani campaign. It?s really not on the radar right now.”
As for the controversial $55,000-a-year Baltimore City police pension handed to former Deputy Police Commissioner Marcus Brown, whom O?Malley appointed to head the Maryland Transportation Authority police, Ehrlich said it was similar to other special deals. For example, former Attorney General Joseph Curran, O?Malley?s father-in-law, now works at the state-sponsored Injured Workers Insurance Fund.
“Monopolies do what monopolies want to do, because they can,” Ehrlich said. “And monopolies will continue to throw it in your face, until there are consequences to their actions.”
Ehrlich also commented on a range of topics in his interview with The Examiner.
On firings:
“Did you know that Glendening?s cabinet secretaries stayed and forced us to get rid of them? That was incredible to us at the time. Getting rid of people associated with the past administration — of course you get to do that. You won the election. The question is how the whole thing is being interpreted by the press, the public. ”
On Comptroller Peter Franchot:
“He is a walking tragedy. A guy who was punch line for 20 years is now the comptroller. ?Is Peter Franchot the new face of the Democrat Party?”
On the Bob and Kendel radio show:
“The radio show was and is a fun thing to do with my wife. We?ve been close to talk radio ? WBAL specifically. There was a bit of a bidding war to get us do show. We have a good time together.
“There?s certainly a catharsis associated with the show. We get 200 to 300 e-mails a week. Just an incredible volume of e-mail. We do respond to every e-mail.
“Clearly there is a desire from a portion of the electorate to hear my views, and clearly there is some desire on my part for those views to be heard.”
Will he endorse Sen. Andrew Harris against U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest:
“It remains to be seen. Clearly Andy and I have had a great relationship over the years, and Wayne and I do not have a good relationship, and have not had a good relationship over the years.”
Can Rudy Giuliani win?
“In all of the polling, he leads all the Republicans and he beats Hillary Clinton — that makes him a pretty serious candidate.” But “it?s very difficult to beat her.” The Clinton forces “are good and anyone who threatens them they are good at taking down.
“There?s a pragmatic side to the Christian right. They don?t want to see Hillary Clinton as president of the United States. In what looks to be a Democrat-leaning year, sort of a non-traditional Republican like Giuliani is the type of person to win the race.”
