Muslims at a weekend political forum criticized Gov. Robert Ehrlich for failing to appoint members of their faith to the Baltimore County school board and other panels, and also for his support of Israel in its invasion of Lebanon.
Secretary of Transportation Robert Flanagan, representing Ehrlich on Saturday at the candidate?s forum at the Islamic Society of Baltimore in Woodlawn, told the group, “I think you can look forward to appointments being made.”
Flanagan said the governor directed Appointments Secretary Larry Hogan to meet with the groups and consider nominations from the Muslim community.
Bash Pharoan said he was disappointed that he was not one of the two people Ehrlich named to the Baltimore County school board this month.
“I?m sure they are good people,” Pharoan said. But “it was an opportunity the governor missed to name a Muslim-American, an Arab-American, and a Republican” to the board. Pharoan heads the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Pharoan and others in the Islamic community tried to get Muslim holidays recognized by the Baltimore County school board in the same way Christian and Jewish holidays are. The board rejected that proposal.
Pharoan also questioned Ehrlich?s support for Israel, and its “killing of hundreds of Lebanese.” Ehrlich appeared at a pro-Israel rallyin Baltimore last week, but he has also mobilized state resources in helping more than almost 3,800 evacuees from Lebanon sent home via Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
“The governor is very, very concerned about civilian casualties,” Flanagan insisted. “The governor has reached out to your community.”
In an interview, Flanagan noted that the governor had addressed a large dinner hosted by the Maryland Muslim Council in April and the governor?s staff had met with representatives of the Muslim Council June 3.
“We?re not asking for any handouts,” said Akbar Ansari, president of the Baltimore County Muslim Council, one of those who met with Ehrlich?s outreach director Susan Driscoll. “We?re not asking for any privileges.”
Mayor Martin O?Malley, who also sent a representative to the forum, was criticized for an objection he raised to the takeover of Baltimore port operations by Dubai Ports World.
