A lot of grassroots Republicans ? the kind with “Don?t blame me ? I voted for Ehrlich” bumper stickers on their cars ? want Bob Ehrlich re-elected. None is as demonstrative as Ziggy.
In the back of the Chevy pickup he drives all around Baltimore, William “Ziggy” Cirigliano has a 3-by-5-foot sign that shouts: “Bring Ehrlich Back.”
At night, Ziggy turns on the generator in the bed of the truck, illuminating the sign from within.
Ziggy thinks Ehrlich is a great man and was a great governor. Ziggy made something of a name for himself within Republican circles as the prolific sign man of the 2006 campaign. He put a 3-by-5 lawn sign up across the street from then-Mayor Martin O?Malley?s house in Baltimore.
“Do you have anything smaller?” asked the perplexed O?Malley neighbor, who agreed to let Ziggy put up the sign. When he told her no, she let it stand.
Early last month, Ziggy, 56, retired from his state job as a cleaning supervisor for the Baltimore subway, saying he would rather leave the job on his own accord than be fired. He had worked a number of years for Baltimore
City as a maintenance crew
chief, including service under O?Malley.
As proof of his state service, Ziggy bemusedly whips out an April 12 proclamation with his name on it signed by O?Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown “to honor the expertise and professionalism you have demonstrated during your four years of dedicated service to the Maryland Department of Transportation.”
“We shouldn?t have to have them raise taxes,” Ziggy said. “I know how the Democrats are ? I used to be one.”
Ziggy brought his truck and sign to a Baltimore County chicken dinner Thursday night attended by Ehrlich.
“I have no control over Ziggy,” Ehrlich told The Examiner, rolling his eyes. “They made one of him and there?s no off switch.”
