Let the sign wars begin.
The controversial 4-by-8-foot Ehrlich campaign signs that appeared across the street from Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley?s residence ignited a war of words Monday, as the two gubernatorial campaigns engaged in heated debate over how and why they appeared.
“I think it?s obnoxious,” said O?Malley?s campaign spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.
The two large signs mounted on sizable wooden frames blaze the words “Ehrlich for Governor” in large white letters. Their size, several feet larger than the usual political lawn signs, raised the question of whether or not the Ehrlich campaign placed the larger signs in O?Malley?s neighborhood intentionally.
“I had no idea it would be that big,” said Ida Manna, one of the Ehrlich supporters whose lawn has one of the signs. “When I saw it, I laughed. I knew my husband would be mad,” she said of her Democratic-leaning spouse.
Manna, 68, says that she didn?t ask for the sign.
“Someone knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted one,” said the lifelong resident of the city, who lives across the street from O?Malley.
“I thought it would be smaller,” she said.
Ehrlich campaign spokeswoman Shareese DeLeaver said that the proximity to the O?Malley residence had nothing to do with the sign?s size.
“These signs are peppered all across the state. I?m sure the fact that it?s across the street from his house is coincidence,” she said.
DeLeaver challenged the O?Malley camp to strike in Arbutus, Ehrlich?s hometown, if it could.
“The O?Malley camp is welcome to place signs on Delores Avenue in Arbutus I doubt it will happen, but they can try,” she said, of the governor?s former residence.
Abbruzzese said that the O? Malley camp already has succeeded in placing multiple signs in Arbutus. He charged that Ehrlich should be upfront with his supporters about the size of their signs.
“Bob Ehrlich said he would do anything to be elected governor, and apparently that means misleading his own supporters,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manna said that she plans to continue to let people know she supports the governor.
“Right now I?m going to keep the sign and be the contrarian old lady that I am,” she said.
