Tuesday evening, Bob and Kendel Ehrlich will unveil the official portraits of their single term as Maryland?s governor and first lady, an event typically marking the culmination of the careers of the men and women whose portraits hang in the State House and the residence.
But the Ehrlichs have not slunk off into losers? limbo. They have their own Saturday morning radio talk show on WBAL, the ex-governor does commentary on WMAR-TV, and they speak at a wide
variety of public events across the state.
Ehrlich?s campaign fundraising apparatus is still in place, with a Towson office and a small staff. Last year, a direct mail campaign costing $100,000 raised $114,000 from more than 1,200 donors, according to filings.
His most ardent supporters yearn for a restoration of the Ehrlich era.
“This is the greatest governor we?ve ever seen and hopefully we?ll see again,” said Dave Nawrocki, introducing Ehrlich to a standing ovation at the annual chicken dinner of the northeast Baltimore County Republican Club on Thursday night.
That kind of praise and pining for the future are standard fare from callers to his radio show.
But Ehrlich told The Examiner on Friday, “It?s far too early to think about [running]. It would be a family decision first,” including his political family of long-term supporters.
A decision to run for governor, presumably against Gov. Martin O?Malley, the man who beat him in 2006, is “going to be a function of a lot of things,” Ehrlich said.
“Can you win and can you fix it?” he asked. Fix it? “They?re breaking the state every day. This is a different mind-set in Annapolis,” a far left turn in state politics.
“We maintained pretty good poll numbers throughout the campaign and still lost,” Ehrlich said. The “political environment” in Maryland is very different from other states, and it may not be hospitable for any Republican.
As to all his public appearances, Ehrlich said, “There?s a heavy demand” for his services, and he?s younger than most ex-governors. “The requests are still pretty steady.”
“We don?t go looking for these things,” said Paul Schurick, communications consultant with Ehrlich in the Womble Carlyle law firm.
“My first obligation is to make this law firm successful,” Ehrlich said. “That is not easy, but we?ve had some success.”
“Politics comes in fourth” after family, job and causes he supports, he insisted.
Asked what it was like to have his portrait done, Ehrlich said, “It was weird, very strange,” especially because his own was painted by one of his first-grade classmates, who became a professional artist.
The Ehrlichs are expecting hundred of friends and supporters to attend the unveiling at St. John?s College in Annapolis; the State House is closed for renovation until December.
O?Malley was invited and plans on attending ? a rare joint appearance for two men who have trouble hiding their visceral dislike of each other.
O?Malley has shown as much interest in preserving Ehrlich?s “legacy” as does the ex-governor, but with a very different spin. O?Malley repeatedly compares his own administration?s performance and funding with Ehrlich?s, underscoring all the problems he “inherited,” from structural deficits to lax regulators and shoddy enforcement.
State government was broken when he got there, O?Malley insists. “We?ve made government work again.”
