Former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich will take an 80 percent pay cut if he wins the gubernatorial election this fall.
Ehrlich, a Republican, earned $734,663 last year while working for his Baltimore law firm, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, according to his 2009 personal tax return, which he voluntarily released to reporters. If he returns to the Governor’s Mansion, his salary will drop to roughly $150,000
— the amount Marylanders pay Gov. Martin O’Malley, as determined by the state legislature.
Ehrlich’s campaign says the pay cut is proof of the Republican’s commitment to voters.
“Bob Ehrlich showed remarkable leadership in guiding the law office he started in Maryland to success,” Ehrlich spokesman Andy Barth told The Washington Examiner. “Now what’s remarkable is that he wants only to put that success aside and return to public service for another term on helping to create jobs and lower taxes as governor of Maryland.”
The O’Malley camp says Ehrlich’s sizable income “raises some questions about what he’s been doing” since he left office in 2006, according to the Democrat’s campaign spokesman, Rick Abbruzzese.
“It raises questions about what exactly his clients were willing to pay him to do and who those clients were,” Abbruzzese said. “They were obviously willing to pay him significant amounts of money.”
He said Ehrlich’s salary “shows how out of touch Ehrlich is compared to the average Marylander.”
O’Malley and his wife reported income of about $322,000 last year, according to a jointly filed tax return first reported on by the Associated Press. The governor’s earnings include a $60,680 pension for being mayor of Baltimore and a city councilman. O’Malley’s wife earned $115,486 last year as a Baltimore District Court judge.
