When Robert Ehrlich leaves the Governor’s Mansion early next year, he won’t be going far.
Maryland’s outgoing leader has purchased a home in Annapolis that’s just a stone’s throw away from the Westfield Annapolis mall.
Ehrlich briefly remarked about buying the house on a Friday morning radio program, leading many to speculate that it signaled he’ll stay involved in state politics somehow.
“I’d caution folks from reading too much into it, except that it’s a private family decision,” Ehrlich’s press secretary Henry Fawell told The Examiner Friday.
Fawell refused to elaborate on the precise location of the residence or when Ehrlich and his family would move in, except to say that Maryland’s governor was looking forward to being out of public office in the near future.
“He still has two months left in office to focus on,” said Fawell, who added that Ehrlich is not yet telling the public what his plans are.
Ehrlich, 48, was a state legislator and then a member of the House of Representatives before he successfully ran for governor in 2002, with Michael Steele as his lieutenant governor. In winning that election, Ehrlich became the first Republican governor of Maryland since 1966.
On Nov. 7, Martin O’Malley defeated Ehrlich with 53 percent of the vote to his 46, a surprisingly large margin, according to some political analysts.
