O'Malley drills into Ehrlich's record on oil
Gov. Martin O'Malley unleashed a fresh attack ad this afternoon trying to associate his likely Republican opponent with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
In the 60-second ad, a woman talked about the gulf spill and then accuses Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of being a Big Oil Lobbyist who repeatedly voted with Big Oil in Congress. Listeners will also hear Ehrlich repeating the "Drill, Baby, Drill" refrain coined by his former lieutenant governor.
The O'Malley campaign says the 60-second ad will be up for at least a week and can be heard on 10 stations spread over Baltimore and the Eastern Shore.
Ehrlich spokesman Andy Barth called the ad "dishonest, deceitful and knowingly misleading." Barth called on O'Malley to apologize because he said the ad is "beneath the dignity of the office."
The ad is slick, but a quick scrub shows that Ehrlich is not a registered federal or state lobbyist. He's worked for three years at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, and he told the Sun's Julie Bykowicz that his job description does not include meeting with elected officials to push legislation.
As to the claim that Ehrlich represented ExxonMobile and CitGo, Womble's Baltimore Managing Partner, David Hamilton, says the former governor had no hand in either account. In fact, neither client is served out of the firm's Baltimore office, Hamilton said.
Court records show the firm did represent Center Point Terminal Baltimore LLC and the Petroleum Fuel & Terminal Company which O'Malley's campaign alledges was responsible for a 80,000 gallon heating oil spill in South Baltimore in 2007. Hamilton said Ehrlich was not involved with the case.
The congressional votes O'Malley uses to stain Ehrlich as an industry flunky were actually supported by members on both sides of the aisle and were not flagged as problematic by pro-environmental groups.
Ehrlich did vote to allow additional exploration in the Gulf, his vote allowed far less exploration than the Bush administration and the oil companies wanted. He also voted to reduce small businesses' liability for cleaning up spill - a measure that attracted broad support in Congress.
Ehrlich uttered "Drill, Baby, Drill" on his WBAL radio show, a review of the transcript shows that he was quoting GOP Chairman Michael Steele during a discussion about the media splash the phrase made at the Republican National Convention.
(As an aside we attended a recent GOP fundraiser hoping to ask Chairman Michael Steele if he would amend his Drill, Baby, Drill refrain given the gusher in the gulf. His handlers told us Steele wasn't taking questions and hung around to be sure we followed the rules.)
In the 60-second ad, a woman talked about the gulf spill and then accuses Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of being a Big Oil Lobbyist who repeatedly voted with Big Oil in Congress. Listeners will also hear Ehrlich repeating the "Drill, Baby, Drill" refrain coined by his former lieutenant governor.
The O'Malley campaign says the 60-second ad will be up for at least a week and can be heard on 10 stations spread over Baltimore and the Eastern Shore.
Ehrlich spokesman Andy Barth called the ad "dishonest, deceitful and knowingly misleading." Barth called on O'Malley to apologize because he said the ad is "beneath the dignity of the office."
The ad is slick, but a quick scrub shows that Ehrlich is not a registered federal or state lobbyist. He's worked for three years at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, and he told the Sun's Julie Bykowicz that his job description does not include meeting with elected officials to push legislation.
As to the claim that Ehrlich represented ExxonMobile and CitGo, Womble's Baltimore Managing Partner, David Hamilton, says the former governor had no hand in either account. In fact, neither client is served out of the firm's Baltimore office, Hamilton said.
Court records show the firm did represent Center Point Terminal Baltimore LLC and the Petroleum Fuel & Terminal Company which O'Malley's campaign alledges was responsible for a 80,000 gallon heating oil spill in South Baltimore in 2007. Hamilton said Ehrlich was not involved with the case.
The congressional votes O'Malley uses to stain Ehrlich as an industry flunky were actually supported by members on both sides of the aisle and were not flagged as problematic by pro-environmental groups.
Ehrlich did vote to allow additional exploration in the Gulf, his vote allowed far less exploration than the Bush administration and the oil companies wanted. He also voted to reduce small businesses' liability for cleaning up spill - a measure that attracted broad support in Congress.
Ehrlich uttered "Drill, Baby, Drill" on his WBAL radio show, a review of the transcript shows that he was quoting GOP Chairman Michael Steele during a discussion about the media splash the phrase made at the Republican National Convention.
(As an aside we attended a recent GOP fundraiser hoping to ask Chairman Michael Steele if he would amend his Drill, Baby, Drill refrain given the gusher in the gulf. His handlers told us Steele wasn't taking questions and hung around to be sure we followed the rules.)
Comments
Why doesn't O'Malley ever talk about getting people to work? The latest stats I saw were 230,000 unemployed. That's absurd.
Posted by: Lynnne | June 17, 2010 5:06 PM
My, Oh, My! I'd say BOY KING is just alittle bit nervious. Trust my words on this, BOY KING will do WHATEVER it takes to win this election.Dishonest and misleading are only for starters so Ehrlich better be ready.
Posted by: David | June 17, 2010 5:17 PM
Maybe O'Malley should talk about how the guy who killed the trooper in Prince George's Co. should've been in jail, but O'Malley's administration let him out.
Posted by: Mike | June 17, 2010 5:25 PM
O'malley has been an awful governor! His record is as pathetic as his rhetoric. His only approach to our States mess is has been more government, more taxes, more spending and of course praising Obama.
Less jobs, less opportunity, and less prosperity for the state and its citizens has been the outcome.
I hope the voters of Maryland elect Mr. Ehrlich as governor to balance the dominance of the left in this state. We need an advocate for the taxpayer and a responsible adult in charge.
Posted by: Andrew Alley | June 17, 2010 6:14 PM
I guess Bob Ehrlich doesn't do anything at all at Womble Carlyle. Claiming that he wasn't involved in any matter relating to the representation of Big Oil is like saying the receptionist at UPS doesn't have anything to do with delivering packages....They are part of the same organization!
Posted by: Essex Billy | June 17, 2010 7:34 PM
Ahhh...It must be an Election year. The Sun is demonstrating it's usual Liberal bias against a Republican candidate. I'll gladly cancel my subscription at the end of my billing period.
Why not mention OweMalley's support of the Cap & Trade Legislation and it's taxation of air, otherwise known as CO2. Our gasoline prices and utility prices will triple with this "vision" of getting this Country off its "addiction" to big oil. I'll have to contact Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy to discuss solar and wind power as viable alternatives. It was bedlam when BGE was deregulated and our utility rates went up 40%. Maybe Teflon Pan Marty can blame the horrible consequences of Cap & Trade on Bob Ehrlich. I'm sure the Sun would be happy to assist.
Posted by: Michael K | June 17, 2010 8:47 PM
Point of information: When Ehrlich was gubner, he never accomplished anything. Ehrlich never had a deficit.
Ehrlich never furloughed employees
Ehrlich never blocked major utilities from merging to reduce costs
Ehrlich never raised taxes like 20% increase in sales tax
Ehrlich never drove businesses out of state
Ehrlich never chased millionaires to Florida
Ehrlich never ... we get the picture.
Yes, as a matter of fact, we were better off four years ago. Thank you for asking. O'Malley, as usually,... full of $&!^. Maybe all those years of excessive drinking has truly distorted his reality.
Posted by: TheBaltimoreColt | June 17, 2010 11:30 PM
Heard this "political advertisement" from the O'Malley campaign this morning driving in to work. I have to say that it sounded more like something 98 Rock would come up with as a joke skit. What a joke he is.
Posted by: Steve | June 18, 2010 7:01 AM
It seems to me that the Democratic party has reduced itself to doing business by lies and deceit. Legislating by using smoke and mirrors, but when the illusion fads and reality returns to vue hopefully the voters will realize how empty O'Malley is and term as Governor is an empty trail with the only accomplishments of leaving Marylander's with a huge debt and nothing to show for it.
Posted by: Ric Feehley | June 22, 2010 1:07 AM
By Baltimore Sun standards, this was a pretty even-handed blog. But some specifics as I understand them which were conveniently left out show that Elijah Cummings, Steny Hoyer and MD's favorite daughter Nancy Pelosi all voted for the same bill O'Malley is calling Bob Ehrlich to task for supporting. Are Nancy, Steny and Elijah also in "Big Oil's" pocket? Just shows how desperate O'Malley's camp is, resorting to lies and distortions and it isn't even the 4th of July! November is coming Maryland!
Posted by: Bob Bugle | June 22, 2010 7:54 AM