Political Business

By Len Lazarick



Staying Relevant And In Power Takes People And Money

As she was about to introduce the governor at her fundraiser last month, State Sen. Sandy Schrader recalled a speech Bob Ehrlich made during the last campaign about the need to make the Republican Party in Maryland relevant again.

"We're not irrelevant any more," Schrader declared with glee. "We are so relevant."

And now Gov. Ehrlich wants to keep it that way, even though "some people want to end this experiment in multi-party democracy," he said. The way to stay relevant-which means always having a seat at the table, and keeping the seat at the head of the table if you can-is to field quality candidates and raise the money to support them.

"What Howard County has always done [in campaigns] has become the model," Ehrlich said, "Howard County is the classic swing county in the state. Both parties field quality candidates."

The Schrader fundraiser itself was ample illustration of the new "relevance"-read "power"-of Maryland Republicans. Held at the Highland home of Peter and Vasilia Vidi, who had hosted an Ehrlich fundraiser last year, it was what in political parlance is called a two-tier fundraiser. VIP guests paid $250 a head for better hors d'oeuvres and more intimate contact with the gov inside; regular guests paid $100 a head, ate pasta in the tent and got a brief speech. There were also opportunities to be a "sponsor" for the event, which got your organization's name on a placard at the front door.

The sponsors included a bunch of groups that have business before the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on which Schrader sits. Health groups-insurers, medical institutions, organizations of health professionals, like doctors-were particularly well represented. Some of the big names in State House lobbying, with client lists too long to detail, were on hand to fete Sandy and Bob: Bruce Bereano, Joe Schwartz, Bill Pitcher and two Columbia residents who are major Annapolis players, Robin Shaivitz and Alan Rifkin, head of a powerhouse lobbying and law firm. One of the Rifkin firm's big clients, the Maryland Jockey Club, owner of Pimlico and Laurel Park racetracks, was represented personally by part-owner Joe DeFrancis.

All told, with 100 guests each inside and outside, the Schrader campaign grossed about $35,000, more than a third of what she spent on the last campaign.



The Governor's Blessing

The Maryland Senate is a separate branch of government, but it certainly increases Schrader's clout to have the governor say, "Sandy is one of my favorite people in the legislature. É She's tough. This woman is quality and that's the truth. É We need to have more Sandys in the legislature."

Ehrlich had made perfectly clear from the night of his election that he intends to serve two terms and use the influence of his office to build up the Republican Party in the state. That's why he gave up a fairly safe seat in the U.S. House-"I loved my job in CongressÉ I could have stayed in office for decades"-to take on a job that he doesn't look like he's enjoying very much some days, whacking away at the state budget deficit. "I wake up every day ready to fight," he said. But he ran for governor, among other reasons, for the long-term health of the party and to make Maryland a two-party state.

"I need really quality people to get elected," and "I need all the quality people to be flush" with campaign funds, Ehrlich said.

The reality of politics in a media age is that winning costs money, no matter how much grassroots support you have, and to get that money you go to the people who both have it and care about what government does to them and for them. It is an aspect of politics that makes Ehrlich remarkably uneasy, given that he raised a record $10.4 million for his winning race, and has already brought in a reported $2 million for his reelection effort.

"If you're really comfortable at asking for money, it's wrong," Ehrlich said. "I'm glad I have other people who do it. É I'm not good at it." The governor said he refused to spend three hours a day sitting in a basement room calling up people he didn't know and asking them for dough. "I did not make 20 phone calls that entire campaign, not 40 phone calls."



Kendel Has the Fun

A standard part of the Ehrlich schtick is what "a great gig" Maryland first lady Kendel Ehrlich has-a great house, with no cooking and no cleaning, and so on. "She's for everything good and against everything bad," he said.

Kendel Ehrlich came to Columbia June 3 for a breakfast sponsored by the Business Women's Network and the Howard County Chamber of Commerce. "We're having some fun," she said, and it certainly sounded like at least she was having some fun-such as lunch at the Preakness with Bill Clinton and Jon Bon Jovi. "He's got great hair and great teeth and is a very humble guy," Mrs. Ehrlich said-Bon Jovi, that is.

And then in February, there was the visit to Camp David. President Bush "doesn't read the paper because it takes you off your game plan." The president advises, "Keep your eye on the ballÉ He is a leader with a strong team around him," Mrs. Ehrlich said. " I believe my husband is very much like that." (The governor says he doesn't read the newspapers anymore and is convinced the press wants to see him fail. "Len, don't take it personally," he said to the only reporter in the room.)

The reality of the state's budget shortfall "is yet to hit," the first lady said. "This year the fiscal issues will not personally be felt." She urged her audience to "call your delegates, call Mike Busch," the House speaker, and urge them to vote for slot machines to bolster state revenues.

Mrs. Ehrlich, a lawyer who's been both a prosecutor and defense attorney and now works for Comcast, has a role similar to one she had in the campaign, as a "profit center," she calls it, a below-the-radar representative of the Ehrlich brand to groups and causes she cares about. "The campaign was based on the word change. That's really what it boiled down to," she said. "It's not about anti-government. It's about efficient, effective government."

The next project on her agenda is a women's history museum in Maryland, and "what I'd really love is business input," Ehrlich said.



Prosecutors Like Quinter

Del. Neil Quinter of East Columbia was honored last month as legislator of the year by the Maryland's State's Attorneys Association, a pretty remarkable accomplishment for a freshman lawmaker. Quinter worked with the prosecutors on bills to ban assault weapons in Maryland, to make video peeping a felony, to have the death penalty apply to serial killers-the sniper case-and to ease access to Maryland criminal records by U.S. prosecutors in D.C. Most of the bills didn't pass, though someone else's version of the anti-peeping measure did, but the prosecutors gave him an award for trying. During the session, Quinter, a former staffer on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, was surprised to find fellow delegates on his committee unenthusiastic about anti-crime measures.



Tilting at Windmills?

"Tilting at windmills" was a phrase brought into the culture by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes with his novel Don Quixote. Antonio Salazar of Ellicott City, who's father is Spanish, says he's exploring a run against U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Baltimore City Democrat who now represents Ellicott City and western Howard County. The last redistricting kicked Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, a conservative Republican, out of the county, a move that Democrats cheered and had Republicans gagging.

Can a Republican political novice, a bank attorney active in organizations like the Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund and Leadership Howard County, defeat the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in a majority African American district? At the moment, Salazar is just exploring the idea, and will hold a happy hour meeting July 15 to kick it around. For more information, call 410-262-5229.



Cut That Language

When is a budget "cut" not a cut? When it's a reduction of a proposed increase, that's when. County Council member Allan Kittleman pointed out that last month's story about the county budget proposed by him and fellow Republican Chris Merdon got it wrong. The article talked about "substantial real cuts in budgets for schools, the library and other agencies."

The Republicans were proposing to cut the increases in education spending, not make cuts from last year's budget, as they proposed for the library.