Campaign law turns tables on Ehrlich

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ANNAPOLIS (AP) -- Four years ago, while state law forced Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to take a 90-day fundraising holiday, Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was busy raking in bundles of dollars for his ultimately successful campaign for governor.

This year, the tables are turned.

As an elected state official, Mr. Ehrlich will be prohibited by law from raising any money while the legislature is in session from Jan. 11 through April 10, just as Mrs. Townsend was when she was lieutenant governor.

But the law applies only to state officials, and Mr. Ehrlich's two Democratic foes, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, will be free to pursue the big bucks needed to run a statewide campaign.

Candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives also can continue raising money, because those elections are governed by federal law.

The 1997 ban on fundraising -- which covers the incumbents of the four statewide offices and the 188 members of the General Assembly -- was initiated by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., Prince George's Democrat, and Casper Taylor Jr., the Allegany Democrat who was House speaker, as a way to boost the ethics image of the General Assembly.

Mr. Miller said he and other legislative leaders were worried at the time about the fact that lawmakers were holding fundraisers and hitting up lobbyists and corporations for donations at the same time they were voting on bills in which those lobbyists and businesses had interests.

"It was an obvious ethical challenge," he said.

Current House of Delegates Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel Democrat, said the law was needed. It would be impossible to avoid the perception of impropriety if lawmakers are voting on bills while soliciting contributions "from special-interest groups and high-priced lobbyists," he said.

One result of the ban has been a heavy round of fundraising in the weeks leading up to the 2006 General Assembly session. Mr. Busch said he has been going to so many fundraisers thrown by House members that he can't keep track of them.

Mr. Ehrlich has sent out at least two appeals urging donors to contribute before his involuntary 90-day fundraising hiatus begins.

In an e-mail last month made available by the Ehrlich campaign, first lady Kendel S. Ehrlich said she and her husband "are concerned about what is going to happen in January when the Maryland legislative session begins and campaign finance laws force our campaign to suspend all fundraising efforts -- while our well-funded, left-of-center opponents charge ahead."

"By the time the session is over in late April, Bob's opponents could out-fundraise us and put the governor at a huge competitive disadvantage," the e-mail said.

"That's ridiculous," Mr. Miller said about the claim that Mr. Ehrlich could be at a fundraising disadvantage. "He's going to have $20 million in the bank with no primary opponent."

Other Democrats also scoff at the suggestion that Mr. Ehrlich will have any problems raising money.

"While we're confident we'll have the resources we need to beat Bob Ehrlich, there is little doubt that Bob Ehrlich has shown himself -- with the aid of his friends in the White House -- to be one of the most prolific fundraisers in the country," said Jonathan Epstein, a spokesman for Mr. O'Malley's campaign.

When asked about the assertion that Mr. Ehrlich will be at a disadvantage, Scott Arceneaux, Mr. Duncan's campaign manager, said: "It's laughable for the governor to say that. He and his Republican friends, including George Bush ... are continuing to raise large amounts of money for the governor."

Calls to Mr. Ehrlich's campaign seeking comment were not returned.

When the most-recent campaign financial reports were filed almost a year ago, the governor had more than $5.1 million, more than twice as much as Mr. Duncan and Mr. O'Malley combined.