Ehrlich uses fundraiser to fight new foe: Franchot

Friday, Sept. 29, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Chris Rossi⁄The Gazette Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. focused his speech at a Tuesday fund-raiser in Baltimore on the race for comptroller, urging supporters to get on the bandwagon for Anne M. McCarthy (left) and attorney general candidate Scott L. Rolle (second from left).

But Ehrlich mentioned the Baltimore mayor by name only once — linking him with House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. as symbols of the ‘‘arrogant, sloppy and negligent monopoly” that he is trying to change.

Those familiar with Ehrlich’s subtleties could pick up that O’Malley was the target when the governor declared that no one likes ‘‘whiners” and a memo should be sent to ‘‘City Hall” with the instructions that blaming problems on other people does not demonstrate leadership.

But there is nothing subtle about the Ehrlich campaign’s new wave of advertising, which includes a radio ad featuring Baltimore attorney William H. ‘‘Billy” Murphy Jr. accusing O’Malley’s police department of illegally arresting African Americans.

The 60-second radio spot running on black radio stations in Baltimore and Washington is the first salvo in a new wave of negative ads.

Two television ads set for launch in coming days hammer O’Malley on crime. The ads, which were made available to The Gazette, feature several African-American men and women talking about the mayor’s failed commitments to reduce the city’s homicide rate and stem persistent turnover among his police commissioners, and decry his opposition to the state takeover of several failing city schools.

The O’Malley campaign fired back by attributing Ehrlich’s negative turn to recent polls — including one this week for The (Baltimore) Sun — that show the governor down by at least six points. The campaign accused Ehrlich of ‘‘lying because he is losing” and disputing his charges by pointing to statistics that show violent crime in Baltimore is down.

But Tuesday’s speech largely left O’Malley on the fringes, continuing a familiar Ehrlich strategy aiming most of his criticism toward the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, the media and interest groups that have dominated Maryland politics for decades.

The governor seemed preoccupied with defeating not O’Malley but Peter V.R. Franchot, the Democratic candidate for comptroller.

‘‘There are a lot of Democrats worried about Peter Franchot sitting in the comptroller’s office,” Ehrlich told the crowd at the annual Red, White and Blue dinner, which raised nearly $750,000 for the Maryland Republican Party. ‘‘I’m here to tell you ... that is not going to happen on my watch.”

He implied that the Takoma Park politician’s defeat of Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens was an accidental consequence of the intensely bitter three-way Democratic primary. Franchot ran on a platform of higher taxes, opposition to slot machines and gun control and is far too liberal to be trusted as the state’s tax collector, the governor said.

He then challenged ‘‘anybody who owns a business”: ‘‘Do not go to sleep tonight without putting up 10 McCarthy signs” for GOP candidate Anne M. McCarthy.

The virulence of Ehrlich’s attack on Franchot surprises some of the governor’s most ardent supporters, who question whether he really believes McCarthy, a little-known political novice, can win the election. The Sun poll shows Franchot with a 2-to-1 lead over McCarthy, a former business school dean for the University of Baltimore, a management professor in Colorado and a developer in Connecticut.

Franchot, meanwhile, has been meeting quietly with business and financial leaders since the primary. He brushed off Ehrlich’s criticisms, saying the governor should be worried about his own re-election.

So far, McCarthy has received scant benefits from Ehrlich’s endorsement. It is money and organization that her campaign sorely needs and those have not been offered so far, she and other campaign officials said.

Republicans and Democrats alike agree that McCarthy — who describes herself as ‘‘quite conservative” and sees the comptroller’s office as a tax-collecting agency, ‘‘not a social policy or social service office” — could offer voters an interesting contrast to Franchot, whose primary victory has been attributed to the strong support he received from Democratic liberals.

The problem, according to analysts, is McCarthy has neither the time nor resources to communicate her message in a state that is dominated by Democrats.

‘‘There are two ways to beat Peter Franchot,” said one Ehrlich aide. ‘‘Have $2 million and go on TV or convince William Donald Schaefer to change parties.”

Neither option is likely.

Franchot accumulated a $916,791 campaign chest by August that included $751,090 he lent to himself. McCarthy, who reported raising just $5,160 during the same period, estimated that she spent a total of $12,000 on her primary. ‘‘I just don’t have the luxury of being a millionaire,” said McCarthy, who is on sabbatical from the University of Baltimore.

Her limited resources are evident. With less than six weeks to the election, she only this week hired a campaign manager — Gary Coby, who came to Maryland after his candidate for lieutenant governor in Rhode Island was defeated.

And while Franchot is expected to barrage voters with television ads, ‘‘I haven’t decided about television,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy does plan some radio advertising, as she did for the primary, and will rely on the Internet. For example, she said, she plans to send a video message to five friends and ask them to pass it along to five other friends, a kind of campaign chain letter.

Calls to her waterfront campaign headquarters in trendy Fells Point go to the office of David F. Tufaro, a Republican activist. In 1999, Tufaro ran for mayor and garnered 9,207 votes to Martin O’Malley’s 87,607.

Tufaro is a developer. One of his most publicized projects is the conversion of a huge former Montgomery Ward distribution center in southwest Baltimore into an office park. Thanks to his connections with Ehrlich, the complex is filled with state agencies, including Maryland Lottery and the Department of the Environment.