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Speaking on "The Robert and Kendel Ehrlich Show" on WBAL radio, the former governor said he supported slots throughout his career in the General Assembly and Congress because he represented agriculture districts that were home to the horse industry and protected "farms from inappropriate development."
"What people need to understand is this is not my bill. It is not even anywhere close my bill, and that I'm very fearful that this bill is bad policy," said Ehrlich (R). "One, it's a constitutional amendment, which made no sense to me and is not making sense to a lot of people. And it obviously comes on the heels of a massive tax increase and explosion spending, on the heels of a recession. Which none of this is very good policy." Ehrlich was unable to get a slots bill passed during his four years in office, during which he faced strong opposition from the House of Delegates.
During last fall's special session, the General Assembly approved putting a slots referendum before general election voters as part of a package of slots, cuts and taxes that Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) pushed as a way to close a $1.5 billion budget gap.
The ballot question will ask voters whether to approve a constitutional amendment to bring 15,000 slot machines to five locations in Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties and Baltimore city. Legislative analysts project the machines eventually could generate nearly $919 million. Of that, a projected $660.4 million would go toward schools.
"It doesn’t surprise us that Gov. Ehrlich would oppose something that Gov. O'Malley is so clearly for," said Shaun Adamec, an O'Malley spokesman. "The politics of this really ought to be overlooked by the voters and we think the politics will be overlooked by voters when they see the potential benefit that things like education stand to gain as a result of passage of the referendum."
O'Malley defeated Ehrlich in the 2006 gubernatorial election.
Slots were the focus of the Ehrlichs' entire two-hour show, which featured several opponents of the referendum, including Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville and Del. Richard A. Sossi (R-Dist. 36) of Stevensville.
"A vote for this referendum is a vote for out-of-control spending and feeding big government that won't control spending habits," said another guest, Sen. Alexander X. Mooney (R-Dist. 3) of Urbana.
Also in studio was Herbert H. McMillan, president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, which announced last week that it is opposing the referendum.
Slots are a regressive measure on top of an already regressive sales tax passed last year, said McMillan, who was a Republican delegate from Anne Arundel County when Ehrlich was in office.
"When you were in office many people saw slots and cuts as the lesser of two evils," McMillan told the former governor. "But with O'Malley there, now you're talking about tax increase, spending increase and slots. And it’s just an additional evil."
Ehrlich's stance against slots drew praise from Marylanders United to Stop Slots, a coalition of business and labor leaders, clergy and citizens.
"The anti-slots tent is a large one, and we welcome those who once supported slots but believe that the slots plan placed before voters this fall which amends our Constitution is simply bad public policy - the wrong plan at the wrong time," Scott Arceneaux, a senior adviser to the group, said in a statement.
Voters need to know what the slots amendment would mean for the state, Ehrlich said.
"The referendum is on the ballot it's going to be about six weeks from now and people really need to come to grips with what this is and what it is not," he said.
