Robert Leroy Ehrlich Jr. (born November 25, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 60th Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, Ehrlich represented Maryland's 2nd Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. Before that, he was a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

. In 2006, Ehrlich was defeated in his bid for re-election by Democrat Martin O'Malley. In 2010, Ehrlich sought an unsuccessful rematch against O'Malley. Ehrlich then announced, via his website, that he would "return to private life." In October 2011, he was named chair of Mitt Romney's Maryland campaign for the 2012 Republican nomination for President.

Early life, career, and family

Ehrlich was born in the Southwest Baltimore suburb of

Arbutus, Maryland Arbutus is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 20,483 at the 2010 census. The census area also contains the communities of Halethorpe and Relay, in which all ...

, the son of Nancy (Bottorf), a legal secretary, and Robert Leroy Ehrlich, a commission car salesman. After attending

Gilman School Gilman School is an all-boys independent school located in the Roland Park neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. There are three school divisions: Lower School, grades pre-kindergarten through five; Middle School, grades six through eight; and Up ...

, he studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, where he attended on a partial scholarship and was captain of the football team and a member of the

Cap and Gown Club Cap and Gown Club, founded in 1890, is an eating club at Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Colloquially known as "Cap", the club is one of the "Big Four" eating clubs at Princeton (the others are The Ivy Club, Unive ...

. Ehrlich graduated from Princeton with an A.B. in politics in 1979 after completing a 140-page long senior thesis titled " Alexander Solzenitsyn: The Man and His Politics." He continued on to law school, graduating from

Wake Forest University School of Law The Wake Forest University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Wake Forest University. Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wake Forest University School of Law is a private American Bar Association (ABA) accredite ...

in 1982. After law school, Ehrlich worked for Ober, Kaler, Grimes and Shriver, a Baltimore law firm, and became active in politics. In November 1986, Ehrlich won a seat in the

, representing parts of

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

from 1987 to 1995.

Personal

He married Kendel Sibiski in 1993. They have two sons, Drew Robert Ehrlich and Joshua Taylor Ehrlich. He is also a frequent guest on the ''

Sports Junkies The Sports Junkies, also known as The Junkies, are the hosts of an eponymous morning drive time radio show aired in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The hosts are John Auville, Eric Bickel, Jason Bishop, and John-Paul Flaim. Their sh ...

.''

Congress

In 1993, 2nd district Representative

Helen Delich Bentley Helen Delich Bentley (November 28, 1923 – August 6, 2016) was an American politician who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland from 1985 to 1995. Before entering politics, she had been a leadi ...

announced she would be vacating her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ehrlich announced his candidacy for the open seat and won the election in November 1994. During his term, he introduced legislation aimed at helping

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

people maintain employment and supported harsher

gun violence Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, and ...

penalties. While in Congress, Ehrlich served on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. He was also a member of the subcommittees on health, telecommunications and the Internet, and environment and hazardous materials; the Congressional Biotechnology Caucus, where he served as co-chairman; and the

Congressional Steel Caucus The Congressional Steel Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of the United States Congress whose members represent regions with steel manufacturers or care about the health of the American steel industry. Caucus members will routinely meet with the curre ...

. Ehrlich won all his elections in Congress by margins of at least 25%. He announced he would be forgoing reelection in 2002 to run for governor. He was succeeded by

Dutch Ruppersberger Charles Albert "Dutch" Ruppersberger III ( ; born January 31, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2003. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as an assistant state attorney ...

Governor of Maryland

2002 gubernatorial election

In 2002, Democratic Governor Parris Glendening's second term was ending. While Glendening had been reelected by a substantial margin in 1998, the final years of his term were plagued by a personal marital crisis, and a large state

budget deficit Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budget ...

. The rural areas of Marylandlargely Republicanhad long criticized Glendening for what they perceived as zealous environmental regulations; in addition, they believed that he did not give sufficient attention to their needs for infrastructure improvements (bridges, highways, etc.). On March 15, 2002, Ehrlich announced his candidacy for the governorship. He attacked Glendening's record, tying his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (born July 4, 1951) is an American attorney who was the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Maryland in 2002. She was the first female lieutenant ...

, to him. Ehrlich promised, if elected, to increase school funding, balance the budget, and protect the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

. His running mate was

Michael Steele Michael Stephen Steele (born October 19, 1958) is an American political commentator, attorney, and Republican Party politician. Steele served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007; he was the first African-American ...

, an African-American and the chair of the

Maryland Republican Party The Maryland Republican Party is the Maryland state branch of the Republican Party (GOP), headquartered in Annapolis. Current elected officials Members of Congress U.S. Senate *None Both of Maryland's U.S. Senate seats have been held by Dem ...

. During the election, Townsend was criticized for her choice of running mate; she picked retired Admiral Charles R. Larson, a novice politician who had switched parties only a few weeks before. The Townsend campaign was also hurt by the unpopularity of Glendening, who had implemented a redistricting proposal that was overturned by Maryland's highest court. Townsend's popularity continued to fall when it was reported that much of her campaign money was given by out-of-state donors; Ehrlich remained on the attack while the lieutenant governor's poll numbers declined. Though

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

traditionally votes Democratic and had not elected a Republican governor in almost 40 years, Ehrlich won the race (52% of the vote to Townsend's 47%). He was the sixth Republican governor in state history and the first since

Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...

left office to take the Vice Presidency in 1969.

Tenure as governor

Ehrlich said "fiscal responsibility, education, health, and the environment, public safety, and commerce" were the "Five Pillars" of his administration. He opposed sales and

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

increases and supported legalization of

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

s to raise revenue. Under Ehrlich's tenure, Maryland stayed 0.5% or more below the national unemployment average. The unemployment rate dropped significantly from 4.5% in 2003 to 3.9% in 2006, with an increase of 98,000 private sector jobs, aided by its proximity to the strong labor market associated with the national capital. Ehrlich established a Department of Disabilities within his cabinet for people with disabilities – the first such cabinet-level agency in the nation. In 2004, Ehrlich signed the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act: it funds upgrades of water treatment plants to reduce pollution discharge by a surcharge on business and residential water and septic bills. The resulting reduction in pollution into the bay was expected to meet approximately one-third of Maryland's obligations under the 200
Chesapeake Bay Agreement
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation described the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act as the most significant piece of legislation for the Bay in a generation. Ehrlich opposed President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's 2006 approval for a

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

firm to take control of six U.S. port operations, including those at the

Port of Baltimore Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facilities fo ...

. (See

Dubai Ports World controversy The Dubai Ports World controversy began in February 2006 and rose to prominence as a national security debate in the United States. At issue was the sale of port management businesses in six major U.S. seaports to a company based in the United A ...

). In 2006, Ehrlich signed a law banning police traffic ticket quotas.

Veto of the "Wal-Mart" Health Care Bill

In January 2006, Ehrlich vetoed the "Fair Share Health Care Bill," also known as the

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Bill, which required businesses with more than 10,000 employees in the state (three of the four companies being Walmart,

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

, and

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

) to either spend eight percent of payroll on employee health care, or pay that amount to a state health program for the uninsured. The bill was commonly nicknamed after Walmart because it was the only company in Maryland of that size that did not already spend the requisite eight percent. Ehrlich, after consulting with counsel regarding the legal validity of the bill, vetoed the proposed legislation as it would run afoul of federal law. Despite this, and over the pleas of state representatives whose constituents benefited from Walmart's employment and feared a diminished presence in the state, the Democratic legislators of the Maryland Legislature passed the bill over Ehrlich's veto, in part leading to cancellation of the building of a Walmart distribution center in one of Maryland's poorest counties. Critics of the international discount chain claimed that Wal-Mart's low wages force employees and their dependents to rely on state healthcare assistance. (See Wal-Mart Employee and Labor Relations). The bill's supporters claimed that the veto showed Ehrlich, whose official biography describes him as "unapologetically pro-business," had sided with "big corporate interests rather than Maryland's working families." For his part, Ehrlich called the bill the "first step toward government-run health care" by "anti-jobs lawmakers." He claimed that it would hurt low and middle-income consumers and was unfair to Wal-Mart and other businesses. On July 7, 2006, the Maryland law was overturned in federal court by U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz, who ruled that the law violated the

Employee Retirement Income Security Act The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (, codified in part at ) is a U.S. federal tax and labor law that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. It contains rules on the federal income tax e ...

(ERISA) of 1974, while also noting that it would "hurt Wal-Mart by imposing the administrative burden of tracking benefits in Maryland differently than in other states."

2006 gubernatorial election

Governor Ehrlich opted to seek a second term and did not face opposition in the Republican primary. On November 7, 2006, Ehrlich was defeated for re-election in the 2006 gubernatorial election by Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who won 53% to Ehrlich's 46%. Ehrlich's term as governor expired at noon on January 17, 2007.

Between elections

A month after he left public office, Ehrlich and several aides from his administration opened a Baltimore-area office of North Carolina law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. His wife Kendel took a consulting job as a director of the BankAnnapolis. In March 2007, Ehrlich endorsed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the US presidency. He was the Chairman of Giuliani's Mid-Atlantic Campaign Committee. Ehrlich and his wife hosted their own radio show on WBAL-AM Radio every Saturday from 2007 to 2010. Governor Ehrlich has guest lectured at Towson University in Professor

Richard Vatz Richard Eugene Vatz (born December 21, 1946) is an American academic, lecturer and writer who is a professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Towson University. Vatz is a Faculty Fellow at the Eastern Communication Association (ECA) and has ...

's political persuasion class twice a year since 1993.

2010 gubernatorial campaign

On March 30, Ehrlich announced that he would challenge incumbent Governor Martin O'Malley. In June 2010, Ehrlich was endorsed by Terrapin basketball standout and

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

NBA draft pick

Greivis Vásquez Greivis Josué Vásquez Rodríguez (born January 16, 1987) is a former Venezuelan professional basketball player, who spent six seasons in the NBA. He is currently a coach, most recently working as the associate head coach for the Erie BayHawk ...

. On June 30, 2010, Ehrlich announced that his running mate would be Mary Kane, who had served under Governor Ehrlich as secretary of state, August 2, 2005, to January 17, 2007, and also as deputy secretary of state and chief legal counsel, March 2003 to August 2, 2005. He easily won the Republican primary. His former lieutenant governor, then Chairman of the Republican National Committee

, traveled to Maryland on his "Fire Pelosi" bus tour to endorse Ehrlich. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney also appeared at a fundraiser to endorse Ehrlich. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned in Maryland with Ehrlich, calling him "one of the best governors of all-time." In the general election, Ehrlich lost again to O'Malley 56% to 42%. In December 2011, Ehrlich's 2010 campaign manager, Paul E. Schurick, was convicted of four counts of fraud and conspiracy concerning a scheme to suppress the black vote using 112,000 fraudulent robocalls, which discouraged voters from going to the polls. Political consultant Julius Hensen was also convicted on one count.

Support for presidential candidates

In October 2011, Ehrlich was named chairman of Mitt Romney's Maryland campaign for election as president in 2012. After initially supporting

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...

as a Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential primaries, Ehrlich endorsed nominee

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

in May 2016.

After politics

As of December 2020, Ehrlich was working as

senior counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in the Washington office of

King & Spalding King & Spalding LLP is an American international corporate law firm that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and with offices located in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It has over 1,200 lawyers in 23 offices globally. It is A ...

, a major corporate law firm, on the governmental advocacy and public policy (lobbying) team.

Election history

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Footnotes

External links

Maryland Archives gubernatorial biography

Congressional Quarterly elections library
* Ehrlich Personnel Stor

* MD Gubernatorial Candidates List
at Ballotpedia

(official campaign site, archived from 2002) * * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ehrlich, Bob 1957 births 21st-century American politicians American talk radio hosts American United Methodists Gilman School alumni Republican Party governors of Maryland Living people Maryland lawyers Republican Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Politicians from Annapolis, Maryland People from Arbutus, Maryland Princeton Tigers football players Princeton University alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Wake Forest University School of Law alumni

Early life, career, and family

Personal

Congress

Governor of Maryland

2002 gubernatorial election

Tenure as governor

Veto of the "Wal-Mart" Health Care Bill

2006 gubernatorial election

Between elections

2010 gubernatorial campaign

Support for presidential candidates

After politics

Election history

See also

Footnotes

External links