More News

Maryland Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Turnbull says that former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Baltimore's Fox 45 television station violated "payola rules" when he made comments on a show aired by the station that favored a client of the law firm where he works.

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission dated Feb. 4, Turnbull wrote that Ehrlich promoted the application of the Cordish Cos. to operate slot machines at a site near Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover during a "Political Pulse" broadcast segment on WBFF-Fox 45 in April without revealing his relationship with Cordish. Ehrlich is a regular on "Political Pulse."

"At no point during the broadcast, or at any other time, did Mr. Ehrlich or the station disclose to viewers that Cordish Companies had paid his law firm to promote their position on this very issue," Turnbull wrote, asking the FCC to investigate Ehrlich and Chesapeake Licensee LLC, which holds the TV station's license.

Ehrlich had disclosed that Cordish was a client on his radio show and had informed the TV station, said Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Ehrlich when he was governor and now at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, where both work.

As to whether Ehrlich told the station or made the radio disclosure before or after his statements on TV, Fawell said Thursday that he was not certain.

However, Fawell said the disclosure was made "on at least one occasion."

Democratic Party officials pointed to FCC rules, arguing that the paid relationship had to be disclosed before the TV program aired and to the TV program's viewers.

No representative of the FCC returned a phone call.

"Folks have a right to know — how many other times has he done this on other shows for other clients?" Maryland Democratic Party spokesman Isaac Salazar said.

When initially questioned, Fawell said the Maryland Democratic Party's allegations didn't deserve the dignity of a response and that they are just trying to "create suspicion."

In a videotape of the broadcast posted online, WBFF interviewer Jeff Barnd prefaced his question by noting that Cordish sought a zoning change to operate slots at the Hanover location and that its application was the only one pending near Baltimore. Then he asked Ehrlich, "Is this what you had envisioned years ago when you proposed slots in the first place?"

Ehrlich replied, in part: "We have one applicant, Cordish obviously, that followed the law, that dotted their i's, crossed their t's and Magna did not, which is why they are now the lone applicant in Anne Arundel County."

The Internet-posted segment contained no disclosure of a client relationship between Ehrlich and Cordish.

Asked whether that was an oversight and if Ehrlich believes what he did was ethical and legal, Fawell said, "He has always sought to conduct himself in the most ethical manner possible."

As for WBFF, the station is "looking into it," said a spokeswoman who declined to say what they had found, but said findings would be aired on the station.

Cordish's slots license application, which apparently met all the state requirements, is pending, but licensing officials tossed out Magna Entertainment's application for slots in Anne Arundel and elsewhere because Magna did not make a required deposit.

Magna, which owns Laurel and Pimlico racetracks as well as the Pimlico-based Preakness, the second leg of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, has filed for bankruptcy. The tracks are slated to be auctioned Feb. 23.

WBFF-Fox 45 is a Sinclair Group station. A Sinclair vice president provided Ehrlich the discounted use of a helicopter during his 2002 race for governor.