Paybacks are hell

Friday, March 3, 2006

Hell hath no fury like a newspaper scorned, especially a newspaper scorned at both the trial and appellate court levels. Sixteen months ago Gov. Bob Ehrlich ordered his executive agencies to give two Baltimore Sun journalists the silent treatment due to their biased, inaccurate hatchet jobs.

When the Sun sued Ehrlich a federal judge threw the case out of court. Pronouncing the judge in error, the Sun took its case to the federal appeals court, which also ruled against the Sun. Since then, the Sun’s coverage of Ehrlich has been even more unfair and retaliatory than before, if that was possible. Paybacks are hell and here are some examples:

*‘‘Voting-System Debate Colored By Party Politics” (Baltimore Sun, Feb. 21).

The news story: The thrust of this news story is that Ehrlich’s statement, ‘‘I no longer have confidence in the state Board of Elections’ ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006,” was Ehrlich’s shabby attempt at intimidating the board and suppressing voter turnout.

The Sun reporter’s proof? Fourteen inflammatory quotes from partisan Democrats including, ‘‘This is pure unadulterated politics,” and, ‘‘He (Ehrlich) wants Florida and Ohio to happen in Maryland.” Deep into the article the reporter adds three quotes from Republicans — for ‘‘balance.”

Then the Sun reporter offers his own perspective, ‘‘(Ehrlich’s statement) was the latest effort by the governor to exert influence over the state elections board, something he has been thwarted from doing in the past ... despite a strong push, the governor has been unable to persuade the five-member state elections board to replace the state elections administrator, Linda H. Lamone, with someone the administration favors.”

The whole story: The reporter’s goal, painting a negative picture of Ehrlich playing politics with the elections process, was only made possible by omitting the full facts.

From time immemorial, state law allowed governors to appoint the state elections administrator — the person who oversees state elections. And for decades, Democratic governors appointed loyal Democrats who could be trusted to keep an eye on the party’s interests.

Then, in 1998, when Democratic lawmakers feared Ellen Sauerbrey might defeat Parris Glendening, they shifted the appointment power to the elections board, controlled by Democrats. When Ehrlich became governor in 2002, the Democratic legislature changed the rules even further — now Linda Lamone can only be removed by an 80 percent supermajority of the full elections board and even when removed she keeps her job until her successor is approved (if ever) by the state Senate, controlled by Democrats!

In other words, at the prospect of a GOP governor the Democrats installed a Democratic elections-administrator for life. Yet, none of this made it into the Sun’s story about ‘‘playing politics” with the elections board. Which raises this question: at what point do reporting omissions create an untruth?

*‘‘Ehrlich Said To Have No View On Ports” (Baltimore Sun, Feb. 24).

The news story: When the Arab port deal exploded, Mayor Martin O’Malley swore he’d kill the deal with the last breath in his body to the delight of xenophobes and racial profilers everywhere. Governor Ehrlich took a more measured stance: Delay the deal until more facts are known. This, and the fact that Ehrlich rejected O’Malley’s invitation to join O’Malley’s stop-the-deal demagoguing, earned Ehrlich this loaded Sun headline.

Funny, the Washington Post’s headline — same day, same story — reads, ‘‘Ehrlich Leans Toward Accepting Port Deal.” But wait, the Sun’s treatment gets even sicker. The Sun’s Feb. 21 editorial basically mirrors Ehrlich’s port deal view. But, five days later, the same editorial page castigates Ehrlich for ‘‘floundering” and salutes O’Malley’s ‘‘swift condemnation” of the port deal. Then, the same editorial builds a case supporting the deal. Clearly the Sun will sacrifice anything — even its own consistency — to ‘‘get Ehrlich.”

*‘‘Democrats Seek To Erase Approved Tuition Increase” (Baltimore Sun, Feb. 22).

The news story: Here the Sun perpetuates the Democrats’ mantra that Governor Ehrlich raised state tuitions. The reporter painstakingly points out that ‘‘the regents — a majority of whom were appointed by Ehrlich — adopted the increase despite a record funding boost for the University...” The reporter also describes the fiscal strain on students and paints the Democrats as having the solution — a tuition freeze.

The whole story: Ignoring the reporter’s cheap trick of holding Ehrlich responsible for tuitions because he appoints the university regents, what the Sun and the Democrats refuse to acknowledge is the underlying cause of tuition hikes; in 2002 the Democrats enacted the Thornton Plan, a massive spending bill for K-12 schools, with no funding source.

When Governor Ehrlich and the Democrats couldn’t agree on where to find the money (slots vs. taxes), they funded Thornton by cutting other programs, including the universities. To make up the cuts, the regents raised tuitions. The Sun knows all this but it doesn’t fit their anti-Ehrlich agenda.

So, from now on, when you read the Sun remember that paying-back Ehrlich is more important than telling the truth.

Blair Lee is CEO of the Lee Development Group in Silver Spring and a regular commentator for WBAL radio. His column appears Fridays in The Gazette. His e-mail address is blair@leedg.com.