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The Federal Communications Commission has asked the Maryland Democratic Party for a videotape that Democrats say supports their claim that former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. violated FCC rules when he made comments on a Fox 45 television broadcast that favored a client of his law firm.

Party spokesman Isaac Salazar said the federal agency made the request Tuesday in response to a letter that Maryland Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Turnbull sent to the FCC on Feb. 4.

In the letter, Turnbull wrote that Ehrlich (R) 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-TV in April without revealing his relationship with Cordish.

Turnbull said Ehrlich did not disclose that the company was a client of the law firm where he works, as required by FCC rules.

Ehrlich made his comments in the course of an interview about slots licensing issues. He noted that Cordish's slots application was apparently the only one for a site near Baltimore that met all state requirements.

"We have not heard from the FCC at this point," Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said Monday. "We'll wait to see if we do."

Fawell said last month that Ehrlich had noted on his radio show that Cordish was a client and that he had told the TV station, although Fawell said he was not sure when.

Salazar last month asked, "How many other times has he done this on other shows for other clients?"

In a videotape of the broadcast posted online last month, WBFF interviewer Jeff Barnd prefaced a 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."

Ontario, Canada-based Magna Entertainment owns Maryland's Laurel and Pimlico racetracks, as well as the Pimlico-based Preakness horse race, but is looking to sell them as part of a bankruptcy reorganization plan. Magna had sought an Anne Arundel license, but failed to pay the required application fee and was disqualified.

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

A lawyer for WBFF-TV did not return calls for comment.